either in private or in the class-room, the opinion referred to in the slip you send me. We are keenly alive here to the danger from what is manifestly the infidel trend of the views generally held by evolutionists. It is a great relief to me to know that among all my colleagues there is such a cordial acceptance of the old faith, which it has been the tendency or the avowed aim of these materialistic teachers to destroy." Dr. Brown, of Hamilton, responded: "The doctrine of the 'evolution of man from irrational animals' has never, to my knowledge, been taught in Hamilton College. I trust it never will be till it is proved to be true, as in my judgment it has not been, and I do not think it ever will be." President Potter, of Union, declared, "The printed statement you forward is not a correct statement of the teaching in this college." President Robinson, of Brown University, replied, "We do not teach the doctrine stated in the inclosed slip." Dr. Anderson, of Rochester University, protested that "we have never taught in our institution that man is 'evolved from irrational animals,' for the simple reason that we believe the notion to be an unverified hypothesis." And President Seelye, of Amherst, indignantly responded: "This college does not yet teach groundless guesses for ascertained truths of science. So long as the notion that man is evolved from the monkey or from any irrational animal has not a single fact to rest upon, and is in flat contradiction to all the facts of history, I think we may leave it with the sciolists."
Now, this unanimity of unqualified denial has its significant implications. For, if evolution is not taught in those colleges, we may fairly infer that it is because the old alternative doctrine has not been given up; that is, as President Cattell observes, there is among his colleagues "such a cordial acceptance of the old faith." Hence we learn that, on a large question of natural history, nine of the leading American colleges teach the old theological beliefs rather than the conclusions of modern science.
The "Observer" of course exultingly avails itself of the official declarations it has elicited, and points the moral of the case by restating the biological teaching of "the Holy Scriptures," still inculcated in the colleges. It triumphantly asks of the "Independent": "Where are the schools, 'our best schools,' in which its vile doctrine is taught? Degrading as the doctrine is, opposed to the common sense of mankind, contradicted by science and history and the Holy Scriptures, what reckless audacity there is in asserting that it is taught in our best schools!" Again it says: "The Apostle Paul affirms that 'by man came death,' and that 'in Adam all died,' and that 'death reigned from Adam to Moses,' and that' by one man's offense death reigned by one.' But the 'Independent' says that 'every scholarly young man' must doubt whether the fall in Adam is a fact. The historian Luke traces the lineage of the Son of Mary from son to father, step by step, till he gets back to Seth, 'who was of Adam, who was of God.' Tills is the Biblical history of development, by which the human race is traced to the time when Moses says God made man and called him Adam. . . . No young person whose mind receives the views of the 'Independent' can at the same time be a believer in the oracles of divine truth. To hold the one is to despise the other. If the irrational animal gospel is true, Christ's gospel is a humbug."
Such is the theological biology to which the presidents of nine American colleges are thus authoritatively construed as committing themselves and their institutions.
Several interesting questions here arise, and the first is an unpleasant inquiry as to how far these presidential declarations are fair and true. Do they represent the facts or do they mislead?
