Excerpt from Report on the Ophiuroidea Dredged by H. M.S. Challenger During the Years 1873-76 So far as philosophy is concerned, all the excitement of our day over these theories is uncalled for. There prevails, indeed, a vague impression that they explain something, whereas they explain nothing. They only assert, more or less dogmatically, that certain events happened, in a certain order; just as there used to be a theory that the leaning tower of Pisa was built leaning. There also was a theory that it was built straight, and that it settled afterwards. Neither explained the tower, and both assumed that masons built it; but one asserted that the courses were laid slanting, the other that they were laid horizontally. Theories of evolution, considered from their legitimate stand-point (viz., the historical), have always this trouble, they make their machine do more than it can do. Their auger goes on boring round holes till the opportune moment, and then suddenly it bores a square hole. For example, the best research goes to demonstrate that there can be no vital growth without an egg, or a seed, at the first stage. Air filtered or strongly heated produces no life. Now, it is agreed that the earth was once too hot to permit organic material. Whence, therefore, came the first egg, seed, or germ? Several attempts have been made by evolutionists to jump this insurmountable fence. One has suggested that the first germ came from a fortuitous collection of atoms; but in positive science nothing is fortuitous, and neither in physics nor in metaphysics is such a thing as an atom provable. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.