Where Evolution Stands

William Jennings Bryan, speaking before the West Virginia State Legislature in a campaign for anti-evolution legislation similar to that recently defeated in Kentucky, said: "You need not punish these teachers of evolution. Men who believe they have the blood of brutes in their veins will never be martyrs for any cause." In a dispassionate and authoritative article in the New Republic, Vernon Kellogg, biologist, and Permanent Secretary of the National Research Council, summarized the present status of organic evolution. Quotations: "I do not know of a single living biologist of high repute--and I do not determine repute on a required basis of a belief in evolution!--who does not believe in evolution as a proved part of scientific knowledge. "The evidence from . . . these fields (comparative anatomy, embryology, paleontology, geographical distribution) ... is over-whelming." Though a unit on the fact of evolution, scientists frankly admit their ignorance of its causes. Lamarck's, Darwin's, Mendel's theories are all only partial explanations. "If this be ammunition for the antievolutionists, let them make the most of it! We can afford to be honest."