| Two forms of existence to be recognized — Matter and Energy — Distinction of the two — Tait on energy — Matter — Its indestructibility and uncreatability by any process at the command of man — The atomic theory as related to the divisibility and compressibility of matter — Scientific belief, as analogous to theologic — Energy — Perpetual change in form and distribution of materials — Position, motion, and force — Transmutation or conversion of energy — Conservation of Energy — Deterioration and dissipation of energy — Heat as a form of motion — Results of scientific research are such as to support religious thought concerning the origin of the world — The changeable can not be the eternal — Science here reaches its ultimatum as to the structure of the world, and gives all the support possible to the reality of the supernatural | [82] |
LECTURE IV.
Organized Existence. Life and its Development.
| The new problem — Origin of life, relation of the organized to the unorganized — Origin of species — Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection — Characteristics of life — The prominent features of Mr. Darwin's theory — Power of adaptability to environment inherent in organism — History of the steps by which the author was led to the adoption of his theory — Wallace's "Contributions" — Darwin's acknowledgment that science does not favor the belief that living creatures are produced from inorganic matter — Admission of creation of life — Favorable impression made by the theory — Common ancestry of allied species — Rejection of fixedness of species — Difficulties which beset the theory — All change does not indicate progress — Difficulty connected with the early stages of evolution — Persistence of species | [119] |
LECTURE V.
Relations of Lower and Higher Organisms.
| Fertilization of flowering plants — Relation of pollen to the seed vessels — Need for transference of pollen — Means to prevent self-fertilization — Relation between animal life and vegetable — Search for honey by bees and other insects — Bearing the pollen to distant flowers — Distribution of work among insects and birds — Evidence of adaptation — Interdependence of lower and higher organisms — Ants — Their exclusion from certain flowers — Their work, perseverance, intelligence, slave-holding, extracting honey from other insects, constructing bridges | [162] |
LECTURE VI.
Higher Organisms; — Resemblances and Contrasts.
| Sensibility and motor activity characteristic of animal life — Both uniformly provided for by identical arrangements of nerve system — Two distinct lines of nerve fibre combined in a nerve centre — Structure of nerve fibre — Isolation — Combination — Brain structure — White matter, and grey — Subdivisions of the organ — Complexity of brain structure according to complexity of organism — Brain in insects, fishes, reptiles, smaller quadrupeds, larger quadrupeds, monkeys, apes, man — Close resemblance of the brain of the ape to the human brain — Researches as to brain function by means of electric excitation of the organ — Fritsch and Hitzig — Ferrier — Identification of sensory and of motor centres — Silence of front and back regions — Confirmatory evidence from brain diseases | [204] |