eves these to
belong to an earlier or more recent age because he accepts _the
evolutionist's_ word for it. And the evolutionist says: the _geologist_
says these rocks are oldest; but in them I find the simplest forms;
hence the evolutionary theory is proven.

We repeat it,--is not this a very, very extraordinary situation? Have we
not here a perfect case of what logicians call "reasoning in a circle,"
or "begging the question?" How can the evolutionist quote the geologist
when the geologist asserts that he classifies his layers of rock
according to the fossils,--and that he accepts what the evolutionists
asserts [tr. note: sic] regarding these?

What, in view of this situation, becomes of the evolutionist's argument
from fossils? And what becomes of the "ages" of speculative geology?

CHAPTER FOUR.
The Fixity of Species.

A writer in the _"Lutheran Companion"_ recently said that his seven year
old boy brought home a text book some months ago, called _"Home
Geography for Primary Grades."_ On page 143 is found this statement
about birds: "Ever so long ago, their grandfathers were not birds at
all. Then they could not fly, for they had neither wings nor feathers.
These grandfathers of our birds had four legs, a long tail and jaws with
teeth. After a time feathers grew upon their bodies and their front legs
become changed for flying. These were strange looking creatures. There
are none living like them now."

One is tempted to disgress, [tr. note: sic] for a moment, from the
subject at hand in order to draw, from this incident, an argument for
the Christian Day School; but we shall desist. The quotation is here
adduced to illustrate the vogue which evolution, specifically Darwinism,
still maintains in the literature, even in the school-texts of our day.
Babes and sucklings are introduced to the theory of evolutionary
development, and the theory is presented with an assurance as if it were
scientific truth. The words of Agassiz, prince of naturalists, apply
to-day. "The manner in which the evolution theory in zoology is treated
would lead those who are not special zoologists to suppose that
observations have been made by which it can be inferred that there is
in nature such a thing as change among organized beings actually taking
place." He adds: "There is no such thing on record. It is shifting the
ground from one field of observation to another to make this statement,
and when the assertions go so far as to exclude