Page 82 - The Dark Spell of Darwinism

The Dark Spell of Darwinism

Francis Darwin's statement contains an important truth. The Origin of
Species is trumpeted as one of the most important works in the history of hu-
manity, but anyone who hoped to find in it solid scientific proof for evolu-
tion would be surprised and come away empty handed. There is no solid
proof anywhere in The Origin of Species to support the theory of evolution;
it names no new species that evolved through the process of natural selec-
tion; it demonstrates no transitional form and documents no evolutionary
mechanism. The only interesting thing in the whole book, actually, is its
being complete speculation, founded on probability, imagination, conjec-
ture and supposition.
Therefore, this book should not have exerted such an influence on peo-
ple's lives and ideas. Many scientists have expressed their surprise on read-
ing The Origin of Species,—for example, the American physicist H. S. Lipson:
On reading The Origin of Species, I found that Darwin was much less sure him-
self than he is often represented to be; the chapter entitled "Difficulties of the
Theory," for example, shows considerable self-doubt. As a physicist, I was par-
ticularly intrigued by his comments on how the eye would have arisen. 41

One chapter in Charles Darwin's The Origin of the Species deals with the problems
confronted by the theory of evolution. This chapter, entitled, "Difficulties on Theory,"
reveals the unsound reasoning on which the theory is founded.