Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 26.djvu/509

 Some of Wythe's other books were written for Chautauqua readers, and some were written in an effort to reconcile the views of church people with the facts of natural science. "The Agreement of Science and Religion," published in 1872 states that it is "An attempt to exhibit in brief compass the true relations and harmony of nature and revelation It claims that science and faith mutually support each other."

In these and other books which show a great deal of knowledge of natural sciences, and especially of zoology and botany. Wythe takes the anti-evolutionary point of view. He holds that the idea of developmental creation is inconsistent with the conception of a personal God who rules the universe and governs the inhabitants thereof. In the "Science of Life" (1880) he concludes: "This examination of human endowments shows as great difference between men and brutes as exists between animals and vegetables, or between vegetabls and the mineral world."

Dr. Wythe died October 14, 1901, survived by three children and several grandchildren. His wife, whom he had married in 1846, had died in 1898. He had lived a busy life, his chief interest the welfare of his fellowmen, and he gave of his time and energy freely to every movement that had for its objective the improvement of the public welfare. It is related by one who was associated with him in meetings of various uplift bodies in Oakland, where he spent the last twenty-five years of his life, that when the silence which characterizes such meetings while a quorum is gathering, would come, Dr. Wythe would say, "Pst! Pst! Don't wake the corpse," and would then lead out into conversations of the most elevating type, to the edification of all present.

In personal appearance Dr. Wythe was short, about five feet, six inches in height, but robust and full chested.