Page:The World's Most Famous Court Trial - 1925.djvu/143

 single juryman that has heard a single word pass over the horns out there.

The Court—Thank you, gentlemen.

Juror Thompson—I just wanted you to know, that is all.

(The jury thereupon retired.)

The Court—Now, gentlemen, I anticipate that this is the most difficult thing the court is going to have to pass on. Do you think you have time to argue this question this afternoon? It is 4:35.

Gen. Stewart—No, we would not have time to complete it. We can get on it.

Mr. Darrow—All of us are tired.

The Court—Of course, this is a question I want all the light I can on, because I anticipate that it is extremely important and perhaps difficult.

Mr. Darrow—I will just ask one more question, so as to make the issues plainer.

(The officer rapped for order, saying: "Let us have order in the courtroom; respect the court.)

The Court—I will hear you, gentlemen.

Mr. Darrow—I will put two or three short ones.

Gen. Stewart—The last question yon asked him—what was the last question?

Questions by Mr. Darrow.

Q—Now I want to ask the question, is there anything in the theory of evolution in conflict with the account of the creation of man in Genesis or in the Bible?

Gen. Stewart—We except to that.

Mr. Darrow—I just want to add one or two more and then we will let it all go together. It won't take me but a minute.

Q—Is evolution taught in all the leading colleges of the world?

Gen. Stewart—We except to that, of course.

Q—Or the western world—I will exclude the east; I don't know about that.

A—It is in China and Japan and in India.

Gen. Stewart—You want his answers in the record, don't you?

Mr. Darrow—They are all in there, aren't they?

Gen. Stewart—Do you want the witness to answer them now?

Mr. Darrow—Counsel suggests what is probably the right way, we should let him answer these questions.

Gen. Stewart—I thought they wanted the answers in the record, and he hasn't given them, and I thought you wanted them in the record.

The Court—If you want them in the record you may let him answer, and then they can move to exclude the answer.

Mr. Darrow—Well, counsel suggests that you might answer them altogether.

The Witness—I had rather not do that; I had rather answer them seriatum.

A—Evolution and the theories of evolution are fundamentally different things. The fact of evolution is a thing that is perfectly and absolutely clear. There are dozens of theories of evolution, some of which are almost wholywholly [sic] absurd, some of which are surely largely mistaken, some of which are perhaps almost wholly true, but there are many points—theoretical points as to the methods by which evolution has been brought about—that we are not yet in possession of scientific knowledge to answer. We are in possession of scientific knowledge to answer directly and fully the question: "Has evolution occurred."

Q—Now, will you tell what it means, the fact of evolution?

A—A definition is perhaps the most difficult thing that a man can ever be asked to engage in, for any definition in order to be accurate and adequate would have to be fearfully prolix. I beg then to be allowed to answer in a way that certainly will not be adequate, but that may be accurate as far as it goes.

Mr. Darrow—Do it that way, then.

A—Evolution, I think, means the change; in the final analysis I think it means the change of an organism from one character into a different character, and by character I mean its structure, or its behavior, or its function, or its method of develop-