Page:The World's Most Famous Court Trial - 1925.djvu/193

Rh argument—life commenced probably with very low forms, most likely one-celled animals and probably in the sea or on the border of the land and sea. That out of that one form grew another. That there is no such thing as species—that is all nonsense. Science does not talk about species. There are differences—and that the differences came by various processes which perhaps none is certain of, but are easily traced through all the history of life that is now extinct, that life has joined on to it, one linking with another and that man is the highest product of it, having the first stem of all life in a very low organism and one branch growing out and soon another branch in that direction and another branch in that direction until we reach the apex in man, where he stands alone, but connects his whole history with the primal origins of life. We say that is entirely consistent. It is a process we are interested in and the Bible story is not inconsistent with that.

The Court—Let me see if I get you clearly?

Mr. Darrow—Not necessarily; some people might say it was and some not.

The Court—A common source—you say all life came from the one cell?

Mr. Darrow—Well, I am not quite so clear, but I think it did. It all came from protoplasm, which is a bearer of life and probably all came from one cell, but all human life comes from one cell. You came from one and I came from one—nothing else, a single cell. A animal life came that way.

The Court—What I want to be clear on—do you say that man developed directly from that one cell into man or did he develop from that one cell into a lower animal and so on from one form of animal life to another until the apex man was reached and he was man?

Mr. Darrow—One form of animal life grew out of another, beginning below—variation exists—variations of all kinds. All life varies and we are creating those new variations every day. They are not species, they are variations and as you went on up there would be a variation in animal structures on up to man. That is surely consistent with the story that man was created out of the dust of the earth.

The Court—According to your theory where did man become endowed with reason?

Mr. Darrow—Well, judge, I don't suppose there is any scientist today but what knows that the lower order of animals have reason.

The Court—It is just in a higher development in man?

Mr. Darrow—No, reason begins way below man.

The Court—I say man has a greater development?

Mr. Darrow—Oh, yes, much greater—very much greater—very much greater than any other animal.

The Court—Does your theory of evolution speak at all on the question of immortality?

Mr. Darrow—There are a lot of people who believe in evolution and who believe in the theory of immortality and no doubt, many who do not. Evolution, as a theory, is concerned with the organism of man. Chemistry does not speak of immortality and hasn't anything to do with it. Geology doesn't know anything about it. It is a separate branch of science. I know there are a lot of evolutionists who believe in immortality.

The Court—Those who believe in immortality, where do they—do they also believe that other animals are indowed with immortality?

Mr. Darrow—John Wesley used to believe it, he was an evolutionist in a way. He expected to meet his dog and his horse in the future world. Indians believe it. It has been very common all through the ages, but I don't know—I couldn't say exactly how all evolutionists believe. As to where the idea of immortality came from and as for me I am an agnostic on that. I don't claim to know. If have been looking for evidence all my life and never found it.

Mr. Ways—Might I not ask the court, don’' your very inquiry show