Charles Darwin: "To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable
contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for
admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of
spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural
selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree. When
it was first said that the sun stood still and the world turned round,
the common sense of mankind declared the doctrine false; but the old
saying of Vox populi, vox Dei, as every philosopher knows, cannot be
trusted in science. Reason tells me, that if numerous gradations from a
simple and imperfect eye to one complex and perfect can be shown to
exist, each grade being useful to its possessor, as is certainly the
case; if further, the eye ever varies and the variations be inherited,
as is likewise certainly the case; and if such variations should be
useful to any animal under changing conditions of life, then the
difficulty of believing that a perfect and complex eye could be formed
by natural selection, though insuperable by our imagination, should not
be considered as subversive of the theory."
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Quoted content does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the poster.
It is solely contributed as information or entertainment, and an
incipience for open discussion between members of a stagnating forum.
This includes the online source, should such a reference be available
and a link presented. Not for commercial use. While brief extractions
of an educational and non-profit nature fall under exemption for fair
use of copyrighted works, the original source in its entirety and
significant ****tions thereof may be and should be regarded as protected
under copyright law. "The Daily Excerpt" is a regular feature of the
abandoned usenet group alt.thinking.hurts and may appear intermittently
elsewhere, depending upon topical applicability. Email responses may
require 4 weeks or longer, and are discouraged for that reason.
|
