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[Illustration: FOSSIL MAN OF MENTONE. (From Popular Science Monthly,
October, 1874.)]




WAS MAN CREATED?

BY

HENRY A. MOTT, JR., E.M., PH.D., ETC.,


_Member of the American Chemical Society, Member of the Berlin Chemical
Society, Member of the New York Academy of Sciences, Member of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science, Member of the
American Pharmaceutical Association, Fellow of the Geographical Society,
Etc., Etc._


AUTHOR OF THE "CHEMISTS' MANUAL," "ADULTERATION OF MILK," "ARTIFICIAL
BUTTER," "TESTING THE VALUE OF RIFLES BY FIRING UNDER WATER," ETC., ETC.


  NEW YORK:
  GRISWOLD & COMPANY,
  150 NASSAU STREET.
  1880.


  COPYRIGHT BY
  HENRY A. MOTT, JR.,
  1880.


  TROW'S
  PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING CO.,
  _205-213 East 12th St._,
  NEW YORK.

Electrotyped by SMITH & MCDOUGAL, 82 Beekman Street, N. Y.




PREFACE.


This work was originally written to be delivered as a lecture; but as
its pages continued to multiply, it was suggested to the author by
numerous friends that it ought to be published in book-form; this, at
last, the author concluded to do. This work, therefore, does not claim
to be an exhaustive discussion of the various departments of which it
treats; but rather it has been the aim of the author to present the more
interesting observations in each department in as concise a form as
possible. The author has endeavored to give credit in every instance
where he has taken advantage of the labors of others. This work is not
intended for that class of people who are so absolutely certain of the
truth of their religion and of the immortality that it teaches, that
they have become unqualified to entertain or even perceive of any
scientific objection; for such people may be likened unto those who,
"_Seeing, they see, but will not perceive; and hearing, they hear, but
will not understand._"

This work is written for the man of culture who is seeking for
truth--believing, as does the author, that all truth is God's truth, and
therefore it becomes the duty of every scientific man to accept it;
knowing, however, that it will surely modify the popular creeds and
methods of interpretation, its final result can only be to the glory of
God and to the establishment of a more exalted and purer religion. All
facts are truths; it consequently follows that all scientific facts are
truths--there is no half-way house--a statement is either a truth or it
is not a truth, according to the _law of non-contradiction_. If,
therefore, we find tabulated amongst scientific facts (or truths) a
statement which is not a fact, it is not science; but all statements
which are facts it naturally follows are truths, and as such must be
accepted, no matter how repulsive they may at first seem to some of our
poetical imaginings and pet theories. We cannot help but sympathize with
the feelings which prompted President Barnard to write the following
lines, still we will see he was too hasty: "Much as I love truth in the
abstract," he says, "I love my hope of immortality more." * * * He
maintained that it is better to close one's eyes to the evidences than
to be convinced of the _truth_ of certain doctrines which _he regards_
as subversive of the fundamentals of Christian faith. "If this (is all)
is the best that science can give me, then I pray no more science. Let
me live on in my simple ignorance, as my fathers lived before me; and
when I shall at length be summoned to my final repose, let me still be
able to fold the drapery of my couch about me, and lie down to pleasant,
even though they be deceitful, dreams."[1] The limitations to the
acceptance of truth that President Barnard makes is wrong; for, as
Professor Winchell has said, "we think it is a higher aspiration to wish
to know 'the truth and the whole truth.' At the same time, we have not
the slightest apprehension that the whole truth can ever dissipate our
faith in a future life."[2] Let us "Prove all things and hold fast unto
that which is good," recognizing the fact that "the