  (Dedicated to Darwin and Huxley) THEY told him gently he was made Of nicely tempered mud, That man no lengthened part had played Anterior to the Flood. 'Twas all in vain; he heeded not, Referring plant and worm, Fish, reptile, ape, and Hottentot, To one primordial germ. They asked him whether he could bear To think his kind allied To all those brutal forms which were In structure Pithecoid; Whether he thought the apes and us Homologous in form; He said, "Homo and Pithecus Came from one common germ." They called him "atheistical," "Sceptic," and "infidel." They swore his doctrines without fail But he with proofs in no way lame. Made this deduction firm, That all organic beings came From one primordial germ. That as for the Noachian flood, 'Twas long ago disproved, That as for man being made of mud, All by whom truth is loved Accept as fact what, malgrÉ strife, Research tends to confirm— That man, and everything with life, Came from one common germ. Anonymous. |
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