,
_"Man's Place in the Universe,"_ (1903) defended a position so subversive
of every cherished belief (or unbelief) of scientists that it easily
ranks as the greatest literary sensation, in the domain of natural
science, of the century. Wallace assembled all the latest astronomcial
[tr. note: sic] and other scientific discoveries and all knowledge
bearing on the subject announced in his title. He deduces therefrom the
theory:--First, that the earth or solar system is the physical center of
the stellar universe. Second, _that the supreme end and purpose of this
vast universe was the production and development of a living soul in the
perishable body of man._

"Modern skeptics," says Wallace, "in the light of accepted astronomical
theories (which regard our earth as uttterly insignificant compared with
the rest of the universe) have pointed out the irrationality and
absurdity of supposing that the Creator of all this unimaginable
vastness of suns and systems should have any special interest in so
pitiful a creature as man, an imperfectly developed inhabitant of one of
the smaller planets attached to a second or third rate sun, while that
He should have selected this little world for a scene so tremendous and
so necessarily unique as to sacrifice His own son in order to save a
portion of these miserable sinners from the natural consequences of sins,
is in their view a crowning absurdity, not to be believed by any rational
being."

We cannot follow Mr. Wallace's argument in detail. Suffice to say, that
he adduces a vast amount of data showing, first, that the universe is not
infinite, but has certain bounds, and that our earth and its system are
in the center of it, and, secondly, that the entire purpose of the
production of the universe is the human race. The earth, says Wallace, is
the only body capable of sustaining life. Life is not possible on any of
the planets, because they are either too close or too far distant from
the sun; some are probably composed of gas. He proves, on the basis of
accepted calculations, that of all the stars in the heavens there is not
even a remote probability that any are attended by bodies which can
provide the elements of life. Now, he says, this very peculiar position
of the earth cannot have been due to accident. He refuses to believe that
the earth should occupy this favored position "as the result of one out
of a thousand million chances."

"On the other hand," he says, "those thinke