36 EVOLUTION AND ETHICS 



to pass through similar phases, before they reached 

 the stage at which their influence became an 



o 



important factor in human affairs. Physiology, 

 Psychology, Ethics, Political Science, must submit 

 to the same ordeal. Yet it seems to me irrational to 

 doubt that, at no distant period, they will work as 

 great a revolution in the sphere of practice. 



The theory of evolution encourages no millennial 

 anticipations. If, for millions of years, our globe has 

 taken the upward road, yet, sometime, the summit 

 will be reached and the downward route will be com- 

 menced. The most daring imagination will hardly 

 venture upon the suggestion that the power and the 

 intelligence of man can ever arrest the procession of 

 the great year. 



Moreover the cosmic nature born with us and, to a 

 large extent, necessary for our maintenance, is the out- 

 come of millions of years of severe training, and it 

 would be folly to imagine that a few centuries will 

 suffice to subdue its masterfulness to purely ethical 

 ends. Ethical nature may count upon having to 

 reckon with a tenacious and powerful enemy 

 as long as the world lasts. But, on the other 

 hand, I see no limit to the extent to which 

 intelligence and will, guided by sound principles of 

 investigation, and organized in common effort, may 

 modify the conditions of existence, for a period longer 

 than that now covered by history. And much may 

 be done to change the nature of man himself. The 

 intelligence which has converted the brother of the 

 wolf into the faithful guardian of the flock ought to 



