88 ESSAYS OF A BIOLOGIST 



We have already seen that a certain direction ob- 

 tains in organic evolution. Into the details of this 

 process I have not here the time to go; we must be 

 content with the brief enumeration which has al- 

 ready been given of the qualities of organisms whose 

 maximum level, and to a lesser degree whose average, 

 have increased during evolution. 



So far so good. But a process may be going in a 

 definite direction and yet not be satisfactory. 



This road leads to London; this other to Pud- 

 dlington Parva. We all know people who are ob- 

 viously headed for success, while it is on record that 

 Mr. Mantalini's direction was towards ''the demni- 

 tion bow-wows.'* 



But we know that we ourselves consciously find 

 value in things, in objects and aims, in directions and 

 processes. In this we are unique among organisms, 

 and as a matter of fact a large part of our life is deter- 

 mined by the relative values we set on objects. On 

 the whole, however, there is a reasonable amount of 

 agreement among different individuals, at any rate 

 in one country at one epoch, as to what they call good 

 and what they call bad. There are very few west- 

 ern Europeans who find dirt or untruthfulness good, 

 knowledge or bravery bad. 



When we look into the trend of biological evolu- 

 tion, we find as a matter of fact that it has operated 

 to produce on the whole what we find good, to bring 

 into being more and more things on which we can 

 set positive value. This is not to say that progress 



