180 Religious Aspect of Evolution 



the variation seems to be the outcome of more than 

 the permutation and combination of factors ; it looks 

 as if the factors themselves had changed. This is sug- 

 gestive of the vital, something beyond mechanism. 

 Similarly, when Darwin compared the fashioning of 

 the beautiful hinge of some bivalve shells to the for- 

 mation of snow-wreaths in stormy weather, he was 

 perhaps deviating a little from his usual shrewdness. 

 For in proportion to our knowledge of the wind, the 

 surface-relief, the texture of the snow, and other fac- 

 tors, we can give a satisfactory mechanical account 

 of the larger phenomena in the making of a snow- 

 wreath, whereas we can only go a little way with a 

 mechanical account of germinal variations, heredi- 

 tarv entailment, the influence of function, and the 

 intricate processes of Natural Selection. One must 

 not make too much of an argumentum ad ignoran- 

 tiam, but increasing knowledge of evolutionary pro- 

 cesses lessens the range that one is inclined to allow 

 to the fortuitous and strengthens the emphasis which 

 one is inclined to lay on activities that transcend 

 mechanism. 



§19. Evolution in Its Religious Aspect. 



How should our knowledge of Organic Evolution 

 enter into our all-round philosophical and religious 

 picture ? 



(I) The evolutionist discloses a sublime cosmic 

 process, continuing without rest, without haste, for 

 millions of years, with what might be anthropomor- 

 phically called a patient progressiveness. Not by a 



