184 Summary 



now been mimicked in the laboratory by Professor 

 Baly and his colleagues. 



3. An outlook on Animate Nature discloses an 

 immense world of living creatures — multitudinous 

 and yet orderly, balanced and yet changeful, plastic 

 and yet insurgent. After we have paid a tribute of 

 admiration and wonder, we have to face the question : 

 How did it come to be as it is ? The transcendental or 

 religious answer is, "By the Will of the Creator"; 

 but to rest satisfied with that answer is an impiety. It 

 is denying our birthright as inquiring minds to re- 

 frain from trying to understand the concrete ways in 

 which the birds and beasts, the flowers and trees, have 

 come to be as they are. The more thoroughly we can 

 answer the scientific question, the more truth we shall 

 see in the religious interpretation. 



4. The general idea of evolution is that the present 

 is the child of the past and the parent of the future. 

 Evolution means a racial movement in a definite di- 

 rection as the result of which new types emerge, take 

 root, and flourish, either in place of or alongside of 

 those from which they arose. The evolution formula 

 is a modal formula of becoming. It fits all the facts 

 and is the only scientific descriptive formula in the 

 field. It is to be distinguished from particular theories 

 as to the factors that effect the evolutionary change. 

 In regard to these factors (e.g., variation, selection) 

 there is and should be much uncertainty, but the fact 

 is accepted by all competent naturalists. It cannot be 

 demonstrated like the Law of Gravitation, but it is 



