Idea of Emergence 205 



scribblings. All through, evolution has been creative. 

 From first to last, the organism has been trading with 

 time and trafficking with circumstance, taking a hand 

 in its own evolution. 



§5. Emergent Evolution. 



There is something to be gained by considering what 

 Professor Lloyd Morgan calls "emergent evolution." 

 The whole ascent of life, not to speak of the genesis 

 farther back still, is studded with puzzling "emer- 

 gences" — outcrops of genuine novelties. In the field 

 of mechanics we can say with a clear intellectual 

 conscience: "This movement is the resultant of its 

 components : causa aiquat effectum" But in the realm 

 of organisms, our knowledge of the causal nexus is 

 often dim. No zoologist doubts that birds evolved 

 from an extinct reptilian stock, from amidst the Orni- 

 thischian Dinosaurs. But we cannot even imagine 

 how the reptile, creature of the earth, gave origin to 

 the conquerors of the air, the emblems of freedom. 

 Birds emerged ; we are sure of that, but of little else. 

 Let us take an illustration of a simple kind from 

 the domain of things. Everyone knows that in certain 

 conditions a combination of hydrogen and oxygen 

 spells water. No alien influence intervenes; all is 

 approximately known — the raw materials and the 

 stimulating conditions that bring about their union. 

 There is no joukery-pawkery. And yet a novelty re- 

 sults — at least it would have been a startling novelty 

 if we had not been familiar with it before. Water 

 results, with unpredictable properties very different 



