10 HOLISM AND EVOLUTION chap. 



life from matter, and of the mind from both. For educated 

 men and women to-day Evolution is just as much part 

 and parcel of their general outlook, of their intellectual 

 atmosphere, so to say, as is the Copernican theory. 

 As I said before, this is a fact with very far-reaching 

 ^ implications. If we believe that life and mind come from 

 matter, if they are evolved from matter, if matter holds the 

 promise, the dread potencies of life and mind, it can for us 

 no longer be the old matter of the materialists or the 

 physicists. The acceptance of the view for which the 

 materialists fought so hard means in effect a com- 

 plete transformation of the simple situation which they 

 envisaged. Matter discloses a great secret; in the act of 

 giving birth to life or mind it shows itself in an entirely 

 unsuspected character, and it can never be the old matter 

 again. The matter which holds the secret of life and mind is 

 no longer the old matter which was merely the vehicle of 

 motion and energy. The landmarks of the old order are 

 shifting, the straight contours of the old ideas are curving, 

 the whole situation which we are contemplating in the 

 relations of matter, life and mind is becoming fluid instead 

 of remaining rigid. The point to grasp and hold on to 

 firmly is that the full and complete acceptance of Evolu- 

 tion must produce a great change in the significance of the 

 fundamental concepts for us. Life and mind now, instead 

 of being extraneous elements in the physical universe, 

 become identified with the physical order, and they are all 

 recognised as very much of a piece. This being so, it 

 obviously becomes impossible thereupon to proceed to erect 

 an all-embracing physical order in which life and mind are 

 once more declared aliens. This cat and mouse procedure 

 is simply a case of logical confusion. This in-and-out game 

 will not do. If Evolution is accepted, and life and mind are 

 developments in and from the physical order, they are in 

 that order, and it becomes impossible to continue to envisage 

 the physical order as purely mechanical, as one in which 

 they have no part or lot, in which they are no real factors, 

 and from which they should be logically excluded. If 



