THE DOGMA OF EVOLUTION 



them and with the simultaneous desires of all sur- 

 rounding individuals."^" It is no wonder that Tenny- 

 son, the poet of evolution, describes this seemingly 

 impossible state of the satisfactory reconciliation of 

 egotism and altruism as: "The far distant goal to 

 which creation moves." We can testify that it is not 

 yet proximate. 



If progress, or evolution, is thus a universal law, 

 we should have an expression of its character. Spencer 

 gives this law as follows: "Evolution is an integra- 

 tion of matter and concomitant dissipation of mo- 

 tion ; during which the matter passes from an indefi- 

 nite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent 

 heterogeneity; and during which the retained motion 

 undergoes a parallel transformation."^^ These are 

 brave words, but as a law, I confess, they carry no 

 meaning to me. I find motion and matter in the ob- 

 jective world but when they are applied to explain 

 my thoughts and the actions of society I can neither 

 discover nor measure any matter or motion. If the 

 Evolutionists can master this law and use it to de- 

 scribe any of my past thoughts or any past state of 

 society or predict my future thought or the future 

 state of society, they are closer to the character of 

 supermen than we had supposed. One wonders what 

 has permitted the homogeneity of the atom and of 

 the monad to be the only persistent things in the uni- 



20 Cosmic Philosophy, vol. Ill, p. 334. 



21 First Principles, p. 396. 



C 330 ] 



