THE RELATION OF EVOLUTION TO MATERIALISM. 83 



— true, but wrong in excluding tlie other point of view ; and a 

 true solution, a true rational philosophy, will always be found 

 in a view which combines and reconciles the two partial, mutu- 

 ally excluding views, showing in what they are true and in what 

 they are false — explaining their differences by transcending 

 them. This is so universal and far-reaching a principle that I 

 am sure I will be pardoned for illustrating it in the homeliest 

 and tritest fashion. I will do so by means of the shield with the 

 diverse sides, giving the story and construing it, however, in my 

 own way. There is, apparently, no limit to the amount of rich 

 marrow of truth that may be extracted from these dry bones of 

 popular proverbs and fables by patient turning and gnawing. 



We all remember, then, the famous dispute concerning the 

 shield, with its sides of different colors, which we shall here call 

 white and black. We all remember how, after vain attempts to 

 discover the truth by dispute, it was agreed to try the scientific 

 method of investigation. We all remember the surprising re- 

 sult. Both parties to the dispute were right and both were 

 wrong. Each was right from his point of view, but wrong in 

 excluding the other point of view. Each was right in what he 

 asserted, and each wrong in what he denied ; and the complete 

 truth was the combination of the partial truths and the elimina- 

 tion of the partial errors. But we must not make the mistake 

 of supposing that truth consists in compromise. There is an old 

 adage that truth lies in the middle between antagonistic ex- 

 tremes. But it seems to us that this is the place of safety, not 

 of truth. This is the favorite adage, therefore, of the timid 

 man, the time-server, the fence-man, not the truth-seeker. Sup- 

 pose there had been on the occasion mentioned above one of 

 these fence-philosophers. He would have said: "These dispu- 

 tants are equally intelligent and equally valiant. One side says 

 the shield is white, the other that it is black ; now tl'uth lies in 

 the middle ; therefore, I conclude the shield is gray or neutral 

 tint, or a sort of pepper-and-salt." Do we not see that he is the 

 only man who has no truth in him ? No ; truth is no heteroge- 

 neous mixture of opposite extremes, but a stereoscopic combina- 

 tion of two surface views into one solid reality. 



Now, the same is true of all vexed questions, and I have 

 given this trite fable again only to apply it to the case in hand. 



There are three possible views concerning the origin of or- 

 ganic forms whether individual or specific. Two of these are 

 opposite and mutually excluding ; the third combining and rec- 

 onciling. For example, take the individual. There are three 

 theories concerning the origin of the individual. The first is 

 that of the pious child who thinks that he was made very much 

 as he himself makes his dirt-pies; the second is that of the 



