SELECTED PAPERS 



inanimate matter, then one should realize that this implies no more 

 than that these two forms of matter were not created separately, but 

 that one act of creation comprises all. The prime mystery remains; 

 the magnificence of the creation is thereby not assaulted; quite the 

 contrary. 



We must also consider the following proposition. The biologist 

 who, now and then, examines effervescent life in astonishment, some- 

 times mixed with aversion or even fear, will be conscious of the fact 

 that he observes merely a momentary stage in life's evolution, and 

 that the objects studied may be characterized as the by-products of an 

 evolution that has also led to the appearance of that organism on 

 whom has been conferred the grace of the spirit and the soul. With 

 the appearance of man the collective principle of life did not only 

 undergo a radical alteration; it also implied a new element in evolu- 

 tion. Prior to that moment life developed according to the 'trial and 

 error' principle of a blind mutation; the road traversed was, so to 

 speak, strewn with the remnants of mutations harbouring lethal factors, 

 and of those that had fallen prey to the selective action of the environ- 

 ment. The advent of man brought about a change because indubi- 

 tably there are forces hidden in the human mind that participate in 

 determining the course of evolution. 



On the one hand this can be made tangible, as it were, by saying 

 that we have already progressed so far that an utter destruction of 

 humanity, perhaps even of all life on earth, is now within the reach 

 of human possibilities. But opposed to this is another aspect. The 

 acquired insight into the laws of heredity enables man to re-create, so 

 to speak, the forms of life by which he is surrounded, and by conscious 

 selection preferentially to promote particular forms. The command- 

 ment, 'have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of 

 the air, and over everything that moveth upon the earth', acquires 

 a new meaning in the light of present-day biological science. 



And as far as man himself is concerned, already for a long time it 

 has not been medical science only, but also mental factors, such as 

 love and compassion, that have called a halt to evolutionary forces of 

 a blind and decimating kind. Who dares predict to what a further 

 unfolding of the human mind and spirit may yet lead? 



Heavy is the responsibility that rests on mankind; may we succeed 

 in finding the right way. 



524 



