SIDE IvIGHTS ON BIRDS 



this attraction would bring birds at once to the 

 largest and nearest masses of land. But Dr. Eagle 

 Clarke has shown that this is by no means the 

 case. Space does not admit of illustrations, but 

 we may say that the conclusion is firmly reached 

 that birds do not, of necessity, make for the 

 nearest points of land, but are found, even in the 

 darkness and in fog, persistently following par- 

 ticular lines of flight. 



Thus, by a process of elimination, modern 

 thought is driven back to the ancient wisdom. 

 Professor Newton's phrase, " Inherited but un- 

 conscious experience :" Di. Eagle Clarke's own 

 words, "Unconscious guidance:" Russell Wal- 

 lace's statement ' ' that there is ' mind ' as an 

 acting cause of all the basic phenomena of life:" 

 all bring us back to the fact that life may be 

 directed in ways to which our own five senses 

 give no clue.' 



78 



