748 Causes and Course of Organic Evolution 



tionate proenvironal realization by Christ and his followers 

 of the existence and power of a good First Cause or God, of 

 whose infinite energy man is a temporary and greatly condensed 

 expression, whose laws bring man into relations with that 

 First Cause who to the human intellect can alone be pictured 

 as paternal, and by whose laws, impressed on the world and 

 interpreted by man, the latter should view his fellow with 

 loving regard and consideration." 



The writer desires now, quite clearly and candidly, to state 

 the following views regarding his outlook on some important 

 questions involved in the foregoing description. He states 

 these under a deep — a most profound — feeling of responsibility 

 and regard for his own past views, his upbringing, his national 

 traditions, his future outlook on life, his realization that he 

 truly is his "brother's keeper." He has reached these views 

 after years of struggle toward some position that would enable 

 him to unify and clarify his conceptions regarding pure science, 

 psychology, religion, and the general trend of human life. 



The mistakes he has doubtless made — for life is composed 

 in no small measure of mistakes, and all that these involve — 

 will in time be all indicated and corrected; the views worthy 

 of acceptance will, he trusts, receive fair treatment. His 

 conclusions are: 



(1) Each human individual can discover and recognize truth 

 only by the senses and the nervous mechanism associated 

 therewith. 



(2) The senses, by intermediation of the connecting nerve 

 fibers, stimulate the substance of the nerve cells, so that the 

 latter store up, elaborate into more complex summated result- 

 ants, and then discharge nerve impulses by the efferent nerves. 



(3) If these impulses are hurtful to the human organism 

 and its progeny, they may be minimized or annulled by action 

 of the inhibitory nerves. If such action does not proceed, 

 the organism in time dies. 



(4) If these impulses are beneficial, they emerge as words 

 or actions that then characterize and advance the individual. 



(5) In the relation of man to his neighbor — wife, children, 

 friends, national kin, international fellowmen — the words and 



