74 Proceedings 
also; and the same must be true, unless we can show some su- 
preme cause to the contrary, also of those moral characteristics 
which are intimately connected with the mind, and sometimes 
rule it; and of the higher animal functions which constitute Life, 
in the sense in which ordinary people use that word. Moreover, 
the whole of this statement may be put equally well in the pre- 
sent or the future tense; we may say also that they are being 
evolved, and that they will be evolved. This particular wideness 
of outlook is essential to the theory; and here again I must re- 
mark that even if the subject matter were of no practical im- 
portance, the wideness of its outlook, into past, present, and 
future, might justly serve to draw our attention to Darwin’s idea. 
The information and the methods that were at Darwin’s 
disposal were insufficient to prove his theory. But by his industry 
and clearness of thought he was enabled so to present it that 
almost all naturalists who had not theories of their own to nurse, 
came to regard it as much more probable than any other view. 
Strictly speaking, neither of Darwin’s great works is logically 
convincing; this fact still leads certain philosophers to construct 
ingenious proofs that the doctrine of evolution never can be proved. 
On the other hand, there is to many minds an immense attraction 
to be found in any idea that revolutionises thought; they think 
that mankind has in the past made so many mistakes that any 
downright reversal of widespread beliefs, if accompanied by a 
tolerable amount of evidence, is certain to point towards en- 
lightenment and truth. It seems likely that there is exaggeration 
in both of these views; but I think there are few naturalists who 
are not convinced that Darwin’s theory is fundamentally true. 
I do not think we have yet grasped the methods and causes of 
evolution; but I think it may be done in the course of the next 
fifty years, if the progress of Science is not stopped by certain 
unworthy human tendencies. 
Amongst such tendencies, which we must oppose with all our 
might, we may class the insidious inclination to shorten our work 
by appealing to Authority. It is our duty to see for ourselves 
that things are as we describe them, and not to rely upon the 
statements of others, who may have looked at facts from a differ- 
ent point of view, or (so to speak) through different spectacles. 
— 
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