28 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 
quite true; but it proves nothing. As I have just said, we 
know that physical evolution prepared the way for life, and 
that biological evolution prepared the way for the develop- 
ment of mind. [In each case the evolution had a prospective 
purpose, which could not have been predicted by an intel- 
ligent onlooker. Indeed, the intelligent onlooker might 
have been sufficiently self-confident to affirm at each stage 
that no further evolution was possible. And it seems to 
ms highly probable that psychological evolution on the 
earth may also have a prospective purpose. That it also 
will lead to a further evolution, which we cannot even 
imagine, but which must be connected with a spiritual exist- 
ence beyond the grave. 
And thus, at the dawn of the twentieth century, we come 
back to the old belief, held by the rude men who inhabited 
Europe in the Neolithic Age, that man’s spirit does not die 
with his body. But we hope that we have surer grounds. 
for that belief than had our ancient ancestors, who, as I have 
already pointed out, founded their opinion soley on their 
dreams. 
SuMMARY. 
I will now, if conclusion, shortly summarise what I have 
said. We have seen that natural philosophy was, at first, 
polytheistic, and then become dormant for many centuries. 
After the revival of the study of nature, scientific teaching 
was decidedly Pantheistic, but it has now come round to 
Theism, and this last change was brought about by the est- 
ablishment of the doctrine of evolution. It appears highly 
probable that the material Universe is not eternal, but will, 
in time, come to an end. The earth, and, consequently, 
the sun, is probably not much more than one hundred mil- 
lions of years old; and, as the sun is one of the oldest of 
the stars, it is probable that the origin of the Universe does 
not date back for two hundred millions of years. | What 
went before, and what will come after, we can never know ; 
but we may believe, with some confidence, that there is no 
natural process of rejuvenescence—no possibility of the pre- 
sent Universe coming back again to its original starting- 
oint. 
i Now, for anyone who believes that mind has heen the 
organiser of energy, there can only be two competing 
theories of the Universe—Pantheism (now usually calied 
Monism) and Theism (now often called Dualism). But 
either there is some process of rejuvenescence which has not 
yet been discovered, or Pantheism is impossible. As reason- 
able men and women, we must follow the best available 
