464 Animal Life and Intelligence, 



CHAPTER XII. 



MENTAL EVOLUTION. 



THE phrase " mental evolution " clearly implies the existence 

 of somewhat concerning which evolution can be predicated ; 

 and the adjective " mental " further implies that this some- 

 what is that which we term " mind." What is this mind 

 which is said to be evolved ? And out of what has it been 

 evolved ? Can we say that matter, when it reaches the 

 complexity of the grey cortex of the brain, becomes at last 

 self-conscious ? May we say that mind is evolved from 

 matter, and that when the dance of molecules reaches a 

 certain intensity and intricacy consciousness is developed ? 

 I conceive not. 



" If a material element," says Mr. A. R. Wallace,* " or 

 a combination of a thousand material elements in a molecule, 

 are alike unconscious, it is impossible for us to believe that 

 the mere addition of one, two, or a thousand other material 

 elements to form a more complex molecule could in any 

 way tend to produce a self-conscious existence. The things 

 are radically distinct. To say that mind is a product or 

 function of protoplasm, or of its molecular changes, is to 

 use words to which we can attach no clear conception. 

 You cannot have in the whole what does not exist in any 

 of the parts ; and those who argue thus should put forth 

 a definite conception of matter, with clearly enunciated 

 properties, and show that the necessary result of a certain 

 complex arrangement of the elements or atoms of that 

 matter will be the production of self-consciousness. There 

 is no escape from this dilemma either all matter is con- 



* " Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection," p. 365. 



