EVOLUTION AND THE HIGHER HUMAN LIFE 309 



deal with the structure, development, interrelation- 

 ships, and vital activities of animals and plants. Surely 

 knowledge has evolved with the advance in all of these 

 subjects from decade to decade and from year to year. 

 And just as surely must evolution continue, for the world 

 has not stopped developing, and therefore the great 

 principles of science must undergo further changes, 

 even though they are the best summaries that can be 

 formulated at the present time. 



Philosophy deals with general conceptions of the uni- 

 verse. WTien we look back through the ages we find 

 men picturing the world as an aggregate of diverse and 

 uncorrelated elements — earth, air, fire, and water. The 

 synthesis of facts and the construction of general prin- 

 ciples down through Bacon, Newton, and Schopenhauer 

 to modern world conceptions results in the unification of 

 all — "the choir of heaven and furniture of earth." 

 The lineal descendant of the long hne of ancestral phi- 

 losophies is the monism which sees no difference between 

 the living and lifeless worlds save that of varying com- 

 binations of ultimate elements which are conceived as 

 uniform ''mind-stuff" everywhere. WTiether or not 

 this universal conception of totality is true, remains for 

 the future to show. For us the important truth is that 

 here, as in all other departments of knowledge, evolution 

 proves to be real. 



In closing the present description of the basis, nature, 

 and scope of the doctrine of evolution, I find great diffi- 

 culty in choosing the right words for a concise statement 

 of the larger values and results of this department of 



