xx INTRODUCTION 



substance on to the earth ; an action which defies all 

 our efforts to connect it with any previous stage. 

 But some scientific men, who hold that mind exists 

 in all matter, assert that the break is apparent only. 

 These, who are called Monists, generally allow that 

 living substances cannot now originate from dead 

 matter, and that we cannot explain how mind 

 became manifested in protoplasm. But they think 

 that if we knew the conditions under which life first 

 appeared we might then explain its origin. 



The Dualists, who hold that mind is distinct from 

 matter, abide by the evidence of their senses, and 

 take things to be as they appear to be. And, as 

 science is founded on evidence and not on conjectural 

 hopes, it is probable that the opinions held by the 

 Monists will, in time, die out. 



It is my object in the following pages to discuss 

 these questions, and to examine the evidence on 

 which they rest ; and I hope to do this in an impartial 

 spirit, although, as the evidence seems to me to be 

 all on one side, I am afraid that I may seem to be 

 partial. The conclusion I come to the lesson of 

 evolution is that mind is distinct from matter, and 

 that it is itself undergoing evolution on the earth. 

 It is, therefore, probable that this mental evolution 

 will be continued after physical and biological 

 evolutions are over. For the introduction of mind 

 on to the earth must have been for some purpose. 

 Man has not been given free-will for nothing. He 

 is intended to work out his own ethical evolution, 

 and this can only be done by the exercise of free- 

 will : by a constant individual conflict between his 



