262 THE LESSON OF EVOLUTION 



genesis of consciousness in animals necessarily marks 

 a break in continuity, notwithstanding that its origin 

 is quite incomprehensible to us. 



Free-will in man is so contrary to what we know 

 of the laws of nature, that some metaphysicians be- 

 lieve there is no such thing. However, I must con- 

 fess that I am one of those who think that the posses- 

 sion of free-will by man is a truth as fundamental 

 as self-existence. Everyone, I think, knows that by 

 means of his imagination he can, at his will, 

 strengthen one set of impulses and weaken another-; 

 and that he can, within limits, control his actions. 

 Consequently, he knows that he is not altogether an 

 automaton. If it could be shewn that the hypothesis 

 of necessity explained matters which the common 

 sense view could not, then I might be inclined to 

 believe in it. But such is not the case ; and I have 

 given reasons for thinking that volition, which is the 

 basis of free-will, is inherent in mind, so that the 

 origin of this also is the same problem as the origin of 

 life. But the origin of life certainly appears to be a 

 break in continuity ; and so the idea of the con- 

 tinuous action of secondary causes fails. 



When we try to follow the subject further, we are 

 beset with innumerable difficulties, arising from the 

 complicated nature of the problem. However, it 

 seems probable that the whole of biological evolution 

 may be due to the working of natural laws which we 

 already know, but the action of which we cannot 

 trace out in detail. Nevertheless we must remember 

 that we have as yet no theory of variation that fits a '1 

 the facts. At present variations appear to be as 



