268 THE LESSON OF EVOLUTION 



which excites men's minds to observe and to reason ; 

 and all the great laws of nature have been discovered 

 without any reference to it. Without the beauty 

 and wonderful complexity of natural objects man 

 would never have risen above the level of an intelli- 

 gent beast. Biologists too often forget that wonder 

 and admiration are the principal moving forces in 

 psychology. And, as we may feel sure that beautiful 

 objects were intended to do the work they have done, 

 it follows that the wonderful and the beautiful must 

 be recognised as prospective agents in biology. 



But if all these elaborate arrangements have been 

 designed for the purpose of constraining man to 

 evolve his own mind, there must- be some reason for 

 it. If it is part of the scheme that each of us should 

 do his best to cultivate his intellect and his moral 

 sense, it must be for some ulterior object which we do 

 not yet know. We see some men and women devote 

 themselves to the welfare of mankind. They go 

 through the whole ethical evolution and follow 

 strictly their consciences, refusing to do wrong, even 

 under great temptation. And then they die. Is 

 that the end? The whole progress of evolution, 

 from the creation of the cosmic dust, has for its goal 

 the production of these men and women ; and, if they 

 have perished, all appears to have been miscarried. 

 Was man given life, thought, and freedom of action 

 for nothing? I cannot think so, because I cannot 

 believe that the process of evolution is mean- 

 ingless. I cannot believe that evolution will 

 have no permanent effect. I cannot believe 

 that after the material universe has passed away, 



