274 THE LESSON OF EVOLUTION 



" Nature is neither wholly blind nor wholly the 

 creature of intelligent purpose. Origin and purpose 

 are mutually dependent parts of one scheme." I 

 hope that I have shown that we can accept the 

 second of his propositions without stifling the moral 

 sense, because mind is free from imposed natural 

 laws. 



That mind exists is a fact, and that it is an active 

 force in nature is another fact ; and we cannot resist 

 the conclusion that it exists in all living cells. 

 Wherever there is life there is mind, and wherever 

 there is mind there is life. Mind is* the vital-force 

 of physiologists, and living matter is protoplasm 

 in which the molecular movements are directed by 

 mind. We must, therefore, enlarge our meaning 

 of the words, mind and memory, so as to include 

 the mental processes of the lowest organisms. Per- 

 haps another example will make this point clearer. 



When the oospore of Nitella commences to ger- 

 minate it divides into two portions, a large and a 

 smaller. No difference, either chemical or physical, 

 can be detected between the protoplasm of each cell, 

 but that in the larger is dead, while that in the 

 smaller is alive and will grow into a plant. It is the 

 same with the eggs of many kinds of animals, in- 

 cluding the hen. Here the white of the egg and the 

 greater part of the yolk are as dead as the shell. A 

 small portion only of the yolk, called the blastoderm, 

 is alive. This blastoderm takes advantage of the 

 heat-waves supplied from the outside and gradually 

 arranges the yolk and the white into a young bird 

 which fills the shell. This process of development 



