PROGRESS 49 



criticism there is the obvious reply that at some 

 period there was an origin of human from non-human 

 organisms, and that during the period of transition 

 at least (and probably for a considerable time after- 

 ward) there naturally must have been a raising of 

 the upper level of attainments, and still more of 

 possibility. The main point at issue, however, is 

 not to be gainsaid. It appears ^ that comparatively 

 early in the evolution of man, there appeared, in some 

 branches of the stock, a type of mental organization 

 which has not yet been improved upon. An individual 

 possessing it is capable, when developing in proper 

 environment (the most important single elements of 

 which are the organization and tradition of the com- 

 munity to which he belongs) of attaining to possibilities 

 which, measured in terms of the potentialities of any 

 previous organism, are wellnigh boundless. He can 

 survey the whole of mankind, penetrate the future 

 with prophecy, bring the gamut of experience within a 

 work of art, discover the laws by which the universe 

 operates. Judged thus, Goethe is no greater and no 

 less great than Leonardo, Shakespeare than Dante or 

 iEschylus, Darwin than Pasteur, Kant than Plato. 



The best type of human mind, operating to the best 

 advantage, is introduced to possibilities so vast in 

 comparison with its paltry span of existence that it 

 can never realize more than a fraction of them. 

 Furthermore, since the incidence of natural selection 

 1 See Carr-Saunders, '22. 

 D 



