RELIGION AND SCIENCE 257 



sequent geological period the Psychozoic. That 



period, geologically speaking, has yet run but a tiny 



span ; and we are no more entitled to think that 



we have reached or even imagined the possibilities 



of its future evolution than we should have been 



entitled to regard the possibilities of purely biological 



evolution as having been exhausted after the far 



longer period needed to give rise to a coral polyp 



or a jelly-fish as highest existing types of organism. \ 



Even man as a biological species is in his infancy, not 



to speak of other psychozoic types that may be waiting 



in the womb of time. 



But what are the characteristics of this new phase ? 

 In the first place, mind has become self-conscious ; 

 thus the evolutionary methods of psychozoic organ- 

 isms may become conscious, and they come to direct 

 their own evolution instead of having their destinies 

 shaped by the blind forces of natural selection. 



In most respects the same direction as before is 

 pursued, but new methods are introduced. The 

 rate of change, of movement in that direction, is 

 accelerated ; and the possibility is given of elimin- 

 ating a vast deal of waste. A watchmaker sends 

 out very few defective watches : why ? because he 

 makes his watches on a preconceived plan. Even 

 when an improvement in watch construction is 

 introduced, he can draw up his plan beforehand, and 

 at the worst, waste only time and paper, instead of 

 metal and for more time. Ideas do not need to be 



R 



