Exfoliation 



scious element from his observations of Nature. 

 And he has done valuable work in this way but 

 of course has been betrayed into a corresponding 

 narrowness. 



In fact the main scientific doctrine of the day, 

 Evolution, is obviously suffering from this treat- 

 ment, and the following remarks are merely a few 

 notes by way of suggestion of some things which 

 may be said on its more specially human side. 

 For since each man is a part of nature, and in 

 that sense a part also of the evolution-process, 

 his own subjective experience ought at least 

 to throw some light on the conditions under 

 which evolution takes place, and to contribute 

 something towards an understanding of the 

 problem. 



If the question is : What is the cause of Varia- 

 tion among animals ? some approximation towards 

 an answer ought to be got by each person asking 

 himself, "Why do I vary ? " Why he might 

 say am I a different person from what I was ten 

 years ago, or when I was a boy ? Why have I 

 varied in one direction and my brothers and 

 sisters from the same nest in other directions ? 

 Though my individual consciousness only covers 

 the small ground of my own life, and does not 

 extend back to that of my father or forward to 

 that of my son, still the intimate knowledge that 

 I have of the forces acting on me during that short 

 period may help me to an understanding of the 

 forces that bring about the modification of men 

 and animals at large, and the discovery of some 



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