CH. xvii METAPHYSICS OF NATURAL SELECTION 207 



the sketch of the army in the background had a histori- 

 cal interest, etc., etc., when Napoleon, having recovered 

 his good temper, remarked, " After all I owe a good deal 

 to these worthy little men." Well might he say so ! 



Finally, among the different human provinces, we 

 have the assertion that natural selection prevails in 

 morals. 



Prof. Alexander alleges this of moral ideas. They 

 struggle against each other, and the fittest survive. 

 Stripped of metaphor, the meaning is that free discus- 

 sion is a condition of progress in moral thought. Surely, 

 it is one condition. But it is a psychical condition ; it 

 implies reason ; it implies the power of the great man 

 to indoctrinate others. 



Mr. Alexander has not affirmed literal natural 

 selection. It was impossible that he should, though in 

 some respects he has gone too near it, and has thus 

 exaggerated the mutual repulsiveness and exclusiveness 

 of distinct types of ethical thought. 



But, after all, is not the main point here just the 

 one which Mr. Alexander (following Darwin) takes for 

 granted ? Whence come the new varieties ? In dealing 

 with morals, at any rate, this is all-important ; and in 

 dealing with morals, at any rate, this cannot be answered. 

 Even the victorious analysis of the evolutionist is baffled 

 here at the central point 



A spirit breatheth, and is still ; 

 In mystery our soul abides. 



What one can say about new and sound moral ideas 

 smacks painfully of platitude. Sometimes they may 

 be championed at first by moral eccentrics. But usually 

 the teacher will be well rooted in the past, drawing 



