"From the Unconscious to the Conscious 



This stupefying testimony, teaching us that neither 

 the radical changes in the larva, nor the mysterioui 

 histolysis, compromise in any way the future morphology 

 of the perfect insect, upsets all our concepts on the 

 building up of the organism and of the transformations 

 of species. 1 By its whole biology the insect presents 

 the symbol of what evolution really is, and as we shall 

 see later, it proves that the essential cause of evolution 

 should be sought neither in the influence of the environ- 

 ment, nor in the reactions of organic matter to that 

 environment; but in a dynamism 2 independent of that 

 organic matter directing it and superior to it. 



It shows us evolution taking place primarily by an 

 internal impulse entirely distinct from surrounding 

 influences, by a primordial effort, unerring but still 

 mysterious and absolutely inexplicable by classical 

 naturalism. 



Not only so: this incomparable testimony, while it 

 is the negation of contemporaneous naturalistic theories, 

 contradicts also the antiquated concept of Providential 

 creation. 



From the psychological point of view, the leading 

 characteristic of the insect is that it possesses pure 

 instinct almost without a trace of intelligence. Further, 

 we find that this pure instinct, which has remained 

 such for ages, is marked by a refined and cruel ferocity 

 without counterpart in the rest of the animal world, but 

 nevertheless perfectly innocent. 



This ferocity then, if there were a responsible 

 Creator, would be the pure, the immaculate work of 



1 Analogous to the testimony of the insect is that of certain species 

 of molluscs and crustaceans. Before arriving at the adult form, animals 

 of these species undergo extraordinary modifications, by very diverse 

 adaptations. Nevertheless the future development of these animals 

 continues in despite of their metamorphoses, as if governed by an unalter- 

 able and immanent directive principle. 



* Dynamism = concrete means of power: holding the same relation 

 to dynamics as 'mechanism' to mechanics. [Translator's note.] 



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