EVIDENCE FOR EVOLUTION 13 



this poverty of material, there are no traces of poverty 

 of intellect. Intelligence, here traced as having been at 

 work in order to produce a sharpened instrument, only 

 waits for better material, by use of which intelligence 

 itself will be quickened. Very much has thus been 

 worked into human intelligence since the stone age, 

 for understanding has steadily widened its range 

 by discovery of wealth in Nature. The improved 

 instruments of successive ages are only indirect testi 

 mony to intellectual progress; still more valuable 

 testimony is found in the widening range of language, 

 in increase of human comforts, and, in later ages, 

 accumulation of literary treasures. Imagination needs 

 effort to span these vast stretches of time. There is 

 a very wide chasm between the stone -axe and the 

 steam-hammer ; between arrow-heads and a forty-ton 

 gun ; between the shell-heaps of rude settlers on the 

 coast, and the scientific inquiries concerning marine 

 biology. Rational life has held the field through long 

 ages ; during these it has persistently prosecuted dis 

 covery ; while so engaged, it has been constantly 

 utilising fresh knowledge of Nature s treasures. What 

 is to be said of the origin of this life, is a question 

 lying behind the manufacture of spear-heads and the 

 accumulation of shell-mounds. No one suggests that 

 man found axe-heads and stone-hammers lying ready 

 to hand. 



In developing the theory of Evolution, Darwin could 

 not have selected any other course than that which 

 he adopted ; but when an attempt is made to include 

 man, there is manifest disadvantage, arising from the 

 fact that the structure of the theory has been deter 

 mined mainly by study of animal life. Advantages 



