278 EVOLUTION AND MAN S PLACE IN NATURE 



animals; having possibilities and a destiny, peculiar 

 to himself, impossible to organic life, even to the 

 organism which is part of his own being, and which 

 he uses as the instrument held to the service of his 

 own rational purpose, uses, however, with endless tear 

 and wear, telling of its coming dissolution. 



This conclusion as to the inability of biology to pre 

 sent a science of human life, is reached by exhaustion 

 of all that biology has to offer by way of explanation. 

 All that has been demonstrated as to the action of 

 the nerve-system, is accepted, and turned to full use. 

 Within this is included all that has been ascertained 

 as to the action of brain. As our knowledge of this 

 wonderful central organ has extended, it has become 

 more obvious that it carries no explanation of the 

 activities of the rational life. As localisation of its 

 functions has advanced, the difficulties of the biologist 

 in making good his claim to include the activities of 

 the rational life have increased. As convolutions 

 and cells, and intra-cranial relations have been brought 

 under observation; as the intricate demands of co 

 ordination within this elaborate central organ have 

 been considered; as we have contemplated distribu 

 tion of all the sensory impressions, and transference of 

 these to the complex muscular system, it has become 

 increasingly clear, that the demands on the central 

 organ for maintenance of the integrity of an organic 

 life are such, that the still more complicated and varied 

 activities of the reflective life cannot also be concen 

 trated here. They stand before us unexplained. There 

 is not even a beginning made with an explanation 

 of the higher phenomena of the rational life. Biology, 

 rich in its possessions as to structure and functions, 



