RATIONAL LIFE 279 



is destitute of possessions concerned with the activi 

 ties of intelligence. The marvels of organism, and 

 the marvels of the rational life, stand quite apart. 

 Science by its advance has completed the demonstra 

 tion of its own insufficiency to account for the rational 

 power, and for the grand consequences in Nature, 

 which have followed upon the appearance of rational 

 life within it. 



This demonstration is also the demonstration of 

 the insufficiency of a theory of evolution. By refer 

 ence to its terms, as represented in the development 

 of the egg-cell, in the structure of the mature embryo 

 according to the originating species, and in the 

 slow laborious advance of species by slight modifica 

 tions in structure, the hypothesis is shown to be a 

 scheme of organic evolution. As such, its insuffi 

 ciency is demonstrated, by the evidence adduced in 

 proof of the inadequacy of organism to account for 

 the activity of the rational life. 



The last retreat of the biologist is to say, that he 

 does not know how much may yet be discovered to 

 be within the compass of brain power. But consider 

 of how little avail such a refuge is. It is only an 

 isthmus lying between two large and well-explored 

 territories, the well-known organism on the one side, 

 the well-known life of consciousness on the other. 

 Science has now penetrated so well into brain struc 

 ture, that the biologist has only a narrow retreat 

 within this isthmus, for a scientific mind, a 

 poor living-place, every day being narrowed, to the 

 extreme discomfort of the tenant. We know well 

 the distinctive characteristics of mental activity, its 

 reflective exercise, its concern with all that can be 



