THE FOUNDATION OF EVOLUTION 



to the mind by which it is known. In the last 

 analysis, is this relation an identity? Spinoza said 

 yes, and Goethe declared his framing of and answer 

 to this question to be the greatest, truest, and pro- 

 foundest thought of all the ages. 



And here, before we can estimate the breadth 

 of the foundation upon which the evolutionary 

 philosophy stands, we may inquire into the various 

 entities, or apparent entities, with which philoso 

 phy has to deal; for if it be true that &quot;all facts 

 belong to science, and are her portion forever,&quot; 

 so assuredly is it true of philosophy. The philo 

 sophic system with which one fact, of any order, 

 is incompatible, must be mended or ended, how 

 ever vast its fabric and sublime its mien. 



Let us, then, take the Cosmos, or the sum of all 

 that is, and reduce it, if we may, to its ultimate 

 components, so that we may know with what 

 orders of facts science must deal. But before 

 making such a category as is compatible with the 

 knowledge of to-day, let us contemplate a very 

 simple one which appeared valid to many some 

 thirty years ago. 



The dogma of theoretical materialism (which 

 we must not confound with practical materialism 

 or mammon-worship) was not the least clear of 

 creeds outworn. According to it, the spectator 

 of all time and all existence had to deal with an 

 aggregation of moving atoms. These atoms were 

 very small, indivisible, hard or impenetrable bod 

 ies, of some seventy-five elemental varieties, each 



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