

THEISTIC AND ATHEISTIC EVOLUTION 35 



Let us now consider more closely the interior laws 

 of evolution in the organic world. The monists 

 maintain such * inexplicable laws to be superfluous. 

 But if we assume no more than that the living 

 substance possesses a capacity of reaction, when ex 

 posed to external stimulus, we are at once confronted 

 with the principle of expediency, which cannot be 

 further explained (by monists), because the idea of 

 purpose or design is inseparable from it. 



I wish to emphasise this statement. In proto 

 plasm the faculty of reacting conformably to an 

 end implies the existence of an intrinsic law of 

 evolution. Such a law is the interior laws of evolu 

 tion are inseparable from the idea of capacity on the 

 part of the protoplasm to react in accordance with 

 expediency. These laws are absolutely indispens 

 able, because we cannot imagine a living proto 

 plasm devoid of the vital purpose expressed in the 

 processes of growth, nutrition, and propagation. 



It would, however, be a mistake to regard the 

 interior laws of evolution, which the theistic theory 

 of life assumes as the chief principle underlying 

 the evolution of the organic world, as a sort of 

 clockwork, wound up once for all, and left to run 

 down. We must not assume the existence of any 

 * pre-established harmony between an organism and 

 the world around it ; no, it is rather reciprocal 

 action and the disposition to reciprocal action, 

 which allows the interior and exterior factors in 

 evolution to work together. When people speak of 



