192 Huxley on Necessity and Freedom. CHAP. 



a dog to point, unless he had noticed such a tend- 

 ency. 



We may be reminded that while we have offered 

 an account of the evolution of some of the mental 

 powers, we have taken for granted the evolution of 

 the brain, on which the mental powers depend. This 

 is true. Structure and Function have been evolved 

 together, and the evolution of each was necessary to 

 that of the other. 



To return to the point where we began. I do not 

 say that these reasonings prove the reality of indeter- 

 minisin and Freedom. I do not think it admits 

 of proof ; it is as much as we can hope for, if we 

 can show that from the scientific point of view our 

 opinion is as defensible as the opposite one, while the 

 moral arguments for the doctrine of Freedom remain 

 for what they are worth and in my opinion they 

 are worth very much. Professor Huxley once said 

 I quote from memory that the controversy about 

 Necessity and Freedom will always be a drawn battle, 

 and that for all practical purposes this is equivalent 

 to the believers in Freedom gaining the victory. I 

 can assent to this, though Huxley is a Necessarian 

 and I believe in Freedom ; all that we can hope to 

 do is to remove some supposed presumptions in 

 favour of the doctrine of absolute Necessity, and 

 some difficulties in the way of believing in Freedom, 

 which at first sight may appear formidable, and yet 

 disappear when really understood. I fully admit 

 that the entire world of mere matter is, probably, 



