340 THE LAW OF EVOLUTION CONTINUED. 



tion which is unaccompanied by secondary re-distributions, 

 it has been tacitly asserted that where secondary re-distri- 

 butions occur, complexity arises. Obviously if, while there 

 has gone on a transformation of the incoherent into the co- 

 herent, there have gone on other transformations, the mass, 

 instead of remaining uniform, must have become multiform. 

 The proposition is an identical one. To say that the pri- 

 mary re-distribution is accompanied by secondary re-dis- 

 tributions, is to say that along with the change from a 

 diffused to a concentrated state, there goes on a change from 

 a homogeneous state to a heterogeneous state. The com- 

 ponents of the mass while they become integrated also be- 

 come differentiated.* 



This, then, is the second aspect under which we have to 

 study Evolution. As, in the last chapter, we contemplated 

 existences of all orders as displaying progressive integration; 

 so, in this chapter, we have to contemplate them as display- 

 ing progressive differentiation. 



§ 117. A growing variety of structure throughout our 

 Sidereal System, is implied by the contrasts that indicate an 

 aggregative process throughout it. We have nebulae that 

 are diffused and irregular, and others that are spiral, annu- 

 lar, spherical, &c. We have groups of stars the members 

 of which are scattered, and groups concentrated in all 

 degrees down to closely-packed globular clusters. We have 

 these groups differing in the numbers of their members, 

 from those containing several thousand stars to those con- 



* The terms here used must be understood in relative senses. Since we 

 know of no such thing as absolute diffusion or absolute concentration, the 

 change can never be anything but a change from a more diffused to a less 

 diffused state— from smaller coherence to greater coherence ; and, similarly, 

 as no concrete existences present us with absolute simplicity— as nothing is 

 perfectly uniform — as we nowhere find complete homogeneity — the transforma- 

 tion is literally always towards greater complexity, or increased multiformity, 

 or further heterogeneity. This qualification the reader must habitually bear 

 in mind. 



