338 



FOOT-NOTES TO EVOLUTION. 



all its meaning and possibility when taken out of the 

 category of human experience and discussed in terms of 



philosophy. In like manner can any 

 Ineffectiveness gimple fact be made to appear as myth 

 of reason. , . t- i, Ui. ^ 



or dream. A man can be brought to 



doubt the existence of himself or of any object about 

 him. For instance, take the discussion of " John's John " 

 and of "Thomas's John," as given by Dr. Holmes. Is 

 the real John the John he appears to John himself? Or 

 is he real only in the form in which Thomas regards 

 him, or as he looks to Richard and Henry, whose inter- 

 est in him is progressively less ? All that we know of 

 the external universe is derived from impressions made 

 directly or indirectly on our nervous systems and from 

 recorded impressions made on the systems of others: 

 and a part of this external universe we ourselves are. 

 All that we know even of ourselves is that which is 

 external to ourselves. Thus, with all this, each man 

 forms in his mind a universe of his own. "My mind 

 to me a kingdom is," and this kingdom in all its parts 

 is somewhat different from any other mental kingdom. 

 It is continually changing. It was made but once and 

 will never be duplicated. When my vital processes 

 cease, this kingdom will vanish " like the baseless fabric 

 of a vision, leaving not a wreck behind." Our mind 

 is of the " stuff that dreams are made of " ; and our 

 bodies — what are they ? Physically each man is an 

 alliance of animals, each one of a single cell, each cell 

 with its processes of life, growth, death, and reproduc- 

 tion, each one with its own " cell-soul " which presides 

 over these processes. In the alliance of these cells, 

 forming tissues and organs, we have the phenomena of 

 mutual help and mutual dependence. In man we find 

 the phenomena of animal life on a larger and more 

 differentiated scale than in the lower forms, but to em- 



