122 THE DAWN OF MIND. 



heard at least the first few relevant words from 

 Nature. For one has only to move for a little among 

 the facts to see what a world of interest lies here, and 

 to be forced to hold the judgment in suspense till 

 the sciences at work upon the problem have further 

 shaped their verdict. Thinkers who are entitled to 

 respect have even gone further. They include mental 

 evolution not only among the hypotheses of Science 

 but among its facts and its necessary facts. " Is it 

 conceivable," asks Mr. Romanes, " that the human 

 mind can have arisen by way of a natural genesis from 

 the minds of the higher quadrumana ? I maintain 

 that the material now before us is sufficient to 

 show, not only that this is conceivable, but inevi- 

 table." 1 



It is no part of the present purpose to discuss the 

 ultimate origin or nature of Mind. Our subject is its 

 development. At the present moment the ultimate 

 origin of Mind is as inscrutable a mystery as the 

 origin of Life. It is sometimes charged against 

 Evolution that it tries to explain everything and to 

 rob the world of all its problems. There does not 

 appear the shadow of a hope that it is about to rob 

 it of this. On the contrary the foremost scientific 

 exponents of the theory of mental evolution are cease- 

 lessly calling attention to the inscrutable character of 

 the element whose history they attempt to trace. 

 " On the side of its philosophy," says Mr. Romanes, 

 " no one can have a deeper respect for the problem 

 of self -consciousness than I have; for no one can be 

 more profoundly convinced than I am that the prob- 

 lem on this side does not admit of solution. In other 

 1 Op. cit., p. 213. 



