in.] THE MEANING OF EVOLUTION 269 



which makes us witness the genesis of species by gradual 

 transformation, and seems thus to reintegrate man in ani- 

 mality. When a strong instinct assures the probability 

 of personal survival, they are right not to close their ears 

 to its voice; but if there exist "souls" capable of an in- 

 dependent life, whence do they come? When, how and 

 why do they enter into this body which we see arise, 

 quite naturally, from a mixed cell derived from the bodies 

 of its two parents? All these questions will remain un- 

 answered, a philosophy of intuition will be a negation 

 of science, will be sooner or later swept away by science, 

 if it does not resolve to see the life of the body just where 

 it really is, on the road that leads to the life of the spirit. 

 But it will then no longer have to do with definite living 

 beings. Life as a whole, from the initial impulsion that 

 thrust it into the world, will appear as a wave which rises, 

 and which is opposed by the descending movement of 

 matter. On the greater part of its surface, at different 

 heights, the current is converted by matter into a vortex. 

 At one point alone it passes freely, dragging with it the 

 obstacle which will weigh on its progress but will not stop 

 it. At this point is humanity; it is our privileged situation. 

 On the other hand, this rising wave is consciousness, 

 and, like all consciousness, it includes potentialities with- 

 out number which interpenetrate and to which con- 

 sequently neither the category of unity nor that of multi- 

 plicity is appropriate, made as they both are for inert 

 matter. The matter that it bears along with it, and in 

 the interstices of which it inserts itself, alone can divide 

 it into distinct individualities. On flows the current, 

 running through human generations, subdividing itself 

 into individuals. This subdivision was vaguely indicated 

 in it, but could not have been made clear without matter. 

 Thus souls are continually being created, which, never- 



