The Progress of the Race 



a subtler and perhaps better condition, 

 and to penetrate its substance little by 

 little with a mystery-laden fluid that we at 

 first term life, then instinct, and finally 

 intelligence ; a will that, for an end we 

 know not, organises, strengthens, and fa- 

 cilitates the existence of all that is. There 

 can be no certainty, and yet many in- 

 stances invite us to believe that, were an 

 actual estimate possible, the quantity of 

 matter that has raised itself from its begin- 

 nings would be found to be ever increas- 

 ing. A fragile remark, I admit, but the 

 only one we can make on the hidden force 

 that leads us ; and it stands for much in a 

 world where confidence in life, until certi- 

 tude to the contrary reach us, must remain 

 the first of all our duties, at times even 

 when life itself conveys no encouraging 

 clearness to us. 



I know all that may be urged against 

 the theory of evolution. In its favour 



3^3 



