INTRODUCTORY. 21 



when one order of existence passes on to higher grades 

 of excellence, it does so upon the foundations already 

 laid by the previous course of its progress." This is 

 equivalent to saying that it is of the essence of evolu- 

 tion that there is no such thing as a distinction of kind 

 at all, so that to assert evolution is, for him, to assume 

 as certain the very point which he has to prove. 



The true statement of the case should, we think, be 

 very different, and we would express it as follows : 

 When a higher order of existence succeeds to others 

 of lower grades, it does so upon the foundation already 

 laid by preceding existences of lower orders. Thus 

 the vegetative nature of a plant manifests itself upon 

 the foundation already laid by the preceding inorganic 

 world, in the powers and properties of which it participates. 

 The sensitive nature of an animal manifests itself upon 

 the foundation already laid by the preceding inorganic 

 and vegetative worlds, in the powers and properties of 

 both of which it participates. Similarly the rational 

 nature of man manifests itself upon the foundation 

 already laid by the preceding inorganic, vegetative, and 

 animal worlds, in the powers and properties of all three 

 of which man, in turn, participates. 



Moreover, although each distinction of kind is abso- 

 lute, and must be due to a distinct origin, nevertheless 

 the higher forms of each superior kind present us, in a 

 way for which " natural selection " will not account, with 

 a sort of adumbration of the superior kind which has 

 to follow it, and the advent of which it thus, as it were, 

 predicts. Thus in crystals and such forms as dolomite 

 and spathic iron, we have an adumbration of organic 



