vi Preface. 



scendental questions must necessarily be 

 affected by the total mass of our opinions 

 on the questions which lie within the 

 scope of scientific inquiry ; and from this 

 point of view it becomes of surpassing in- 

 terest to trace the career of Humanity 

 within that segment of the universe which 

 is accessible to us. The teachings of the 

 doctrine of evolution as to the origin and 

 destiny of Man have, moreover, a very 

 great speculative and practical value of 

 their own, quite apart from their bearings 

 upon any ultimate questions. The body 

 of this essay is accordingly devoted .to 

 setting forth these teachings in what I 

 conceive to be their true light ; while their 

 transcendental implications are reserved 

 for the sequel. 



As the essay contains an epitome of my 

 own original contributions to the doctrine 

 of evolution, I have added at the end a 

 short list of references to other works of 

 mine, where the points here briefly men- 

 tioned are more fully argued and illus- 



