194 The Evolution of Mind. 



se;it of oiir consciousness, we can still believe with the 

 former that the spine is also conscious. As the conscious- 

 ness of a superior officer is distinct from that of his sol- 

 diers, it certainly does not follow that the suspension of 

 his consciousness is the suspension of theirs. Thus viewed, 

 reflex action is the outer aspect of some form of psychosis. 

 Instinct and reason, in evolving therefrom, made no breach 

 of continuity. Viewed in any other light, the development 

 hypothesis is discredited. The present can only be a re- 

 arrangement of the past. Each step of progress is but a 

 putting together of pre-existing elements of the same kind. 

 This is seen in the production of our bodies. We are, in 

 the light of biology, but a synthesis of the properties of 

 protoplasm. An amoeba can in an imperfect and small way 

 perform every function of our bodies. Every new inven- 

 tion is but a putting together of pre-existing forms. Every 

 new idea is a synthesis of old ones. The so-called discov- 

 ery of truth is a growth of truth. The mind is incessantly 

 constrained by pain and attracted by comfort into cor- 

 resj)ondence with its environment. It cannot reach the 

 higher adjustments but through the lower ones. It never 

 reaches perfect adjustment nor perfect truth; neither is it 

 ever given over to total error. All its errors are partial 

 truths, and all its truths partial errors.* The new truth of 

 the future is the synthesis of the partial truths of many 

 errors of the past. Reconciliation is progress. Experi- 

 ences which give rise to narrow views are in time reinter- 

 preted in the light of other experiences, and an expansion 

 of the horizon of thought occurs. The growth is not from 

 total error to perfect truth, but from a maximum to a min- 

 imum of error, and from a minimum to a maximum of truth. 

 In morality the same condition obtains. No creature, 

 however low, is absolutely selfish, and none, however high, 

 absolutely unselhsh.t Unselfishness is itself but trans- 

 formed selfishness. We are kind and good to others be- 

 cause it is a greater pleasure to us to be so than it would 

 be to pursue a course of selfishness. We relieve suffering 

 and give charity because in doing so we free ourselves from 

 sympathetic pain.$ In the sufferings of the past came our 

 capacity for joy, in the struggles of the past our capacity 



* Spencer's First Principles, p. 3 (1873). 

 t Spencer's Study of Sociology, p. 184. 

 X Spencer's Keceht Discussions, pp. 26, 27 (1873). 



