26 ASSAYS IN PHILOSOPHY 



noumenal, displayed, as it is, in such an apparel of 

 contradictions and assumptions, the philosophic 

 range of evolution finds its First Limit. 



II 



Passing to our second question, we ask : Can evo- 

 lution be made validly continuous throughout the 

 world of phenomena? Here we speedily become 

 aware that it cannot have even this compass, except 

 at the cost of undergoing a change of meaning in kind. 

 The primary meaning of evolution is the meaning 

 proper to the world of living beings, in which it had 

 its first scientific suggestion, and where alone its 

 scientific evidences are found. But biological evolu- 

 tion — the only evolution thus far knozvn to science 

 — means not only /^_^/Va/ community, or resemblance 

 for observation and thought, but also likeness due 

 to descent and birth ; due to a physiological com- 

 munity, through the process of reproduction. It 

 is directly dependent on the generative function,^ 

 and its native meaning is lost when we pass the 

 boundaries of the living world. What is it to mean 

 when it has lost its first and literal sense .' What 

 is the continuous thread by which a unity of develop- 

 ment is to hold, not only among living beings, but 

 also among those without life, since it cannot any 

 longer be physiological descent .■' How is this 



1 Either sexual or asexual (by fissure, etc.), as the case may be. 



