PREFACE vii 



it is necessary to prove by examples that this view 

 is fallacious.^ 



After pointing out the absurdities in Haeckel's 

 theory of the origin of living protoplasm, Evolution 

 carries us direct to and inclusive of Man. There 

 does not seem to be any necessity of a "break" 

 in the continuity as some suppose, but Man alone 

 has acquired the power of making abstractions 

 objects of thotight. This lies at the base of all 

 his superior "God-like" powers. It forms the 

 sharp line of demarcation between him and the 

 animal world. ^ 



Man is thus enabled (i) to be self-conscious ; (2) 

 to be conscious of other "selves," hence to be 

 altruistic ; (3) to realise the conception of God ; (4) 

 to be conscious of having the power to choose, i.e., 

 a Free Will or Volition ; (5) to acquire a belief 

 in Immortality. 



As inductive evidence accumulates in favour of 

 the belief in God, so does it for a future existence, 

 while Faith in spiritual matters is shown to be 



^I have been accused of insisting upon "Adaptation," i.e., Darwin's 

 alternative method, as if it were my own theory. I have never done 

 so. I would rather insist upon the reader as regarding it as Darwin's, for 

 it will be found clearly stated in his works. What I did was, in reading 

 Darwin's books, to collect all the facts I could read of or observe, 

 coupling them with experimental proofs. Then, after about fifteen years, 

 I published The Origin of Floral Structures in 1888, and The Origin 

 of Plant Structures in 1895, as well as papers in Natural Science. 



2 While writing this book I found both Locke and Schopenhauer, as 

 well as others, have held their view. 



