EVOLUTION 1103 



(i) Cosmic "Evolution" or Genesis. — In the inorganic domain 

 there has often been a process of Becoming which led from a nebu- 

 lous mass to a stellar or a solar system. How this came about does 

 not concern us here; but some improved edition of the Nebular 

 Hypothesis of Kant and of Laplace is plainly being elaborated. 

 But such a mode of Becoming as the origin of our planetary system 

 from knots on spirally twisted arms drawn out from the central 

 sun is obviously very different from the Organic Evolution of, let 

 us say, mammals. For in the cosmic Becoming there is nothing like 

 a sequence of generations; and hence nothing quite like sifting or 

 selection as regards the main masses concerned. There is, no doubt, 

 some loss of Energy-Matter into space, but on the whole it is the 

 same material throughout which is the subject of rearrangements 

 or differentiations. We cannot say that there was no advance in 

 the cosmic process, for the establishment of the earth-knot opened 

 up possibilities — of life, for instance — ^which were not recognisably 

 present in the primeval nebulous mass. Nor should we like to say 

 that the cosmic Becoming was entirely different from Organic 

 Evolution in being inanimate. What is certain is that as long as no 

 question is raised as to the origin of living organisms, not to speak 

 of living and thinking organisms, the advancing concepts of the 

 mathematical and physical sciences should suffice for the description 

 of what occurred in the establishment of our solar system; though, 

 of course, the relativity theory, and other advances are proving 

 this a much more intricate matter than it seemed a generation ago. 

 In any case, the cosmic process should not be called by the same 

 name as the organismal process ; and our suggestion is that it might 

 prove convenient to speak of the Genesis of the solar system, the 

 Genesis of the earth, the Genesis of continents and oceans, and so 

 on, as for minerals and rocks and for the scenic results of their 

 subsequent changes. An alternative would be to use an adjective 

 and speak of Physical or Cosmic Evolution. 



(2) Transmutation. — Suggestive analogies to some processes in 

 organic life, and it may be even for its organic evolution, may be 

 found in the changes exhibited by radio-active substances. It is 

 known that uranium may give rise to ionium, which may give rise 

 to radium. Or uranium may give rise to protactinium, which pro- 

 duces actinium, which produces lead. There are other well-known 

 transmutations, and there is an indirectly verified theory of the 

 way in which the changes come about. At present these radio-active 

 changes are all proceeding in the same direction — these chemical 

 clocks are all running down. Thorium, radium, and actinium may 

 each give rise to lead, or rather to a form of lead; but there does 

 not seem to be at present any reverse or complemental process 

 working the other way and producing heavy atoms like uranium. 

 Our question, however, is as to the term to be used for these known 



