1 68 The Three Beginnings. 



the present, the "unlimited modifiability " 

 thus postulated, it is important to observe 

 the profound significance of the admission here 

 made. " Living matter once originated : " yes, 

 but how ? To that crucial question, the answer, 

 on the same high authority, is given in these 

 words : " Of the causes which have led to the 

 origination of living matter, it may be said that 

 we know absolutely nothing." " The present 

 state of knowledge furnishes us with no link 

 between the living and the not-living." l But 

 however inscrutable the mode, there is no ques- 

 tion nor any room for question as to the fact. 

 " Living matter " was " once originated" Life 

 had a Beginning. 



Impenetrable, however, as is the veil which 

 hides from our observation the origin of Life, 

 still more inscrutable is the mystery which 

 shrouds the first emergence of the self-conscious 

 Mind. 



Mr. John Stuart Mill admits the existence of 

 the mind in the form of a " thread of conscious- 

 ness," " aware of itself as past and future," and 

 possessing a conviction of the simultaneous 

 existence of other "threads of consciousness" 

 and of numerous permanent possibilities of 

 1 Encyclopaedia Britannica^ Article " Biology." 



