58 The Evolution Hypothesis. 



step in scientific inquiry. Wherever the mind turns 

 in the investigation of cosmic phenomena, it is face to 

 face with the absolute as, not only a part of the 

 reality, but the reality itself. If, then, the inductions 

 of science are to hold good beyond the immediate 

 limits of observation, it must be constantly assumed 

 that the absolute is fixed in a permanent and un- 

 chano-inor relation to the known. We have here a 



O ?" 



principle all-embracing in its application a law for 

 all time, reaching to the bounds of concrete existence, 

 and penetrating to the unsearchable depths of actuality. 

 Its validity is vital to all scientific generalizations, and r 

 above all, is essential to the evolution doctrine, as 

 claiming to interpret the entire compass of that which 

 is, or may be, known. 



At the risk of seeming tedious, we must examine 

 this principle still more closely. 



The underlying Unknowable Power stands related, 

 according to Mr. Spencer's teaching, to the knowable 

 as reality to appearance ; it is the cause of the universe,, 

 that by which the knowable is " immediately pro- 

 duced." * At every instant in time and at every point 

 in immensity this inscrutable Energy is present, form- 

 ing a part of the object of thought, itself the real thing. 

 The universe is the " conditioned effect of the absolute 

 reality " and stands in " indissoluble relation with its- 

 Unconditioned Cause." -f- 



* First Principles, 50. t Ibid., 46. 



