86 The Evolution Hypothesis. 



universe instead of interpreting the universe that is, it 

 would form an important part of his task to take 

 account of the impotence as well as the potences of 

 thought; or if his aim were to remove from the 

 cosmos constructed by science imaginative additions 

 for which no counterpart could be found in the cosmos 

 as actually existent, it might be competent for him to 

 base his reasoning on what the mind cannot do, and 

 require science to keep within the limits of intelli- 

 gence. But he has undertaken to construct a system 

 of positive truth ; he is dealing with concrete exist- 

 ences ; he is interpreting a universe not created by our 

 thought, but having a real existence outside our 

 consciousness ; to rest the foundation principle of this 

 Philosophy, which is to unify all knowledge, on what 

 the mind is unable to do, is to base science on nescience 

 to unify knowledge by ignorance. 



Mr. Spencer calls consciousness as a witness bearing 

 primary testimony to the persistence of force. The 

 reader may interrogate the witness for himself. What 

 is that of which consciousness attests the existence in 

 the cognition of an external object ? Is it not the 

 existence of an external something here and now ? It 

 is this and nothing more. The fundamental principle 

 of evolutionism has not the warrant of a primary 

 deliverance of consciousness. 



