2io The Evolution Hypothesis. 



When human consciousness first came into being, 

 how did it stand related to the antecedent modes of 

 concrete being? Consciousness did not exist within 

 the knowable at that moment. Human consciousness, 

 when it arose, was a unique phenomenon. All know- 

 able relations were, by hypothesis, relations of persist- 

 ing forces, directed solely by the laws of matter and 

 motion. How, as the outcome of that 'immediately 

 precedent condition of the universe, did consciousness 

 emerge? A universe existed without thought; a 

 universe now exists with thought. Has the uncon- 

 scious become conscious ? and if so, how ? The evolu- 

 tion hypothesis is bound to explain the mystery by 

 exhibiting the transition as a phase of its continuous 

 process. If it can do this it has triumphed : the 

 priest of the coming dispensation has vindicated his 

 authority ; Aaron's rod has budded. 



An immediate operation of the first cause may be 

 assumed, but at the cost of sacrificing the very prin- 

 ciple of evolution ; for the supposition implies a direct 

 intervention within the knowable, a distinct breach 

 of continuity, in effect a special creation. 



Criticising the opinion laid down in his Physical 

 Ethics by Mr. Alfred Barrat, that consciousness " must 

 be considered as an invariable property of animal 

 life, and ultimately in its elements of the material 

 universe," Mr. Spencer says: "Without questioning 

 that the raw material of consciousness is present even 

 in undifferentiated protoplasm, and everywhere exists 



