xiv Summary of Contents 



as a "Mutation" — Possible factors in the early evolution 

 of Man — Repugnance to the scientific interpretation, 

 partly due to misunderstanding, partly aesthetic, partly 

 ethical — The value of a product is independent of its re- 

 mote origin — Man is not a masterpiece "accidentally pro- 

 duced"; Man forms a new departure in the gradual un- 

 folding of Nature's predestined scheme — The evolutionist 

 interpretation is not necessarily naturalistic — A comparison 

 and contrast of animal behavior and human conduct — As 

 regards animals, we may speak of intelligence, but not of 

 reason; of words, but not of language; of behavior, but 

 not of conduct — In what sense, if any, can it be said that 

 human conduct has evolved from animal behaviour ? — The 

 cerebral mutation was the Rubicon — Increasing cerebral 

 complexity made a higher intelligence possible, language 

 and conscience date from that dawn — Certain raw ma- 

 terials of conduct in the form of primary impulses were 

 inherited from pre-human ancestry, but Man, who reasoned, 

 spoke, and controlled his behaviour in relation to more than 

 merely perceptual ends, raised these to a higher power — 

 Huxley's thesis as regards the contrast between human 

 and cosmic evolution — Reasons for dissenting from Hux- 

 ley's conclusion — Value of the evolutionary conception of 

 Man — It clears things up, it suggests effort, it is hope- 

 inspiring, it makes the whole cosmic process more intel- 

 ligible — Retrospect on the riddles which our brief survey 

 has disclosed — They bring us back to the wonder with 

 which we began — The riddles of things as they are — We 

 formulate sequences in terms which are not self-explan- 

 atory—The riddles of the history of things— Riddles as to 

 origins— The riddle of the death of the Earth— The riddle 

 of suffering — The philosophical and the scientific outlook 

 — The limitations of science — Anima animans — Meaning 

 of the title "The Bible of Nature." 



