156 THE ASCENT OF MAN 



on this side does not admit of solution. In other 

 words, so far as this aspect of the matter is con- 

 cerned, I am in complete agreement with the most 

 advanced idealist I am as far as any one can be 

 from throwing light upon the intrinsic nature of the 

 probable origin of that which I am endeavouring 

 to trace." ^ Mr. Darwin himself recoiled from a 

 problem so transcendent : " I have nothing to do 

 with the origin of the mental powers, any more 

 than I have with that of life itself." 2 "In what 

 manner," he elsewhere writes, " the mental powers 

 were first developed in the lowest organisms, is 

 as hopeless an inquiry as how life itself first 

 originated." ^ 



Notwithstanding his appreciation of the difficulty 

 of the ultimate problem, Mr. Darwin addressed 

 his whole strength to the question of the Evolution 

 of Mind — the Evolution as distinguished from its 

 origin and nature; and in 'this he has recently had 

 many followers, as well as many opponents. Among 

 the latter stand the co-discoverer with him of 

 Natural Selection, Mr. Alfred Russel Wallace, and 

 Mr. St. George Mivart. Mr. Wallace's opposition, 

 from a scientific point of view, is not so hostile, 

 however, as is generally supposed. While holding 



^Mental Evolution in Man, pp. 194-5. 



* Origin 0/ Specie s, p. 191. * Descent of Man, p. 66, 



