158 THE ASCENT OF MAN 



succeeded in lessening to his own mind the in- 

 finite distance between the Mind of Man and 

 everything else in Nature, and even the most con- 

 sistent evolutionists are as unanimous as those 

 who oppose them, in their assertion of the unique- 

 ness of the higher intellectual powers. The con- 

 census of scientific opinion here is extraordinary. 

 " I know nothing," says Huxley, in the name of 

 biology, "and never hope to know anything, of 

 the steps by which the passage from molecular 

 movement to states of consciousness is effected." ^ 

 "The two things," emphasizes the physicist, "are on 

 two utterly different platforms, the physical facts 

 go along by themselves, and the mental facts go 

 along by themselves." ^ "It is all through and for 

 ever inconceivable," protests the German physio- 

 logist, " that a number of atoms of Carbon, Hydro- 

 gen, Nitrogen, Oxygen, .and so on, shall be other 

 than indifferent as to how they are disposed and 

 how they move, how they were disposed and how 

 they moved, how they will be disposed and how 

 they will be moved. It is utterly inconceivable 

 how consciousness shall arise from their joint 

 action." 3 So impressed is even Mr. Lloyd Morgan, 



^ Conteinporary Review y 187 1. 

 2 Clifford, Fortnightly Review^ 1 874. 



^Du Bois-Reymond, Ueber die Grenzen des NaturerkennenSy 

 p. 42. 



