P 414 T//E ASCENT OF MAN 



Sigillaria, then, as representing the ethical order, 

 did not grow out of Stigmaria as representing 

 the organic or the material order. Trees not only- 

 do not evolve out of their roots, but whole classes 

 in the plant world — the sea-weeds for instance — 

 have no roots at all. If any possible relation 

 exists it is exactly the opposite one — it is the root 

 which evolves from the tree. Trees send down 

 roots in a far truer sense than roots send up trees. 

 Yet neither is the whole truth. The true function 

 of the root is to give stability to the tree, and to 

 afford a medium for conveying into it inorganic 

 matter from without. And this brings us face to 

 face with the real relation. Tree and root — the 

 seed apart — find their explanation not in one 

 another nor in something in themselves, but mainly 

 in something outside themselves. The secret of 

 Evolution lies, in short, with t/te Environment. In 

 the Environment, in that in which things live and 

 move and have their being, is found the secret of 

 their being, and especially of their becoming. And 

 what is that in which things live and move and 

 have their being? It is Nature, the world, the 

 cosmos — and something more, some One more, 

 an Infinite Intelligence and an Eternal Will. 

 Everything that lives, lives in virtue of its cor- 

 respondences with this Environment. Evolution is 



