THE ZERO-POINT OF EVOLUTION. 



6D 



therefore, the question is to be pursued further, the 

 method must be changed into one of metaphysical 

 investigation {c/. ch. xii. § 3). 



But we may check the impulse of speculation 

 before it oversteps the ground of chemical theory, 

 and suppose that Evolution stops short at something 

 which has still Q-ot enougrh of the characteristics of 

 sensible matter to be atomic. Evolution, then, would 

 start from matter in which the atoms existed in per- 

 fect isolation and without the least combination. 



But this would raise a difficulty. If, as has been 

 maintained, the evolution of society and of the indi- 

 vidual is coincident, and the perfection of society 

 produces also the maximum of individuality, indi- 

 viduality should vanish at the opposite extreme 

 together with combination. Whereas now the 

 individual at this very point appears completely in- 

 dividualized, entirely independent and self-sufficing. 



This difficulty may be explained in several ways. 



In the first place, we may lay stress on the fact 

 that at the outset of the process the individual is a 

 mere abstract individual, an individual and nothing 

 more, an atom of which nothing can be said except 

 that it is an atom, and that individuality here has a 

 minimum of meaning, which is surpassed by every 

 individual who enters into the combination of a 

 system. 



Secondly, we may point out that even so it is 

 contrary to the accepted chemical doctrine to sup- 

 pose that the individual atoms can exist in isolation, 

 and may remember that the minimum of indepen- 

 dent existence is the molecide composed of at least 

 two atoms. And if it be supposed that this rule 

 does not apply to the atom of primitive matter, the 

 answer is that no scientific rules or conceptions do 



