o 



6 FORMULAS OF THE LAW OF EVOLUTION. 



apply to it, that in it we have reached the Hmits of 

 scientific thought, and that the whole condition of 

 things in the primitive nebula is an over-ingenious 

 fiction of the scientific imagination, which could 

 never have existed in actual fact. For unless this 

 nebula was prior to the development of gravity, a 

 uniform distribution of matter in space is impossible, 

 while as soon as we have aggregation, combination 

 at once follows. 



And lastly, from a metaphysical point of view, it 

 is not true that the atoms in the primitive nebula 

 exist in entire isolation, so long as they coexist : they 

 must have formed some sort of a system in order 

 that their interaction or attraction could be possible 

 either then or afterwards. 



§ 1 8. We have seen that the formula of the de- 

 velopment of the individual in social combination is 

 applicable both to the actual condition of the world 

 and to its past evolution, although, in the latter case 

 it ends in no more or less perplexity, like all merely 

 scientific explanations, if it is driven back too far. 

 It now behoves us to ask whether our formula is 

 equally satisfactory when regarded as the ideal and 

 end of Evolution, i.e., as that to which the history 

 of the past justifies us in expecting that Evolution 

 will tend. 



Regarding the development of the individual in 

 society as the end of Evolution, will compel us, in 

 the first place, to assert that not even the highest 

 existing societies and individuals are perfect, either 

 as societies or as individuals. 



And with respect to existing societies this will 

 perhaps be easily admitted. 



But it is at first more difficult to realize that we 

 are not yet perfect individuals. In the sense, indeed. 



