154 EVOLUTION AND NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



indefensible. Throughout Nature, we see 

 nothing lost or wasted, and if this is the case 

 with matter or force (the lesser), must it not 

 also be true of life (the greater)? A steam- 

 engine wears out or blows up ; there is the iron, 

 but where is the steam ? An animal dies ; there 

 is the body, but where is the life ? To affirm 

 that it has ceased to exist would be as absurd 

 in the one case as the other. 



Nevertheless the human mind is evidently so 

 far superior to that of any other of the Verte- 

 brata, as to have led several scientific men 

 belonging to the most opposite schools of 

 philosophy * to regard man as forming the 

 initial type of a new kingdom, as widely 

 removed from the animal kingdom as the 

 animal from the vegetable, or the vegetable 

 from the mineral. As we have seen, his geo- 

 logical status is that of a Class. 



If the above conclusions are sound, they 

 necessarily involve the pre-existence of the soul ; 

 and it is conceivable that an eternal past lies 

 behind us, as well as an eternal future before 

 us. If this be admitted, we may ask whether the 



* Carpenter and Jackson may be mentioned. 



