THE EVOLUTION OF MAN 



contrary notwithstanding. The simplest proc- 

 esses of crystalline formation, in which by some 

 internal means definite individual forms are pro- 

 duced, are still as dark to us, so far as their 

 causes and inter-relations are concerned, as the 

 nature and origin of the living cell. The simple 

 mechanical process of attraction and repulsion 

 is still as unknown to us as the simple funda- 

 mental process of feeling. If we deliver man at 

 the boundary of primitive life on earth into the 

 hands of these mysteries, we are merely conscious 

 of the fact that we have taken him back to the 

 limits of our present perceptive powers. Beyond 

 that limit we do not venture. We simply main- 

 tain that the law of causation is not interrupted 

 at that boundary, and we agree with the astrono- 

 mer, who does not doubt that the law of gravi- 

 tation is still in force even in those places, which 

 he cannot reach with his eyesight or his instru- 

 ments. 



There is still another thing which is intimately 

 connected with the condition of our present 

 knowledge concerning the origin of life. To un- 

 derstand quite logically at present all the laws of 

 evolution of this life involves an understanding 

 of the first problem. We have watched the dis- 

 guises through many different forms of animals 



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