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U 182 A^iimal Life and Intelligence. 



^^ forget that many questions remain behind, all centering 



round that little question, to which an adequate answer is 

 so difficult to give, the ques tion — How? Keduced to its 

 simplest expression, the doctrine- of cvo kijiionmerely states 

 that the anima l world as it exists to-dav is naturally 

 /ioT7Air>pAfl mil, nf f.hft ^i;iiT]attl wuiJtLas it existeTT esterday, 



C ' and ^^n in turn deve1oj )Jnto the animal world^ ^sit shall 



y exist to-mof^»^s*--?PKisis the central belief of the evolu- 

 tionist. No matter what moment in the past history of 



V- life you select, the life at that moment was in the act of 

 insensibly passing from the previous towards a future con- 

 dition. Then at once arises the question — Does life remain. 



"*J the same yesterday, to-day, and to-morrow ? A thousand 

 indubitable facts at once make answer — No ! Underlying 

 the law of continuity there is a law of change. Life to-day 

 is not what it was yesterday, nor will it be to-morrow the 

 same as to-day. What, then, is the nature of this change ^ 

 If it be replied that the change must be either for the 

 better or the worse, we shall have to answer the further 

 question — Better or worse in what respects ? 



Let us narrow our view from the contemplation of lifa 

 as a whole to the more particular consideration of an 

 organism as one of its constituent units. The individual 

 lif e of that org anism depends on (some would say consists 

 in) its ceaseless adat^ta tion" to surrounding circumst ances> 

 The circumstances 'remaining the same, or only varying 

 within constant limits, the adaptation may be more or less 

 perfect. A change in the direction of m ore perfect adapta- 

 tion will be aT change for the bett er, a tendency to less 

 perfect adaptation will be a change for the "WorS^. 



But the relation of an organism to its circumstances or 

 environment is itself subject to change. The environment 

 itself may alter, or the organism may be brought into relation 

 with a new environment. We have to consider not only 

 O^ . the changes in an organism in the direction of more or 

 less perfect adaptation to its environment, but also changes 

 in the environment. These changes are in the direction 

 of increased simplicity or of increased complexity. So 



