228 THE PROBLEM OF EVOLUTION 



that we have a difficulty in imagining the creation, 

 but to imagine the eternity of matter is, of course, 

 impossible. But, as I said before, the impossibility 

 of accepting the theory that matter is eternal does 

 not depend upon our imagination at all, but it 

 resides in the philosophical principle that only an 

 infinitely perfect being can of itself exist for all 

 eternity. Matter is not infinitely perfect, therefore 

 it cannot be eternal. We have to deal here with 

 philosophical contraries. 



I have one more point to mention. Professor Dahl 

 referred to the intellectual development of a child, in 

 order to support his theory that the human soul 

 might develop out of the animal soul by a process 

 of natural evolution. His argument is very plausible, 

 but it must be borne in mind that, in the case of 

 this ontogenetic development of a child, there is 

 present always one and the same intelligent soul, 

 which gradually reveals its faculties as the powers 

 of the intellect are evolved, and this evolution is 

 essentially dependent upon that of the nervous 

 system. If a young ape began, at the age of six 

 or seven, to express itself intelligibly, we should 

 have some evidence of the possibility of the evolu- 

 tion of the human from the animal soul but the 

 development of a human child does not seem to 

 me to furnish this evidence. 



,.* 

 I come next to Dr. Friedenthal, and I wish to 

 begin by saying that I was very glad to hear him 



