40 THE EVOLUTIONARY THEORY 



describe non-organic developments without a change 

 in the meaning of that word from the sense in which 

 it is employed in biology. And the evidence by which 

 biological evolution is said to be estabhshed cannot 

 logically be said to prove theories of development in 

 the non-organic world. These theories use the word 

 evolution in distinctive senses, and require other than 

 biological evidences for their support. 



In passing, something ought to be said at this point 

 concerning what is called monism — especially the 

 materiaHstic monism of Professor Ernst Haeckel. 

 By clearly distinguishing monistic theories from the 

 biological theory of evolution we may save ourselves 

 from some confusion of thought. 



The demand for unity in our conceptions of reality 

 is imperative, and is not satisfied until every form of 

 reality is co-ordinated and embraced in one coherent 

 scheme. We cannot be said adequately to know any 

 thing until we perceive the relations in which it stands 

 to other things; and the assumption that all things are 

 mutually related, whether immediately or remotely, 

 is a fundamental postulate of scientific investigation. 

 Now monism signifies a theory which aims to exhibit 



istic definition. Herbert Spencer defines it in strangely elaborate 

 terms as "an integration of matter and concomitant dissipation of 

 motion; during which matter passes from a relatively indefinite, 

 incoherent homogeneity to a relatively definite, coherent hetero- 

 geneity; and during which the retained motion undergoes a parallel 

 transformation." First Principles (6th ed.), § 145. This extends 

 the application of the theory beyond the organic sphere, and is mon- 

 istic, as well as naturalistic. 



