THE LESSON OF EVOLUTION 39 



physical evolution was evidently intended to prepare 

 the way for the biological evolution which led up to 

 man. And the brain of man was thus prepared for 

 the psychological evolution which is still in progress, 

 and which, as I have said, appears to be the last form 

 which evolution can take. So that the development 

 of man's moral nature must be the purpose towards 

 which evolution tends on the earth. 



This idea is by no means new. In the middle of 

 the eighteenth century Immanuel Kant said that " the 

 cosmic evolution of nature is continued in the historic 

 development of humanity and completed in the moral 

 perfection of the individual." And, a little later, 

 Goethe, another pioneer of evolution, said that the sole 

 purpose of the world appeared to be, to provide a 

 physical basis for the growth of spirit. However, our 

 ideas on the subject are much clearer now than was 

 possible a hundred years ago, and what was then a 

 speculation has now become a demonstrated truth. 



But if we believe in a purpose at all, we must 

 believe that everything which has contributed towards 

 realizing that purpose was designed to do so. If the 

 carbon in the earth's atmosphere was intended for the 

 building up of organic beings, so also were iron and 

 gold intended for the use of man. And further, there 

 are numerous things in the world which, by their 

 beauty or variety, so excite our admiration as to 

 induce us to examine them closely ; and thus they 

 have helped to lay the foundations of science. This 

 appears to be the only use these things have in the 

 world. As examples, I may mention crystals and 

 the beautiful colours and shapes of many animals. 

 Attempts have been made to show that all the latter 



