PREFACE. 



" THE more I think of it," says Ruskin, " I find this 

 conclusion more impressed upon me that the greatest 

 thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see 

 something, and tell what it saw in a plain way." In 

 these pages an attempt is made to "tell in a plain 

 way " a few of the things which Science is now seeing 

 with regard to the Ascent of Man. Whether these 

 seeings are there at all is another matter. But, even 

 if visions, every thinking mind, through whatever 

 medium, should look at them. What Science has to 

 say about himself is of transcendent interest to Man, 

 and the practical bearings of this theme are coming 

 to be more vital than any on the field of knowledge. 

 The thread which binds the facts is, it is true, but a 

 hypothesis. As the theory, nevertheless, with which 

 at present all scientific work is being done, it is as- 

 sumed in every page that follows. 



Though its stand-point is Evolution and its subject 

 Man, this book is far from being designed to prove 

 that Man has relations, compromising or otherwise, 

 with lower animals. Its theme is Ascent, not Descent, 

 It is a Story, not an Argument. And Evolution, in 



