CHAPTER XVII 



SOME THOUGHTS ON THE EVOLUTIONARY THEORY 

 OF THE ORIGIN OF MAN FROM MATTER 



No conception in the vast universe of thought can 

 have more intellectual and imaginative value than 

 the evolutionary hypothesis. It is so colossal in 

 its scope that it dwarfs the sun, yet so meticulous 

 in its regard that it aligns the infinite with the in- 

 finitesimal. It calls a cloud of witnesses from all 

 ages and from all spheres. Its scroll is space, its 

 alphabet the orbits of the stars, its syllables the 

 solar system. It exalts and it debases : it sur- 

 mises man's beginnings in a fire-mist, and surprises 

 his endings in a monkey. In its cosmic premises 

 it is superb, in its biological conclusions humiliating. 

 Yet it is always magnificent. What could be more 

 magnificent than the vision of the condensation 

 of the suns and the blossoming of the planets ? 

 Can we not imagine the hot earth spinning, and 

 glowing, and hissing, and steaming ? With what 

 wonder must we watch the first crude crawling life 



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