EVOLUTION IN POSSE 229 



to be mental, moral, and spiritual, and selection 

 will be almost entirely sexual selection. So if we 

 find now that the drawing together of man and 

 woman is often a matter of subtle mental and 

 spiritual need and affinity rather than the attraction 

 of physical fitness, we must recognise that nature 

 has now almost finished with the body, and is 

 now beginning the crown of her whole work — the 

 evolution of the soul — and we must not too readily 

 interfere. It may be said that, given good, strong 

 bodies, the mind will evolve. That is untrue. 

 Mind has its own breeds, and strains, and crosses, 

 and we know little of their interactions. How 

 subtly character and character represented in the 

 germ plasm may affect each other ! What remark- 

 able variations they may bring forth ! 



So convinced am I of the eternal value of mind 

 as compared with body, of the marriage of souls 

 as compared with the mere propagation of healthy 

 animals, that I say, if a man and woman love each 

 other, and are drawn towards each other by the 

 cravings of character, let no impediments be too 

 readily admitted. Again, in the words of Kant : 

 " The cosmic evolution of Nature is continued in 

 the historic development of humanity, and com- 

 pleted in the moral perfection of the individual." 

 Love is the crown and consummation of all things 

 — the great purpose that throbbed in the fire- 



\ 

 \ 



