250 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY 



what causes a body to take some direction, but 

 what causes it to take, among the infinite number 

 of possible directions, the proper direction in 

 relation to the idea. In the formation of, say, the 

 leaf of a tree, no two molecules move in identi- 

 cally the same direction, or take identically the 

 same path. But each molecule must move in 

 relation to the objective idea of the leaf, or no leaf 

 would be formed. The grand question therefore 

 is : What is it that selects from among the infinite 

 number of possible directions the proper one in 

 relation to the idea ? " 



" And this sort of thing is going on in every 

 blossom, and leaf, and blade of grass, in every hair 

 and every feather, over the surface of the earth." 



Mr Croll, in the passages quoted, deals of course 

 with the tree and leaf as completed by evolution, 

 and as produced from a seed ; but the determina- 

 tions of the molecule as seen in the productions of 

 the tree with its leaves from a seed are, according 

 to theory, simply the summation of evolutionary 

 additions ; and, in view of the multitude and in- 

 tricacy of the determinations, it cannot be believed 

 that evolution reached them by any painful process 

 of experimentation, and it must be believed that 

 Nature knew where she was going. 



In fine, whatever view we take of evolution, 

 we cannot give muck shaping or directive value to 



