II EVOLUTION AND ETHICS. 47 



have completely changed his views of the nature 

 of things; though the story, not having been com- 

 posed by, or for, philosophers, has nothing to say 

 about views. 



My present enterprise has a certain analogy to 

 that of the daring adventurer. I beg you to ac- 

 company me in an attempt to reach a world which, 

 to many, is probably strange, by the help of a 

 bean. It is, as you know, a simple, inert-looking 

 thing. Yet, if planted under proper conditions, 

 of which sufficient warmth is one of the most im- 

 portant, it manifests active powers of a very re- 

 markable kind. A small green seedling emerges, 

 rises to the surface of the soil, rapidly increases 

 in size and, at the same time, undergoes a series 

 of metamorphoses which do not excite our wonder 

 as much as those which meet us in legendary his- 

 tory, merely because they are to be seen every day 

 and all day long. 



By insensible steps, the plant builds itself up 

 into a large and various fabric of root, stem, leaves, 

 flowers, and fruit, every one moulded within and 

 without in accordance with an extremely complex 

 but, at the same time, minutely defined pattern. 

 In each of these complicated structures, as in their 

 smallest constituents, there is an immanent energy 

 which, in harmony with that resident in all the 

 others, incessantly works towards the maintenance 

 of the whole and the efficient performance of the 

 part which it has to play in the economy of nature. 



