58 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 
that the elements entered into compounds more and more complicated. 
It has been beautifully stated that we are now in an eternity which will 
end in the attainment of maximum complexity, to be followed by another 
eternity in which the reverse process will maintain, and thus throughout 
the grand eternity of all time. 
The tendency to the complex must be accepted as a fundamental 
fact; when it began we know not and when it will end is beyond con- 
jecture ; that it is a valid generalisation from observed fact cannot be 
doubted. Iam forced to the conclusion that whatever tends to facilitate 
the working of this tendency is in accord with a cosmical fundamental, 
and is consequently right. 
In the lower orders of life the tendency to the complex has acted 
throughout all the ages without the conscious volition of the individual. 
With the advent of the higher nervous complex that we call ‘ reason’ a 
new factor entered the field, a factor so important that many geologists 
now favour the establishment of a separate era, the Psychozoic, for the 
age of man. Undoubtedly the rise of mentality in the Pleistocene must 
be regarded as a geological event of profound importance. From the 
evolutionary point of view it may mark an event of comparable significance, 
in that it may be interpreted as a great saltation of the mental attributes 
without a corresponding physical development. The general tendency 
to the complex is not interrupted, but its manifestation is less material 
and more spiritual. It is a reasonable assumption that future evolution 
will be mental rather than physical, and that the long-continued upward 
gradient of complexity will not turn in its course. 
I venture to state that the greatest lesson in geology is the tendency 
to the complex ; if there be a purpose behind all things, the working-out 
of that purpose is herein revealed. It follows, therefore, that man can 
best fit into the scheme of things by facilitating the operation of a principle 
which has endured through all time, and which is to be regarded in the 
light of a revelation. The duty of man, if these premises be correct, is 
to so direct his efforts that his mental capacity may be strengthened and 
that a slightly better equipment may be transmitted to his offspring. 
The trend in the direction of greater complexity is a generalisation 
from observed fact. That it is a Jaw in the sense of being a necessary 
accompaniment of life is not established. An ameeba of to-day is probably 
no more complex than an ameeba of the Cambrian. Life can continue 
throughout countless generations without greater complexity developing ; 
complexity may or may not be superimposed on any particular line of 
development. For the sake of convenience, however, I propose to speak 
of the principle as the law of tendency to the complex, and to emphasise it 
as the most important principle underlying the geological aspect of the 
doctrine of evolution. 
I would emphasise, also, the fact that all races of creatures and all 
individuals of a race do not evolve to higher forms. Similarly, it is not to 
be expected that all men are destined to give rise to higher types under 
the action of a beneficent, all-pervading principle. 
The development of mentality in the human race has introduced new 
factors; perhaps it would be better to say it has strongly accentuated 
certain old factors. By reason of his superior mental equipment, man has 
acquired a degree of dominance never attained by any earlier race. Surely, 
