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THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. rf 
no means been reached yet. Whatever doubts and differences of 
opinion there may be about the methods, the mechanism, or the causes, 
there is no doubt about the reality of organic evolution, which is one 
of the most firmly established results in the whole range of science. 
Paleontology, embryology, comparative anatomy, taxonomy, and geo- 
graphical distribution all combine to give the most convincing testimony 
that throughout the history of this earth life has advanced genetically 
from at most a few simple primitive forms to ever more numerous and 
highly specialised forms. Under the double influence of the internal 
genetic and the external environmental factors life has subtly adapted 
itself to the ever-changing situations on this planet. In the process 
of this evolution not only new structures and organs, but also new 
functions and powers have successively appeared, culminating in the 
master key of mind and in the crowning achievement of human personality. 
To have hammered the great truth of organic evolution into the conscious- 
ness of mankind is the undying achievement of Charles Darwin, by the 
side of which his discovery of natural selection as the method of evolution 
is of secondary importance. 
The acceptance of the theory of evolution has brought about a far- 
reaching change in our outlook on the universe and our sense of values. 
The story of Creation, so intimately associated with the groundwork of 
most religions, has thus come to be rewritten. The unity and inter- 
connections of life in all its manifold forms have been clearly recognised. 
_ And man himself has had to come down from his privileged position among 
the angels and take his proper place in the universe as part of the order 
of Nature. Thus Darwin completes the revolution begun by Copernicus. 
Space-time finds its natural completion in organic evolution. For in 
organic evolution the time aspect of the world finds its most authentic 
expression. The world truly becomes process, where nothing ever remains 
the same or is a duplicate of anything else, but a growing, gathering, 
creative stream of unique events rolls forever forward. 
But while we recognise this intimate connection between the concep- 
tions of space-time and organic evolution, we should be careful not to 
identify the time of evolution with that of space-time. There is a very 
real difference between them. Biological time has direction, passes from 
the past to the future, and is therefore historical. It corresponds to the 
“before’ and ‘after’ of our conscious experience. Physical time as an 
aspect of space-time is neutral as regards direction. It is space-like, and 
may be plus or minus, but does not distinguish between past or future. 
