14 HAS SCIENCE DISCOVERED GOD? 



Nevertheless, short-sighted though the evolutionary 

 forces seem to be, the fact is that in regular sequence 

 increasingly efficient types of animals and plants have 

 made their appearance upon the earth. Especially 

 significant is the improvement in mental ability, which 

 has characterized each step along the pathway that 

 leads from the primitive mammals to man. Because 

 the sum total of his environment has favored brains 

 and mentality, man is to-day in his present position of 

 obvious power. Furthermore, the record in the rocks 

 Indicates the gradual emergence of the spirit of co- 

 operation. The geologist can tell approximately when 

 mother-love was born upon the earth. Especially in 

 the strain that led to man has the emphasis been 

 placed upon the widening spread and deepening hold 

 of habits and ideals of co-operation and brotherllness. 

 Social comity has lately emerged as a powerful direct- 

 ing force in that part of the universe about which we 

 know the most. And social comity is a highly valuable 

 ideal, regardless of whether we call it simply the 

 "higher selfishness" or label It more grandly as "un- 

 selfishness." The experimental purposes of nature 

 are justified by the results already attained and there- 

 fore provide a firm basis for an optimistic outlook into 

 the future. 



In the past, successful advances along the path of 

 life were made by a small minority of individuals, 

 here and there, who capitalized to the full the innate 

 ability with which they were endowed and grasped 

 every opportunity offered by their environment. In 

 each case, they strove to accomplish that which never 

 before had been achieved. If man sets as his goal 

 merely long-continued existence on the present level. 



