AMPHIBIOUS MANKIND. . 393 



while to observe, for the comfort of weak souls, that in 

 these new revelations of science human nature is not in 

 any way degraded. A woman's body is not less lovely 

 because it was once a hideous mass of flesh. A 

 woman's modesty is not less noble because we discover 

 that it was once a mere propensity, dictated, perhaps, 

 by the fear of pain. The beauty of the mind is not 

 less real than the beauty of the body, and we need 

 not be discouraged because we ascertain that it has 

 also passed through its embryonic stage. It is Nature's 

 method to take something which is in itself paltry, 

 repulsive, and grotesque, and thence to construct a 

 masterpiece by means of general and gradual laws ; 

 those laws themselves being often vile and cruel. This 

 method is applied not only to single individuals, but 

 also to the whole animated world ; not only to physical 

 but also to mental forms. And when it is fully 

 realised and understood that the genius of man has 

 been developed along a line of unbroken descent from 

 the simple tendencies which inhabited the primeval 

 cell, and that in its later stages this development has 

 been assisted by the efforts of man himself, what a 

 glorious futurity will open to the human race ! It may 

 well be that our minds have not done growing, and that 

 we may rise as high above our present state as that is 

 removed from the condition of the insect and the worm. 

 For when we examine the human mind we do not find it 

 perfect and mature ; but in a transitional and amphibi- 

 ous condition. We live between two worlds ; we soar 

 in the atmosphere ; we creep upon the soil ; we have 

 the aspirations of creators and the propensities of quad- 

 rupeds. There can be but one explanation of this 

 fact. We are passing from the animal into a higher 

 form ; and the drama of this planet is in its second 



