143 



tween Man and the rest of the living world, and 

 between the forces exerted by the latter and all other 

 forces, I can see no excuse for doubting that all are 

 co-ordinated terms of Nature's great progression, from 

 the formless to the formed — from the inorganic to 

 the organic — from blind force to conscious intellect 

 and wiU." 



On this point olden belief and modem philosophy- 

 have hitherto been at variance. Let us note for a 

 moment some results of the contest. The primitive 

 notion that this earth was the centre of the universe, 

 and the sun, moon, and stars, formed merely to be 

 its suhservients, has long since, though not without a 

 struggle, given way to more rational convictions. 

 The old beHef that the world was formed some six 

 or seven thousand years ago has been dispelled by 

 the discovery of numerous rock -formations, and in- 

 numerable successions of plants and animals entombed 

 within them in the crust of the earth. The cognate 

 belief that the land and waters separated at the be- 

 ginning were the same as the existing continents and 

 seas, has also been set aside by the clearest evidence 

 that land and water have repeatedly changed places, 

 and under existing forces are still gradually passing 

 into other forms and arrangements. The kindred 

 notion that existing plants and animals were the 

 same as those created in the beginning, has, in like 



