155 



that law, or the original calling of that life-form into 

 existence.'' The method has no existence till evoked; 

 the means no power unless sustained and kept in 

 harmonious operation. 



In this view the development theory as applicable 

 to the human race is not necessarily degrading ; for 

 be man's origin direct or descensive, he springs alike 

 from inorganic elements, partakes of the same animal 

 nature, and all that ennobles him above other creatures 

 belongs truly to the soul and intellect. If, in virtue 

 of [some yet unexplained process, he has derived his 

 descent from any of the lower orders, he is clearly not 

 of them — his higher structural adaptations and im- 

 provable reason defining at once the speciality of his 

 place and the responsibility of his functions. It can 

 be no degradation to have descended from some ante- 

 cedent form of life any more than it can be an ex- 

 altation to have been fashioned directly from the dust 

 of the earth. There can be nothing " degrading " or 

 "disgusting" in the connection which nature has 

 obviously established between all that lives ; and those 

 who employ such phrases must have but a poor, and 

 by no means very reverent, conception of the scheme 

 of creation. The truth is, there is nothing degrading 

 in nature save that which, forgetful of its own 

 functions, debases and degrades itself. The jibing 

 and jeering at the idea of an " ape-ancestry," so often 



