4 EVOLUTION AND THE 
principles of an all-comprehensive Evolution Phi- 
losophy, and the results of his genius and labour 
are now undoubtedly influencing the thoughts of a 
rapidly widening circle of readers. Both in this 
country and abroad the doctrine of Evolution is 
gradually but surely gaining ground amongst the 
most reflective, and although many other writers 
have been more ‘or less influential in determining 
this result, it has been in the main brought about by 
the two above mentioned. 
Evolution implies continuity and uniformity. It 
teaches us to look upon events of all kinds as the 
products of continuously operating causes—it recog- 
nises no sudden breaks or causeless stoppages in 
the sequence of natural phenomena. It equally 
implies that natural events do not vary sponta-_ 
neously. It is a philosophy which deals with 
natural phenomena in their widest sense: it em- 
braces both the present and the far-distant past. 
It seeks to assure us that the properties and 
tendencies now manifest in our surrounding world 
of things, are in all respects similar to those which 
have existed in the past. Without: a basis of this 
kind, the Evolution Hypothesis would be a mere 
idle dream. Uniformity is for it an all-pervading 
necessity. - Starting from facts of daily observation 
and from scientific experiments, the properties and: 
