360 THE LIMITS: OF NATURAL SELECTION 
time I must confess, that this theory has the disadvan- 
tage of requiring the intervention of some distinct indi- 
vidual intelligence, to aid in the production of what we 
can hardly avoid considering as the ultimate aim and 
outcome of all organized existence—intellectual, ever- 
advancing, spiritual man. It therefore implies, that 
the great laws which govern the material universe were 
insufficient for his production, unless we consider (as 
we may fairly do) that the controlling action of such 
higher intelligences is a necessary part of those laws, 
just as the action of all surrounding organisms is one of 
the agencies in organic development. But even if my 
particular view should not be the true one, the difficul- 
ties I have put forward remain, and I think prove, that 
some more general and more fundamental law under- 
lies that of ‘natural selection.”” The law of “ uncon- 
scious intelligence’? pervading all organic nature, put 
forth by Dr. Laycock and adopted by Mr. Murphy, is 
such a law; but to my mind it has the double disad- 
vantage of being both unintelligible and incapable of 
any kind of proof. It is more probable, that the true 
law lies too deep for us to discover it; but there seems 
to me, to be ample indications that such a law does 
exist, and is probably connected with the absolute ori- 
gin of life and organization. (Note A.) 
The Origin of Consciousness. 
The question of the origin of sensation and of thought 
can be but briefly discussed in this place, since it is a 
subject wide enough to require a separate volume for 
