THE ORIGIN OF MAN 265 



from its throne of conscious supremacy — it is to ignore 

 our most certain experiences. 



I see no reason why the human mind — the conscious 

 king over matter and force, over instincts and sensa- 

 tions — should abdicate and descend from the throne. 



Mind alone can give meaning to the universe. 

 Without its presence flowers would bloom, stars 

 would shine and worlds would revolve in vain. By 

 mind and in the interests of mind all things are to be 

 interpreted; it is the beginning and the end. 



Mind, which declares the existence of an intelligent 

 Creator, who has made and who sustains all things, 

 must occupy as mind more than transient relations to 

 this Creator. 



I cannot close this chapter in a more appropriate 

 way than by quoting the closing paragraph of the 

 great Geology finished by Dana shortly before his 

 death. It comes as the parting word of one of the 

 greatest scientists and one of the noblest characters 

 that the world has produced. It is as follows: 

 " Whatever the results of further search, we feel 

 assured, in accord with Wallace, who shares with 

 Darwin in the authorship of the theory of Natural 

 Selection, that the intervention of a Power above 

 Nature was at the basis of Man's development. Be- 

 lieving that Nature exists through the will and ever- 

 acting power of the Divine Being, and that all its 

 great truths, its beauties, its harmonies, are manifes- 

 tations of His wisdom and power, or in the words 

 nearly of Wallace, that the whole Universe is not 

 merely dependent on, but actually is, the Will of one 

 Supreme Intelligence, Nature, with Man as its cul- 

 minant species, is no longer a mystery." * 

 * Manual of Geology, p. 1036. 



