NATURAL SELECTION AND ENVIRONMENT 161 



proves to be a power making for shrewdness. And 

 when the mammal has appeared the resultant of the 

 forces of environment impels more and more toward 

 unselfishness, and when man has appeared environ- 

 ment proves to be a " power, not ourselves, that makes 

 for righteousness." But what shall we say of an en- 

 vironment which unmasks itself at last as a power 

 making for intelligence, unselfishness, and righteous, 

 ness ? Someone may answer it is a host of chemical 

 and physical forces bringing about very high ends. 

 That is very true, but is it the whole truth? The 

 thinking man must ask, How did it come about, and 

 why is it that all these forces work together for such 

 high moral and intelligent ends ? 



We face, therefore, the question. Can an environ- 

 ment which proves finally and ultimately to be a power 

 not ourselves making for righteousness and unselfish- 

 ness be purely material and mechanical ? Or must 

 there be in or behind it something spiritual ? Shall 

 we best call environment, in its highest manifestation, 

 "it" or "him?" 



The old argument of Socrates, as on the last day of 

 his life he sits discoursing with his friends, still holds 

 good. He is discussing the same old question, whether 

 there is anything more than force, material, mechanism 

 in the world. He says that one might assign as " the 

 cause why I am sitting here that my body is composed 

 of bones and muscles ; that the bones are solid and 

 separate, and that the muscles can be contracted and 

 extended, and are all inclosed in the flesh and skin ; 

 and that the bones, being jointed, can be drawn by the 

 muscles, and so I can move my legs as you see ; and 

 that this is the reason why I am sitting here. But by 

 11 



