THE PROGRESS OF THE RACE 209 



105 



So much for what our own eyes can see. It will be 

 admitted that we have mentioned some curious facts, which 

 by no means support the theory that every intelligence is 

 arrested, every future clearly defined, save only the intelligence 

 and future of man. 



But if we choose to accept for one moment the hypo- 

 thesis of evolution, the spectacle widens, and its uncertain, 

 grandiose light soon attains our own destinies. Whoever 

 brings careful attention to bear will scarcely deny, even 

 though it be not evident, the presence in nature of a will 

 that tends to raise a portion of matter to a subtler and per- 

 haps better condition, to penetrate its substance little by little 

 with a mystery-laden fluid that we at first term life, then 

 instinct, and finally intelligence ; a will that, for an end we 

 know not, organises, strengthens and facilitates the existence 

 of all that is. There can be no certainty, and yet many 

 instances invite us to believe that were an actual estimate 

 possible, the quantity of matter that has raised itself from 

 its beginnings would be found to be ever increasing. A 

 fragile remark, I admit, but the only one we can make on 

 the hidden force that leads us ; and it stands for much in 

 a world where confidence in life, until certitude to the con- 

 trary reach us, must remain the first of all our duties, at 

 times even when life itself conveys no encouraging clearness 

 to us. 



I know all that may be urged against the theory of evolu- 

 tion. In its favour are numerous proofs and most powerful 



2 D 



