194 Spiritual Evolution of Society 



there is no such process, and yet he asserts that he 

 founds his mechanistic theory on ideas of what he 

 would call visible and tangible evidences. And how 

 little he knows ! To go on with the catechism after 

 his own fashion : How did the Universe begin ? Has 

 it existed from all eternity ? If not, how did the laws 

 begin to operate in matter ? How did motion begin ? 

 How was the energy generated ? Can he conceive a 

 Universe such as he knows it, without intelligence 

 behind it, suddenly acquiring energy ? Can he com- 

 prehend eternity of space or time ? Has the Uni- 

 verse a limit or not ? Can he conceive it illimitable ? 

 If limitable, what is beyond ? He can only remain 

 dumb. He knows nothing ; even the material baffles 

 him. 



It may be permissible now to put a few questions on 

 a subject of which he believes he possesses complete 

 knowledge. Why does he accept the Darwinian 

 theory ? It is an idea : therefore not concrete, there- 

 fore unprovable. This, however, is Mr. Elliot's method 

 of accounting for the diverse forms of plant and animal 

 life upon the earth's surface. He has never seen 

 " natural selection " produce a new species, and yet he 

 accepts this purely abstract theory — this idea — as 

 the explanation without any demonstration — without 

 mechanistic proof. And this natural philosopher at 

 the same time chooses to refuse to accept the ideas of 

 the most cultured and elevated minds of the world, 

 such as Carlyle's, to whom Huxley stated he owed 

 everything in the sphere of the intellect ; he refuses 

 to accept the movements of human thought. We ask : 

 What are the things which are seen — the temporal — 

 compared to those which are not seen — the eternal — to 

 the best thoughts of the best minds — to the ideals which 

 mould mankind and alter the face of history ? And 

 yet Mr. Elliot cannot get along without ideas any more 



