4 ORGANIC EVOLUTION — PHYSICAL 



certainty as that with which astronomy asserts that tlie earth 

 moves round the sun ; for a conclusion may be arrived at as 

 safely by other methods as by mathematical calculation. 



" If I make this assertion so unhesitatingly I do not make it in 

 the belief that I am bringing forward anything new, nor because 

 I think that any opposition will be encountered, but simply 

 because I wish to begin by pointing out the firm ground on which 

 we stand, before considering the numerous problems which still 

 remain unsolved. 



" Such problems appear as soon as we pass from the facts of 

 the case to their explanation ; as soon as we pass from the state- 

 ment, The organic world has arisen by development, to the 

 question. But how has this been effected, by the action of what 

 forces, by what means, and under what circumstances ? 



" In attempting to answer these questions we are very far from 

 dealing with certainties ; and opinions are still conflicting. But 

 the answer lies in the domain of future investigation, that un- 

 known country which we have to explore. 



" It is true that this country is not entirely unknown, and if I 

 am not mistaken, Charles Darwin, who in our time has been the 

 first to revive the long dormant theory of descent, has already 

 given a sketch, which may well serve as a basis for the complete 

 map of the domain ; although perhaps many details will be added, 

 and many others taken away. In the principle of natural selec- 

 tion, Darwin has indicated the route by which we must enter this 

 unknown land." — Weismann. 



" The continuity of the germ plasm, like Darwin's selection, is 

 a fact not a theory." — Hayceaft. 



" ' Struggle for existence,' as perhaps it was in Mr. Darwin's 

 world of advancing beasts and developing vegetables. But now 

 the plan is so turned about by the arrival of man on the scene, 

 and by his civilization, that you cannot watch even parwin and 

 Huxley themselves without seeing that the struggle that they 

 and other good men wage is no struggle for existence but a 

 struggle against mere existence. The struggle for existence is 

 brutal life ; a struggle to do something more than exist is human 

 life — the mission of the human soul. What is the use of alcohol 

 in such a struggle ? The question is a wide one. It might lead 

 us to inquire what that is which men want to obtain beyond 

 mere existence. Watching some eminent teachers, you might 

 suppose it to be a very detailed knowledge of the common frog. 



