THE EVOLUTION OF CONTINUITY 



INTRODUCTION 



Before developing our theory piece by piece it would be 

 well to indicate what is meant by the phrase used in the 

 title of this book — " The Evolution of Continuity." At 

 first sight, no doubt, the words will appear meaningless ; for 

 one would naturally suppose that there could be no evolution 

 from Discontinuity to Continuity ; that from the former to 

 the latter there could be but one step. If, for example, 

 we place two glass beads on a tray at a little distance from 

 each other, the beads are in Discontinuity ; but if we bring 

 them into close touch with each other, or thread them on 

 a string in close contact, they are, we may say, in Continuity. 

 And no matter how slowly we bring them together, there is 

 but one step from Discontinuity to such Continuity as is 

 roughly manifested in contact. 



We know that there is no such thing in reality as absolute 

 continuity of matter, and that the very electrons which 

 constitute the atom are separated from each other by space ; 

 that the densest metal is in reality porous owing to inter- 

 molecular spaces, and that the cells of our body tissues are 

 not in absolute continuity. 1 But for the purposes of our 

 theory we shall neglect this fact, and the Continuity of 

 which we shall speak, obtaining in the natural world, is 

 the continuity of more or less firm attachment, or such as 

 resists on the whole any forces making for its severance, 

 or for dissipation into wide discontinuity. Thus, the atom 

 preserves the relative continuity of its system of revolving 

 electrons, the living cell its protoplasmic continuity, and 

 our bodies their cellular and tissue continuity. 



1 Similarly, Discontinuity is never absolute, in the sense of the com- 

 plete isolation or dissociation of one entity from the rest of the Many. 



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