MODERN EVOLUTION. 



151 



most remarkable occurrences. I cannot — it would 

 not be fair — say all I could with regard to that men- 

 tal condition; but I can only say this, that it all fits 

 in perfectly well with the result of my previous 

 studies upon the subject, viz., that there is nothing 

 too strange to be believed by those who have once 

 surrendered their judgment to the extent of accept- 

 ing as credible things which common sense tells us 

 are entirely incredible." 



The fact abides that the great mass of super- 

 natural beliefs which have persisted from the lower 

 culture till now, and which are still held by an 

 overwhelming majority of civilized mankind, ar'" re- 

 ferable to causes concomitant with man's mental 

 development: causes operative throughout his his- 

 tory. The low intellectual environment of his 

 barbaric past was constant for thousands of years, 

 and his adaptation thereto was complete. The in- 

 trusion of the scientific method in its application to 

 man disturbed that equilibrium. But this, as yet, 

 only superficially. Like the foraminifera that persist 

 in the ocean depths, the great majority of mankind 

 have remained, but slightly, if at all, modified; thus 

 illustrating the truth of the doctrine of evolution in 

 their psychical history. (For that doctrine does not 

 imply all-round continuous advance. " Let us never 

 forget," Mr. Spencer says in Social Statics, " that the 

 law is — adaptation to circumstances, be they what 

 they may.") Therefore the superstitions that still 

 dominate the life of man, even in so-called civilized 



