The Progress of the Race 
a subtler and perhaps better condition, 
and 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 fa- 
cilitates the existence of all that is. There 
can be no certainty, and yet many in- 
stances invite us to believe that, were an 
actual estimate possible, the quantity of 
matter that has raised itself from its begin- 
nings would be found to be ever increas- 
ing. 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 certi- 
tude to the contrary 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 evolution. In its favour 
383 
