WHAT IS DARWINISM? 149 



of course in a measure here), to glorify Bud- 

 dhism. Strauss, he adds, says, " Nature knows 

 itself in man, and in that he expresses the 

 thought which all Idealism and all Materialism 

 make the grand end. To the same effect it is 

 said, 'In Man the All comprehends itself as 

 conscious being (comes to self-consciousness) ; 

 or, in Man the absolute knowledge (Wissen, 

 the act of knowing) appears in the limits of 

 personality.' This was the doctrine of the 

 Buddhist and of the ancient Chinese." Thus, 

 as Dr. Weis says, " in the nineteenth century 

 of the Christian era, philosophers and scientists 

 have reached the point where the Chinese were 

 two thousand years ago." 



The only way that is apparent for account- 

 ing for evolution being rejected in 1844, and 

 for its becoming a popular doctrine in 1866, 

 is, that it happens to suit a prevailing state of 

 mind. It is a fact, so far as our limited knowl- 

 edge extends, that no one is willing to acknowl- 

 edge himself, not simply an evolutionist, but 

 an evolutionist of the Darwinian school, who 

 is not either a Materialist by profession, or a 

 disciple of Herbert Spencer, or an advocate of 

 the philosophy of Hume. 



There is another significant fact which goes 



