LEROY C. COOLEY. 23 



first sentence ever uttered to express an abstract thought ; 

 and of art, not in the first rude implement ever made, but 

 in the first product of the hand, however rude, which 

 symbolized a mental conception. 



The fact is that the very soul of literature, art, and 

 science, is human thought. But thought is the pure 

 product of mind ; and, to quote the language of Sully, 

 the companion of Huxley, in the authorship of the ar- 

 ticle on "Evolution," in the New BrUannica (vol. viii., 

 p. 770), "All the laws of physical evolution can never 

 help us to understand the first genesis of mind." 



The birth of literature, art, and science, can neither be 

 dated nor explained on mechanical principles. We must 

 start with the simple fact that the germs were brought 

 into being in the first mental acts by which language, 

 manual dexterity and sensation were employed to 

 minister to the intellectual wants of man. 



From such puny germs to the robust literature, the 

 thrifty art, and the athletic science of the present day, 

 what a development ! The process has been one of as 

 genuine evolution as ever occurred in the progress of 

 the world. It has gone step by step, through successive 

 changes in forms, and structures, and functions, from 

 simple to complex, from uniform to variable, from worse 

 to better, the higher not only following but depending 

 upon the lower. But this description, it will be noticed, 

 conforms exactly to the best modern definition of evolu- 

 tion. {Enc. Brit. viii.. 746, 751). Indeed, the only ele- 

 ment lacking in this description which is needed to com- 

 plete that definition is the assumption that the cause of 

 the progress is a property or an attribute of that which 

 is transformed. It will appear in the sequel whether Ave 

 may safely add this element also. 



And to this end we have to consider, first, whether 

 what has been called the primary germs possessed within 

 themselves the elements of life and growth. And if not, 



