PLAA'TS IX UELATIOX To .MAX 30t) 



facts of inheritance mure nninti'lligil)lc, l)ut cvon if it were 

 IJroved to be an exact representation of the facts it would not 

 be an explanation, because, as Weismann, Kcrncr and 

 many others admit, it wuiild n(jt account fur ilic forces, 

 the directive agency, and the orijunisiixf jx^wer wliich arc es- 

 sential features of growth. This is felt so strongly bv all tiie 

 great workers in pliysiology, that even Ilaeckel has Ix-en driven 

 to postulate " mind, soul, or volition," not only in every cell 

 but in each organic molecule or physiological on it. And then, 

 to save himself from the slur of being ^^ unscieniilic," an«l of 

 introducing the very organising power he had <l(ridcd when 

 suggested by others, he loudly proclaims that hi- *' soul- 

 atom," though it has " Avill " is yet wholly " nnc<mscious." ' 



I again urge, therefore, that our greatest anthorities admit 

 the necessity of some mind — some organising and directive 

 power — in nature; but they seem to contemplate merely some 

 unknown forces or some innate rudimentarv mind in cell or 

 atom. Such vague and petty suppositions, however, do not 

 meet the necessities of the problem. I admit that sueh forces 

 and such rudimentary mind-power may an<l imtbably do ex- 

 ist, but I maintain that they are wholly ina(h'(juate, and that 

 some vast intelligence, some pervading spirit i-; re(jnire<l to 

 guide these lower forces in accordance with a pre-ordained 

 system of evolution of the organic world. 



If, how^ever, we go as far as this, we must go farther. If 

 there is a ruling and creative power to which the existence 

 of our cosmos is due, and if we are its one and unitpie high- 

 est outcome, able to understand and to make use of the forces 

 and products of nature in a way that no other animal lias been 

 able to do; and if, further, there is any reasonable probability 

 of a continuous life for us to still further develop that higher 

 spiritual nature which we possess, tlu^n W(^ have a ])erfect 

 right, on logical and scientific grounds, to see in all the inti- 

 nitely varied products of tli(> animal nn.l vegetable kingdoms, 



1 The Riddle of the L'niverse. p. 04. 



