122 PROF. H. LANGHORNE ORCHARD, M.A., B.SC., ON 
least,” says he, “is the fact wherever evolution is compound . . . 
the entire mass is integrating and simultaneously differentiating 
from other masses, and each member is also integrating and 
differentiating from other members.”* 
Le Conte. — In the ihcistic system! of evolution advocated by 
Le Conte, nature is a manifestation of GOD, is a garment 
wherewith He has clothed Himself. There are various planes 
of being, each plane governed by its own characteristic laws. 
The laws are modes of Divine action working through resident 
forces, and varying according to the plane of being. According 
to this able American geologist, beings are continually modifying 
into different beings, i.e., undergoing evolution, evolution 
being defined as “ a law of continuity,” “ a universal law of 
becoming,” “ continuous progressive change,” “ a law of derivation 
of forms from previous forms.” Man is “ something more than 
a higher species of animal,” — His spirit is “ a spark of Divine 
energy individuated to the point of self-consciousness and 
recognition of his relation to God.” “ Spirit-embryo, developing 
in the womb of Nature through all geological time, came to 
birth and independent spirit-life in man.” Whence Le Conte 
concludes that “ if God operates on Nature only by regular 
processes which we call natural laws , then He must operate on 
spirit in a different and a more direct way, and this we call 
revelation.” 
Remarks regarding the ultimate Origin. — Reviewing these 
various evolution theories as to the Origin of things, our verdict 
will be that the unity of nature demands that the ultimate 
origin be not multiple but single. Theories which assume the 
past eternity! of matter are confused, incongruous, in- 
adequate, — confused, for, when analysed, they affirm that, in 
the last resort, matter and spirit are identical ; incongruous 
with experience and the causation intuition which tells us that 
matter cannot originate force, and that, since every change is an 
effect, what is always and perpetually undergoing change must 
itself have had a cause ; inadequate, for the observed facts and 
phenomena cannot be traced to their supposed original ante- 
* First Principles. In pursuing an interesting argument, Spencer falls 
not infrequently into the well-known fallacies of petit io principii 
and ignoratio elenchi. Spencer quietly assumes that, by proving change 
and development, he has thereby proved “ evolution.” 
t Evolution and its Relation to Religious Thought. 
I The fact, pointed out by Clerk Maxwell, that the material atom bears 
the stamp of a manufactured article, is alone sufficient to prove that 
matter is not eternal. 
