limit, and as it would seem, must assume that the last stages of that period will be marked by the gradual decline, as the first stages are with a slow advance in the state of living beings. Everything indicates that we, the occupants of this earth in the historic period of the human race are living at a time when life conditions are in their ascending stage, and that our teeming world is, as it were, rejoicing in the morning of creation. The forces of evolution are in full play, and therefore, while dismissing the idea of purpose, we may legitimately inquire what are the tendencies of evolution. There is no harm either, for the sake of terse expression, in using teleological language, which is about all the language we have, provided we first disclaim the old-time teleological implications. Dr. Asa Gray, who, while fully accepting evolution in the Darwinian sense, believed in what he characterized as "evolutionary teleology," answered the general question in the following words:
"To accumulate the greatest amount of being upon a given space, and to provide as much enjoyment of life as can be under the conditions, is what Nature seems to aim at."[1]
I was struck with this passage when I first read it, because I had long been led to adopt a formula practically identical with the first part of his, viz., that the object of nature was to transfer the maximum amount of inorganic matter to the organized state. This seems to me to be the whole tendency of organic evolution, and organization in its broadest sense—the differentiation of parts and integration of wholes, the development, perfection, multiplication, specialization and refinement of structures—is only the improved means to this general end. I have considered all the apparent objections to this theory, which need not be entered into here, and satisfied myself that they are not valid, and that the law as stated by Dr. Gray is altogether sound. This does not, however, include the second clause of his formula relating to the enjoyment of life, which I do not regard as true, and shall state my reasons in a future paper.
The law is, however, much broader than this, or rather, this
- ↑ Darwiniana, New York, 1877, p. 175.
