CREATION BY EVOLUTION
molecules, crystals, organisms—stand in an ascending order of status from lower to higher. Molecules have a higher status than atoms; crystals have a higher status than molecules; organisms have a higher status than anything inorganic.
Suppose, next, that we are dealing with a group of organisms, let us say plants. As we have seen, they may be arranged in an ascending order according to status. But in the course of individual development from the seed onward there is, for instance in the oak, a passage of state from the less complex acorn to the much more complex oak tree. And in the course of racial development, according to the doctrine of descent, there has been, in times long past, a passage of status from less complex species of plants to more complex species.
Now this kind of development in the individual and evolution in the race is not found in atoms, or molecules, or crystals. It is not found till the level of living creatures has been reached in the progressive advance of nature. It introduces something quite new and distinctive—what we call life—which, in technical phrase, “differentiates” organic from inorganic evolution. This makes a difference in the course of events. To indicate other differences the adjectives atomic, molecular, chemical, mental, and so on are used. But the noun “evolution” is here invariably used to mark something which is common to all of them.
After what has thus been said—and necessarily said very briefly—we are now, I think, in a position to state what is common to all of them. Laying stress on passage of states and of status, we can give a pretty clear meaning to unrestricted evolution. It means upward passage from lower to higher, no matter what particular form this passage may assume in this or that kind of progress. The emphasis
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