MIXD AS A SOCIAL FACTOR. 567 mind to a level with mechanical force. They seem thus about to fling away the grand results that the doctrine of evolution can- not otherwise fail to achieve. Far be it from me to appeal to the prejudices of the enemies of science by casting opprobrium upon scientific deductions, but when I consider the tendencies which are now so unmistakable, and which are so certainly the conse- quence of the protracted study, on the part of leading scientists, of the unquestionable methods of nature, I think I can, though holding precisely opposite opinions, fully sympathise with Carl vie in characterising the philosophy of evolution as a "gospel of dirt ". But I need not longer dwell upon the blighting influence of this construction of the known laws of nature. Let us approach the kernel of the problem. The laitsezfaire doctrine fails to recognise that, in the develop- ment of mind, a virtually new pow was introduced into the world. To say that this has been done is no startling announcement. It is no more than has taken place many times in the course of the evolution of living and feeling beings out of the tenuous nebulae of space. For, while it is true that nature makes no leaps, while, so long as we consider their beginning, all the great steps in evolution are due to minute increments repeated through vast periods, still, when we survey the whole field, as we must do to comprehend the scheme, and contrast the extremes, we find that nature has been making a series of enormous strides, and reaching from one plane of development to another. It is these independent achievements of evolution that the true philosopher must study. Not to mention the great steps in the cosrnical history of the solar system and of the earth, we must regard the evolution of protoplasm, the " physical basis of life," as one of those gigantic strides which thenceforth completely revolutionised the surface of our planet. The development of the cell as the unit of organisa- tion was another such stride. The origin of vertebrate life intro- duced a new element, and the birth of man wrought still another transformation. These are only a few of nature's revolutions. Many more will suggest themselves. And although, in no single one of these cases can it be said at what exact point the new essence commenced to exist, although the development of all these several expressions of Nature's method of concentrating her hitherto diffused forces was accomplished through an un- broken series of minute transitional increments continued through eons of time, still, it is not a whit less true that each of these grand products of evolution, when at length fully formed, consti- tuted a new cosmic energy, and proceeded to stamp ah 1 future products and processes with a character hitherto wholly unknown upon the globe. It is in this sense, and in this only, that I claim the develop- ment of mind of the thinking, reasoning, inventing faculty of
