Note 39 — IV RELIGION AND MORALITY

It may be objected that the idea of the conservation of the psyche is only intelligible on the assumption of a pre-somatic, as well as a post-somatic existence, or that it necessarily involves some form of transmigration. In place of any theory of the soul's preformation, I would prefer to view the origin of the soul as bearing relation to the epigenesis of the organic germ, bearing in mind that the organism is but the medium of the soul's activity and avoiding all dogmatism on the question of its ultimate destination. We should, however, remember, as Professor Ward points out, before we apply the formulæ of physical science to the realm of spiritual ends, of this fundamental difference: "Individuality is inseparable from mind and altogether foreign to matter, which loses nothing by disintegration and gains nothing by integration." ("Realm of Ends," p. 279.)