CREATION BY LAW. 281 



ture, instead of being above, is far below our highest 

 conceptions of it. I, for one, cannot believe that the 

 world would come to chaos if left to Law alone. I 

 cannot believe that there is in it no inherent power 

 of developing beauty or variety, and that the direct 

 action of the Deity is required to produce each spot 

 or streak on every insect, each detail of structure in 

 every one of the millions of organisms that live or 

 have .lived upon the earth. For it is impossible to 

 draw a line. If any modifications of structure could 

 be the result of law, why not all ? If some self-adapta- 

 tions could arise, why not others ? If any varieties of 

 colour, why not all the varieties we see ? No attempt 

 is made to explain this, except by reference to the fact 

 that "purpose" and "contrivance" are everywhere 

 visible, and by the illogical deduction that they could 

 only have arisen from the direct action of some mind, 

 because the direct action of our minds produces simi- 

 lar " contrivances " ; but it is forgotten that adapta- 

 tion, however produced, must have the appearance 

 of design. The channel of a river looks as if made 

 for the river, although it is made ly it ; the fine layers 

 and beds in a deposit of sand, often look as if they had 

 been sorted, and sifted, and levelled, designedly; the 

 sides and angles of a crystal exactly resemble similar 

 forms designed by man ; but we do not therefore con- 

 clude that these effects have, in each individual case, 

 required the directing action of a creative mind, or see 

 any difficulty in their being produced by natural Law. 



