﻿ADAPTIVENESS 
  AND 
  PURPOSIVENESS 
  325 
  

  

  2. 
  Their 
  Origin 
  neither 
  by 
  Design 
  nor 
  Mechanical. 
  

  

  Opposite 
  the 
  title-page 
  of 
  Darwin's 
  Origin 
  of 
  Species, 
  

   there 
  is 
  a 
  quotation 
  from 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  Bridgewater 
  Treatises. 
  

   A 
  judicious 
  quotation 
  it 
  is, 
  but, 
  as 
  Professor 
  Lovejoy 
  points 
  

   out, 
  there 
  is 
  a 
  historic 
  irony 
  in 
  finding 
  it 
  at 
  the 
  outset 
  of 
  

   a 
  book 
  which 
  was 
  the 
  death-sentence 
  of 
  the 
  kind 
  of 
  arani- 
  

  

  o 
  

  

  ment 
  most 
  characteristic 
  of 
  the 
  treatises 
  in 
  question. 
  Darwin 
  

   sought 
  to 
  show 
  that, 
  if 
  copious 
  variability 
  be 
  granted 
  and 
  

   abundance 
  of 
  time 
  be 
  allowed, 
  then 
  Nature's 
  sifting 
  the 
  

   process 
  of 
  Natural 
  Selection 
  will 
  account 
  for 
  all 
  the 
  strik- 
  

   ing 
  adaptations 
  from 
  which 
  many 
  thoughtful 
  observers 
  had 
  

   been 
  wont 
  to 
  argue 
  directly 
  to 
  theism. 
  He 
  says 
  himself: 
  

   " 
  The 
  old 
  argument 
  from 
  design 
  in 
  nature 
  . 
  . 
  . 
  which 
  

   once 
  seemed 
  to 
  me 
  so 
  conclusive, 
  fails, 
  now 
  that 
  the 
  law 
  

   of 
  natural 
  selection 
  has 
  been 
  discovered. 
  We 
  can 
  no 
  longer 
  

   argue 
  that, 
  for 
  instance, 
  the 
  beautiful 
  hinge 
  of 
  a 
  bivalve 
  

   shell 
  must 
  have 
  been 
  made 
  by 
  an 
  intelligent 
  being, 
  like 
  the 
  

   hinge 
  of 
  a 
  door 
  by 
  man. 
  There 
  seems 
  to 
  be 
  no 
  more 
  design 
  

   in 
  the 
  variability 
  of 
  organic 
  beings, 
  and 
  in 
  the 
  action 
  of 
  

   natural 
  selection, 
  than 
  in 
  the 
  course 
  which 
  the 
  wind 
  blows." 
  

  

  Now 
  we 
  cannot 
  return 
  to 
  any 
  crude 
  form 
  of 
  the 
  old 
  idea 
  

   that 
  the 
  thousand 
  and 
  one 
  adaptations 
  of 
  organisms, 
  which 
  

   gratify 
  our 
  sense 
  of 
  fitness, 
  are 
  the 
  direct 
  outcome 
  of 
  the 
  

   design 
  of 
  a 
  divine 
  artificer. 
  It 
  is 
  agreed 
  that 
  they 
  have 
  

   been 
  more 
  or 
  less 
  gradually 
  evolved 
  by 
  the 
  operation 
  of 
  

   natural 
  factors. 
  They 
  have 
  been 
  wrought 
  out 
  in 
  what 
  is 
  

   often 
  called 
  Nature's 
  workshop. 
  

  

  On 
  the 
  other 
  hand, 
  we 
  cannot 
  accept 
  Darwin's 
  statement 
  

   that 
  the 
  evolution 
  of 
  adaptations 
  is 
  comparable 
  to 
  the 
  work 
  

   of 
  the 
  wind 
  among 
  the 
  snow-drifts. 
  The 
  inadequacy 
  of 
  the 
  

   statement 
  is 
  fourfold. 
  

  

  