Chap. I. 



DIVERSIFIED TYPES FOUXD EVERYWHERE. 



13 



on the contrary, that these organisms may ha\e appeared in the beginning over a 

 wide area, is to grant, at tlie same time, that the physical influences under whicli 

 they existed at first were not so specific as to justily tlie assumption that tliese couki 

 be the cause of their appearance. In whatever connection, then, the first appear- 

 ance of organized beings upon earth is viewed, whetlier it is assumed that the}' 

 originated within the most limited areas, or over the widest range of their present 

 natural geographical distribution, animals and plants being everywhere diversified to 

 the most extraordinary extent, it is plain that the physical influences under which 

 they subsist cannot logically be considered as the cause of that diversity. In this, 

 as in every other respect, when considering the relations of animals and plants to 

 the conditions under which they live, or to one another, we are inevitably led to 

 look beyond the material facts of the case for an explanation of their existence. 

 Those who have taken another view of this subject, have mistaken the action and 

 reaction which exist everyAvhere between organized beings, and the physical influences 

 under which they live ^ for a causal or genetic connection, and carried their mistake 

 so far as to assert that these manifold influences could really extend to the production 

 of these beings, not considering how inadequate such a cause woidd be, and that 

 even the action of physical agents upon organized beings presupposes the very exist- 

 ence of those beings.^ The simple fiict that there has been a period in the history 



relations, siK'cial contrivances must tlicrcfort' liavc 

 been provided. Now, what would be a]ij>ropriatc 

 for the one, would not suit the other, so that exclud- 

 ing one another in this way, they cannot have origi- 

 nated uixin the same point ; whili' within a wider 

 areii, physical agents are too unitorni in their mode 

 of action to have laid the foundation for so many 

 such specific differences as existed between the first 

 inhabitants of our globe. 



' See, below, Sect. IG. 



' A critical examination of tiiis point may dis- 

 ])el iniieh of the confusion which prevails in the dis- 

 cussions relating to the inlluence of physical causes 

 upon organized beings. That there exist definite 

 relations between animals as well as plants and the 

 mediums in which they live, no one at all familiar 

 with the phenomena of tiie organic woild can doubt ; 

 that these mediums and all i)hysieal agents at work 

 in nature, have a certain influence upon organized 

 beings is equally plain. But before any such action 

 can take |ilaee ami be fell, organized beings mtist 

 exist. 'I'lie problem before us involves, theril'ori'. 



two questions, the infhienee of physical agents u|)on 

 animals and ])lants already in existence, and the ori- 

 gin of these beings. Granting the influence of these 

 agents upon organized beings to the fullest extent 

 to which it may be traced, (see Sect. 10.) there 

 remains still tlie ([uestion of their origin ujion wiiicli 

 neither argument nor observation has yet thrown any 

 light. But according to some, they originated spon- 

 taneously bv llie immediate agency of physical forces, 

 and have become successively more and more diver- 

 sified b}' changes j)roduced gradually upon them, by 

 these same forces. Others believe that there exist 

 laws in nature wliicii were established by the Deity 

 in the begiiniiiig, to the action of which the origin 

 of organized beings ma}' be ascribed ; wliile aceonl- 

 ing to others, they owe their existence to the im- 

 ni<<liate inli iv( iilion of an intelligent Creator. It 

 is the object of the following paragraphs to sliow 

 that there are neither agents nor laws in nature 

 known to pliysicists inider the inlUience and liy the 

 aeli<in of which these beings could have originated : 

 that, on llir eonlraiv, the verv nature of these be- 



