271 
THE DARWINIAN TIHEORY.—III. 
(Concluded from p. 213.) 
There are some persons who propose that the Creator may have 
given the first start to life, but may have afterwards permitted the va- 
rieties of life to be effected by secondary causes, for that is the language 
in vogue for the occasion. We must, therefore, examine the meaning 
of this proposition, which implies that matter left to itself should be 
able to transform itself into innumerable varieties of organization, and 
that an elephant may ultimately have been derived, by a long series of 
transformations, from a seaweed. Granting secondary causes in full 
activity, as indeed they always are, yet secondary causes do not perform 
miracles. If an oyster were generated from a seaweed, which is bring- 
ing things a little nearer, yet secondary causes can have effected this 
only by willing, designing, foreseeing, and elaborating the many inter- 
mediate changes. In short, all bots of wonderful contrivances, such 
as we can never imitate, must have been planned by intellect, and that 
intellect* must reside in matter, if secondary causes have accomplished 
these wonders. Secondary causes do not think; they do not, by in- 
nate intelligence, command an intuitive knowledge of all the sciences, 
nor have they power to apply their knowledge as they choose; they 
can only act as servants to the established laws of nature, and must 
keep themselves within the boundaries of actual material existence, 
following impulses where they cannot control. If secondary causes can 
“ Pour nous, le génie de Tapae devance la construction de l'édifice, et 
€ matériaux de celui-ci n' engendrent nullement l'intelligence qui préside à son 
mete fit iet . inis 
These excellent words are from Pouchet’s ‘Hétérogénie,’ a work of grea 
merit, for ‘the clearness of its style and the -— of m eue resti The ien 
principle which he advocates would, of course, be ¢ ted by all but the dis- 
ciples of that. school of wh hich M. 'Pouchet. is one p. ike most distinguished 
, Oken, Morren, i 
ug ! ; th * firm opponent of spontaneous generation. 
Wem de gos T ps sige og some remarkable words of Pouchet :—* Il 
est évident qu'un agent aa rdonnateur dom e toutes les manifestations vitales, 
mais aucune des écoles ne l'a suffisament défini * (p. 117). 
