CHAPTEB XV 



DESIGN IN NATUEE 



EVOLUTION is evidently due to the action of mind. 

 There are some who still maintain an opposite view, 

 but I think that their numbers are fast diminishing. 

 It seems to me that no one who has a competent 

 knowledge of biology and palaeontology can possibly 

 accept the doctrine that living organisms are the out- 

 come of chance. Darwin distinctly repudiated the 

 idea , and thought that variation in animals and plants 

 could not be explained by a mechanical theory of the 

 universe. I must here try to make my meaning 

 clear. We apply the word chance to those pheno- 

 mena which are irregular in their appearance, and 

 which are due to causes too complicated for us to 

 unravel. We call throwing dice chance, because we 

 cannot foretell what will happen. Similarly, if we 

 say that evolution is due to chance, we mean that 

 the Author of Nature could not foretell the results of 

 the action of the forces he was setting in motion. 

 Now, is the universe due to design, or is it due to 

 what we may call a lucky throw? Has it been 

 brought about intentionally or unintentionally? 

 That is the question. 



It may be possible to imagine a cloud formed by 



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