HORIZON LINES 



process. We involuntarily personify it, and think of 

 it as involving will and power of choice; think of it 

 as selecting this and that, as a man does when he 

 weeds his garden or selects his seeds, or breeds his 

 animals. But it is not positive at all. It is negative — 

 a dropping-out process. 



Chance, or chance selection, works alike in the 

 organic and the inorganic realms, but it develops no 

 new forms in the inorganic, because there is no prin- 

 ciple of development, no organizing push. But in 

 organized matter there is, in and behind all this or- 

 ganizing, a developing principle or tendency; the 

 living force is striving toward other forms ; in other 

 words, development occurs because there is some- 

 thing to develop. An acorn develops, but a quartz 

 pebble only changes. 



The living body is placed in a world of non-living 

 bodies and forces, and it takes its chances; it devel- 

 ops only by their aid; if warmth and moisture are 

 withheld, it ceases to develop; or, if warmth and 

 moisture are in excess, it ceases to develop; its well- 

 being is insured when it rides the inorganic forces, 

 and is not ridden by them. It is subject to the law of 

 chance of the world in which it is placed, but that 

 law of chance does not explain its origin or its de- 

 velopment as it does that of the non-living forms. 



That it is all the result of design or purpose of an 

 all-wise Being, working his will upon matter, is 

 equally unthinkable. Yet if it is the result of chance, 



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