220 RAMBLES AND REVERIES. 



enjoy immortality that does not continue to bring 

 into line with itself all facts and phenomena with 

 which it has any affinity. 



Now, we are brought face to face in Nature 

 with facts whose existence cannot be denied, with 

 phenomena whose recurrence is regular and con- 

 tinuous, with processes or laws which appear at 

 any rate to operate uniformly. The problem as to 

 how these phenomena originated is a totally distinct 

 question from that of their reality. That is to say, 

 the existence of things, the constitution and course 

 of Nature, are accepted by all as realities, while 

 there is an almost endless variety of opinions as to 

 the processes or stages by which these realities 

 came to be what they are. It is usual to describe 

 the stages by which the universe reached its present 

 condition as a Creation. Even Haeckel, at the time 

 when he believed in spontaneous generation, called 

 his great book The Natural History of Creation. 

 The method or methods of Creation, which have 

 operated in bringing about the present state of the 

 universe, suggest an altogether distinct idea from 

 that of Creation itself. The moment we begin to 

 make suggestions as to how Creation has proceeded, 

 we leave the region of fact and are starting theories, 

 more or less plausible ; theories which by the or- 

 dinary logical and scientific methods establish 

 their right to be regarded as based on uniform 

 laws of nature, or which, under stress of advancing 

 knowledge and improved methods of observation 

 and experiment, may manifest their incompetency 

 and vanish. 



