THE METHOD OF CREATION. 295 



the corner-posts, the upright timbers, the joists, the rafters, 

 the partition studs. Then come the flooring, the lathing, the 

 siding, and the roof boards. Next, the plastering, the base- 

 boardc, the casings, the doors, the windows. Finally, the 

 painting, the graining, and the decorations. Here the pro- 

 cedure is by continuity, and from general to particular. That 

 is, the material employed in first rough outline remains, and 

 the modifications consist in the addition of successive details 

 and particulars. Now this is Nature's method as well as 

 man's, I think I can show you that such is the case. 



Consider first, the realm of inorganic matter. I think we 

 are entitled to trace the train of events back to a disseminated 

 cosmical dust, which reveals its existence in meteors, comets, 

 and nebulae. Reflect then, that the same matter which floated 

 cold in space, appeared later as a fire-mist, then a planetary 

 ring, then a darkened planet, a solid continent, a tree, or a 

 human body. It is a wonderful thought; but I believe we 

 must admit its truth. Here is continuity. Then notice the 

 other conception in Nature, method, specialization. The first 

 condition of matter was chaotic ; no form was outlined in it. 

 Little less chaotic was the nebulous or fire-mist stage. The 

 idea of limits and form began to be expressed. When a ring 

 was abandoned; when two spheres existed, some advance in 

 detail was achieved. Still more when other rings, other 

 spheres primary and secondary, came in due order, as modi- 

 fications out of the original matter. The progress of each 

 separate planetary sphere carried forward the method of 

 specialization. The earth, for example, was fire-mist ; then a 

 molten globe with a mixed atmosphere; then an incrusting 

 globe; then an incrusted globe with an ocean film about it; then 

 all this with emergent nuclei of continents; then further 

 emergences, with added layers of rocks ; and then an atmos- 

 pheric specialization by the separation of carbon and a new 

 kind of rock ; then further emergences and more complicated 

 rock arrangements; then a detailed sculpturing and rough 

 wastage of the land ; then the glacial repair of the land ; 

 then a continuance of erosive and modifying actions, to the 



