NEBULAR HYPOTHESIS. 29 



globes, and a system in any degree different in 

 the peopling of these globes with plants and 

 animals. Laws govern both : we are left no room 

 to doubt that laws were the immediate means of 

 making the first ; is it to be readily admitted that 

 laws did not preside at the creation of the second 

 also, particularly when we find that laws equally 

 at this moment govern and sustain both ? Most 

 undoubtedly, it would require very powerful e\i- 

 dence to justify such an admission. And, on the 

 other hand, it would require very decisive counter- 

 evidence to forbid the conclusion that the organic 

 creation originated in law. How actually stands 

 the evidence on either side ? Simply thus : that 

 no actual evidence has ever yet been offered to 

 prove that the Divine will acted otherwise than 

 in the usual natural order in the organic creation ; 

 while, on the other hand, geolog}' and physiology 

 exhibit lively vestiges or traces of that mode having 

 actually been followed. On this narrow ground, it 

 appears, is the great question to be debated. If 

 the opponents of the h\'pothesis of an organic 

 creation by law can bring, from these or any other 

 sciences, facts which appear as powerful objections 

 to any such conclusion, then it must, at the very 

 least, be held in suspense. If, again, the other 



