64 THE KINGDOM OF MAN 



arisen without the operation of such determining conditions ; 

 and I am quite unable to understand how it can be maintained 

 that ' the concourse of atoms ' forming a crystal, or even a 

 lump of mud, is in any philosophic sense more correctly de- 

 scribed as ' fortuitous ' than is the concourse of atoms which 

 has given rise to a sprig of moss or an animal. It would be a 

 matter of real interest to many of your readers if Lord Kelvin 

 would explain more precisely what he means by the distinction 

 which he has, somewhat dogmatically, laid down between the 

 formation of a crystal as * fortuitous ' and the formation of an 

 organism as due to 'creative and directive purpose.' 



" I am not misrepresenting what Lord Kelvin has said on this 

 subject when I say that he seems to have formed the concep- 

 tion of a creator who, first of all, without care or foresight, 

 has produced what we call 'matter,' with its necessary pro- 

 perties, and allowed it to aggregate and crystallise as a painter 

 might allow his pigments to run and intermingle on his palette ; 

 and then, as a second effort, has brought some of these 

 elements together with ' creative and directive purpose,' mix- 

 ing them, as it were, with a vital principle ' so as to form 

 living things, just as the painter might pick out certain colours 

 from his confused palette and paint a picture. 



" This conception of the intermittent action of creative power 

 and purpose does not, I confess, commend itself to me. That, 

 however, is not so surprising as that it should be thought that 

 this curious conception of the action of creative power is of 

 value to religion. Whether the intermittent theory is a true 

 or an erroneous conception seems to me to have nothing to do 

 with ' religion ' in the large sense of that word so often mis- 

 used. It seems to me to be a kind of mythology, and I should 

 have thought could be of no special assistance to teachers of 

 Christianity. Such theories of divided creative operations are 

 traceable historically to polytheism. 



" Lastly, with reference to Lord Kelvin's statement that 

 ' modern biologists are coming once more to a firm acceptance 

 of something and that is " a vital principle." I will not ven- 

 ture to doubt that Lord Kelvin has such persons among his 

 acquaintance. On the other hand, I feel some confidence in 

 stating that a more extensive acquaintance with modern biolo- 



