Continuity 89 



effect is likely to be worse, for it would 

 block the course of the river and waste it 

 on the desert, were it not that fortunately 

 some leaks develop and a sufficient supply 

 still goes down goes down in fact more 

 equably than before : so that the ultimate 

 result is beneficial to vegetation, and 

 simulates intention. 



If told concerning either of these struc- 

 tures that an engineer, a designer in 

 London, called Benjamin Baker, had 

 anything to do with it, the idea would be 

 preposterous. One conclusive argument 

 is final against such a superstitious hypo- 

 thesis he is not there, and a thing 

 plainly cannot act where it is not. But 

 although we, with our greater advantages, 

 perceive that the right solution for such 

 an observer would be the recognition of 

 some unknown agency or agent, it must 

 be admitted that an explanation in terms 

 of a vague entity called vital force would 

 be useless, and might be so worded as to 

 be misleading; whereas a statement in 

 terms of mechanics and physics could be 

 clear and definite and true as far as it 



