B6 COSMIC PHILOSOPHY. [pt. it 



butterflies of Celebes all show parallel divergences, inexpli- 

 cable by natural selection alone, from kindred species in Java 

 and India. And a host of like facts concerning these insects 

 are cited by Mr. Mivart from Mr. Wallace's essay on the 

 Malayan Papilionidse. More examples might be cited if this 

 work were intended to be a scientific treatise on Darwinism ; 

 but for the comprehension of the present point, in its philo- 

 sophic bearings, these illustrations will suffice. 



Facts of this kind point to the conclusion that an inherent 

 capacity for adaptive changes is possessed by all organisms. 

 And by the phrase " inherent capacity " I do not mean to 

 insinuate the existence of any occulta vis, or metaphysical 

 " innate power," of which no scientific account is to be given 

 in terms of matter and motion. An organism is a complex 

 system of forces ; even the simplest living patch of proto- 

 plasm is a highly complex system, but in the higher organisms 

 the complication of forces is almost infinite, when compared 

 with our limited powers of analysis. Now such a system of 

 forces must, under penalty of overthrow, maintain both its 

 internal equilibrium and its equilibrium with external inci- 

 dent forces. And this double maintenance of equilibrium 

 necessitates a rhythmical redistribution of forces from mo- 

 ment to moment, of which, as was shown in the chapter on 

 rhythm, the result must be continual change. ISTow the 

 internal equilibration of the forces in the organism with each 

 other, is generalized in the laws of growth, development, and 

 heredity ; while the external equilibration of the forces in 

 the organism with environing forces, is generalized in the 

 laws of variation and adaptation. As the result of the former 

 process, all organisms tend to assume certain typical forms, 

 as inevitably as crystals. In the case of the lowest organisms 

 the forms assumed may possibly be due to the operation oi 

 chemical polarity similar (though much more involved) to 

 that which gives form to crystals. In all but the lowest 

 organisms the forms assumed are the expression of tendencies 



