82 PRESENT-DAY RATIONALISM 



endless diversity of molecular movements must be as 

 perfect as the unity which we find to pervade the endless 

 diversity of organic forms. In fact, the two are insepar- 

 able, because the unity which exists amongst organic 

 forms is the e^ect of the unity which exists among 

 molecular movements. It is because these molecular 

 movements are determined according to a unity of plan 

 that their effects (viz., organic objects) have a unity of 

 form. It is the particular determinations of the move- 

 ments of the molecules that give the particular form to a 

 tree." 



I will hereafter show^ that "Darwinism," or "The 

 Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection," does 

 not exist in Nature, and that it represents no Natural Law 

 by which the accidental, favourable variations could be in 

 correlation with the requirements of the being, so as to 

 be in harmony with new surroundings. 



Mr. Croll drew the same conclusion in 1872, for he 

 thus wrote : " Natural Selection never can explain the 

 objective idea in Nature unless we suppose the selection 

 to be made according to a design or plan. Mr. Darwin's 

 theory can never, from its very nature, explain the mystery 

 of the organic world. There must be a determining cause 

 in the background of all natural selection working out the 

 objective idea." 



That is to say, Mr. Croll demands some Natural Law 

 governing the process by which new species arise : and 

 that we now know is expressed by saying the living proto- 

 plasm responds to the direct action of the neiv conditions of 

 life ; and molecular motion takes place in accordance 

 with Directivity towards adjustment. 



"•But there is not merely a unity oiplan to be accounted 



' See Appendix, p. 145. 



