RATIONALISM AND PSYCHOLOGY 237 



to substantiate the Argument of Design, neither does the 

 doctrine of Evolution require God's visible presence to 

 substantiate His Reason in Nature. 



I need only refer the reader to Paley's work for in- 

 stances in the animal kingdom ; so now let us take a few 

 illustrations from the vegetable world. 



If a man has to cross an arid desert, he carries water 

 with him. If plants live in dry rocky places, where rain 

 falls for a few weeks only in the year, they provide them- 

 selves with water-storage tissues. 



If plants have weak stems, they often convert their 

 leaves or flowering branches into tendrils, and moreover 

 provide them with a sensitiveness to touch, so that they 

 coil spirally around any object with which they may 

 come into contact. So, men make rope ladders. 



As the embryo of seeds would perish on germination 

 if they had not food to live upon until roots and leaves are 

 made, Nature provides them with the necessary substances 

 in resei-ve, wherewith to fight the battle of life ; just as a 

 convoy accompanies soldiers on the march. 



Similarly many plants have found out methods of 

 propagation without seeds, as potatoes. To do this 

 reserve food materials are stored up for the " eyes " or 

 young shoots to live upon until they have roots and leaves, 

 like germinating seeds. These are but a few of " reason- 

 able " processes whereby " means " for " ends " are provided 

 by the plant in view of future contingencies, etc. 



Such processes are all effected by automatic proto- 

 plasmic " reason," if it be permissible to use the term in 

 this sense where consciousness is absent. 



Haeckel, indeed, does attribute a " soul " with all 

 its properties to primordial cells, that is, in fact, to proto- 

 plasm ; but I should prefer to limit " reason " to acts 

 associated with co7isciousness, and use the word " adapta- 



