178 VITALISM AND SCHOLASTICISM 



place the same writer urges, quite properly 



Teleology from our point of view that a belief in 



mechanism does not exclude a belief in teleo- 



logy. 



That is just what we are urging here; 

 mechanism and teleology are not mutually 

 exclusive. Mechanism is the way in which the 



" factor attains its end : let us hear 

 Huxley on this point, for though he would 

 not accept the Theistic position he saw its 

 strength. " The more purely a mechanist the 

 speculator is, the more firmly does he assume 

 a primordial molecular arrangement of which 

 all the phenomena of the universe are the con- 

 sequence, the more completely is he thereby 

 at the mercy of the teleologist, who can always 

 defy him to disprove that this primordial 

 molecular arrangement was not intended to 

 evolve the phenomena of the universe."* See 

 also p. 187 : " It seems to me that " creation " 

 in the ordinary sense of the word, is per- 

 fectly conceivable. I find no difficulty in 

 imagining that, at some former period, this 

 universe was not in existence ; and that it made 

 its appearance ... in consequence of the 

 volition of some pre-existent Being. The so- 

 called a priori arguments against Theism, and, 

 given a Deity, against the possibility of creative 



* Life of Darwin, ii., p. 201. 



