IT MECHANICAL NECESSITY 83 



they have rejoiced in his theory for the 

 very reason that it rested mainly on the 

 idea of fortuity, or of mechanical neces- 

 sity, and excluded altogether the compet- 

 ing idea of mental direction and design. 

 In this they were more Darwinian than 

 Darwin himself. He assumed, indeed, 

 that variations were promiscuous and 

 accidental ; but he did so avowedly only 

 because he did not know any law direct- 

 ing and governing their occurrence. 

 His fanatical followers went farther. 

 They have assumed that on this ques- 

 tion there is nothing to be known, 

 and that the rule of accident and of 

 mechanical necessity had for ever ex- 

 cluded the agency of Mind. 



Let us now ask of ourselves the 

 question, Which of those two elements 

 in Darwin's theory the element of 

 accident and of mechanical necessity, or 

 the element of a directing agency in the 



