136 CLUES AND SUGGESTIONS CHAP. 



is accomplished by steps, generally 

 visible, but often also concealed from 

 our view. There is, therefore, either 

 no mind guiding the order of that uni- 

 verse, or else this method is compatible 

 with intellectual direction. We must 

 take Nature as we find it. We have 

 nothing to do with what Mr. Spencer 

 calls " Special Creation." Special evolu- 

 tion will do very well for our contention. 

 That contention is that in organic 

 structures purposive adaptations have 

 had the controlling power. This is not 

 an argument ; it is a fact. In Biology 

 our perception of the relation between 

 organic structures and the purposes they 

 are made to serve which are the 

 functions they are constructed to dis- 

 charge is a perception as clear, dis- 

 tinct, and certain as our perception 

 of their relations to each other, or 

 to time, or to form, or to space, or 



