58 Some Wayside Problems 



The primary fact whereof we have to take account in 

 our investigation of the world of life is that it is a 

 machine which works. Its actual efficiency is far more 

 manifest to us than are any of the hypothetical explana- 

 tions which we hear, as to how that efficiency is secured. 

 Looking at the universe in its separate parts only, and 

 conceiving of the various tribes which make up the 

 organic kingdom, as separate and independent one of 

 another, fighting each for itself alone, we obtain no key 

 to the mystery that the outcome of this chaotic an- 

 tagonism, should be that orderly Cosmos which it is the 

 pride of science to contemplate. Looked at, for in- 

 stance, from the point of view of the vegetables, what 

 advantage had any plant to gain by producing a digest- 

 ible seed ? All that comes of such a quality is to secure, 

 that, the seed being consumed by bird or beast, the 

 propagation of the plant, so far as that seed is con- 

 cerned, should come to nought. Yet without such 

 seeds our wheat, barley, oats, rye, rice, peas, beans, 

 and nuts, what would become of us men, who are 

 yearly within measurable distance of starvation if the 

 harvests of the world fall short of their due amount? 

 In like manner we may ask what advantage has accrued 

 , to our cattle and sheep from their latent capacity of 

 producing beef and mutton, to the horse from his 

 powers of traction, to the dog from his aptitude to be 

 trained to herd a flock, or point at a covey, or turn a 

 spit. Yet all these various qualities and a hundred 

 thousand others fit in with the complex requirements 

 of the world as we know it, and make its operation 

 possible. Not the independence of each factor, but 

 their interdependence is the great fact whereof evidence 

 stares us in the face at every turn, a fact demanding an 

 explanation, and explained, at least more simply than in 

 any other manner, by supposing it to be the result of 

 design. 



But here we touch the crucial point of the whole 

 matter. This admission of design is what the most 

 vehement preachers of evolution are chiefly anxious to 



