26 The Bible of Nature 



well the bird's skeletal and muscular systems are 

 adapted for flight, how well the heart is constructed 

 for its ceaseless work, what a fine instrument the 

 eye is, how readily the leaf insects escape detection 

 when they alight on a branch, how effective a con- 

 trivance is the Venus Fly-trap! But so one might 

 go on for hours. 



To our forefathers, who were dominated by a 

 static view of the world, the subtle special fitnesses 

 seen throughout Nature, afforded direct evidence 

 of the immediate action of a Divine artificer. We 

 do not hold that view now, partly because it is 

 rather a crude view, mainly because our view of 

 Nature is no longer static but kinetic. Even 

 when the kinetic view was taken, it seemed to 

 some that Nature was like a troublesome child, 

 always getting into scrapes and tight places so that 

 the author of its being might show His skill in extri- 

 cating it by beautiful contrivance. But we can give 

 a plausible history of many of these adaptations, we 

 find them \n varied stages of perfection. There- 

 fore the argument from design has given place to 

 a deeper recognition of rationality. The Order of 

 Nature is such that an increasing evolution of 

 fitness is possible, there is adaptation in cosmic 

 evolution as a whole — it leads up to intelligent, 

 moral persons, adapted to the intellectual and 

 practical conquest of Nature, adapted to mirror 

 the reason without in the reason within. Our fore- 



