FORCE NOT CONSTRUCTIVE. I I 



i 



materials of which the mill is constructed. 

 And yet the water-mill could not have been 

 made by the water nor by the wood nor iron 

 which in part constitute the mill, nor by the 

 mighty forces imprisoned in these materials. 

 The man, not the forces of the matter or of the 

 water, constructs the mill. Where, then, is the 

 evidence that justifies Dr. Gull, and those whom 

 he follows, in asserting that any form or mode 

 of ordinary force has constructive power ? F orce 

 is mighty, force is powerful, and force may be 

 destructive ; but what evidence can be adduced 

 in favour of the constructive agency of any mode 

 of force ? Can any or all the forms of force yet 

 discovered constriict an insignificant monad any 

 more than they can make an umbrella or build 

 a house ? Dr. Gull neither notices the objec- 

 tions which have been raised to the view con- 

 cerning the forming, building, and constructing 

 powers of force, nor adduces one new fact or 

 argument in its support. 



Some force devotees may perhaps be inclined 

 to regard the most beautiful works of art, as 

 well as of nature, as mere force productions, 

 and hold that form is but the image impressed 

 by force. But unless something directs, will 



