252 SPECULATIVE SCIENCE 



ised being is so great as practically to render the number of 

 possible combinations infinite ; but unless infinite divisibility 

 of matter be assumed, this objection will not hold, inasmuch as 

 the number of elements or parts in the germ or seed of a given 

 animal or plant appears far from infinite. Yet it is certain 

 that differences between one species and another, one variety 

 and another, one individual and another, exist in these minute 

 bodies, containing very simple and uniform substances if 

 analysed chemically. Probably, even fettered by these condi- 

 tions, the number of possible animals or plants is inconceivably 

 greater than the number which exist or have existed ; but the 

 greater the number, the more they must necessarily resemble 

 one another. 



It may perhaps be thought irreverent to hold an opinion that 

 the Creator could not create animals of any shape and fashion 

 whatever ; undoubtedly we may conceive all rules and all laws 

 as entirely self-imposed by Him, as possibly quite different or 

 non-existent elsewhere ; but what we mean is this, that just as 

 with the existing chemical laws of the world the number of 

 possible chemical combinations of a particular kind is limited, 

 and not even the Creator could make more without altering the 

 laws He has Himself imposed, even so, if we imagine animals 

 created or existing under some definite law, the number of spe- 

 cies, and of possible varieties of one species, will be limited ; and 

 these varieties and species, being definite arrangements of organic 

 compounds, will as certainly be capable of arrangement in series 

 as inorganic chemical compounds are. These views no more 

 imply a limit to the power of God than the statement that 

 the three angles of a triangle are necessarily equal to two right 

 angles. 



It is assumed that all existing substances or beings of which 

 we have any scientific knowledge exist under definite laws. 

 Under any laws there will be a limit to the possible number of 

 combinations of a limited number of elements. The limit will 

 apply to size, strength, length of life, and every other quality. 

 Between any extremes the number of combinations called ani- 

 mals or species can only be increased by filling in gaps which 

 exist between previously existing animals, or between these and 

 the possible limits, and therefore whatever the general laws of 



