COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



and Laplace, such phenomena as the distribu- 

 tion of satellites and the inclinations of planetary 

 axes were explained teleologically. These phe- 

 nomena having been at last interpreted by a 

 reference to universal laws of matter and mo- 

 tion, the teleological hypothesis took refuge in 

 biology, where it held for a while a doubtful 

 tenure, as a means of explaining the origination 

 of specific forms of life. The discoveries of 

 Mr. Darwin having gone far toward driving it 

 from this stronghold, replacing the conception 

 of miraculous interposition by the conception 

 of natural selection, it is nevertheless still ap- 

 pealed to by such writers as Mr. Wallace and 

 Mr. Mivart, as furnishing an explanation for 

 sundry phenomena of organic evolution which 

 natural selection, taken alone, seems at present 

 incompetent to account for. In short, the tele- 

 ological hypothesis derives its apparent confir- 

 mation never from the phenomena which were 

 explained yesterday, but always from the phe- 

 nomena which are awaiting an explanation to- 

 morrow. " I give up phenomenon A," says 

 the theologian, " for that you have explained in 

 terms of matter and motion; but phenomenon 

 B you can never so explain, and upon that I 

 therefore rest my teleological hypothesis." To- 

 morrow phenomenon B is interpreted in terms 

 of matter and motion, and appeal is made to 

 phenomenon C ; and so on, to the end of the 

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