THE METHOD OF CREATION. 295 



the corner-posts, the upright timbers, the joists, the rafters, 

 the partition studs. Then come the flooring, the lathing, the 

 siding, and the roof boards. Next, the plastering, the base- 

 boards, the casings, the doors, the windows. Finally, the 

 painting, the graining, and the decorations. Here the pro- 

 cedure is by continuity, and from general to particular. That 

 is, the material employed in first rough outline remains, and 

 the modifications consist in the addition of successive details- 

 and particulars. Now this is Nature's method as well as 

 man's. I think I can show you that such is the case. 



Consider first, the realm of inorganic matter. I think we 

 are entitled to trace the train of events back to a disseminated 

 cosmical dust, which reveals its existence in meteors, comets, 

 and nebulae. Reflect then, that the same matter which floated 

 cold in space, appeared later as a fire-mist, then -a planetary 

 ring, then a darkened planet, a solid continent, a tree, or a 

 human body. It is a wonderful thought ; but I believe we 

 must admit its truth. Here is continuity. Then notice the 

 other conception in Nature, jnethod, specialization. The first 

 condition of matter was chaotic ; no form was outlined in it. 

 Little less chaotic was the nebulous or fire-mist stage. The 

 idea of limits and form began to be expressed. When a ring 

 was abandoned; when two spheres existed, some advance in 

 detail was achieved. Still more when other rings, other 

 spheres primary and secondary, came in due order, as modi- 

 fications out of the original matter. The progress of each 

 separate planetary sphere carried forward the method of 

 specialization. The earth, for example, was fire-mist; then a 

 molten globe with a mixed atmosphere; then an incrusting 

 globe ; then an incrusted globe with an ocean film about it; then 

 all this with emergent nuclei of continents; then further 

 emergences, with added layers of rocks ; and then an atmos- 

 pheric specialization by the separation of carbon and a new 

 kind of rock ; then further emergences and more complicated 

 rock arrangements; then a detailed sculpturing and rough 

 wastage of the land ; then the glacial repair of the land ; 

 then a continuance of erosive and modifying actions, to the 



