CHAP, xvii METAPHYSICS OF NATURAL SELECTION 189 



The assertion of chance will now imply either (i) 

 mere blind causal law, in opposition to purpose, or 

 else (2) mere blind coincidence of several uncon- 

 nected laws or forces. 



The phrase is often used in the first sense in de- 

 nunciation of Materialism. Did mere blind causal 

 law, it is asked, did the mere law of matter blunder 

 into mind ? This, however, could not be Darwin's 

 sense. He denied purpose; but it was not at all his 

 affair to disparage causal law. Besides, it is not the 

 case that any one cause (not being a mental " First 

 Cause ") can be said to account for living species. 

 " Natural selection," the supposed creator of distinct 

 " species," is a group of many different causal factors, 

 curiously entangled with each other. 



We are driven then upon the last sense. A chance 

 is a coincidence. Series A and Series B cross each 

 other at one point, and affect each other unexpectedly 



it may be grievously. They are distinct things; 

 but they " happen " to have their existence side by 

 side in the same universe ; presently they " happen " 

 to exchange their formation side by side for a hostile 

 formation, front against front, and there is a collision, 



it was an accident ! The wind that blew over the 

 rotten tree, the cry that caused the child to run 

 forward, had no connection with each other. But the 

 child " happened " to be just under the tree as it fell, 

 and was crushed by accident. 



The champion of ethics must not look askance upon 

 the doctrine of chance in this sense. Chance and 

 choice are very closely connected. Man can neither 

 create nor annul force. He can govern it only by 

 determining where one current shall cross another. 



