514 HISTORY OF PHYSIOLOGY. 



Even if the reader should not follow the reason- 

 ing of this celebrated philosopher, he will still have 

 no difficulty in seeing that he asserts, in the most 

 distinct manner, that which is denied by the author 

 whom we have before quoted, the propriety and 

 necessity of assuming the existence of an end as our 

 guide in the study of animal organization. 



4. It appears to me, therefore, that whether we 

 judge from the arguments, the results, the practice 

 of physiologists, their speculative opinions, or those 

 of the philosophers of a wider field, we are led to 

 the same conviction, that in the organized world we 

 may and must adopt the belief, that organization 

 exists for its purpose, and that the apprehension of 

 the purpose may guide us in seeing the meaning of 

 the organization. And I now proceed to show how 

 this principle has been brought into additional clear- 

 ness and use by Cuvier. 



In doing this, I may, perhaps, be allowed to make 

 a reflection of a kind somewhat different from the 

 preceding remarks, though suggested by them. In 

 another work 19 , I endeavoured to show that those 

 who have been discoverers in science have generally 

 had minds, the disposition of which was to believe 

 in an intelligent Maker of the universe ; and that 

 the scientific speculations which produced an oppo- 

 site tendency, were generally those which, though 

 they might deal familiarly with known physical 



19 Bridgetvater Treatise, B. in. c. vii. and viii. On Induc- 

 tive Habits of Thought, and on Deductive Habits of Thought. 



