200 rorV/.AK LECTl'RES AND ADDRESSES. 



by the everlasting law of honour, to face fearlessly 

 every problem which can fairly be presented to it- 

 If a probable solution, consistent with the ordinary 

 course of nature, can be found, we must not invoke 

 an abnormal act of Creative Power. When a lava 

 stream flows down the sides of Vesuvius or Etna 

 it quickly cools and becomes solid ; and after a few 

 weeks or years it teems with vegetable and animal 

 life ; which, for it, originated by the transport of seed 

 and ova and by the migration of individual living 

 creatures. When a volcanic island springs up 

 from the sea, and after a few years is found clothed 

 with vegetation, we do not hesitate to assume that 

 seed has been wafted to it through the air, or 

 floated to it on rafts. Is it not possible, and if 

 possible, is it not probable, that the beginning of 

 .(table life on the Earth is to be similarly ex- 

 plained ? Every year thousands, probably mil- 

 lions, of fragments of solid matter fall upon the 

 Earth- whence came these fragments ? What is 

 the previous history of any one of them ? Was it 

 created in the beginning of time an amorphous 

 mass ? This idea is so unacceptable that, tacitly 



