SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT 5 



may be many second causes, and many courses 

 of second causes, one behind another, between 

 what we observe of nature and the Deity : but 

 there must be intelligence somewhere ; there must 

 be more in nature than what we see ; and, amongst 

 the things unseen, there must be an intelligent, 

 designing Author." Then he proceeds to point 

 out how things around us are produced by the 

 adding of particles to one another, so as to become 

 collectively organized bodies by means of motions 

 which we cannot explain. " There may be," he 

 continues, " particular intelligent beings guiding 

 these motions in each case ; or they may be the 

 result of trains of mechanical dispositions, fixed 

 beforehand by an intelligent appointment, and 

 kept in action by a power at the centre. But in 

 either case there must be intelligence." In refer- 

 ence to which Huxley adds, " that is to say, he 

 proleptically accepted the modern doctrine of 

 evolution, and his successors might do well to 

 follow their leader, or at any rate to attend to his 

 weighty reasonings, before rushing into an antag- 

 onism which has no reasonable foundation."* 



Paley's line of argument is, or ought to be, well- 

 known to all educated persons, and need only be 

 outlined here in the briefest possible manner. He 

 commences by supposing himself to be walking 

 upon a heath. He strikes his foot against a stone : 

 it is clear that it may have been there for ever ; at 

 any rate, to the casual observer, it presents no 

 special problems for solution. But a little further 

 on he comes upon a watch, and that can hardly be 



* Darwin's Life and Letters.^ vol. ii, p. 202. 



