SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT 23 



on the heath. The object whether watch or wood- 

 pecker's tongue was designed obviously and in- 

 geniously for a certain purpose. It must have been 

 designed for that purpose by an intelligent being. 

 In the case of the watch this was the watchmaker ; 

 in the case of the tongue it must have the Author 

 and Creator of nature. 



This argument, as we have already seen, ap- 

 peared to be shattered by Darwin's views. He 

 himself remarks, in connection with the instance 

 I have selected from Paley,* " I can see no reason 

 why he (z.^., Asa Gray, with whom the letter deals) 

 should rank the accumulated variations by which 

 the beautifully adapted woodpecker has been 

 formed as providentially designed." 



What shattered or appeared to shatter the 

 Argument from Design ? The formulation of the 

 theory of Natural Selection. And how did that 

 shatter or appear to shatter it ? Because that theory 

 taught and seemed to prove that the contrivances 

 on which the Argument from Design had appeared 

 to rest, were the result of a process of Natural 

 Selection exercised amongst a myriad of variations 

 constantly arising in living things, the selection 

 being effected by the process of the elimination of 

 the less fit, and the survival of the fitter, that is of 

 those who by virtue of those favourable variations 

 were better able to succeed in the struggle for life. 

 These views thus formulated undoubtedly seemed 

 to prevail for a time, and in the opinion of many 

 at the time, and perhaps of many even to-day, 

 the Argument from Design disappeared as one 



* Life and Letters^ vol. i, p. 314. 



