PREFACE 



IT was evidently the desire of the founder of the Gifford 

 Lectureships in the Scottish Universities that each lecturer 

 should, from his own special studies and in his own way, 

 endeavour to make some contribution that would help others 

 in considering the highest questions that Man can ask: What 

 kind of world is this in which we live a universe or a 

 multiverse ? How has it come to be as it is ? Does it give 

 any hint of a purpose? What is Man's place in Nature? 

 To what extent does our knowledge of Nature conform with 

 our conception of God ? 



Lord Gifford contemplated the possibility of very varied 

 answers to these and similar questions; he thought it pos- 

 sible that some of them might be held to be unanswerable; 

 his one stipulation was for reverent study. 



Under provisions so liberal, no apology need be made for 

 a contribution which is scientific rather than philosophical, 

 being in the main confined to the biological outlook. What- 

 ever be our philosophical interpretation or our religious con- 

 viction, we must admit the desirability of having more than 

 a passing acquaintance with the system of things of which 

 our everyday life is in some measure part. The idea of 

 Nature as a temptress leading man's soul astray has long 

 since disappeared, and most of us turn to Nature with ex- 

 pectancy, varying with our temperament and experience. 

 If the world we call " outer " be in any sense God's creation, 

 will it not reveal to us something of Him ? If it be our chief 

 end to glorify God, should we not put ourselves in the way 



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