OF LIVING FOHMS; OR, MORPHOLOGY. 79 



scheme of creation. For it is by the discovery of 

 the physical causes of the results we witness in life, 

 that the evidence of this unity must be given. The 

 study of the final causes, or uses aimed at, true and 

 beautiful as it is, tends rather to separate than to 

 unite the organic and the inorganic world. We are 

 apt, so, to put asunder in our thought what God has 

 joined llOgether, and (if we are not watchful of our- 

 selves) may seek to elevate the one by degradation of 

 the other. 



To trace the ends achieved by living forms the 

 adaptation of the eye to light, of the ear to sound, the 

 dexterous grace of the hand, the stedfast balance of 

 the foot, the strength of bone, and delicate response 

 of nerve to Nature's lightest touch, is a delightful 

 task, and endless as it is delightful. To turn from 

 this pursuit (which ever allures us on, and makes our 

 labour its own immediate reward), and seek mere 

 passive causes in the physical conditions which make 

 these things necessary, might seem to be, if a needful 

 sacrifice for science' sake, yet still a sacrifice, and a 

 descent to lower ground. But it is not really so. 

 How often in our experience it happens that the 



