58 
that they do not owe their present form to any slight modi- 
fication of any previously existing organ ; there could not be 
a modification of that which did not exist, and so these im- 
portant parts must have been produced in their entirety,—that 
is, created. If by the reptile, that creature must have been 
both omniscient and omnipotent. It must have known all the 
future condition of its progeny. And what were these? A 
warm-blooded creature to be incubated by another warm- 
blooded creature, at that time not in existence. It must have 
foreseen the necessity for the embryo to be kept on the upper 
side of the yolk in order to receive the proper degree of warmth. 
It must have had some knowledge of the specific gravities of the 
THE Ecc oF A SALMON (on the eighteenth day of its development). 
The egg when laid is spherical, about the size of a small pea, and nearly transparent. 
yolk and glair, and determined the exact spots in the yolk to 
which the new part should be affixed so as to secure the end 
in view. All these points must have been apprehended and 
provided for by the reptilian creature, and the structure must 
have come forth in its completeness, whenever it did appear, 
there being nothing upon which natural selection could act. 
Here, then, is clearly an instance of creation. How can it be 
accounted for? Hither it created itself, which is impossible ; 
or the reptile designed the structure, and placed the germ of 
it in some particular egg,—which is equivalent to saying that 
the creature was all-wise and all-powerful. Or it was planned 
by an Intelligent Being who possessed the wisdom to design, 
and the power to execute ; which is, to say the least, reasonable. 
