34 THE HISTORY OF CREATION. 
every individual species of animal and plant an “embodied 
creative thought,” the material expression of a definite first 
cause (causa finalis) acting for a set purpose. They must 
necessarily assume supernatural (not mechanical) processes 
for the origin of organisms. With justice, we may therefore 
designate their scheme of the world’s growth as the Super- 
natural History of Creation. Among all such teleological 
histories of creation, that of Moses has gained the greatest 
influence, since even so distinguished a naturalist as Lin- 
neeus has claimed admittance for it in Natural Science. 
Cuvier’s and Agassiz’s views of creation also belong to this 
group, as do in fact those of the great majority of both 
scientific and unscientific men. 
On the other hand, the theory of development carried out 
by Darwin, which we shall have to treat of here as the Von- 
miraculous or Natural History of Creation, and which has 
already been put forward by Goethe and Lamarck, must, 
if carried out logically, lead to the monistic or mechan- 
ical (causal) conception of the universe. In opposition to 
the dualistic or teleological conception of nature, our theory 
considers organic, as well as organic, bodies to be the neces- 
sary products of natural forces. It does not see in every in- 
dividual species of animal and plant the embodied thought 
of a personal Creator, but the expression for the time being 
of a mechanical process of development of matter, the ex- 
pression of a necessarily active cause, that is, of a mechanical 
cause (causa efficiens). Where teleological Dualism seeks 
the arbitrary thoughts of a capricious Creator in the miracles 
of creation, causal Monism finds in the process of develop- 
ment the necessary effects of eternal immutable laws of 
nature. = 
