THE SUPERNATURAL. 35 



fessor Owen, taking a larger and wider view, 

 would say, without pretending to explain how its 

 presence is to be accounted for physically, that 

 the silent member has relation to a general pur- 

 pose or plan which can be traced from the dawn 

 of Life, but which did not receive its full accom- 

 plishment until Man was born. This is certain : 

 the other is a theory. The assumed physical 

 cause may be true or false. But in any case the 

 mental purpose and design — the conformity to 

 an abstract idea — this is certain. The relation 

 in which created Forms stand to our own mind, 

 and to our understanding of their Purpose, is the 

 one thing which we can surely know, because 

 it belongs to our own consciousness. It is en- 

 tirely independent of any belief we may en- 

 tertain, or any knowledge we may acquire, of the 

 processes employed for the fulfilment of that 

 Purpose. 



And yet scientific men sometimes tell us that 

 " we must be very cautious how we ascribe 

 intention to Nature. Things do fit into each 

 other, no doubt, as if they were designed ; but 

 all we know about them is that these corre- 



