THE SUPERNATURAL. 



37 



intended to destroy. Some naturalists have a 

 vague sort of notion that, as regards merely 

 mechanical weapons, or organs of attack, they 

 may be developed by use, — that legs may become 

 longer by fast running, teeth sharper and longer 

 by much biting. Be it so : this law of growth, 

 if it exist, is but itself an instrument whereby 

 purpose is fulfilled. But how will this law of 

 growth adjust a poison in one animal with such 

 subtle knowledge of the organisation of another 

 that the deadly virus shall in a few minutes 

 curdle the blood, benumb the nerves, and rush 

 in upon the citadel of life ? There is but one 

 explanation — a Mind, having minute and perfect 

 knowledge of the structure of both, has designed 

 the one to be capable of inflicting death upon 

 the other. This mental purpose and resolve is 

 the one thing which our intelligence perceives 

 with direct and intuitive recognition. The method 

 of creation, by means of which this purpose has 

 been carried into effect, is utterly unknown. 



Perhaps no illustration more striking of this 

 principle was ever presented than in the curious 

 volume published by Mr Darwin on the " Fer- 



