84 THE REIGN OF LAW. 



regard. And whether there be not some peculiar 

 absurdity in our very manner of conception con- 

 cerning this matter, somewhat contradictory, aris- 

 ing from an extremely imperfect view of things, 

 it is impossible to say." This is indeed a wise 

 caution, and one which has been much needed to 

 check the abuse of that method of reasoning 

 which has been called the doctrine of Final 

 Causes. When man makes an Implement he 

 knows the purpose for which he makes it — he 

 knows the function assigned to it in his own inten- 

 tion. But as in making it there are a thousand chips 

 and fragments of material which he casts aside, 

 so in its final use it often produces consequences 

 and results which he did not contemplate or foresee. 

 But in Nature all this is different. Nature has no 

 chips or fragments which she does not put to use; 

 and as on the way to her apparent ends there are 

 no incidents which she did not foresee, so beyond 

 those ends there are no ulterior results which do 

 not open out into new firmaments of Design. Of 

 nothing, therefore, can we say with even the pro- 

 bability of truth that we see its Final Cause, that 

 is to say, its ultimate purpose. All that we can 



