LAW; — ITS DEFINITIONS. 85 



ever see are the facts of Adjustment and of Func- 

 tion, and these constitute not Final, but Imme- 

 diate Purpose. But a purpose is not less a purpose, 

 because other purposes may lie beyond it. And 

 not only can we detect Purpose in natural phe- 

 nomena, but, as we have already seen, it is very 

 often the only thing about them which is intelligi- 

 ble to us. The How is very often incomprehen- 

 sible, where the Why is apparent at a glance. 

 And be this observed, that when Purpose is per- 

 ceived, it is a " making plain " to a higher 

 faculty of the mind than the mere sense of Order. 

 It is a making plain to Reason. It is the reduc- 

 tion of phenomena to that Order of Thought which 

 is the basis of all other Order in the works of 

 Man, and which, he instinctively concludes, is the 

 basis also of all Order in the works of Nature. 



And here it is important to observe, that al- 

 though this general conclusion, like all other gene- 

 ral conclusions, belongs to the category of mental 

 inferences, and not to the category of physical 

 facts, yet each particular instance of Purpose on 

 which the general inference is founded, is not 

 an inference merely, but a fact. The Function of 



