106 THE REIGN OF LAW. 



observable and most certain, is the manner in 

 which these conditions are met, complied with, 

 and, by being complied with, are overcome. But 

 this is, in other words, the subordination of many 

 laws to a difficult and curious Purpose, — a subor- 

 dination which is effected through the instrumen- 

 tality of a purely mechanical contrivance. 



It is no objection to this universal truth, that 

 the machines thus employed in Nature are them- 

 selves constructed through the agency of Law. 

 They grow, or, in modern phraseology, they are 

 developed. But this makes no difference in the 

 case, — or rather it only carries us farther back to 

 other and yet other illustrations of the same 

 truth. This is precisely one of those cases 

 already referred to in which Causes are un- 

 known whilst Purposes are clear and certain. The 

 battery of an Electric Fish is both a means and 

 an end. As respects the electric laws which it 

 puts in motion — that is, as respects the force which 

 it concentrates — it must be regarded as a means. 

 As respects the organic laws by which it is itself 

 developed, it is an end. What we do know in this 

 case is why the apparatus was made. That is to 



