CHAPTER IV. 



APPARENT EXCEPTIONS TO THE SUPREMACY OF 



PURPOSE. 



"\7"ET, as we look at Nature, the fact will force 

 itself upon us that there are structures in 

 which we cannot recognise any use ; that there are 

 contrivances which often fail of their effect ; and 

 that there are others which appear to be separated 

 from the conditions they were intended to meet, 

 and under which alone their usefulness could 

 arise. Such instances occur in many branches of 

 inquiry; and although in the great mass of natural 

 phenomena the supremacy of Purpose is evident 

 enough, such cases do frequently come across our 

 path as cases of exception — cases in which Law 

 does not seem to be subservient to Will, but to be 

 asserting a power and an endurance of its own. 



The degree of importance which may be attached 

 to such cases as a source of real difficulty, will vary 



