214 THE REIGN OF LAW. 



being turned to use in new creations. In this 

 point of view rudimentary or aborted organs 

 need no longer puzzle us, for in respect to Pur- 

 pose they may be read either in the light of 

 History, or in the light of Prophecy. They may 

 be regarded as indicating always either what 

 had already been, or what was yet to be. 

 Why new creations should never have been made 

 wholly new ; — why they should have been always 

 moulded on some pre-existing Forms ; — why 

 one fundamental ground-plan should have been 

 adhered to for all Vertebrate Animals, we cannot 

 understand. But as a matter of fact it is so. 

 For it appears that Creative Purpose has been 

 effected through the instrumentality of Forces 

 so combined as to arrange the particles of or- 

 ganic matter in definite forms : which forms in- 

 clude many separate parts having a constant 

 relation to each other and to the whole, but 

 capable of arrestment or development according 

 as special organs are required for the discharge 

 of special functions. Each new creation seems to 

 have been a new application of these old ma- 

 terials. Each new House of Life has been built 



