CREATION BY LAW. 223 



definite sense. We have no knowledge of any- 

 one or more Forces — such as the Force of Gravi- 

 tation, or of magnetic attraction and repulsion — 

 to which any one of the phenomena of Life can 

 be traced. Far less have we any knowledge of 

 any such laws which can be connected with the 

 successive creation or development of new Organ- 

 isms. Professor Huxley, in a recent work,* has 

 indeed spoken of " that combination of natural 

 forces which we term Life." But this language 

 is purely rhetorical. I do not mean to say that 

 Life may not be defined to be a kind of Force, or 

 a combination of Forces. All I mean is, that we 

 know nothing of any of these forces, in the same 

 sense in which we do know something of the Force 

 of Gravity, or of Magnetism, or of Electricity, or 

 of Chemical Affinity. These are all more or less 

 known, not, indeed, in respect to their ultimate 

 nature, but in respect to certain methods and 

 measures of their operation. No such knowledge 

 exists in respect to any of the Forces which have 

 been concerned in the development of Life. No 

 man has ever pretended to get such a view of any 



* Elements of Comparative Anatomy, p. 2. 



