282 THE REIGN OF LAW. 



Creation, no matter what have been the laws or 

 forces employed by Creative Power. 



The truth is, that the theory which fixes upon 

 Inheritance as the cause of organic likeness, startles 

 us only when it is applied to Forms in which unlike- 

 ness is more prominent than resemblance. The 

 idea, for example, that the different kinds of Pigeon, 

 or of Humming Birds, have all descended through 

 successive variation from some one ancestral pair, 

 whether it be true or not, would not startle any 

 one. Yet, if this be true, we must be prepared 

 for the same surmise extending farther. The 

 advocates of Development urge that Time is a 

 powerful factor. They say that if small changes, 

 but constant enough, and definite enough to con- 

 stitute new Species, can and do arise out of born 

 varieties, it is impossible to fix the limits of 

 divergence which may be reached in the course of 

 ages. It does not follow, on the other hand, that 

 there is no such limit because we cannot fix it. It 

 does not necessarily follow that because we admit 

 the idea of the Rock-dove, and the Turtle-dove, 

 and the Ring-dove being all descended from one 

 ancestral Pigeon, we are bound to accept the idea 



