278 CREATION BY LAW. 
to the action of forces which are demonstrably sclf- 
adjusting. 
Moreover, when he had sufficiently extended his 
inquiries, he would find, that every evil effect which 
he would imagine must be the result of non-adjust- 
ment does somewhere or other occur, only it is not 
always evil. Looking on a fertile valley, he would 
perhaps say—‘‘ If the channel of this river were not 
well adjusted, if for a few miles it sloped the wrong 
way, the water could not escape, and all this luxuri- 
ant valley, full of human beings, would become a 
waste of waters.” Well, there are hundreds of such 
cases. very lake is a valley “‘ wasted by water,” 
and in some cases (as the Dead Sea) it is a positive 
evil, a blot upon the harmony and adaptation of the 
surface of the earth. Again, he might say—“ If rain 
did not fall here, but the clouds passed over us to some 
other regions, this verdant and highly cultivated plain 
would become a desert.” And there are such deserts 
over a large part of the earth, which abundant rains 
would convert into pleasant dwelling-places for man. 
Or he might observe some great navigable river,” 
and reflect how easily rocks, or a steeper channel 
in places, might render it useless to man;—and a 
little imquiry would show him hundreds of rivers in 
every part of the world, which are thus rendered 
useless for navigation. 
Exactly the same thing occurs in organic nature. 
We see some one wonderful case of adjustment, some 
unusual development of an organ, but we pass over the 
