CREATION BY LAW. 981 
ture, instead of being above, is far below our highest 
conceptions of it. I, for one, cannot believe that the 
world would come to chaos if left to Law alone. I 
cannot believe that there is in it no inherent power 
of developing beauty or variety, and that the direct 
action of the Deity is required to produce each spot 
or streak on every insect, each detail of structure in 
every one of the millions of organisms that live or 
have lived upon the earth. For it is impossible to 
draw a line. If any modifications of structure could 
be the result of law, why not all? If some self-adapta- 
tions could arise, why not others? If any varieties of 
colour, why not all the varieties we see? No attempt 
is made to explain this, except by reference to the fact 
that ‘‘ purpose” and. “ contrivance ”’ are everywhere 
visible, and by the illogical deduction that they could 
only have arisen from the direct action of some mind, 
because the direct action of our minds produces simi- 
lar “contrivances”; but it is forgotten that adapta- 
tion, however produced, must have the appearance 
of design. The channel of a river looks as if made 
for the river, although it is made by it; the fine layers 
and beds in a deposit of sand, often look as if they had 
been sorted, and sifted, and levelled, designedly; the 
sides and angles of a crystal exactly resemble similar 
forms designed by man; but we do not therefore con- 
clude that these effects have, in each individual case, 
required the directing action of a creative mind, or see 
any difficulty in their being produced by natural Law. 
