WHAT IS DARWINISM? 23 



the nature of matter, but is a mode of God's 

 uniform efficiency. What are called chemical 

 affinities are not due to anything in different 

 kinds of matter, but God always acts in one way 

 in connection with an acid, and in another way 

 in connection with an alkali. If a man places a 

 particle of salt or sugar on his tongue, the sen- 

 sation which he experiences is not to be re- 

 ferred to the salt or sugar, but to God's agency. 

 When this theory is extended, as it generally 

 is by its advocates, from the external to the in- 

 ternal world, the universe of matter and mind, 

 with all their phenomena, is a constant effect of 

 the omnipresent activity of God. The minds of 

 some men, as remarked above, are so consti- 

 tuted that they can pass from the theory that 

 God does nothing, to the doctrine that He does 

 everything, without seeing the difference. Mr. 

 Russel Wallace, the companion and peer of Mr. 

 Darwin, devotes a large part of his book on 

 " Natural Selection," to prove that the organs 

 of plants and animals are formed by blind physi- 

 cal causes. Toward the close of the volume he 

 teaches that there are no such causes. He asks 

 the question, What is Matter? and answers, 

 Nothing. We know, he says, nothing but force ; 

 and as the only force of which we have any 



