478 Creation by Law. [Oct,, 



to the water that it has to carry. He finds that the bed of every 

 branch and stream and rivulet has a steeper and steeper slope as it 

 approaches its sources, and is thus enabled to carry off the water 

 from heavy rains and to bear away the stones and pebbles and 

 gravel that would otherwise block up its course. In every part of 

 this system he would see exact adaptation of means to an end. He 

 would saygthat this system of channels must have been designed, it 

 answers its purpose so effectually. Nothing but a mind could have 

 so exactly adapted the slopes of the channels, their capacity, and 

 frequency to the nature of the soil and the quantity of the rainfall. 

 Again, he would see special adaptation to the wants of man in broad 

 quiet navigable rivers through fertile alluvial plains that would 

 support a large population, while the rocky streams and mountain 

 torrents were confined to those sterile regions suitable only for a 

 small population of shepherds and herdsmen. He would listen with 

 incredulity to the Geologist who assured him that the adaptation 

 and adjustment he so admired was an inevitable result of the action 

 of general laws. That the rains and rivers, aided by subterranean 

 forces, had modelled the country, had formed the hills and valleys, 

 had scooped out the river beds and levelled the plains;— and it 

 would only be after much patient observation and study, after 

 having watched the minute changes produced year by year and 

 multiplying them by thousands and ten thousands, after visiting 

 the various regions of the earth and seeing the changes everywhere 

 going on, and the unmistakeable signs of greater changes in past 

 times, — that he could be made to understand that the surface of 

 the earth, however beautiful and harmonious it may appear, is 

 strictly due in every detail to the action of forces which are demon- 

 strably self-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-adjustment does somewhere or other occur, only it 

 is not always evil. Looking on a fertile valley he would say — 

 " If the channel of this river was not well adjusted, if for a few 

 miles it sloped the wrong way, the water could not escape, and all 

 this fertile valley full of human beings would become a waste of 

 waters." Well, there are hundreds of such cases. Every 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 fair 

 valley would be 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 inquiry would show 



