320 The Critics of Evolution, [ May, 
man knew why he breathed, or why a candle burned ; why a plant 
grew; what use a leaf served; what the air is composed of; or 
that water is a compound fluid. A century ago, many more than 
even now-a-days, were perfectly indifferent as to the nature of 
things around them, regarding them, shall we say, with brute 
“unconscious gaze.” 
Why this ignorance of nature? The science of chemistry, a 
new revelation of the wisdom of the Creator, had not yet dawned 
upon the childhood of ignorance. When men began to question 
nature in the scientific spirit, began to weigh and measure and to 
question again and again while doubt rested upon her replies, 
they entered upon the path of discovery. This path has since 
been ardently pursued by hundreds of minds, qualified for the 
noble task of explaining His ways in the earth, by elucidating 
the method He is employing daily around us and within us, 
and by which He has ever been laboring for the good of His 
creatures. By following the path of research, accumulating 
facts, collating them, and constructing theories that would most 
fully account for the interdependence of the phenomena observed, 
man has penetrated into the mysteries of creation and in some 
directions already stands almost upon the brink of “the unknow- 
able,” beyond which it is impossible for finite minds to go. 
As each grand generalization has prepared him to take a new 
stand-point, and from thence to obtain a wider view of natural 
phenomena, his conceptions have become more comprehensive, 
until he may yet grasp the origin of the universe and been enabled 
to understand the laws by which it was condensed from the all 
pervading nebulous condition which has been termed chaos. 
Many we are aware denounce theories as vain imaginings; but 
such should learn that a theory is but an expression of the rela- 
tions of phenomena, a condensed presentation of all the facts in 
their natural order, and that it is by this artificial memory the en- 
quirer is enabled to grasp his attainments, and to be lifted up as 
by a scaffolding for the more thorough study of new phenomena, 
otherwise incomprehensible, and for the construction of a building 
which shall embody all the truth. Theories, let it be understood, 
are always tentative, always a working apparatus, to be remodeled 
as knowledge advances, and indispensible to its progress. Theories 
are not, as many suppose, the offspring of imagination purely, but 
are like a figure cast within a mold, or like a casting perfectly 
