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ing of some force, Avhetber it be one wbicb we can trace and de- 
fine or not. In these two senses, then, both somewhat vague, it can- 
not be doubted that Creation has been by Law. 
The next question, however, is the main one — Is the observed 
order wbicb prevails in nature, and especially in the organic world, 
an order of wbicb we can even guess the physical cause? Is it an 
order wbicb contains within itself any indications of the force or 
forces which have been concerned in producing it? 
In considering this question, there is one thing to be observed at 
the outset. It is certain that nothing is known or has been even 
guessed at, in respect to the history and origin of Life, which cor- 
responds with Law in its strictest and most definite sense. We 
have no knowledge of any one or more forces — such as the force of 
gravitation, or of magnetic attraction and repulsion — to which any 
one of the phenomena of Life can be traced. Far less have we 
any knowledge of any such laws which can be connected with 
the successive creation or development of new organisms. Pro- 
fessor Huxley, in a recent work,* has indeed spoken of “ that com- 
bination of natural forces which we term Life.” But this language 
is purely rhetorical. I do not mean to say that Life may not he 
defined to he a kind of force, or a combination of forces. All I 
mean is, that we know nothing of any of these forces in the same 
sense in which we do know something of the force of gravity, 
or of magnetism, or of electricity, or of chemical affinity. These 
are all more or less known, not, indeed, in respect to their ultimate 
nature, but in respect to certain methods and measures of their 
operation. No such knowledge exists in respect to any of the 
forces which have been concerned in the development of Life. No 
man has ever pretended to get such a view of any of these as to 
euahle him to apply to them the instruments of his analysis, or to 
trace in their working any of those definite relations to space, or 
time, or number, which are always the ultimate quest of science, 
and the discovery of which is her great reward. 
Since, then, laws, in this most definite sense of the word, have 
not been discovered in the existing phenomena, or in the past 
liistory of organic life, let us look a little closer at the ideas which 
Elements of Comparative Anatomy, p. 2. 
