i8Si.J 
The Formative Power in Nature. 
83 
divisions are the primary or Palaeozoic, the secondary or 
Mesozoic, the tertiary or Cainozoic, ending with the post- 
tertiary or Neozoic. These eras are divided and sub-divided.* 
No naturalist will deny that the primary stratification differs 
from the post-tertiary, or to speak more definitely, the 
Laurentian from the Diluvium. From the Laurentian to the 
Diluvium there is a regular series of stratifications and 
deposits, with gradations of formations, lower types by 
development becoming that which we know as the existing 
flora and fauna of the earth, and these gradations it is fair 
to say, progressed as the atmospheric structure, so to speak, 
was ameliorated. We may call all this mechanical or mon- 
istic ; the gradation of forms, discerned and descanted on by 
the Palaeontologist, shows that there are no hap-hazards or 
accidents here ; through the successions there is arrange- 
ment and order, and this brings us face to face with a forma- 
tive intelligence and purpose so large in character that the 
human mind fails steadily to hold up the vision for its con- 
templation. 
When the delicacy, variety, and complexity of animate 
forms are considered, whether it be the Globigerina with its 
delicate spines, the Foraminifera with its wondrous mansion, 
the star fish with its ingenious and peculiar powers of loco- 
motion, the Dinotherium with its huge bulk and seeming 
unwieldiness, the compact and almost perfect structure of 
man, the lowly lichen, the towering pine, or sturdy oak, the 
examiner is in the presence of machines (according to the 
mechanical and monistic theories) so admirable in construc- 
tion, so aptly put together, that every part in some way 
subserves the purpose of the whole, and besides inherently 
possesses the power of repairing the waste, the result of the 
vital energy. Can he when all these amazingand intricate con- 
trivances are laid bare before him turn from them and believe 
that all he has looked on are but the accidents of mechani- 
cal adaptations ? If when looking at a steam engine, or any 
other intricate piece of mechanism, we were told that there 
was no purpose in the arrangement of its parts to produce a 
given effeCt, and that the unity of aCtion we saw was pro- 
duced by an accidental arrangement of its parts, and that 
the intellect of the constructor had no part in the shaping 
and placing the cylinders, wheels, and cogs, &c., of the 
machine, we should think the person so speaking under- 
valued our intelligence, or was himself incapable of under- 
standing the mechanism before him, however fluent he 
might be in explaining the functions of their particular parts, 
* Lyell’s “ Geology.” 
