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ON THE ARGUMENT FROM DESIGN IN NATURE , 
WITH SOME ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PLANTS. 
By W. Powell James, M.A. 
Part I. 
T HE argument from “ Design” or from sc Final Causes ” 
lias been used with such latitude, that I shall begin with 
stating the strict limitations under which I propose to con- 
sider it. In the first place I am concerned only with its appli- 
cation to the Natural World as presented to our senses, and I 
wish to exclude the more difficult questions which arise upon 
its extension into the moral and spiritual sphere. And, 
secondly, I may as well lay down at the outset the following 
proposition as expressing the doctrine in the form in which 
I am prepared to defend it. In the external world there 
are marks of Intelligence as shown by Order and Purpose, 
and from these marks we may infer with great probability 
the existence of an Intelligent Person, outside of and above 
Nature, who is the Source of this Order and Purpose. Even 
when thus limited the subject is so vast, that any attempt on 
the part of one man to pursue it into all its branches can only 
end in vague generalities and rhetorical declamation. For 
this reason I shall draw my illustrations almost exclusively 
from the Vegetable Kingdom. 
2. Before, however, adducing those arrangements in Plant- 
life which I venture to consider as indicating Design, a few 
words may be devoted to some common misconceptions of 
the doctrine. Simple as the kernel of the argument is, both 
advocates and opponents have mixed it up with wider questions. 
Especially has it been identified with two theories about the 
world, with which it has no necessary connexion. I allude (1) to 
the old notion that, all things were made for man; and (2) to 
the biological assumption that all species of animals and plants 
have been created separately and independently. Let us take 
these two subjects in their turn in their relation to Final Causes. 
3. The assertion that all things exist for man may be con- 
sidered as an exaggeration of the true doctrine of Design, 
which, like most exaggerations, has thrown discredit on the 
whole line of argument. Cicero, in the Second Book of the De 
Natura Deorum, expounds this view in its extreme form. 
Man was made the centre of the universe. Every phenomenon 
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