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mence which is ultimately to culminate in the production of 
man. 
74. There is one resource to which this philosophy flies in 
every difficulty, and which it uses with unbounded freedom, — an 
infinite storehouse of past time. If a thing cannot be effected 
in one thousand years, it can in a million ; if not in a million, 
it can in one hundred million. If the last period is inadequate, 
boldly multiply, for it is impossible to break the bank of the 
eternity of the past. With this agency at its command, all 
things are possible. Let us hear Strauss “ Short steps and 
longest intervals of time are the magic formula by which actual 
science at present solves the mystery of the universe : they are 
the talismans by whose aid she quite naturally unlocks the 
portals, formerly reputed to fly asunder at the sole bidding of 
miracle.” 
75. Yes, truly : there is more truth in this passage than its 
author probably intended to convey. The action of this prin- 
ciple is truly magical and talismanic; it is worthy of the deep 
consideration of those who invoke it, whether it can effect any 
results more real than the magical formularies and talismans of 
the Arabian Nights. Little jumps, and infinite time to jump 
in, is all that is required to evolve all the order and adapta- 
tions of the universe, which exist in numbers passing all com- 
prehension. The proposition that, if we have time enough to 
walk to a galaxy, compared with which the distance of Sirius is a 
speck, by taking steps of an inch long, we shall get there in the 
course of infinite time, may be incapable of being disproved ; 
but it is absurd. I submit that this continual invocation of 
infinite time is not a rational solution of a difficulty, but an 
evasion of it. 
76. The truth is that physical science breaks this magic wand 
in the hands of the operator. While it tells us that the 
universe has existed a vast interval of time in its present form, 
it affirms that it cannot have existed for an indefinite one. The 
laws of its physical forces assign to it clear and definite limits, 
which it cannot have exceeded. It follows, therefore, that 
indefinite demands on a past eternity cannot be tolerated by a 
sound philosophy. 
77. Not only is this philosophy compelled to assume that a 
number of small variations must have taken place, which for 
any practical purpose it is impossible to distinguish from 
infinite ; but it is compelled to take for granted that all those 
have been on the side of progressive improvement. Yet the 
history of man testifies that nature has made many failures ' 
and retrogressions. Human progress has been, unhappily, 
VOL. vm. y 
