Notices of Books . 
383 
1876'] 
fatally bitten by the cobra, perforated and ulcerated by the chigoe 
and by Lucilia hiunanivora, he dismisses the matter as inscru- 
table. It has generally been assumed, in the Design argument, 
that contrivance must necessarily be the result of self-conscious 
intelligence. But it is admitted by some that much of man’s 
intellectual aCtion is unconscious. One eminent author goes so 
far as to maintain that all animals except man are invariably 
unconscious of their own activity. To the Paleyan, then, de- 
claring that design implies an intelligent designer, it may be 
replied — “ Yes, but who tells you whether this designer is 
conscious or unconscious ? ” 
By far the most convincing argument for the existence of God 
is one which has been elaborated by modern science, and which 
depends on the tendency of all natural forces to come to an 
equilibrium. Hence we argue that the universe cannot have 
existed from all eternity, but must have had a beginning in time. 
Such a beginning, as far as we can conceive, involves the ex- 
istence and intervention of God. Without such intervention, 
also, it seems difficult to account for the first appearance of life 
upon our globe. The experiments made to determine whether 
spontaneous generation is possible in solutions or decocftions of 
organic matter, — such as turnips, hay, or cheese, — however in- 
genious, are all beside the question. Before organic life had 
prevailed upon our earth, there could be no organic matter in 
existence. The advocates of abiogenesis, to establish their case, 
must be able to produce Bacfteria, or some other low form of 
organic life, from inorganic matter. 
Great weight is laid by Prof. Clerk Maxwell upon the proper- 
ties of atoms as a proof of creation. In his Bradford ledture 
(1873), quoted in the work before us, he declares that “ We are 
unable to ascribe either the existence of the molecules or the 
identity of their properties to the operation of any of the causes 
which we call natural.” He agrees with Sir John Herschel that 
“ the exadt equality of each molecule to all others of the same 
kind gives it the essential character of a manufactured article, 
and precludes the idea of its being eternal and self-existent.” 
But if atoms are manufactured articles, where and what is the 
raw material ? The argument of Prof. Clerk Maxwell assumes 
too much. The bodies called elementary have a merely provi- 
sional right to this character ; but the decomposition of a sup- 
posed element means a division of its molecules. There is, 
again, one circumstance which seems to point to the disappear- 
ance of atoms by a process somewhat analogous to the extinction 
of organic species. Looking over a table of atomic weights, we 
find certain gaps in the series, as if links formerly existing had 
been lost. Nor do we see that the idea of atoms being “ eternal 
and self-existent ” is in any way precluded. The author here 
remarks — “ If it be granted that with our present knowledge we 
can point to no natural agency that would modify or produce the 
