Notices of Boohs. 
409 
1876.J 
modus operandi of the First Cause necessarily atheistic. On 
the contrary, he finds in the nebular hypothesis, and in the doc- 
trine of organic evolution, — even in its Darwinian phase, — • 
fresh evidence for the existence of an intelligent superintending 
power. 
At the same time we doubt in how far his arguments will 
prove satisfactory, either to atheists or to that more numerous 
class who — whilst firmly believing in the existence of Deity — 
have found the inquiry into final causes unsatisfactory, if not 
delusive. To take an instance, the author, speaking of useful 
minerals, makes the following observations : — “ We have found 
in operation, before man’s advent, ‘ improving ’ processes similar 
to those which he employs for the attainment of his aims and 
purposes. And not only does man carry on artificial processes 
resembling the natural operations of the past and present, but 
we know that there are deposited low down in the earth’s strata 
numerous materials whose existence has been disclosed by his 
intelligence, and of which the sole apparent purpose is to afford 
him the means of self-improvement. We may theorise, with 
more or less plausibility, concerning the mode in which coal was 
formed and deposited in the carboniferous strata, but there are 
two faCts in connection with its presence there which cannot be 
disputed. One is, that coal is not a decorative objeCt, as are 
trees and flowers, and that (so far as we can judge) it in no way 
contributes to the stability of the earth’s crust, and the other f' 
that its use is to help us in a thousand different ways. The" 
same reasoning applies to iron, and other valuable and useful 
metals, as well as to many well-known minerals, such as sulphur, 
salt, and petroleum, for the presence of which we can find no 
other justification than their usefulness to man. To say that 
they may have some other purpose unknown to us would be of 
no avail, for if it be worthy of consideration it must be a more 
intelligent purpose than that of serving man ; and if those sub- 
stances have been placed where they are, as who can doubt, for 
our uses, then they afford unmistakable evidence of the sympa- 
thy existing between the Intelligence which caused them — no 
matter how — to be deposited under the surface long ages since, 
and mankind of to-day. But even this phenomenon, although 
it was brought about by the apparently blind forces of Nature 
long before man existed to understand and appreciate its value 
to himself, is no less the aCt of an intelligent Providence than is 
the paternal forethought of a father who ‘ lays by ’ a provision 
for the education of his children before they come into the 
world. As in the other cases cited, it is merely a question of 
degree ; and that a human parent does not always adopt the 
wise precaution referred to arises from the inferiority of his 
intelligence as compared with the ‘ Infinite Intelligence,’ or to 
some other imperfection inherent in human nature.” 
Now, no one certainly will deny that coal helps us “ in a 
