42 
APPLICATION OF THE 
wise, be capacities without objects; powers without em¬ 
ployment. The web foot determines, you say, the duck 
to swim: but what would that avail, if there were no water 
to swim in? The strong hooked bill, and sharp talons, 
of one species of bird, determine it to prey upon animals; 
the soft straight bill, and weak claws, of another species, 
determine it to pick up seeds: but neither determination 
could take effect in providing for the sustenance of the 
birds, if animal bodies and vegetable seeds did not lie with¬ 
in their reach. The peculiar conformation of the bill, and 
tongue, and claws of the woodpecker, [PI. XXVII. fig. 1, 
2, 3] determines that bird to search for his food amongst 
the insects lodged behind the bark, or in the wood, of de¬ 
cayed trees: but what would this profit him, if there were 
no trees, no decayed trees, no insects lodged under their 
bark, or in their trunk? The proboscis with which the 
bee is furnished, determines him to seek for honey: but 
what would that signify, if flowers supplied none? Facul¬ 
ties thrown down upon animals at random, and without 
reference to the objects amidst which they are placed, 
would not produce to them the services and benefits which 
we see; and if there be that reference, then there is in¬ 
tention. 
Lastly, the solution fails entirely when applied to plants. 
The parts of plants answer their uses, without any concur¬ 
rence from the will or choice of the plant. 
VI. Others have chosen to refer everything to a princi¬ 
ple of order in nature. A principle of order is the word: 
but what is meant by a principle of order, as different 
from an intelligent Creator, has not been explained either 
by definition or example; and, without such explanation, 
it should seem to be a mere substitution of words for rea¬ 
sons, names for causes. Order itself is only the adaptation 
of means to an end: a principle of order, therefore, can 
only signify the mind and intention which so adapts them. 
Or, were it capable of being explained in any other sense, 
is there any experience, any analogy to sustain it? Was 
a watch ever produced by a principle of order ? and why 
might not a watch be so produced as well as an eye ? 
Furthermore, a principle of order, acting blindly and 
without choice, is negatived by the observation, that order 
is not universal; which it would be, if it issued from a con¬ 
stant and necessary principle; nor indiscriminate, which it 
would be, if it issued from an unintelligent principle. Where 
order is wanted, there we find it; where order is not want¬ 
ed, i. e. where, if it prevailed, it would be useless, there we 
