Sfrnm tl|r ffitbrary nf PrnfrBBor S^njamtn Imktnri&gr HarftHb lpquratl|pb bg l|tm tn tJ|r Etbrarii nf Prinrrtnn Slliralogtral g>rmtttarQ BL 240 .E5 1898 Elder, William, 1840-1903. Ideas from nature IDEAS FROM NATURE TALKS WITH STUDENTS BY WILLIAM ELDER, A. M., Sc. D. Professor of Chemistry, Colby University PHILADELPHIA American Baptist Publication Society 1420 Chestnut Street Copyright 1898 by the American Baptist Publication Society from tbe Soctct^'g own preas %0 Henr2 "K. I^obinz, T), T}, I. DESIGN 7 II. OBJECTIOMS 47 III. ENERGy 87 IV. NATURAL LAW AND MIRACLE ... 127 V. NATURE A MANIFESTATION OF GOD 165 I DESIGM The world, The beauty and the wonder and the power, . . . and God made it all ! — Browning He that planted the ear, shall he not hear ? He that formed the eye, shall he not see? Physical science affirms that the sen- sible universe is made up of matter and energy alone. The saying is unquestion- ably true of the sensible universe ; eye and ear and the other bodily avenues through which knowledge flows in upon us, confirm the existence of these alone — matter, the material of which all bodies consist ; energy, the mysterious cause of changes in matter, called the phenomena of nature. But physical science does not affirm that the universe contains nothing beyond these. It studies that which ^. ., ^, Discovepin0 appears m nature with the Realities senses as its instruments, ^ and reports truthfully the grand results of its search ; but it gives no reason for con- cluding that other realities may not exist beyond its proper field of investigation. In fact, there is implied in this use of the 9 Ideas from jiature senses the existence of another reality, a something behind the senses which em- ploys and directs them ; a thinking power within us without which there could be no knowledge of matter or energy or aught else, the self-conscious mind which not only receives impressions through the senses, but actively seeks knowledge by their use, which observes, reflects, classi- fies, reasons. Clearly it is possible that the mind, on which such high qualities have been bestowed, may be able to find in nature evidences of things other than the phenomena produced by the ceaseless action of energy on matter. To assure ourselves that very different kinds of knowledge may be gained from the same source, let us seek the aid of a homely illustration. When we read from the printed page, the eye makes known to us only two existences, the white paper and the familiar black marks upon it. As a matter of fact, however, we are scarcely conscious of these. That something be- hind the eye, using the eye merely as an instrument, finds in those familiar black Desigri marks signs that have a meaning entirely beyond themselves. As we connect these intelligently, by a power quite other than that of the senses, we find ourselves in possession of something radically different from any quality of the paper or the ink which were employed to convey it, some- thing as real as either of them, but having an altogether different form of existence; we have an idea. And yet we might profitably study either the paper or the type, those realities sensi- ble to hand or eye. A record of the discov- eries and inventions which have resulted in furnishing a cheap material suitable for receiving the written or printed letter, would reveal many things closely connected with human progress. Still more curious and valuable knowledge would be gained if we set ourselves to study the printed characters, their forms, history, meaning, tracing them back to their rude genesis, back through writing, hieroglyph, cunei- form, to the man, Accad be he, or Sumir- ian, who in a moment of inspiration first used marks to represent thought. II Ideas from JNlature Fascinating as such research would be, we rate the value of its results low when compared with that of the ideas which the characters on the paper convey to our minds. Think how precious these may be ; a '' Novum Organmn!' a '^ Principia,'' the long record of scientific discoveries from Aris- totle to our own time — filling the universe with light, guiding the progress of the world — a poem by Homer or Shakespeare, a philosophy by Plato or Bacon, or more worthy than all these the clear, imperative call to duty by inspired prophet or Teacher qualified to tell us, what most of all we need to know, how to live well this life which we can live but once. Such things, time's most precious lega- cies, come to us through the humble in- strumentality of the printed page — little daubs of printer's ink on a cheap white paper. In like manner, as we study the properties of matter and the manifestations of energy or force, we find ourselves gaining ideas whose reality we can no more doubt than we can question the existence of earth and sun, light and heat. It may be that among the ideas taught through the materials and operations of nature there are truths of still greater value than knowledge of the grandeur of the universe, even truths that can aid us in the formation of belief, in the building of character, in the conduct of life. If so, we want them. Material things are present and near. By their presence they may shut out from consideration other things at least as worthy as they, while their nearness may so exag- gerate them as to pervert our estimate of the varied concerns of life, which must be taken as a whole and in true perspective to afford us a just estimate of their relative values. More than this, it may be the higher function of these material and visi- ble things that surround us daily to teach lessons of realities beyond the reach of sense. It will be a great gain for us if what we have learned of the things that are seen can be made to witness to us of things un- seen, of truths perhaps as much beyond the facts of science as the meaning of the golden rule outvalues what may be known 13 Ideas from plature of the curious marks that represent the words conveying the meaning of that pre- cept to us. With this end in view, let us take up some of the most famiUar topics of the classroom and inspect them once more. When we have witnessed an experiment in chemistry and learned what we may of . the changes produced in the . substances used by the forces * that acted upon them, we are certain that the same experiment, that is, one made with the same materials, in the same way, and under the same con- ditions, will always yield exactly the same results. We find that alkalies and acids have always their appropriate action ; and so strong is our conviction of this regular- ity that any apparent deviation from it is set down to our own error. Here then, we find in nature something besides the matter and energy with which physical science deals, an idea which matter and force are the means of conveying to us, an idea so evident that its validity cannot be questioned. 14 Design The idea is that of order in nature, and so universally is this recognized that it is embodied in one of our most familiar terms, the "laws of nature," by which we mean the observed regularity of natural phe- nomena and express our confidence in the continuance of that regularity. It is the boast of modern science that it has caused the acceptance of this idea,^ that it has pro- duced everywhere the belief that nature is governed according to laws that are uniform in their operation. Our conviction of the truth of this belief is so strong that it can- not be overcome. Although, from its very nature, it is incapable of demonstra- tion, we submit ourselves to its guidance in every concern of life.^ No sane man would expect other than a fatal result if he 1 It must admitted that this thought was famihar to the writers of the Bible long before the birth of the modern sciences. 2 The moral significance of this reliableness of nature is thus expressed by the author of the " Unseen Uni- verse" : "We have perfect trust that God, whom we believe to have given us intelligence, will work in such a way as not to put us to permanent intellectual con- fusion" (p. 91). 15 Ideas from JNlature were to set at naught the law of gravitation by stepping off the edge of a lofty tower, or disregard the laws of health by drink- ing a deadly poison. Clearly there is an established order in nature, banishing from it all possibility of chance or accident. Now we know that laws do not cause anything, do not govern anything. The expression '' governed by law " is inexact and erroneous in all cases, and when applied to nature may give rise to hurtful error. The law is a mere statement, powerless in itself, of the manner in which the power behind the law governs. The laws of nature reveal the existence of a power be- hind nature, whose methods they are, a power capable of establishing and main- taining those laws, and the harmonious working of the laws proclaims the unity of their Author. But we must notice ,that this order of nature is not at all of a mechanical kind. Men sometimes talk of natural laws as though they were real existences in them- selves, fulfilling themselves with machine- like regularity and the resistless certainty i6 Desigri of blind fate. Science does not warrant such a view. We have learned that every event must be ascribed to an adequate cause, that similar causes produce similar effects, that the succession of cause and effect proceeds in unbroken continuity. But the study of nature utters a warn- ing here. We may apply the idea of con- tinuity blindly ; we may extend it too far and be led into serious error ; even the law may be used unlawfully. To illustrate: We take a bar of metal and place it over a source of heat. Its temperature rises, faster or slower according to the amount of heat received, and we talk of cause and effect; the volume of the solid increases also, and this we note to be in proportion to the rise of temperature. So we may formulate a rule and fairly determine what volume a given mass of this metal will have at different temperatures. But our rule is only applicable within narrow limits, for if we continue our experiment we reach a point where a new thing hap- pens, quite at variance with preceding re- sults. Added heat no longer causes rise B 17 Ideas fpom jiatupe of temperature in the mass of metal, but it begins to flow down as a liquid and has assumed a new state of existence subject to new conditions before increased heat again begins to raise its temperature. Every student of nature knows that he is constantly meeting with the unexpected, with interruptions of continuity, as he ad- vances in his knowledge of its operations. Water, taken at a certain temperature, ex- pands whether it is heated or cooled. Va- riations of temperature alone will cause it to exist as a solid, a liquid, or a vapor. The most minute acquaintance with its properties in the solid state affords no in- dication of its qualities as a liquid ; and when it assumes the state of vapor we must begin its study anew. Acted on by heat or electricity, water is suddenly changed into the two elementary gases, oxygen and hydrogen, each possessing strongly marked characteristics, but neither giving any hint of the properties of the familiar liquid formed by their chemical union. We do not interpret the unex- pected events as caprice or violation of i8 Desigii law, for we cannot doubt that the same thing will happen again under the same conditions. The truth is that we are only beginning to catch a glimpse of the real grandeur of creation, even of that part of it open to human investigation. Our scientific knowledge, though so extensive and valu- able in the aggregate, is small when com- pared to the unknown which still eludes us. Our philosophic understanding of nature is yet in its infancy. So Newton said long ago ; so Lord Kelvin repeats to- day. All this points to the conclusion that nature is manifold beyond our most exalted anticipations. What we have experienced of its operations is sufficient to give us confidence in its orderly government, to convince us of the truth of the great doc- trine of continuity ; but it is also suffi- cient to warn us that this doctrine must be applied with caution and humility. The power working in nature is evidently not of the order of blind force, to be in- terpreted by rules of mechanic regularity, but of the higher order of will and intel- 19 Ideas from ]\[ature ligence. This order of the world, which no one dares question in act even if he would in thought, finds its only rational explanation in a Divine Ordainer. We do not proceed far in the study of nature before we meet with another idea, ^ , . that of skillful contrivance. Goritrivance ,.. . •, . ^, We recognize it m the prop- erties with which substances have been endowed, as in the properties of oxygen, so resistless when its chemical activities are aroused, so gentle at ordinary temperatures, reducing a whole city to ashes, yet bath- ing the most delicate tissues harmlessly ; in the properties of carbon, so well fitted to serve as fuel, yet inert and harmless under ordinary conditions. This fact that consummate skill is shown in the structure of the commonest sub- stances which we use daily is most forcibly impressed upon us when we strive to form some conception of what that structure is, and to find out how the properties of each substance are related to its inner constitu- tion. As yet we have no hint of what that relation may be. Caustic soda and hydrochloric acid are bodies possessing well-known properties, caustic, corrosive, poisonous. Yet when solutions of these are mixed in due propor- tion all these properties are lost, the sub- stances themselves disappear, and in their places are found water and common salt, not acid nor poisonous, but necessary for foods. Interpreted by the most daring inferences of chemical theory the acid and alkali are both comparatively simple in composition, and the change which goes on when these were converted into salt and water was the mere exchange of cer- tain elements. We may perhaps form some satisfactory conception of the manner in which this change was produced ; but when we ask the reason for the surprising change of properties which resulted from the simple transference of material parts we find our- selves in the presence of a mystery, and are obliged to be content with a simple statement of final results. Let us not allow a certain vulgar familiarity with the names of things and the outside of things Ideas from platurs to rob us of the valuable lesson which this mystery has to teach us. That lesson is reverence for the surpassing skill ex- hibited in the inner structure of material things which we call common and ordinary. Intimate acquaintance with nature does not tend to lessen admiration ; on the con- trary, reverence grows as knowledge grows. When an explanation is found for some- thing before unknown, it brings with it a revelation of more mystery beyond, and all explanations point forward to one ulti- mate mystery which is the source of being. The evidence of contrivance in nature is more clear in the mutual adaptations of two or more agencies so that Adaptation t^ey work together to pro- duce one result. This idea of adaptation is in advance of that of contrivance, how- ever intricate. The human mind finds much to stimulate its growth in a study of the powers and properties of individual sub- stances and in the modes of operation of various forms of energy. But in the pres- ence of these we are driven to ask, ** What end do they serve .? " When the mutual 22 relations of things are discovered the sig- nificance of individual functions is appre- ciated, and we the better understand to what extent skill is shown in their con- trivance. Thus it is only necesssary to heat car- bon and oxygen together to cause them to combine with great vigor, evolving a gener- ous supply of heat. Think of the carbon, the product of long past ages, stored up in the earth in the form of mineral coal, and of the oxygen free in the atmosphere. In them man has furnished to his hand a mine of energy which he may call forth at his will to minister to the comfort of every- day life, or to speed the work of the world. Think how every growing plant that lifts its leaves to the sun is winning back this expended energy for our service once more, and it seems ungrateful to begrudge the name Providence to such consummately skillful and beneficent contrivance as this. Again, adaptation is most distinctly shown in the properties with which certain substances have been endowed to an emi- nent degree, fitting them to fill a place of 23 Ideas from JNlature first importance in the economy of nature. Water is a good instance of this, on account of its wide distribution and varied uses, and our comparative familiarity with it. It is also an illustration of the capital fact that it is in the case of the substances of which we know most that this evidence is strongest. In the study of water there is much to challenge attention and excite admiration. We are familiar with it as a liquid, but at a temperature not very low it becomes a solid, and at all temperatures of the earth it escapes into the air as an invisible gas or vapor. The solid snow and ice wrap the earth as in a warm mantle to protect it during the rigors of winter ; but the vapor of water in the air has a yet more impor- tant office. Water is supplied in unstinted amount, in ocean, seas, lakes, rivers, yet considering its varied uses in nature, we are forced to conclude that there is not a drop too much ; about three-fourths of the earth's surface is covered with water that the remainder may be fitted to become the dwelling-place of man. 24 Desigri Consider the work of water as a regulator and distributer of heat. It is fitted for this office because it possesses certain prop- erties in an exceptionally high degree, con- stituting it the climate-maker of the world. In the first place, water can absorb more heat than any other known substance, solid or liquid. By this means it ^^^ eiimate- cools the air of summer, and ,^ . Malrcr of the as cold weather comes on . gives out the heat it had absorbed, to moderate the severity of winter. An island in the ocean has, as every one knows, an equable climate for this reason ; what we may call the waste heat of summer is stored away and held over for winter. A French scientist lately made an estimate of the amount of heat absorbed by the lake of Geneva dur- ing summer and given out as it cools at the approach of winter ; it is as much as would be produced by the burning of three hundred million tons of coal. How much then, must the ocean take up and give out during similar changes, and how beneficent must be its effect on climate ! 25 Ideas from ]\[ature But no matter how great a capacity for heat water may possess, it must at last be- come chilled by long-continued cold. Then at a temperature not very low, just stim- ulating to healthy life, it solidifies, or as we say, freezes. Here a most curious thing happens. Each cubic foot of water in freezing gives out enough heat to raise the temperature of an equal amount of water, or more than three thousand cubic feet of air, seventy-nine degrees. This is in ac- cordance with a general law that a substance in solidifying gives out heat, but in the case of water the amount thus given out is exceptionally great. So long as water is freezing, this evolution of heat continues, the temperature of the air is moderated, and, what is even of greater moment, the rapidity of the change to excessive cold is greatly checked. When spring comes, the ice and snow in melting must take back all the heat they had given out ; melting goes on slowly ; and the danger of flood is les- sened. It may be said that these processes affect only extreme northern and southern 26 Design countries, and can have but remote influ- ence on the excessive heat of the tropics ; but for moderating this heat a still more liberal provision has been made. Water evaporates readily, more and more rapidly as its temperature rises, so that from tropi- cal waters a constant stream of invisible water vapor is poured into the air from every square foot of surface. When a pound of water thus changes into vapor, it absorbs an immense amount of heat ; ac- cording to an estimate made by Tyndall, enough to raise five pounds of iron to the melting point. All this disappears as heat ; and by close thinking we may form some idea of the prodigious drain thus kept up on the heat of the tropics, which form as it were the furnace of the globe. All this heat is again restored to the atmosphere when the water vapor condenses. The winds carry a great part of it to colder lati- tudes, where it is gradually condensed and falls as rain, giving up at the same time its store of heat. This heat not only warms the atmosphere, but checks condensation and prevents the deluging torrents that 27 Ideas from JNlature would fall if all the moisture of the air were to be precipitated at once. ^ These are not the only provisions made for reducing extremes of temperature and lessening the rapidity of change from hot to cold, and from cold to hot. Sea water is always heavier when cold than when warm, because it contracts down to its freezing point. The cold water of the polar region sinks to the bottom and creeps slowly to tropics, where it rises, becomes heated, and then flows off in surface cur- rents toward colder regions, laden with heat which it gives out on its way. The dullest mind can scarcely contemplate such consummate skill in contrivance as all this exhibits without being stirred to ad- miration. Does it not warrant something beyond admiration ? Let us imagine that a native of a warm climate, who has never felt the need of ar- tificial heat in a dwelling, is suddenly trans- ^ Ifonemileof air saturated with water at 35° be cooled to 0° it will deposit one hundred and forty- thousand tons of water. — Roscoe^ *■'■ T7'eatise on Chemis- try ;' Vol. I., p. S41. 28 Design ferred to one of our northern cities in winter. He is shown through a great building warmed by a steam-heating ap- paratus in perfect order. How he will wonder at the contrast between the arctic temperature outside and the genial summer within. If he is an intelligent man how he will delight to inspect the great furnaces and boilers, the pipes and automatic con- trivances by which the desired temperature is maintained in every room. The more he becomes bewildered with the intricacy of the apparatus the more he will admire the skill of its maker. He would but lightly esteem the poor wit of the facetious agnostic who should tell him that he ''doesn't know that it has any maker." The heating apparatus of our globe is infinitely more wonderful than this ; it serves many more uses than this. By its automatic contrivances, which never get out of order, heat and cold are made to check the severity of their own changes. Does it not seem in the highest degree probable, to use no stronger term, that it too had a maker, and that it has something 29 Ideas from ]\[ature to teach us about him ? Does not the practical reason, the most reliable judge within us, unperverted by quibbles, un- blinded by manufactured doubts, affirm unhesitatingly that it must have had an Almighty Maker? In all things whose origin we can trace, skillful contrivance, contrivance that profits, is at once accepted as proof ^^ of intelligent design. Es- pecially does it become impossible to ac- cept mere coincidence as an explanation of the observed relations when the contriv- ance is intricate and the adaptations many. In nature we find contrivance everywhere skillful beyond human device ; life depends on such nice adaptations and contrivances innumerable. No valid objection can be urged against continuing here the sure process of reason, here where most we need its guidance. Third among the ideas gained from a careful study of nature we place intelligent design, and, of necessity, an intelligent Designer. It will be worth while to take one of the almost innumerable uses of water and try 30 Desigii not merely to give it a correct general statement, but to bring it actually before the mind. Rain is absolutely necessary to the life of the globe. If it is withheld, industries languish and die, the fertile field is grad- ually transformed into a desert. Rain nourishes plant and animal ; rain supplies the springs that overflow to form streams and rivers. For it water must be purified and brought from the ocean. A brook has dried up because its source has been tampered with and no rain has fallen. Let us suppose that a company of men have undertaken to furnish to it the needed water supply during the dry season. Along the shore to right and left stretch the great distilleries necessary to change the salt water into fresh. From every point available trains are running night and day, carrying the purified water up to be poured out on the hills from which the brook formerly gathered its waters. What would be the grand result of all this ex- penditure of millions, this flaming of fur- naces and puffings of engines, this hurry 31 Ideas from JNlature and worry and toil of men ? An eager shareholder in this promising enterprise, standing by the shore where once a gen- erous stream shot out into the sea, might perhaps discover a tiny driblet of water down among the gravel under the dry stones. This would be the most that man could accomplish ; a humiliating result for man, who does such great and wonderful things that he sometimes doubts whether there really exists any need for other god than himself, or whether the power behind nature has ever risen to conscious intelli- gence higher than the human mind. Now imagine one of the laborers who had been actively employed in this most stupendous experiment, namely, '* running a brook," sitting down to rest himself be- side the Mississippi River. He would have before him a stream that gathers its waters from about a million and a quarter of square miles, and sweeps past him over sixty mil- lion cubic feet of water every minute. He could scarcely fail to ask himself, in the light of his late laborious experiences, '* How is all that water supplied ? " 32 Desigil The answer is very simple ; water is readily changed into vapor, and this vapor is readily condensed to water again. The ordinary variations of the earth's temper- ature are quite sufficient to produce these changes, and we have noticed their benefi- cent effect upon climate. But the heat taken away from hot countries is not merely transferred to colder parts. While this is being done an even greater good is accomplished in the distribution of moisture. Silently and rapidly entering the water the sun's rays transform it from a liquid over seven hundred times heavier than air into a vapor much lighter than air, so that it rises and floats, and is carried on the wings of the wind to colder re- gions. This vapor cooled becomes liquid again in cloud and rain, to be poured out on the surface of the earth, but especially on hills and elevated regions. So are fed, not only the Father of Waters and its mighty rivals, but every brook that throbs like a pulse of life among the hills, brings freshness to the fields, and sweeps away impurities to the salt sea. It is difficult c 33 Ideas from ]N[at:upe to understand how any man can get a real conception of these things and not feel compelled to admit that there must be somewhere in the universe, not only power greater than his, but benevolent intelli- gence higher than his, an intelligence that wills, purposes, performs. These are at- tributes of personality. Not only does water possess in an emi- nent degree certain properties which other substances exhibit in less degree, but in one marked case it is an exception to a general law of nature. Through four de- grees above its freezing point it expands as it cools, instead of contracting as other liquids do. The importance and signifi- cance of this exception is dwelt on by our best writers on physical science, even in works intended to be used merely as text- books. Professor Cooke, of Harvard, calls it "a special adaptation in the plan of nature."^ . , Sir Henry Roscoe, in his Testiiriony ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ chemistry, says : " Although the amount of contrac- ^ "Chemical Physics," p. 520. 34 Design tion on heating water from o° to 4° is but small, yet it exerts a most important influ- ence upon the economy of nature. If it were not for this apparently unimportant property, our climate would be perfectly Arctic, and Europe would in all probability be as uninhabitable as Melville Island. . . This cooling (of water exposed to a freez- ing atmosphere) goes on till the tempera- ture of the top layer of water sinks to 0°, after which a crust of ice is formed ; and if the mass of water be sufficiently large, the temperature of the water at the bot- tom is never reduced below 4°. In nature, precisely the same phenomenon occurs in the freezing of lakes and rivers ; the sur- face water is gradually cooled by cold winds, and thus becoming heavier, sinks, whilst lighter and warmer water rises to supply its place. This goes on till the temperature of the whole mass is reduced to 4°, after which the surface water never sinks, however much it may be cooled, as it is always lighter than the deeper water at 4°. Hence ice is formed only at the top, the mass of water retaining the tem- 35 Ideas from ptature perature of 4°. Had water become heav- ier as it cooled down to the freezing point . . . our lakes and rivers would be con- verted into solid masses of ice, which the summer's warmth would be quite insuf- ficient thoroughly to melt ; and hence the climate of our now temperate zone might approach in severity that of the Arctic regions ! "^ The fact that sea water follows the gen- eral law, contracting as it approaches its freezing point, which is below 0°, very strongly emphasizes the significance of the exception in the case of fresh water. Thus physical science supplies us with evidences of design in nature, which strengthen as our knowledge of nature becomes wider and deeper. Biological science also furnishes evidence of a pecu- liarly forcible kind and pointing to the same conclusion. Wise and benevolent design implies the existence of a wise and benevolent Designer. This argument from design is an old one ; we find it in the 1 "Treatise on Chemistry," Vol. I., pp. 224, 225. Repeated in new ed., p. 271. 36 Desigri writings of the Hebrew prophet, in the ^^Memorabilia ' of the Greek sage. It is stated with great ability in the '< Natural Theology" of Paley and in the '^ Bridge- water Treatises." Our knowledge of nature has greatly increased since Paley's time, but this in- crease has only changed the form of the design argument, not lessened its force nor modified its essence. This, though hastily questioned by some, has been fully granted by leading men of science. The human eye or ear is still a marvel of design, no matter how long it was in fashioning, or what means were used to bring it to its present form. The skillful adaptation of means to an end is the very feature by which we recognize intelligent design. If the means employed turn out to be more wonderful than anything man could con- ceive, the lesson of purpose is not thereby discredited, but approved and extended. Let us hear what some of the foremost scholars of our own day, standing in the van of science and taking an active part in the battle of belief, say of the validity of 37 Ideas from ]\[atiure this argument. I select two, the first re- ferring to the evidences furnished by physical science ; the second, to those from biology. Professor Cooke, of Harvard, when dis- cussing these same properties of matter to which we have just referred, says: "I can- not conceive of stronger evidence of de- sign than this; and if these facts do not prove the existence of an intelligent Crea- tor, then all nature is a deception and our own faculties a lie." ^ Sir William Thomson (now Lord Kel- vin), in an inaugural address before the British Association, says : '' I feel pro- foundly convinced that the argument of design has been greatly too much lost sight of in our recent zoological speculations. Reaction against the frivolities of teleology, such as are to be found, not rarely, in the notes of the learned commentators on Pa- ley's ' Natural Theology,' has, I believe, had a temporary effect in turning attention from the solid and irrefragable argument so well put forward in that excellent old ^ "Religion and Chemistry," p. 155. 38 Desigii book. But overwhelmingly strong proofs of intelligent and benevolent design lie all around us, and if ever perplexities, whether metaphysical or scientific, turn us away from these for a time, they come back upon us with irresistible force, teaching us that all living beings depend on one ever-acting Creator and Ruler." This is clear and outspoken. It was addressed to the most august body of sci- entists in the realm, men familiar with all the objections that have been urged against the old argument. It is often instructive to observe how men of genius, of very different training and endowment, regard the same great question. Even John Stuart Mill, edu- cated as nearly as possible in a religious vacuum, felt constrained to say : '' It must be allowed that in the present state of our knowledge the adaptations in nature afford a large balance of probability in favor of creation by intelligence." ^ Prof. Huxley with equal frankness ac- knowledges the cogency of the argument 1 " Essay on Religion." 39 Ideas from plature from design. He says : " The teleological and the mechanical views of nature are not necessarily mutually exclusive. On the contrary, the more purely a mechanist the speculator is, the more firmly does he as- sume a primordial molecular arrangement of which all the phenomena of the universe are the consequences, and the more com- pletely is he thereby at the mercy of the teleologist, who can always defy him to disprove that this primordial molecular ar- rangement was intended to evolve the phe- nomena of the universe." ^ Dr. Martineau makes a place for the argument from design in his philosophic '' Study of Religion," with the following comment : *< Advanced thought, also, hke dress and manners, is not without its fash- ions and its fops ; and many a scientific sciolist, who would bear himself comme il fant toward such questionable deceivers as ' Final Causes,' now thinks it necessary to have his fling at Paley and the 'Bridge- water Treatises.' He has it on best au- thority that Darwin has exposed their 1 "Life of Darwin," Vol. I., p. 555. 40 Desigri imposture, and he must show that he is not going to fall into their trap. It is probable that, of those who speak in this tone, nine out of ten have never read the books with which they deal so flippantly ; and it is certain that the tenth is incompe- tent to grasp the essentials of an argument, while letting its separable accidents fall away. . . I see no reason to doubt that Paley would have welcomed the new theory of organic life upon the globe, as a mag- nificent expansion of his idea." Before we leave this subject, the argu> ment from design for the existence of a Creator, let us look at it in another light. In order to understand to any adequate degree the perfection of adaptation, we must study, as thoroughly as we may, a single case. So instead of seeking for new materials I have drawn illustrations from the things most familiar. Others are at hand and biology furnishes many more. The life history of the plant, the fertiliza- tion of the flower, the habits of insects, the adaptation of the organs of animals to the requirements of life on land, in air 41 Ideas from JNlature and sea, the minute correspondence of organ and function to environment, all sug- gest as the most reasonable explanation of nature the intentional action of an intel- ligent being. It is difificult indeed for the unbiased mind to consider these things and not conclude that they are as they are because some one has made them so, and because he intended them so to be. But to realize how certainly this adapta- tion can only be the result of intelligent design, it is well to set in array before our eyes the great number and variety of parts and the many ways in which their indi- vidual functions, seemingly separate, are made to work together harmoniously to the accomplishment of a single end. Consider for a moment what is implied in normal human life, our ordinary daily life. Life as we have it is possible only in a very narrow area of the solar system as known to us. We are taught Conditions ^, ^ r -i u 4-u that a few miles beneath us the heat is sufficient to melt iron ; not far above our heads is a cold sufficient to freeze mercury. Human life 42 Design and the things necessary for its mainte- nance have been gathered together in this very small section of the known universe. We think of the orderly succession of periods of light and darkness, of the changing sky and varying seasons, all adapted to the physical and mental endow- ments of man, of atmosphere and soil, plant and animal, and we are sent back for causes to all that astronomy has taught of the delicate adjustment of suns and sys- tems, so that seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night should not cease ; to all that geology has made known of the progressive changes through which the world has been brought to its present con- dition. We think of the body and its environ- ment, of the eye delicately adjusted for light, of light bringing its message from near or far in such form that the eye, and the eye alone, can interpret it, of the ear formed so fairily for sounds and harmonies made for it. We think of the parts of the body, of 43 Ideas from jiature their separate functions, their mutual rela- tions, of the streaming currents of the blood, of bone and muscle and tendon, of nerve and brain, each a unit in its individual structure, each a part contributing to give the whole completeness. We may not stop here. We see that the body as a whole is not made for itself as an end, but is fitted to be the instru- ment of mind. We think of that mind holding the mys- tery of our own personality, holding the potencies that determine the issues of time and eternity, self-conscious, curious to in- quire into the meaning of things, impelled to look beyond the seen and find the cause of things, eager to grasp reality, yet in tutelage now amid these earthly phe- nomena. We think of our advanced social condi- tion worked out by man truly, but only possible because of ordinances established in the constitution of existence, with which man had no more to do than with the origin of gravitation. Yet all these have been brought together 44 Design and co-ordinated in that thin belt of space which surrounds our planet. If this co- ordination is an accident, the result of for- tuitous causes, then that accident is the most astounding miracle of chance man was ever called upon to believe. Such harmony culminating in intelligence can- not be the result of blind force. If any one, in view of such considera- tions as these, is haunted by the so-called difficulties of belief in a Creator, I would ask him if he has ever seriously considered how much more formidable are the diffi- culties of unbelief. In brief then the argument from design is this : The study of nature shows us, in the interaction of its materials and forces, in the life of plant and animal and man, contrivances so numerous, so elaborate, so refined in detail, yet all working toward a common end, that reason is compelled to the conclusion that the world is the work of an intelligent Creator. If we reject this explanation we have no other, because to reject this is to stultify the reason that has been given us as our guide. 45 II OBJECTIONS Can you doubt whether these things, wrought with such forethought, are the works of chance, or of intelligence? — Socrates II Every great truth that bears upon the highest interests of man has found opposers ; and we need not wonder that there are those who question the vaUdity of the ar- gument from design. Truth costs noth- ing ; not so behef. Truth is given away ; behef rests on conviction and must be ac- quired, often only after a long struggle against inclination, prejudice, fashion, and the spirit of the age. It is not the least valuable part of the discipline of life that each of us must find out for himself what is worthy of belief amid hostile views, must contend for his creed, if he would have a good one, as the warrior of old fought for the spurs of knighthood, and with more than one vigil- at-arms. It is sometimes said that we see in things what we want to see. Let us ap- propriate the small fraction of truth this D 49 Ideas from jlature saying contains, and make sure that what we want to see is the truth of things. I do not think the search for truth is so difficult an enterprise as it is often rep- resented, if there is first a loyal purpose. Of opposing teachings offered us, many may be recognized at sight as worthless, and thrown away; others, by comparison, shown to be inferior, may be laid aside. Doctrines ''with some truth in them" are not suitable ; gilded brass is not the kind of material for character building ; we want the pure gold of truth at any cost, and we may find it. Some teachings are good, that is, true ; others are bad, they tend down- ward, they relax the moral muscle, they dull the nice sense of loyalty to the right, they are false. Doubt as you will with that scientific doubt that leads to a careful examination of the foundations of belief, but do not let any one cram you with the manufactured difficulties and objections of amateur skepticism, else you may find, by and by, that you do not know how to be honest with yourself. Let us consider now some of the most 50 Objections formidable objections that arise in our own minds or are urged by others against the argument from design. The first is that the evidence is but par- tial. We can discover con- . ^, . , . The Evidence trivance m some thmgs, but n T Partial not ni all. In some cases the appointments of nature operate unfav- orably, so far as we can judge. . The answer to this is that we are unable to grasp the whole scheme and meaning of human existence in all its parts. If we can discover helpful contrivance in some things, especially those of which we know most, and which are most intimately concerned in our own well-being, as we do in the structure of our own bodies and the liberal provision made for our happiness in earth, air, water, food, we have positive evidence of benevolent design which no amount of negative evidence can invalidate. In reference to the seemingly more weighty form of the objection that, look- ing from our own standpoint, we are obliged to regard some of the results of the work- ing of natural law as hostile, there is a still 51 Ideas from JNlature more weighty answer. Man is not intended to be a mere nursling waited on by the obedient processes of nature. So, he would always continue a baby ; he was intended to become, in reality as well as in name, a man. Difficulties, obstacles, trials, are ap- pointed him in order to make a man of him — if possible. There is nothing in which the evidence of design is more satis- factory than in the discipline of hardship appointed us in life, and which alone can transform the raw recruit into a good soldier. The argument does not affirm that the works of nature are typically perfect. A wise man of the olden time has given us as a result of his observation, " I have seen an end of all perfection." We find admir- able contrivance, catch a glimpse of a per- fect plan ; but in everything that relates to man, perhaps in everything for man's sake, there is a falling short of the perfect in execution. Man is out of harmony with his environment ; he is a destroyer, a pol- luter, a discord. For him the whole crea- tion groaneth and travaileth in pain. After 52 Objections so many centuries of research the best explanation we have of this astonishing and humiliating fact is the simple story told in the third chapter of Genesis. The course of history, as well as our individual experience, has so uniformly sustained the fact of a "fall" that opponents of the grand old book have been unable to find any better argument against it than ridi- cule. In view of all this, we need not wonder if man sometimes finds the appoint- ments of nature against him, and himself compelled, if he would recover his true standing, to undergo a discipline that is painful. No teaching affords an explanation of the mystery of evil, but we should not miss the point of that ancient parable which re- fers its earthly beginning to a being, pos- sessed of a certain intelligence and a certain freedom, who willed contrary to the appointed conditions of his being, so linking suffering with sin. The patriarch of Uz was given a course of object-lessons from nature to convince him that God knows best ; for us, to assure us that God 53 Ideas from JNlature loves best, there is the Cross ; yet neither answer solves this darkest of earth's enig- mas, though both emphasize the terrible reality of evil. However, the mystery is not wholly dark. '' Made perfect through suffering" is anything but an unmeaning term to those who have learned how the soul refines and develops its noblest powers ; and, much as we must regret the existence of moral evil, we know that character grows strong in proportion as we resist tempta- tion. The purpose of trial in the evolu- tion of manhood is not difficult to under- stand.^ A second objection is more philosophical: Why should an infinite Creator make use . of contrivance.? If he wishes Use of , . . ^. r T ^ certam varieties of climate, ]VIechanism ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^.^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ of endowing one or more substances ex- ceptionally, and using them to construct a 1 It is also a matter of fact that if Christianity is truth- ful in representing this world as a school of moral probation, we cannot conceive a system better adapted to this end than is the world, or a better schoolmaster than Christianity. — Romanes, ^^ Thoughts on Keiigion,'^ p. isi, 54 Objections vast circulating system in sea and air to bring about the same result? Why not endow a simple membrane with the faculty of sight, instead of forming the eye with its admirable but complicated and delicate structure ? To this I offer the following answer. Man is designed to become a worker ; for his education a long period of growth, and surroundings that incite to and reward ac- tivity have been afforded. The substances furnished in nature are his raw material ; he can acquire skill to use them. The forces of nature are his slaves; he can find out how to slip their necks beneath his yoke. The laws of nature furnish the sure foundation on which he may build ; contrivances in nature supply models for his imitation. Man's Creator is a worker as well, and in the constitution he has given to nature has put honor upon his laws by using them, thus surrounding man with lessons to stimulate his powers of invention and discovery, and to wit- ness to the character and purpose of his Maker. 55 Ideas from JNlatuFe A third objection is, tHat the adaptations ^ . ., found in nature and inter- Gomcidence ^. , . preted as evidences of wise Simulating , . ..... , design may be simply comci- ^ dences, the result of acci- dent, not purpose. This can never be very formidable ; it is of the order of objections men raise when they wish to escape a conclusion they sus- pect to be true. Such curious harmony of events without purpose does occur occa- sionally in the experience of every one, and may sometimes be invested by the super- stitious with undue importance ; but they are too rare, too trivial, too transient, too ambiguous, to be classed along with such significant facts as the anomalous expan- sion of water, the fitness of the bird's wing for flying, the man's hand for grasp- ing, and others in almost endless array. Fourth : it may be thought that the doctrine of evolution, which occupies such a prominent position in bio- logical speculation, furnishes an objection to the argument from design by rendering it unnecessary. 56 Objections This theory is an attempt to explain the complexity of living things now on the earth by descent, with variation, from one or at least only a few primitive forms. It relies on known facts, (a) That the off- spring resembles the parent — heredity; {b) that this resemblance is not rigid — variation ; {c) that new characteristics ac- quired by variation may be preserved by inheritance ; {d) that if this process could continue in a definite line for a sufficient length of time, differences might at last be produced in animals descended from the same ancestors such as those which now distinguish different species. Clearly enough there is evolution in nature. The most superficial observer can scarcely fail to notice, "First the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear." Whoever will set himself to find out how the seed cast into the earth springs up, will find more evolution ; and yet more if he follow the transformations through which the germ becomes the ani- mal. To extend the process and make it account for the origin of all the differences 57 Ideas from jlature that distinguish the various species of plants and animals was an idea likely to occur to some speculative mind; and it did occur long ago. But the difficult part of the work remained, to explain the ex- planation, to assign a sufficient natural cause to evolution. The eager discussions of the day show us that this has not yet been done to the satisfaction of all natural- ists. Mr. Darwin's name is associated with an explanation which, if it does not assign a sufficient cause, is believed by many to point out a true cause. He noted the suc- cess that attends the breeder's efforts to produce new varieties of animals possess- ing valuable qualities, speed, strength, beauty, — a process which may be called artificial selection, — and he reasoned that similar changes might be produced by natural agencies and result in specific dif- ferences. This is natural selection; the breeder's office is performed by that thing we all hate and fear so much, yet which, curiously enough, seems to be the uniform attendant of all earthly progress, want. 58 Objections Life's family soon becomes so large that there is not enough food to go around, and there results from this awkward state of affairs that struggle for existence with which we are all so sadly familiar. In this the fortunate possessor of a helpful variation, or a ready adaptability to new conditions, is victor. There is thus brought about, by this survival of the fittest in the struggle for existence, what we now see, a great variety of plants and animals nicely adjusted to the conditions of the world in which they live, their e7i- virontnent. Whether or not the different factors already proposed, natural selection, sexual selection, the reaction of organism and environment, strain produced by effort, any or all of them, afford a sufficient me- chanical explanation of the mechanics of evolution is a scientific question, to be answered by scientific investigation. If such explanation has not yet been found it is reasonable to believe that it will be ; but when found it will reveal merely me- chanical processes, — including physical and 59 Ideas from ]^at:iire chemical, — furnishing more adaptations to enforce the argument from design. Granting that there has been evolution in nature, we notice that it emphasizes certain considerations which argue strongly for belief in a Creator. 1. As to the origin of life. Evolution substitutes a natural process, modifica- tion of a living organism, for Gonclusions ^^^^.^^ creative acts in the rroni origin of species — using the Evolution ^ . • 1 term origm very much as we do when we speak of the origin of a city. Of the origin of the first living being it can tell us nothing ; it is obliged to assume it. Evolution is not a substitute for crea- tion ; if things were evolved, that does not imply that they evolved themselves, much less that they evolved themselves out of nothing. 2. The cause of the adaptation of the living being to its surroundings. Life is possible only under certain definite condi- tions, to which the organism must be nicely adjusted. Evolution is obliged to assume these adaptations as existing. 60 Objections 3. The occurrence of favorable varia- tions. Granting that natural selection ac- counts for the preservation of such varia- tions as are useful to the being in its struggle for existence, it can give us no aid in understanding how these helpful variations are produced. It must assume a tendency to fitness operating in nature. 4. The continuous progress of evolu- tion along definite lines, as in the forma- tion of the skeleton, the teeth, or the eye of the higher animals. The insufficiency of evolution without the guidance of in- telligence is very evident here. 5. The progressive harmonious varia- tion of the different parts of animals which naturalists describe as necessary to the production of new species. Mr. Dar- win speaks of the whole organism as being "so tied together during its growth and development, that when slight variations in any one part occur, and are accumulated through natural selection, other parts be- come modified." Accidental variation can- not account for harmonious variation. All these limitations of the theory have 61 Ideas from plature been pointed out by its leading expound- ers. It gives us a magnificent extension of our view of the order of the world, but it cannot even attempt to account for the origin and maintenance of that order. It modifies our conception of the manner in which the adaptations seen in nature were produced, but only renders it more reason- able to regard them as the result of intel- ligent purpose. The evolutionary process may even be carried back and applied to the original material of nature. We have only to assume that during the cooling of the nebula from which our solar system was formed, differ- ent associations of matter took place ; those best fitted to the conditions remained ; the unfit dissolved to give place to the fit. Thus our world and all that it contains, living and not living, was developed by natural processes, acting under one great law, from a material relatively simple and formless. Evolution is a grand hypothesis, in ac- cord with much that we know, and holds the field as the most probable conception, 62 Objections in the present state of our knowledge, of the method of the Creator. But it is merely a method, it is neither a cause nor a force, and itself requires to be accounted for. Granting the existence of matter and energy, no imaginable interaction of the two would produce any tendency to fitness, unless conditioned by an intelligence rec- ognizing what is fit. An infinite number of attempts under the guidance of fortuity would only lead to chaos worse confounded, not to the astonishing complexity and harmony of adaptations which nature everywhere reveals. There would be no tendency through immeasurable ages to the conditions that fit water for its uses or the eye or the ear to its functions, unless behind the operations of nature acted One who worketh all things after the counsel of his will.^ But here the skeptical philosopher may startle us with a fifth objec- << tion that is at least intended ,^ to be fatal. The argument ^^ from skillful contrivance to intelligent 1 "Relics of Primeval Life," Dawson, p. 323. 63 Ideas from plature design is legitimate, he may tell us, only so long as it confines itself to human work- manship ; we may not extend it beyond. This entirely misstates the argument, which is not a mere reasoning from human works to divine, by analogy/ What is claimed is this, that wherever we behold useful results evidently produced by skill- fully contrived and nicely adapted means which our intelligence can appreciate, there we must recognize the design of an intelligent being. It is the imperative demand of reason ; to refuse it would be to turn the light that is in us to darkness. Another last objection, really breathing slaughter, comes not from a philosopher, but from a popular exponent Causation ^^ ^^^^^^^ infidelity. It is this : If a watch must have had a maker ^ The design argument is not drawn from mere re- semblance in nature to the work of human intelligence, but from the special character of this resemblance. . . The argument, therefore, is not one of mere analogy. As mere analogy it has its weight, but it is more than analogy. It surpasses analogy exactly as induction sur- passes it. It is an inductive argument. — J. S. Mill^ '■''Essays on Religion^ Theism,^^ pp. i6g, 170. 64 Objections because it exhibits skill and the adaptation of many parts all working together to one end, and man, who made the watch, and exhibits in his nature these same qualities to a much greater degree, must have had a Maker, then, for a still stronger reason the Maker of man, so much more wonder- ful than man, must also have a maker ; and the argument from design is reduced to an absurdity. Absurdity enough there is, not in the argument from design, but in the reckless confusion of thought and misstate- ments contained in the objection. Of the existence of anything that now is, two — and only two — explanations are possible. It may have existed always, that is, may be eternally existent, which means self-existent ; or it may have come into existence, in which case it must have been brought into existence, for the very sufficient reason that from nothing nothing can arise. The things whose history is hmited within the time-duration of our globe are events, things which have begun to be, and of these we speak when we say ^' every event must have a sufficient E 65 Ideas from J^ature cause." But it is dire bungling to say that everything that exists must have had a cause, for the first cause, the cause of all, must have been uncaused. It is merely a modification of this conception, not another explanation, to speak of cause behind cause in infinite series, man's effort to divide eternity into time-stages, so that he may reach what intelligence demands, the first Cause, the supreme reality. Evidently, if we could fix upon a point in the past where it might be truly said that nothing existed, then nothing could now exist, for out of nothing nothing can arise. The present existence of anything necessitates the eternal existence of some- thing. But we do reach a point at which we are compelled to say, ''Beyond this nothing existed save the Eternal." Thus our own existence and the exist- ence of the world about us proves that something must have existed always, the Cause of all, uncaused. Science, as well as religion, answering the cry of the hu- man heart, authorize us to clothe that cause with the attributes of personality. 66 Objections That question of the child, *