The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-05-30

sible to general ideas, has satd that Darwin,
ism 10 q "mire of mere assertion "a bad
hoi,om for n ladder TO stand on. Ithas been
said in a recent work, that now (since OAR
VIM. for the first time, ID it possible TO
recognize fhe adaptation Of means TO ends III
nature. and This only as the result OF demon
strable processes OF compensation: Ii IS
nleasapt to see this fact recognized In regard
70 the construction of organic bodies, but IN
what do these demouslrable mechanical pro-
ceases which evidence this adaptation con-
siSt-iu the fact that the form least capahle
Of adapting itself to its surroundings IN the
struggle for existence was destroyed?
process of elimination, by which present per-
fec, forms should thus he brought into exist
cncc. would recall what Gulliyer saw in the
Academy ut Lagado, where philosopher.
starting from the premise that all attalnable
truth can only be expressed in words, con-
str,rtcd a machine by which all the words
of his language could be thrown together in
various ways When an Ineligible phrase
apneared, he wrote it down in hook,
hopnm in time thus to reach the summit of
wisdom through series of accidents. But
HaeckcI cate.orically says: There is no
such thing as an accident All is under
necessity. In one sense this is true, but yet
there are accidents and they very often hap
pen While one is passing house. a brick
falls from it according to law, but that his
passing and the fall of the brick should occur
simultaneously is purely accidental. An
accident is the concurrence OF two or more
phenulnena, the producing causes of which
are different. If, now, as the hypothesis of
descent affirn,s, the higher animals are de.
rived from the lower, the grounds for the
transformations are either connected casu-
ally with these forms of life themselves, or
they are not. In the latter case. later de.
yelupmentS are accidental but il the higher
forms stand casually connected with the
lower, by what right can we deny design
and end in nature?
Darwini>m has won its triumphs by deny
iny design, and conquered by affirming that
the pllrpOseleSs laws Of nature have brought
into existence multitude OF living forms, IN
which the weaker have been crushed out ny
natural selection, whereby 1t has come 10
pass that there seems to he design. Hence,
many adherents of the new doctrlne-but
not the sobcr-mindcd Darwin himself
whenever they can show that something mas
taken place necessarily, cry out. Necessity,
but no design" This is droll, for design by
no means excludes necessity, and indeed Is
made more sure by it. When a boy design
edly shoots a bird, the expansion of the gas
of the powder enables him to put his design
into execution by mechanical means.
"Iwell know" says Won Baer, I" that it IS
offensive to speak thus, but how can avoid
expressing astonshment that not ntrcquent-
t. the working Of natural forces and matter
are taken iS necessarily implying the absence
of all design! also know that all which
takes place in nature does 81 through force
and matter, but these forces must either be
moved IN reference to each other, or they
must not. Forces which are not directed
blind forces rs they are called-can, it seems
to me- never produce anything orderly
Nc,r York World.