NATURE OF THE GROUNDWORK OF SCIENCE 321

There is, indeed, a latent logic in the actions of the beast

which hunts its prey ; in the nesting bird ; the bee, the ant,

the climbing plant with its marvellous tendrils and even

in the mathematical regularities of crystallization ! But such

logic is not the logic of the crystal, nor of the plant, nor of

the bird, nor of the beast. It is, in a sense, truly in them,

but it is no less certainly not of them, nor is it merely even

of ourselves. Mankind did not always inhabit this planet,

and when the first animals possessed of self-consciousness

and rationality first appeared here, they were not and could

not have been the causes of their own advent, but, as new

existences, must have been effects of a greater cause.

He who with an unprejudiced mind ponders over the

phenomena which the universe lays open to his gaze can

hardly, we think, fail to discover immanent therein an activity

the results of which harmonize with man's reason : an ac-

tivity which is orderly and disaccords with blind chance, or

"a fortuitous concourse of atoms," but which, nevertheless,

is not an intelligent activity such as is our own, but one

which acts in modes which are different from those we should

adopt in order to attain similar ends. It is sometimes

objected against reason as latent in nature, that we see in

all directions so much waste, and that of so great a multitude

of organic germs, very few attain maturity. But this objec-

tion is indeed an anthropomorphic one, and would imply

that the cause of all things is a contriving human mind !

But the non-human rationality of which nature affords so

many hints and glimpses as everywhere pervading it, is a

universal cause and reason, and, if we may speak of

"purpose" in this connexion, its purpose is fulfilled by

every event, and thus no waste is possible. Every seem-

ingly " wasted " germ fulfils other purposes of nature, as the

spores of our ancient coalfields now help the man of science

to cross oceans in quest of fresh material for study.

Y

There is, indeed, a latent logic in the actions of the beast

which hunts its prey ; in the nesting bird ; the bee, the ant,

the climbing plant with its marvellous tendrils and even

in the mathematical regularities of crystallization ! But such

logic is not the logic of the crystal, nor of the plant, nor of

the bird, nor of the beast. It is, in a sense, truly in them,

but it is no less certainly not of them, nor is it merely even

of ourselves. Mankind did not always inhabit this planet,

and when the first animals possessed of self-consciousness

and rationality first appeared here, they were not and could

not have been the causes of their own advent, but, as new

existences, must have been effects of a greater cause.

He who with an unprejudiced mind ponders over the

phenomena which the universe lays open to his gaze can

hardly, we think, fail to discover immanent therein an activity

the results of which harmonize with man's reason : an ac-

tivity which is orderly and disaccords with blind chance, or

"a fortuitous concourse of atoms," but which, nevertheless,

is not an intelligent activity such as is our own, but one

which acts in modes which are different from those we should

adopt in order to attain similar ends. It is sometimes

objected against reason as latent in nature, that we see in

all directions so much waste, and that of so great a multitude

of organic germs, very few attain maturity. But this objec-

tion is indeed an anthropomorphic one, and would imply

that the cause of all things is a contriving human mind !

But the non-human rationality of which nature affords so

many hints and glimpses as everywhere pervading it, is a

universal cause and reason, and, if we may speak of

"purpose" in this connexion, its purpose is fulfilled by

every event, and thus no waste is possible. Every seem-

ingly " wasted " germ fulfils other purposes of nature, as the

spores of our ancient coalfields now help the man of science

to cross oceans in quest of fresh material for study.

Y