STUDY XIII. DAY V.-FISHES, REPTILES, BIRDS. "The natural and moral constitution and government of the world are so connected as to make up together but one scheme: and it is highly probable, that the first is formed and carried on merely in subordination to the latter, as the vegetable world is for the animal, and organized bodies for minds.”—BUTLER'S Analogy. If we stood in space, far off from the solar system, we should see the worlds as a distant gleam. If then, standing not so far off, we beheld the light and motion of the planets and satellites, we might think that all matter was alike, all motion of one kind, and that both existed according to some simple mechanical and chemical laws. On still nearer approach, seeing the world's living things, we might conclude, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, that some law of invariable causation was absolutely universal. Alighting on the earth, among men, we should discover that nature spoke to all, and separately to each; that what every man heard he set down in feeling and thought, so that the symbols of his own experience represented the order in nature, the arrangement, fulness and reality of life, even as a page of algebraic figures which can be read off into the variety and splendour of light that to this personal equation, to these qualities for physical and metaphysical research—bringing tidings that the circle of the known is surrounded by an ocean from whose depths arise other lands of beauty—is added a greeting of the spirit encouraging to climb in contemplation to the Unknown -the Great Cause of all. Our conclusion then would be that infinite space existed for matter, which was much less than space; and matter existed for life, which was much less than matter; and life existed for mind, which was least of all, yet greater than all, and ruler of all. Transfer of Energy. 223 Regard this world of matter, of life, of mind, as a mechanism driven by blind energy; such energy, unless continually restrained by mind giving it law, would break up the universe. We can think this out. The transfer of energy into things necessary for the existence of life, and to effect physical changes in the universe, "is on the whole a passing from higher to lower forms; and, therefore, the possibility of transformation is becoming smaller and smaller; so that, after the lapse of sufficient time, all higher forms of energy must have passed from the physical universe; and we can imagine nothing as remaining, except those lower forms which are incapable, so far as we yet know, of any further transformation. The low form to which all transformations with which we are at present acquainted seem inevitably to tend, is that of uniformly diffused heat. . . . . Now, when all the energy of the universe has taken the final form of universally diffused heat, it will obviously be impossible to make use of this heat for further transformation." The worlds will be dark-dead-cold. This process, leading to chaos, enables us distinctly to say-"That the present order of things has not been evolved during the infinite past by the agency of laws now at work, but must have had a distinctive beginning." This beginning must have been by other than the now visibly acting causes. The only way out of the difficulty is to take mind, matter, energy, as alike real existences. We know of mind by organism, does organism generate mind? The reply is-Organism does not even generate life, life certainly generates organism; organism therefore cannot generate mind which is the highest attribute of life; consequently, we must regard all physical phenomena as transformations of energy from the Unknown-the Eternal. This brings us to life. The vitality of plant, of fish, of reptile, of bird, may seem no great thing; but if we consider that every little part of this organism has its own little store of energy constantly emptied and replenished; that the internal and external sources draw upon, and are drawn upon 1 "Recent Advances in Physical Sciences," p. 20: P. G. Tait, M.A. by the whole arrangement of the world for harmonious working; the mechanism becomes very wonderful. Nor is that all-every portion of it is microscopically constructed, the excessively minute parts are in exquisite harmony with the grand plan of the universe, and we cannot but conclude, that if to destroy even one atom of dead matter the intervention of Deity is requisite, there must have been at the very base, at the initiation of life, an actual and a special interference of creative power. Plato, one of the most thoughtful of ancient heathens, thus reasoned-"Was the world, I say, always in existence and without beginning? or created and having a beginning? Created, I reply, being visible and tangible and having a body, and therefore sensible; and all sensible things which are apprehended by opinion and sense are in process of creation and created. Now that which is created must of necessity be created by a cause. He put intelligence in soul, and soul in body, and framed the universe to be the best and fairest work in the order of nature."1 Coming to our own day, Mr Darwin says-"To my mind it accords better with what we know of the laws impressed on matter by the Creator, that the production and extinction of the past and present inhabitants of the world should have been due to secondary causes like those determining the birth and death of an individual." Very well, then, the natural had its origin in the supernatural, life and death are traced through secondary causes to Divine Will. Another student writes, that he may lead us" to the power of apprehending the unity which underlies the diversity of animal structures; to show in those structures the evidence of a predetermining will; producing them in reference to final purpose; and to indicate the direction and degrees in which organization, in subserving such will, rises from the general to the particular."3 Here we have the initial fact, production, and the design of it: the initial fact rendered law possible, and the design bound that law, as an elastic band round the universe, making Providence to be both general and particular. 1 "Timæus :" translated by Dr Jowett. 2 "Origin of Species." Anatomy of Vertebrates," vol. i. p. v. Intr. : Owen. Specific Nature of Life. 225 As to the specific nature and continuance of life, the best arguments are facts given by accurate observers :-" It has been deemed no mean result of comparative anatomy to have pointed out the analogy between the shark's skeleton and the human embryo, in their histological conditions; and no doubt it is a very interesting one." This analogy is not inconsistent with the observed tendency of offspring to differ from the parent; nor with the stranger fact-"This tendency and its results are independent of internal volition and external influences." Thus we are led to the great truth-" Every species is such ab initio, and takes its own course to the full manifestation of its specific characters agreeable with the nature originally impressed upon the germ. A perch, a newt, a dog, a man, do not begin to be such only when the embryologist discerns the dawnings of respective specific characters. The embryo derived its nature, and the potency of self-development according to the specific pattern, from the moment of impregnation; and each step of development moves to that consummation as its end and aim." "An orderly succession according to law, and also progressive or in the ascending course, is evident from actual knowledge of extinct species;" but none can say why circulation in the embryo of lizard, of fowl, of beast, is like a fish in its simplicity, but far from being identical. "It is proved that no germ, animal or vegetal, contains the slightest rudiment, trace or indication of the future organism-since the microscope has shown us that the first process set up in every fertilized germ is a process of repeated spontaneous fissions, ending in the production of · a mass of cells, not one of which exhibits any special character; there seems no alternative but to conclude that the partial organization at any moment subsisting in a growing embryo, is transformed by the agencies acting on it into the succeeding phase of organization, and this into the next, until, through ever increasing complexities, the ultimate form is reached." The fact is established, the operation of deri1" Anatomy of Vertebrates," vol. i. p. 245: Owen. Anatomy of Vertebrates," Intr., p. xxxv. : Owen. vative secondary causes is due to a great master Principle: by whose will and power the waters swarm with swarms of living things, and birds fly above the earth : "Young fresh blood . . . Keeps ever circulating still In water, in the earth, in air, In wet, dry warm, cold, everywhere Germs without number are unfurl'd."-Faust. Living beings possess at least six leading characteristics. 1. Assimilation-the power of taking in external materials, and converting them into substances for building up fresh tissue and repairing waste. By this a living body grows. 2. Alteration-certain periodic changes, in definite order by which they lose portions of their substance and die: partial death is the accompaniment of all life. 3. Reproduction-living bodies have, directly or indirectly, the power of giving origin to germs which develop into the parent's likeness. 4. Motion-every living body is the seat of energy, by which the inertia of matter is overcome; is master of physical forces; and this power in man, wielded by intelligence, brings the dead matter of the universe into obedience. 5. The life of all living beings seems to reside in a substance termed "protoplasm," or "bioplasm," differentiated more or less, which bears to it about the same relation that a conductor does to the electric current; but in no way possesses life as an inherent property. 6. The great majority of all living beings are organised— that is possess organs or parts which perform functions. Do not live because they are organised, but are organised and have structure because they live. There is something in the action and nature of vital energies different from anything observed in physical: for it is not organism which gives life, but life which causes organism. As there are six leading characteristics of life, so are there six different types of animal structure. At first sight we suppose that every kind of animal has its own peculiar plan; we do not imagine that a lobster and a butterfly are built upon the same type, yet they really are: all known animals spring from |