HKB
human thought is consecutive, divine thought is simultaneous," Dr. Asa Gray has replied that, "if divine thought is simultaneous, we have no right to affirm the same of divine action."
The whole course of nature may be the material embodiment of a preconcerted arrangement; and if the succession of events be explained by transmutation, the perpetual adaptation of the organic world to new conditions leaves the argument in favour of design, and therefore of a designer, as valid as ever; "for to do any work by an instrument must require, and therefore presuppose, the exertion rather of more than of less power, than to do it directly."*
(* Asa Gray, "Natural Selection not inconsistent with Natural Theology" Trubner & Co. London 1861 page 55.)
As to the charge of materialism brought against all forms of the development theory, Dr. Gray has done well to remind us that "of the two great minds of the seventeenth century, Newton and Leibnitz, both profoundly religious as well as philosophical, one produced the theory of gravitation, the other objected to that theory, that it was subversive of natural religion."*
(* Ibid. page 31.)
It may be said that, so far from having a materialistic tendency, the supposed introduction into the earth at successive geological periods of life--sensation--instinct--the intelligence of the higher mammalia bordering on reason--and lastly the improvable reason of Man himself, presents us with a picture of the ever-increasing dominion of mind over matter.
NOTES.
[Footnote 1: The classification of the strata above the Chalk, as at present employed by the majority of British geologists, is merely a slight modification of that proposed by Lyell in 1833. The subdivisions generally recognised are as follows (Lake and Rastall, "Textbook of Geology," London, 1910, page 438):--
Neogene: Pleistocene Pliocene Miocene.
Palaeogene: Oligocene Eocene.
This differs chiefly from Lyell's classification in the introduction of the term Oligocene for the upper part of the original Eocene, which was somewhat unwieldy. In the earlier editions of the "Antiquity of Man" and of the "Principles of Geology," the strata here classed as Pleistocene were designated as Post-pliocene. The term "diluvium," now obsolete in Britain but still lingering on the Continent, is equivalent to Pleistocene. This subdivision is still sometimes separated from the Tertiary, as the Quaternary epoch. This, however, is unnecessary and indeed objectionable, as attributing too great importance to relatively insignificant deposits. There is no definite break, either stratigraphical or palaeontological, at the top of the Pliocene, and it is most natural to regard the Tertiary epoch as still in progress. Equally unnecessary is the separation of the post-glacial deposits as "Recent," a distinction which still prevails in many quarters, apparently with the sole object of adding another name to an already over-burdened list.]
[Footnote 2: The table of strata here printed is not that given by Lyell in the later editions of the "Antiquity of Man." This would have required so much explanation in the light of modern work that it was thought better to abolish it altogether and to substitute an entirely new table, which is to some extent a compromise between the numerous classifications now in vogue. In this form it is only strictly applicable to the British Isles, though the divisions adopted in other countries are generally similar, and in many cases identical.]
[Footnote 3: A similar succession of forest-beds, five in number, has been observed in the peat of the Fenland, near Ely. Each bed consists for the most part of a single species of tree, and a definite succession of oak, yew, Scotch fir, alder, and willow has been made out. The forest beds are supposed to indicate temporarily drier conditions, due either to changes of climate or to slight uplift of the land, the growth of peat being renewed during periods of damp climate or of depression of the land. (See Clement Reid, "Submerged Forests," Cambridge, 1913.)]