But in both cases the same answer is patent, viz., that although
"physical science cannot answer these questions" by pointing out the
precise sequence of causes and effects, physical science is nevertheless
quite as certain that this precise sequence arises in its last resort from
the persistence of force, as she would be were she able to trace the whole
process. And therefore, in view of the considerations set forth in Chapter
IV. of this work, it is no longer open to Professor Flint or to any other
writer logically to assert--"I can conceive of no other intelligent answer
being given to" such questions "than that there is a God of wisdom."
The same answer awaits this author's further disquisition on other
biological laws, so it is needless to make any further quotations in this
connection. But there is one other principle embodied in some of these
passages which it seems undesirable to overlook. It is said, for instance,
"Natural selection might have had no materials, or altogether insufficient
materials, to work with, or the circumstances might have been such that the
lowest organisms were the best endowed for the struggle for life. If the
earth were covered with water, fish would survive and higher creatures
would perish."
Now the principle here embodied--viz., that had the conditions of evolution
been other than they were, the results would have been different--is, of
course, true; but clearly, on the view that _all_ natural laws spring from
the persistence of force, no other conditions than those which actually
occurred, or are now occurring, could ever have occurred,--the whole course
of evolution must have been, in all its phases and in all its processes, an
unconditional necessity.
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