As the advocates of Mr. Darwin's theory defend and applaud it
because it excludes design, and as its opponents make that the main
ground of their objection to it, there can be no reasonable doubt as to
its real character. The question is, How are the contrivances in nature
to be accounted for? One answer is, They are due to the purpose of God.
Mr. Darwin says, They are due to the gradual and undesigned accumulation
of slight variations. The Duke's first objection to that doctrine is,
that the evidence of design in the organs of plants and animals is so
clear that Mr. Darwin himself cannot avoid using teleological language.
"He exhausts," he says, "every form of words and of illustration by
which intention or mental purpose can be described. 'Contrivance,'
'beautiful contrivance,' 'curious contrivance,' are expressions which
occur over and over again. Here is one sentence describing a particular
species (of orchids): 'The labellum is developed _in order_ to attract
the Lepidoptera; and we shall soon see reason for supposing that the
nectar is purposely so lodged, that it can be sucked only slowly _in
order_ to give time for the curious chemical quality of the matter
setting hard and dry.'"[31] We have already seen that Mr. Darwin's
answer to this objection is, that it is hard to keep from personifying
nature, and that these expressions as used by him mean no more than
chemists mean when they speak of affinities, and one element preferring
another.
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