Flourens's book. He says little, however, in
reference to teleology, except in one paragraph, in which we read: "M.
Flourens cannot imagine an unconscious selection; it is for him a
contradiction in terms." Huxley's answer is, "The winds and waves of the
Bay of Biscay have not much consciousness, and yet they have with great
care 'selected,' from an infinity of masses of silex, all grains of sand
below a certain size and have heaped them by themselves over a great
area.... A frosty night selects the hardy plants in a plantation from
among the tender ones as effectually as if the intelligence of the
gardener had been operative in cutting the weaker ones down."[35] If
this means anything, it means that as the winds and waves of the Bay of
Biscay can make heaps of sand, so similar unconscious agencies can, if
you only give them time enough, make an elephant or a man; for this is
what Mr. Darwin says natural selection has done.
FOOTNOTE:
[35] _Lay Sermons_, p. 347.
_Rev. Walter Mitchell, M. A., Vice-President of the Victoria Institute._
The Victoria Institute, or Philosophical Society of Great Britain, under
the presidency of the Earl of Shaftesbury, includes among its members
many of the dignitaries of the Church of England, and a large number of
distinguished men of different professions and denominations. Its
principal object is, "To investigate fully and impartially the most
important questions of philosophy and science, but more especially those
that bear on the great truths revealed in Holy Scripture, with the view
of defending these truths against the opposition of Science, falsely so
called.
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