a highly attenuated state. This matter had the properties, or forces, which it now ev^erywhere exhibits ; and under the opera- tion of these forces and in accordance with the laws of heat, mo- tion, etc., not only the great cosmical bodies were formed and arranged themselves in their present harmonious relations, but also all the organisms, vegetable and animal, on this globe and elsewhere, were fashioned and sustained. Every man knows enough of physical laws to be able to predict with certainty that on a cold day in the open air the moisture of his breath will be condensed ; so, according to Professor Huxley, on this hypothesis, with adequate knowledge of those laws, it would have been easy from the beginning to predict, not only the mechanism of the heav- ens, but the fauna and flora of our globe in all the states and stages of its existence.
The Nebular hypothesis, as first proposed by La Place, was the application of this theory to the explanation of the origin and order of the heavenly bodies. This hypothesis may be thus stated, " Suppose that the matter composing the entire solar system once existed in the condition of a single nebulous mass, extending be- yond the orbit of the most remote planet. Suppose that this neb- ula has a slow rotation upon an axis, and that by radiation it gradually cools, thereby contracting in its dimensions. As it con- tracts in its dimensions, its velocity of rotation, according to the principles of Mechanics, must necessarily increase, and the centrif- ugal force thus generated in the exterior portion of the nebula would at length become equal to the attraction of the central mass. This exterior portion w^ould thus become detached, and revolve independently as an immense zone or ring. As the cen- tral mass continued to cool and contract in its dimensions, other .zones would in the same manner become detached, while the cen- tral mass continually decreases in size and increases in density. The zones thus successively detached would generally break up into separate masses revolving independently about the sun ; and if their velocities were slightly unequal, the matter of each zone would ultimately collect in a single planetary, but still gaseous, mass, having a spheroidal form, and also a motion of rotation about an axis. As each of these planetary masses became still farther cooled, it would pass through a succession of changes sim- ilar to those of the first solar nebula ; rings of matter would be formed surrounding the planetary nucleus, and these rings, if they broke up into separate masses, would ultimately form satellites re- volving about their primaries." ^ We thus have an ordered uni« 1 Loomis, Treatise on Astronomy, New York, 1865, p. 314.
652 PART I.— THEOLOGY. [Ch. X.— Creation.
verse without the intervention of mind. Eveiy one knows, how- ever, that there is a form in which the nebular hypothesis is held bj many Christian theists.
TJieories ivliich assume Intelligence in Nature itself.
The obvious impossibility of blind causes acting intelligently, or of necessary causes being elective in their operation, has led many who deny the existence of an extramundane Mind to hold, that life and intelligence pertain to matter itself in some at least of its combinations. A plant lives. There is something in the seed which secures its developriient, each after its kind. There is, therefore, something in the plant, which according to this theory is not external to the plant itself, which does the work of mind. That is, it selects or chooses from the earth and air the elements needed for its support and growth. It moulds these elements into organic forms, intended to answer a purpose, and adapted with wonderful skill to accomplish a given object. With regard to this principle of life, this vital force, it is to be remarked that it is in the plant ; that it is never manifested, never acts, except in union with the matter of which the plant is composed ; when the plant dies, its vitality is extinguished. It ceases to exist in the same sense in which light ceases when darkness takes its place.
What is true of the vegetable, is no less true of the animal world. Every animal starts in an almost imperceptible germ. But that germ has something in it which determines with certainty the genus, species, and variety of the animal. It' fashions all his organs ; prepares the eye for the light yet to be seen ; the ear for sounds yet to be heard ; the lungs for air yet to be breathed. Nothing more wonderful than this is furnished by the universe in any of its phenomena.
If, therefore, vegetable and animal life Avork all these wonders, what need have we to assume an extramundane mind to account for any of the phenomena of the universe ? All that is necessary is, that nature, natura naturans, the vis in rebus insita, should act just as we see that the vital principle does act in plants and animals. This is Hylozoism ; the doctrine that matter is imbued with a principle of life.
Another form of this theory is more dualistic. It admits the existence of mind and matter as distinct substances, but always ex- isting in combination, as soul and body in man in our present stage of being. The advocates of this doctrine, therefore, instead of speaking of nature as the organizing force, speak of the soul Df the world ; the anima mundiy etc.