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such faith is not blind, but reasonable; because it is invariably con 
firmed by experience, and constitutes the sole trustworthy foundation 
for all action. 
If one of these people, in whom the ‘ chance-worship’ of our remoter 
ancestors thus strangely survives, should be within reach of the sea 
when a heavy gale is blowing, let him betake himself to the shore 
and watch the scene. Let him note the infinite variety of form and 
size of the tossing waves out at sea ; or of the curves of their foam- 
crested breakers, as they dash against the rocks ; let him listen to 
the roar and scream of the shingle as it is cast up and torn down the 
beach ; or look at the flakes of foam as they drive hither and thither 
before the wind ; or note the play of colours, which answers a gleam 
of sunshine as it falls upon their myriad bubbles. Surely here, if 
anywhere, he will say that chance is supreme, and bend the knee as 
one who has entered the very penetralia of his divinity. But the man 
of science knows that here, as everywhere, perfect order is manifested; 
that there is not a curve of the waves, not a note in the howling 
chorus, not a rainbow-glint on a bubble, which is other than a 
necessary consequence of the ascertained laws of nature ; and that 
with a sufficient knowledge of the conditions, competent physico- 
mathematical skill could account for, and indeed predict, every one 
of these ‘ chance ’ events.”—(Life and Letters, vol. pp. igg-201.) 
To the same effect Mr. Mackay wrote long ago :— 
“ Wildest wind that shakes the blossoms, 
Or on ocean chafes and swells, 
Blows not uncontrolled and wanton, 
But as Law compels. 
Streams that wander and meander, 
Loitering in the meads to play, 
Or that burst in roaring torrents 
Into foam and spray ; 
Avalanches, forest-crushing, 
Fires that rage in Etna’s breast, 
Lava floods and tides of ocean, 
All obey the same behest. 
Law releases, Law restrains them.” 
—(.Freedom and Law.) 
And no variation of the organic frame any more than any 
other physical phenomenon, can be the result of chance, 
in the sense of being without an adequate cause. If we 
could know all, we should be able to see at once how