mark of intention, that it
always appeared to me to supersede in some measure the necessity of
seeking for any other observation upon the subject; and that
circumstance is the tendons which pass from the leg to the foot being
bound down by a ligament at the ankle, the foot is placed at a
considerable angle with the leg. It is manifest, therefore, that
flexible strings passing along the interior of the angle, if left to
themselves, would, when stretched, start from it. The obvious" (and it
must not be forgotten that the preventive _was_ obvious) "preventive is
to tie them down. And this is done in fact. Across the instep, or rather
just above it, the anatomist finds a strong ligament, under which the
tendons pass to the foot. The effect of the ligament as a bandage can be
made evident to the senses, for if it be cut the tendons start up. The
simplicity, yet the clearness of this contrivance, its exact resemblance
to established resources of art, place it amongst the most indubitable
manifestations of design with which we are acquainted."

Then follows a passage which is interesting, as being the earliest
attempt I know of to bring forward an argument against evolution, which
was, even in Paley's day, called "Darwinism," after Dr. Erasmus Darwin
its propounder.[18] The argument, I mean, which is drawn from the
difficulty of accounting for the incipiency of complex structures. This
has been used with greater force by the Rev. J. J. Murphy, Professor
Mivart, and others, against that (as I believe) erroneous view of
evolution which is now generally received as Darwinism.

"There is also a further use," says Paley, "to be made of this present
example, and that is as it precisely contradicts the opinion, that the
parts of animals may have been all formed by what is called appetency,
i. e. endeavour, perpetuated and imperceptibly working its effect
through an incalculable series of generations. We have here no
endeavour, but the reverse of it; a constant resistency and reluctance.
The endeavour is all the other way. The pressure of the ligament
constrains the tendons; the tendons react upon the pressure of the
ligament. It is impossible that the ligament should ever have been
generated by the exercise of the tendons, or in the course of that
exercise, forasmuch as the force of the tendon perpendicularly resists
the fibre which confines it, and is constantly endeavouring not to form
but to rupture and displace the threads of w