only--not even mainly--to the
organism of the animal in which it is developed, but specially to
another animal which it is intended to destroy." "How," he asks, "will
the law of growth adjust a poison in one animal with such subtle
knowledge of the organization of the other, that the deadly virus shall
in a few minutes curdle the blood, benumb the nerves, and rush in upon
the citadel of life? There is but one explanation: a Mind having minute
and perfect knowledge of the structure of both has designed the one to
be capable of inflicting death upon the other. This mental purpose and
resolve is the one thing which our intelligence perceives with direct
and intuitive recognition. The method of creation by which this purpose
has been carried into effect is utterly unknown."[32]

A fourth objection has reference to beauty. According to Mr. Darwin,
flowers are not intentionally made beautiful, but those which happen to
be beautiful attract insects, and by their agency are fertilized and
survive. Male birds are not intentionally arrayed in bright colors, but
those which happen to be so arrayed are attractive, and thus become the
progenitors of their race. Against this explanation the Duke earnestly
protests. He refers to the gorgeous adorned class of Hummingbirds, of
which naturalists enumerate no less than four hundred and thirty
different species, distinguished one from the other, in general, only by
their plumage. "Now," he asks, "what explanation does the law of natural
selection give,--I will not say of the origin, but even of the
continuance of such specific varieties as these? None whatever. A crest
of topaz is no better in the struggle of existence than a crest of
sapphire. A frill ending in spangles of the emerald is no better in the
battle of life than a frill ending in spangles of the ruby. A tail is
not affected for the purposes of flight, whether its marginal, or its
central feathers are decorated with white. It is impossible to bring
such varieties into any physical law known to us. It has relation
however to a Purpose, which stands in close analogy with our knowledge
of purpose in the works of men. Mere beauty and mere variety, for their
own sake, are objects which we ourselves seek, when we can make the
forces of nature subordinate to the attainment of them. There seems to
be no conceivable reason why we should doubt or question that these are
ends and aims also in the forms given to living organisms, when the