Suppose, then (even dropping the question of Evolution, in order
to satisfy the "pious millions"), that this "matter" was all ready (if
I may so speak) to spring into organized form and being to take shape on
earth--what shape should it take? Why (e.g.) an elephant? Why not any
other animal, or a nondescript--a form which no zoologist could place,
recognize, or classify? The _form_, the ideal structure, the _formula_,
of the genus elephant must somehow have come into existence _before_ the
obedient materials and the suitable forces of nature could work
themselves together to the desired end.
Mr. Mivart has defined "creation" at page 290 of his "Genesis of
Species." There is original creation, derivative or secondary creation
(where the present form has descended from an ancestor that was
originally "directly" created), and conventional creation (as when a man
"creates a fortune," meaning that he produces a complex state or
arrangement out of simpler materials). That is perfectly true, so far;
but it is only a verbal definition, and still does not go inside, into
the _idea_ involved. We must go farther.
In every act of creation, two requisites can clearly be distinguished:
(1) the matter of life, and the forces, affinities, and local
surroundings necessary; and (2) the type, plan, ideal, or formula, to
realize or produce which, the forces and the matter are to act and
react.
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