1856.] Science and the Bible. 87
and
pectoral fin of the fish; and so precisely, that the homologous bones
may be traced, and the changes or obsolescence of this or that bone,
as the type becomes adapted to its various purposes. There is in this
unity of structure an expression of one single fundamental idea.
This
kind of research has been further pursued, and it has been found that
there is a like parallelism through the whole structure even to the
relations of every bone in fishes, reptiles, birds, quadrupeds, and
man; so that there is one type at the basis of all.
Still
deeper has investigation gone; and now we know that in a single
vertebra and its appendages, all the elements of the bony structure in
these classes of animals are comprised, the repetition and
modifications of a type-vertebra, with its accessories, producing all
the various results.
Thus
God throughout nature has evolved diversity out of unity, eliciting ten
thousand concordances out of single profound enactments in His plan of
creation.
These
laws are universal truths, limited so far only as the range of objects
to which they relate is limited. Thus any truth with regard to life which
characterizes all living beings, is a law in the Science of Life. So as
to the leaves of plants, any quality which is found to be a universal
truth, as for instance their spiral arrangement, as explained, or their
function of respiration, or their general structure, is a law in the
Science of Plants. The chemical combination of elements in simple ratio
and according to constant equivalents by weight, is another law or
universal truth; and the general truths relating to the dependence of
chemical combinations on heat, light, or electricity, are other laws.
The parallel relations of structure or homologies between all
vertebrates, is another law, universal as regards the verte-brates; and
the other great groups have their corresponding laws. The reciprocal
relations between the parts of an animal, due to the fact of
type-structures, as between the hoof, leg, teeth, stomach, etc.,
through the structure, which is so exact, that a knoAvledge of one of
these parts is equivalent to a knowledge of the general nature of all,
is another law or universal truth.
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