Discussions may continue as to whether what Huxley called "the wider teleology," or some other form of the doctrine of Design is to be preferred; but thoughtful men are likely to agree with the judgment given by Sir George Stokes--that recognised master of masters--when he said: "We meet with such overwhelming evidence of design, of purpose, especially in the study of living things, that we are compelled to think of mind as being involved in the constitution of the universe."[12] [1] _Fragments of Science_, p. 166. [2] _Life and Letters_, I., p. 307. [3] May 2nd, 1903. [4] The debate as to the accuracy of the Mosaic account of Creation does not come directly within the scope of our survey; but, nevertheless, it may be worth while to recall the following statement in view of the very confident assertions that have often been made, by no less an authority than Romanes. "The order in which the flora and fauna are said by the Mosaic account to have appeared upon the earth corresponds with that which the theory of evolution requires and the evidence of geology proves."--(_Nature_, August 11th, 1881.) [5] _Lay Sermons_. [6] _Critiques and Addresses_, pp. 305, 308. [7] _Life and Letters_, I., p. 309. [8] I., p. 314. [9] _Life and Letters_, III., p. 189. [10] _Life and Letters_ of Romanes, pp. 88. [11] Essay on "The Physical Basis of Life" (1868). [12] _Gifford Lectures_ (1891), p. 196. {46} CHAPTER V THE COUNTER-ARGUMENTS (_continued_) But though Materialism had to go, there was a time when it seemed to many by no means unlikely that Agnosticism might have to be accepted as its substitute. And if that had been so the case would have been scarcely less desperate. We might have been left with a philosophy of a kind, but we should have been deprived of any object which could evoke within our hearts the trust and affection that are needed to sustain a religion. However, as it proved, there was no great cause for fear. Agnosticism was subjected in its turn to the ordeal of criticism, and the result proved that it had not in it the substance and force that could give it any permanent hold upon the best intelligence of the age.