"But," say I, "your investigations and explanations only add to my
amazement. The design and formation of that little seed is even more
wonderful and incomprehensible than the full-grown orange tree. Within
its tiny compass, it not only contains all the complicated miraculous
processes which convert earth and air and water into fragrant blossoms,
juicy pulp and golden oranges, but it contains in addition to that,
other miraculous powers which enable it to develop and transform itself
into a special kind of beautiful tree, with roots and branches and
leaves. As compared to this one little seed, all the greatest inventions
and achievements of man seem like the crudest bungling."
"Tut, tut," replies the scientific intellect, "this is only one sort of
seed. There are hundreds, thousands of others, some so small that they
look like grains of dust. Each one of these is a complete manufacturing
plant, perfect in every detail, each designed to turn out a special
kind of product, different from all the others. One of the most
remarkable points about them is that they require no special
materials--each and every one of them makes use of the same common
ingredients, earth, air, light, water. From those ingredients, this
little machine, for instance, working automatically, can turn out a
giant red-wood tree, which will last for centuries. This other little
one, next to it, working in the same way, will produce thousands upon
thousands of roses, of a certain beautiful shade of color and a certain
delicate fragrance. And so it is with all these other little machines,
which we call seeds,--however amazing the difference in the kind of
product, it is due entirely to certain subtle differences in their
design."
"But," say I, "what sublime intelligence conceived the plan of those
machines, and what kind of sublimely skilful craftsman was able to
fashion them?"
"They were made automatically by the various trees and plants."
"But who conceived the plan of the trees and plants?"
"The trees and plants were produced automatically by other little seeds,
like these."
"But the first one of these seeds, or the first one of these trees--who
conceived and executed that?"
"Oh, that," says the scientific intellect, "came about through a process
of evolution, which extends way back thousands of centuries. We have
studied it carefully and reasoned it all out to our entire satisfaction.
"These plant seeds are only one part of it. There are also all the
animals and animalculae, including man. There are thousands of different
kinds of living creatures and each kind has a distinct design from all
the rest, which appears to have been determined by the special purpose
for which it was intended.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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