Page:Divine Selection or The Survival of the Useful.djvu/86



T IS argued that the impact of light rays and sound waves formed respectively the eye and the ear. Then, according to the same principle, odors formed the sense of smell, flavor the sense of taste, and material objects the sense of feeling. But since taste and feeling are not acted upon except they act, for appetite or desire must precede the act, the conclusion cannot be drawn, and the principle fails; and failing as to one sense it fails as to all. No more potent are light rays to form the eye, or air waves to form the ear without the introduction of another factor. The object of a sense cannot form the sense. Nowhere in all the realms of life did an object form its subject. If it were possible for the