Theoretical Uncertainty has No Meaning

If one looks at the history of knowledge, it is plain that at the beginning men tried to know because they had to do so in order to live. In the absence of that organic guidance given by their structure to other animals, man had to find out what he was about, and he could find out only by studying the environment which constituted the means, obstacles and results of his behavior. The desire for intellectual or cognitive understanding had no meaning except as a means of obtaining greater secur...

 For Want of a Nail

For want of a nail the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe the horse was lost. For want of a horse the rider was lost. For want of a rider the battle was lost. For want of a battle the kingdom was lost. And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

 Nature contains no one constant form.

With respect to those who may ask why Nature does not produce new beings? We may enquire of them in turn, upon what foundation they suppose this fact? What it is that authorizes them to believe this sterility in Nature? Know they if, in the various combinations which she is every instant forming, Nature be not occupied in producing new beings, without the cognizance of these observers? Who has informed them that this Nature is not actually assembling, in her immense elaboratory, the elements ...

 Atavism In Modern Horses

Modern horses, which descend from smaller, five-toed ancestors, show similar atavisms. The fossil record documents the gradual loss of toes over time, so that in modern horses only the middle one—the hoof—remains. It turns out that horse embryos begin development with three toes, which grow at equal rates. Later, however, the middle toe begins to grow faster than the other two, which at birth are left as thin “splint bones” along either side of the leg. (Splint bones are true vestigia...