He reasoned that only one probable "how" could account
for the facts; namely, another planet of just such a size and
weight, and moving at just such a distance, would suffice thus to
hold back Saturn and Uranus in their orbits. And so he calculated
how large this heavenly body was, how heavy it was, and then just
where it was, until, by this human but sure detective system,
astronomers caught sight of Neptune--after Leverrier told them
where to look for it.
But, after all, to decide how the vast heavenly bodies move in
space is easy compared with finding out how to make a sewing
machine go. For a needle to thread itself and then rapidly
proceed to sew without the help of fingers calls for the
discovery of more "hows" than are needed to explain Laplace's
"Mecanique celeste." Mass and gravity suffice for the one, but
only a Yankee's mind could have created the other.
We have now come to a great word--"create." A creator is a being
who gives origin to things which would not exist but for his
intelligent purpose and design. Now, man has simply filled this
earth with his own creations, all due to himself alone and to
none other, and all again by pondering the question, "How?" He
began, for instance, by putting a hole through a flint hatchet,
and ended with putting a hole through the Alps.
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