A Theory of Creation

Dogs playing dominoes, spontaneous generation, planets “shelled off” from the sun: one audacious theory gathers them all into a history of creation. Francis Bowen asks what its grand design implies when every idea is followed to the end.

In this 1845 review, Bowen enters the mid-century dispute over creation, natural law, and the authority of scientific speculation. The anonymous author of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation traces the universe from fiery nebulae to living things, imagining matter endowed with powers that unfold without further intervention. Bowen admires the theory’s ingenuity and graceful construction, but argues that its assumptions must be stripped bare and its evidence tested—not least where it collides with established science and religious belief. If this elegant account is taken as a whole, where does its logic finally lead?

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