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THE 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE WORLD, 
 
 ACCORDING TO 
 
 REVELATION AND SCIENCE. 
 
 
 Bv J. W7 DAWSON, LL.D., F.R.S., F.G.S., 
 
 PRINaPAL AND VICE-CHANCELLOR OF m'gILL UNIVERSITY, MONTREAL ; AUTHOR OF 
 
 "acadian geology," " the story of the earth and man," 
 "life's dawn on earth," etc. 
 
 Speak to the Earth, and it shall teach thee." 
 
 -Job. 
 
 N E W Y O R K : 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 FRANKLIN SQUARE. 
 1877. 
 
TO HIS EXCELLENCY 
 
 THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF DUFFERIN, 
 
 K.P., K.C.B., Etc., 
 
 GOVERNOR -GENERAL OF CANADA, 
 
 (Ll)iG tXJork is tlcs^jcctfnllr) DcbiraU^, 
 
 AS A SLIGHT TRIBUTE OF ESTEEM TO ONE WHO GRACES THE 
 
 HIGHEST POSITION IN THE DOMINION OF CANADA BY HIS 
 
 EMINENT PERSONAL QUALITIES, HIS REPUTATION AS 
 
 A STATESMAN AND AN AUTHOR, AND HIS KIND 
 
 AND ENLIGHTENED PATRONAGE OF EDU- 
 CATION, LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE. 
 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The scope of this work is in the main identical with 
 that of " Archaia," published in i860; but in attempt- 
 ing to prepare a new edition brought up to the present 
 condition of the subject, it was found that so much re- 
 quired to be rewritten as to make it essentially a new 
 book, and it was therefore decided to give it a new 
 name, more clearly indicating its character and pur- 
 pose. 
 
 The intention of this new publication is to throw as 
 much light as possible on the present condition of the 
 much-agitated questions respecting the origin of the 
 world and its inhabitants. To students of the Bible 
 it will afford the means of determining the precise 
 import of the biblical references to creation, and of 
 their relation to what is known from other sources. 
 To geologists and biologists it is intended to give 
 some intelligible explanation of the connection of the 
 doctrines of revealed religion with the results of their 
 respective sciences. 
 
 A still higher end to which the author would gladly 
 contribute is that of aiding thoughtful men perplexed 
 with the apparent antagonisms of science and religion, 
 
 and of indicating how they may best harmonize our 
 great and growing knowledge of nature with our old 
 and cherished beliefs as to the origin and destiny of 
 man. 
 
 In aiming at these results, it has not been thought 
 
 A 
 
ii Preface. 
 
 necessary to assume a controversial attitude or to stand 
 on the defensive, either with regard to rehgion or sci- 
 ence, but rather to attempt to arrive at broad and 
 comprehensive views which may exhibit those higher 
 harmonies of the spiritual and the natural which they 
 derive from their common Author, and which reach 
 beyond the petty difficulties arising from narrow or 
 imperfect views of either or both. Such an aim is too 
 high to be fully attained, but in so far as it can be 
 reached we may hope to rescue science from a dry and 
 barren infidelity, and religion from mere fruitless sen- 
 timent or enfeebling superstition. 
 
 Since the publication of "Archaia," the subject of 
 which it treats has passed through several phases, but 
 the author has seen no reason to abandon in the least 
 degree the principles of interpretation on which he then 
 insisted, and he takes a hopeful view as to their ultimate 
 prevalence. It is true that the wide acceptance of hy- 
 potheses of '' evolution " has led to a more decided 
 antagonism than heretofore between some of the utter- 
 ances of scientific men and the religious Ideas of man- 
 kind, and to a contemptuous disregard of revealed re- 
 ligion in the more shallow literature of the time ; but, on 
 the other hand, a barrier of scientific fact and induction 
 has been slowly rising to stem this current of crude and 
 rash hypothesis. Of this nature are the great discov- 
 eries as to the physical constitution and probable origin 
 of the universe, the doctrine of the correlation and 
 conservation of forces, the new estimates of the age of 
 the earth, the overthrow of the doctrine of spontaneous 
 generation, the high bodily and mental type of the ear- 
 liest known men, the light which philology has thrown 
 on the unity of language, our growing knowledge of 
 
Preface. iii 
 
 the uniformity of the constructive and other habits of 
 primitive men, and of the condition of man in the ear- 
 Her historic time, the greater completeness of our con- 
 ceptions as to the phenomena of Hfe and their relation 
 to organizable matters — all these and many other 
 aspects of the later progress of science must tend to 
 bring it back into greater harmony with revealed re- 
 ligion. 
 
 On the other side, there has been a growing dispo- 
 sition on the part of theologians to inquire as to the 
 actual views of nature presented in the Bible, and to 
 separate these from those accretions of obsolete phi- 
 losophy which have been too often confounded with 
 them. With respect to the first chapter of Genesis 
 more especially, there has been a decided growth in 
 the acceptance of those principles for which I contend- 
 ed in i860. In illustration of this I may refer to the 
 fact that in 1862 it was precisely on these principles 
 that Dr. ]\IcCaul conducted his able defence of the Mo- 
 saic record of creation in the " Aids to Faith," which 
 may almost be regarded as an authoritative expression 
 of the views of orthodox Christians in opposition to 
 those of the once notorious '-' Essays and Reviews." 
 Equally significant is the adoption of this method of 
 interpretation by Dr. Tayler Lewis in his masterly 
 '' Special Introduction " to the first chapter of Genesis, 
 in the American edition of Lange's Commentary, ed- 
 ited by Dr. Philip Schaff ; and the manifest approval 
 with which the lucid statement of the relations of Geol- 
 ogy and the Bible by Dr. Arnold Guyot, was received 
 by the great gathering of divines at the Convention of 
 the Evangelical Alliance in New York, in 1873, bears 
 testimony to the same fact. The author has also had 
 
iv Preface, 
 
 the honor of being invited to illustrate this mode 
 of reconciliation to the students of two of the most 
 important theological colleges in America, in lectures 
 afterwards published and widely circulated. 
 
 The time is perhaps nearer than we anticipate when 
 Natural Science and Theology will unite in the con- 
 viction that the first chapter of Genesis '' stands alone 
 among the traditions of mankind in the wonderful 
 simplicity and grandeur of its words," and that '' the 
 meaning of these words is always a meaning ahead of 
 science — not because it anticipates the results of sci- 
 ence, but because it is independent of them, and runs 
 as it were round the outer margin of all possible dis- 
 covery. ^ 
 
 In the Appendix the reader will find several short 
 essays on special points collateral to the general sub- 
 ject, and important in the solution of some of its diffi- 
 culties, but which could not be conveniently included 
 in the text. More especially I would refer to the sum- 
 maries given in the Appendix of the present state of 
 our knowledge as to the origin of life, of species, and 
 of man — topics not discussed in much detail in the body 
 of the work, both because of the wide fields of contro- 
 versy to which they lead, and because I have treated 
 of them somewhat fully in a previous work, '' The Story 
 of the Earth and Man," in which the detailed history 
 of life as disclosed by science was the main subject in 
 hand. 
 
 J. W. D. 
 
 May, 1877. 
 
 * Argyll's " Primeval Man." 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE MYSTERY OF ORIGINS AND ITS SOLUTIONS. 
 
 Reality of the Unseen. — Personality of God. — Possibility of a Revelation 
 of Origins. — Turanian, Aryan, and Semitic Solutions of the Mystery. 
 — The Abrahamic Genesis. — The Mosaic Genesis Page 9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 . OBJECTS AND NATURE OF A REVELATION OF ORIGINS. 
 
 Objects to be Attained by a Revelation of Origins. — Its Method and 
 Structure. — Vision of Creation. — Translation of the First Chapter of 
 Genesis 35 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 OBJECTS AND NATURE OF A REVELATION OF ORIGINS 
 
 {continued). 
 
 Character of the Revelation and its Views of Nature. — Natural Law. — 
 Progress and Development. — Purpose and Use. — Type or Pat- 
 tern 70 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE BEGINNING. 
 
 The Universe not eternal.— Its Creation.— The Heavens.— The Earth.— 
 The Creator, Elohim. — The Beginning very Remote in Time 87 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE DESOLATE VOID. 
 
 Characteristics of Biblical Chaos. — The Primitive Deep.— The Divine 
 Spirit.— The Breath of God.— Chaos in other Cosmogonies.— Chemi- 
 cal and Physical Conditions of the Primitive Chaos 100 
 
vi Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 LIGHT AND CREATIVE DAYS. 
 
 What is Implied in Cosmic Light. — Its Gradual Condensation. — Day and 
 Night. — Days of Creation. — Their Nature and Length. — They are 
 Olams, ^ons or Time-worlds. — Objections to this View Answered. 
 — Confirmations from Extraneous Sources 115 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE ATMOSPHERE. 
 
 Its Present Constitution. — Waters Above and Below. — The "Expanse" 
 of Genesis not a Solid Arch. — Mythology of the Atmosphere. — 
 Superstitions connected with it Opposed by the Bible 157 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 THE DRY LAND AND THE FIRST PLANTS. 
 
 The Earth of the Bible is the Dry Land. — Its Elevation and Support 
 above the Waters. — Structure of the Continents arranged from the 
 first. — The First Vegetation. — Its Nature. — Introduction of Life. — 
 Organization and Reproduction. — Objections considered. — Geolog- 
 ical Indications 174 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 LUMINARIES. 
 
 How Introduced. — What Implied in this. — Dominion of Existing Causes. 
 — Astronomy of the Hebrews. — Not Connected with Astrology.. 199 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE LOWER ANIMALS. 
 
 The Sheretzim, or Swarmers. — Their Origin from the Waters. — The Great 
 Reptiles. — Their Creation. — Coincidences with Geology. — Hypotheses 
 of Evolution 211 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE HIGHER ANIMALS AND MAN. 
 
 The Placental Mammals. — The Principal Groups of these. — Man, how 
 Introduced. — His Early Condition. — His Relations to Nature.. . 230 
 
Contents, vii 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE REST OF THE CREATOR. 
 
 The Sabbath of Creation.— The Modern Period.— Its Early History.— The 
 Fall and Antediluvian Man. — Postdiluvian Extension of Men. . .. 249 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 UNITY AND ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 
 
 Biblical Account of his Introduction and Early History. — Historical Tes- 
 timony with respect to his Unity and Antiquity. — Testimony of 
 Language 263 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 UNITY AND ANTIQUITY OF MAN {continued). 
 
 Geological Evidence of Antiquity of Man. — General Conditions of Post- 
 glacial and Modern Periods. — Remains of Man in Caverns, in 
 River-gravels, etc. — Paloeocosmic and Neocosmic Men 294 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 COMPARISONS AND CONCLUSIONS. 
 
 Geological Chronolog)'. — Table of Succession of Life. — Points of Agree- 
 ment of the Two Records. — Parallelism of Genesis and Physical Sci- 
 ence with Reference to the Origin and Early History of the World. — 
 Conclusion 322 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 A.— True and False Evolution 363 
 
 P.— Evolution and Creation by Law 373 
 
 C. — Modes of Creation 377 
 
 D.— Theories of Life Z^Z 
 
 E.— Recent Facts as to the Antiquity of Man 386 
 
 F. — Glacial Periods in Connection with Genesis 395 
 
 G.— Chemistry of the Primeval Earth , 400 
 
 H.— Tannin and Bhemah 405 
 
 I. — Ancient Mythologies 4o8 
 
 K. — Assyrian and Egyptian Texts 4^2 
 
 L.— Species and Var'ieties in Connection with Evolution and the 
 
 Unity of Man 4^4 
 
THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE MYSTERY OF ORIGINS AND ITS SOLUTIONS. 
 
 " The things that are seen are temporal." — Paul. 
 Have we or can we have any certain solution of those two 
 great questions — Whence are all things ? and Whither do all 
 things tend ? No thinking man is content to live merely in a 
 transitory present, ever emerging out of darkness and ever 
 returning thither again, without knowing any thing of the 
 origin and issue of the world and its inhabitants. Yet it 
 would seem that to-day men are as much in uncertainty on 
 these subjects as at any previous time. It even appears as if 
 all our added knowledge would only, for a time at least, de- 
 prive us of the solutions to which we trusted, and give no 
 others in their room. Christians have been accustomed to 
 rest on the cosmogony and prophecy of the Bible; but we are 
 now frankly told on all hands that these are valueless, and 
 that even ministers of religion more or less " sacrifice their 
 sincerity" in making them the basis of their teachings. On 
 the other hand, we are informed that nothing can be discern- 
 ed in the universe beyond matter and force, and that it is by 
 a purely material and spontaneous evolution that all things 
 
 A 2 
 
 nonRTY LIBKARY 
 fi, C. State Coiku^ 
 
10 The Origin of the World. 
 
 exist. But when we ask as to the origin of matter and force, 
 and the laws which regulate them — as to the end to which 
 their movement is tending, as to the manner in which they 
 have evolved the myriad forms of life and the human intel- 
 ligence itself — the only answer is that these are " insoluble 
 mysteries." 
 
 Are we, then, to fall back on the real or imagined revela- 
 tions and traditions of the past, and to endeavor to find in 
 them some foothold of assurance; or are we to wait till further 
 progress in science may have cleared up some of the present 
 mysteries ? Whatever may be said of the former alternative, 
 all honest students of science will unite with me in the ad- 
 mission that the latter is hopeless. We need not seek to be- 
 little the magnificent triumphs of modern science. They have 
 been real and stupendous. But it is of their very nature to 
 conduct us to ultimate facts and laws of which science can 
 give no explanation; and the further we push our inquiries 
 the more insuperably does the wall of mystery rise before us. 
 It is true we can furnish the materials for philosophical spec- 
 ulations which may be built on scientific facts and principles; 
 but these are in their nature uncertain, and must constantly 
 change as knowledge advances. They can not solve for us 
 the great practical problems of our origin and destiny. 
 
 In these circumstances no apology is needed for a thorough 
 and careful inquiry into those foundations of religious belief 
 which rest on the idea of a revelation of origins and destinies 
 made to man from without, and on which we may build the 
 superstructure of a rational religion, giving guidance for the 
 present and hope for the future. In the following pages I 
 propose to enter upon so much of this subject as relates to the 
 origin and earliest history of the world, in so far as these are 
 treated of in the Bible and in the traditions of the more an- 
 
The Mystery of Origins and its Solutions. ii 
 
 cient nations ; and this with reference to the present stand- 
 point of science in relation to these questions. 
 
 To discuss such questions at all, certain preliminary ad- 
 missions are necessary. These are : (i) The reality of an un- 
 seen universe, spiritual rather than material in its nature.- 
 (2) The existence of a personal God, or of a great Universal 
 Will. (3) The possibility of communication taking place be- 
 tween God and man. I do not propose to attempt any proof 
 of these positions, but it may be well to explain what they 
 mean. 
 
 (i) That the great machine for the dissipation of energy, in 
 which we exist, and which we call the universe, must have a 
 correlative and complement in the unseen, is a conclusion 
 now forced upon physicists by the necessities of the doctrine 
 of the conservation of force. In short, it seems that, unless 
 we admit this conclusion, we can not believe in the possible 
 existence of the material universe itself, and must sink into 
 absolute nihilism. This doctrine is expressed by the apostle 
 Paul in the statement, " The things that are seen are tempo- 
 ral, but the things that are not seen are eternal," and it has 
 been ably discussed by the authors of the remarkable work, 
 "The Unseen Universe." That this unseen world is spirit- 
 ual — that is, not subject to the same material laws with the 
 visible universe — is also a fair deduction from physical science, 
 as well as a doctrine of Scripture. I prefer the term spiritual 
 to supernatural, because the first is the term used in the Bible, 
 and because the latter has had associated with it ideas of the 
 miraculous and abnormal, not implied at all in the idea of 
 the spiritual, which in some important senses may be more 
 natural than the material. 
 
 (2) The idea of a personal God implies not merely the ex- 
 istence of an unknown absolute power, as Herbert Spencer 
 
12 llie Origin of the World, 
 
 seems to hold, or of " an Eternal, not ourselves, that makes 
 for righteousness," as Matthew Arnold puts it, but of a Being 
 of whom we can affirm will, intelligence, feeling, self- con- 
 sciousness, not certainly precisely as they occur in us, but in 
 a higher and more perfect form, of which our own conscious- 
 ness furnishes the type, or " image and shadow," as Moses 
 long ago phrased it. On the one hand, it is true that we can 
 not fully comprehend such a personal God, because not lim- 
 ited by the conditions which limit us. On the other hand, it 
 is clear that our intellect, as constituted, can furnish us with 
 no ultimate explanation of the universe except in the action of 
 such a primary personal will. In the Bible the absolute per- 
 sonality of God is expressed by the title " I am." His inti- 
 mate relation to us is indicated by the expression, " In him 
 we live, and move, and have our being." His all-pervading 
 essence is stated as "the fullness of him that filleth all in all." 
 His relative personality is shadowed forth by the attribution 
 to him of love, anger, and other human feelings and sentiments, 
 and by presenting him in the endearing relation of the uni- 
 versal Father. 
 
 (3) With reference to the possibility of communication be- 
 tween God and man, it may truly be said that such communi- 
 cation is not only possible, but infinitely probable. God is 
 not only near to us, but we are in him, and, independently of 
 the testimony of revelation, it has been felt by all classes of 
 men, from the rudest and most primitive savages up to our 
 great English philosopher, John Stuart Mill, that if there is a 
 God, he can not be excluded from communion with his intel- 
 ligent creatures, either directly or through the medium of 
 ministering spirits.* Farther, placed as man is in the midst 
 
 * Essays on Theism, 1875. 
 
Thc^ Mystery of Origins and its Solutions. i 
 
 of complex and to him inexplicable phenomena, involved in 
 a conflict of good and evil, happiness and misery, to which 
 the wisest and the greatest minds have found no issue, sub- 
 ject to be degraded by low passions and tempted to great ex- 
 tremes of evil, and himself weak, impulsive, and vacillating, 
 there seems the most urgent need for divine communication. 
 It may be said that these are conflicts and problems which 
 God has left man to decide and solve for himself by his own 
 reason. But when we consider how slow this process is, and 
 how imperfect even now, after the experience of ages, we 
 seem to need some intervention that shall stimulate the 
 human mind, and impel it forward with greater rapidity. 
 Farther, it would appear only right that an intelligent and 
 accountable being, placed in a world like this, should have 
 some explanation of his origin and destiny given him at first, 
 and that, if he should perchance go astray, a helping hand 
 should be extended to him. 
 
 Practically it is an historical fact that all the great im- 
 * pulses given to humanity have been by men claiming divine 
 guidance or inspiration, and professing to bring light and 
 truth from the unseen world. It would be too much to say 
 that all these prophets and reformers have been inspired of 
 heaven ; but scarcely too much to say that they have either 
 received a message of God, or have been permitted to trans- 
 mit to our world messages for weal or woe from powers with- 
 out in subordination to him. Farther, we shall have reason 
 in the sequel to see that in far back prehistoric times there 
 must have been impulses given to mankind, and revelations 
 made to them, as potent as those which have acted in later 
 historic periods. In Holy Scripture the Word of God is rep- 
 resented as " enlightening every man f and with reference to 
 
 * John i., 9. 
 
14 TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 our present subject we are told that " by faith we understand 
 that the ages of the world were constituted by the Word of 
 God, so that the visible things were not made of those which 
 appear."* In other words, that the will of God has been act- 
 ive and operative as the sole cause throughout all ages of the 
 world's creation and history, and that the visible universe is 
 not a mere product of its own phenomena. AVe may call 
 this faith, if we please, an intuition or instinct, a God-given 
 gift, or a product of our own thought acting on evidence af- 
 forded by the outer world ; but in any case it seems to be 
 the sole possible solution of the mystery of origins. 
 
 These points being premised, we are in a position to in- 
 quire as to the teaching of our own Holy Scriptures, and in 
 this inquiry we can easily take along with them all other rev- 
 elations, pretended or true, that deal with our subject. 
 
 Max Miiller, in his lectures on the Science of Religion, re- 
 jects the ordinary division into natural and revealed, and 
 adopts a threefold grouping, corresponding to the great 
 division of languages into Turanian, Aryan, and Semitic. 
 With some modification and explanation, this classification 
 will serve well our present purpose. As to natural and re- 
 vealed religions, if we regard our own as revealed, v/e must 
 admit an element of revelation in all others as well. Ac- 
 cording to the Hebrew Scriptures revelation began in Eden, 
 and was continued more or less in all successive ages up to 
 the apostolic times. Consequently the earlier revelations of 
 the antediluvian and postdiluvian times must have been the 
 common property of all races, and must have been associated 
 with whatever elements of natural religion they had. When, 
 therefore, we call our religion distinctively a revealed one, we 
 
 * Hebrews xi., 3. 
 
TJic Mystery of Origins and its Solutions. 15 
 
 must admit that traces of the same revelation may be found 
 in all others. On the other hand, when we characterize our 
 religion as Hebrew or Semitic, we must bear in mind that in 
 its earlier stages it was not so limited ; but that, if as old as it 
 professes to be, it must include a substratum common to it 
 with the old religions of the Turanians and Aryans. Neglect 
 of these very simple considerations often leads to great con- 
 fusion in the minds both of Christians and unbelievers, as to 
 the relation of Christianity to heathenism, and especially to 
 the older and more primitive forms of heathenism. 
 
 The Turanian stock, of which the Mongolian peoples of 
 Northern Asia may be taken as the t3'pe, includes also the 
 American races, and the oldest historical populations of 
 Western Asia and of Europe ; and they are the peoples who, 
 in their physical features and their art tendencies, m.ost near- 
 ly resemble the prehistoric men of the caves and gravels. 
 They largely consist of the populations which the Bible af- 
 filiates with Ham. They are remarkable for their permanent 
 and stationary forms of civilization or barbarism, and for the 
 languages least developed in grammatical structure. These 
 people had and still have traditions of the creation and early 
 history of man similar to those in the earlier Biblical books; 
 but the connection of their religions with that of the Bible 
 breaks off from the time of Abraham ; and the earlier portions 
 of revelation which they possessed became disintegrated into 
 a polytheism which takes very largely the form of animism, 
 or of attributing some special spiritual indwelling to all nat- 
 ural objects, and also that of worship of ancestors and he- 
 roes. The portion of primitive theological belief to which 
 they have clung most persistently is the doctrine of the im- 
 mortality of the soul, w^hich in all their religious beliefs oc- 
 cupies a prominent place, and has always been connected 
 
1 6 The Origin of the Woj'ld. 
 
 with special attention to rites of sepulture and monuments to 
 the dead. Their version of the revelation of creation appears 
 most distinctly in the sacred book of the Quiches of Central 
 America, and in the creation myths of the Mexicans, Iroquois, 
 Algonquins, and other North American tribes ; and it has 
 been handed down to us through the Semitic Assyrians from 
 the ancient Chaldseo-turanian population of the valley of tlie 
 Euphrates. 
 
 The Aryan races have been remarkable for their change- 
 able and versatile character. Their religious ideas in the 
 most primitive times appear to have been not dissimilar from 
 those of the Turanians ; and the Indians, Persians, Greeks, 
 Scandinavians, and Celts have all gone some length in de- 
 veloping and modifying these, apparently by purely human 
 imaginative and intellectual materials. But all these devel- 
 opments were defective in a moral point of view, and had 
 lost the stability and rational basis which proceed from 
 monotheism. Hence they have given way before other and 
 higher faiths ; and at this day the more advanced nations of 
 the Aryan, or in Scriptural language the Japhetic stock, have 
 adopted the Semitic faith; and, as Noah long ago predicted, 
 " dwell in the tents of Shem." No indigenous account of the 
 genesis of things remains among the Aryan races, with the 
 exception of that in the Avesta, and in some ancient Hin- 
 doo hymns, and these are merely variations of the Turanian 
 or Semitic cosmogony. God has given to the Aryans no spe- 
 cial revelations of his will, and they would have been left to 
 grope for themselves along the paths of science and philoso- 
 phy, but for the advent among them of the prophets of " Je- 
 hovah the God of Shem." 
 
 It is to the Semitic race that God has been most liberal in 
 his gift of inspiration. Gathering up and treasuring the old 
 
The Mystery of Origins and its Solutions. 17 
 
 common inheritance of religion, and eliminating from it the 
 accretions of superstition, the children of Abraham at one 
 time stood alone, or almost alone, as adherents of a belief in 
 one God the Creator. Their theology was added to from 
 age to age by a succession of prophets, all working in one line 
 of development, till it culminated in the appearance of Jesus 
 Christ, and then proceeded to expand itself over the other 
 races. Among them it has undergone two remarkable phases 
 of retrograde development — the one in Mohammedanism, 
 which carries it back to a resemblance to its own earlier pa- 
 triarchal stage, the other in Roman and Greek ecclesiasticism, 
 which have taken it back to the Levitical system, along with a 
 strong color of paganism. Still its original documents survive, 
 and retain their hold on large portions of the more enlightened 
 Aryan nations, while through their means these documents 
 have entered on a new career of conquest among the Semites 
 and Turanians. They are, however, it must be admitted, 
 among the Aryan races of Europe, growing in a somewhat 
 uncongenial soil ; partly because of the materialistic organi- 
 zation of these races, and partly because of the abundant re- 
 mains of heathenism which still linger among them ; and it 
 is possible that they may not realize their full triumphs over 
 humanity till the Semitic races return to the position of Abra- 
 ham, and erect again in the world the standard of monothe- 
 istic faith, under the auspices of a purified Christianity. 
 
 It follows from this hasty survey that it is the Semitic solu- 
 tion of the question of origins, as contained in the Hebrew 
 Scriptures, that mainly concerns us ; and in the first place 
 we must consider the foundation and historical development 
 of this solution, as many misconceptions prevail on these 
 points. We may discuss these subjects under the heads of 
 the Abrahamic Genesis and the Mosaic Genesis, and may in 
 
1 8 The Origin of the World, 
 
 a subsequent chapter consider the results of these in the 
 Genesis of the later Scripture writers. 
 
 THE ABRAHAMIC GENESIS. 
 
 It has been a favorite theory with some learned men that 
 the earlier parts of the book of Genesis existed as ancient 
 documents even in the time of Moses, and were incorporated 
 by him in his work, and attempts have been made to separate, 
 on various grounds, the older from the newer portions. Un- 
 til lately, however, these attempts have been altogether con- 
 jectural and destitute of any positive basis of archaeological 
 fact. A new and interesting aspect has been given to them 
 by the recent- readings of the inscriptions on clay tablets 
 found at Nineveh, and to which especial attention has been 
 given by the late Mr. G. Smith, of the Archaeological Depart- 
 ment of the British Museum. 
 
 Assurbanipal, king of Assyria, one of the kings known to 
 the Greeks by the name of Sardanapalus, reigned at Nine- 
 veh about B.C. 673. He was a grandson of the Biblical 
 Sennacherib, and son of Esarhaddon, and it seems that he 
 had inherited from his fathers a library of Chaldean and As- 
 syrian literature, written not on perishable paper or parch- 
 ment, but on tablets of clay, and containing much ancient 
 lore of the nations inhabiting the valleys of the Tigris and 
 Euphrates. Assurbanipal, living when the Assyrian empire 
 had attained to the acme of its greatness, had leisure to be- 
 come a greater patron of learning than any preceding king. 
 His scribes ransacked the record chambers of the oldest tem- 
 ples in the world ; and Babel, Erech, Accad, and Ur had to 
 yield up their treasures of history and theology to diligent 
 copyists, who transcribed them in beautiful arrow-head char- 
 acters on new clay tablets, and deposited them in the library 
 
TJie Mystery of Origins and its Solutions. 19 
 
 of the great king. It would appear that, at the same time, 
 these documents were edited, archaic forms of expression 
 translated, and lacunae caused by decay or fracture re- 
 paired. They were also inscribed with legends stating the 
 sources whence they had been derived. 
 
 The empire of Assyria went down in blood, and its palaces 
 were destroyed with fire, but the imperishable clay tablets 
 which had formed the treasure of their libraries remained, 
 more or less broken it is true, among the ruins. Exhumed 
 by Layard and Smith, they are now among the collections of 
 the British Museum, and their decipherment is throwing a new 
 and strange light on the cosmogony and religions of the early 
 East. Though the date of the writing of these tablets is com- 
 paratively modern, being about the time of the later kings of 
 Judah, the original records from which they were transcribed 
 profess to have been very ancient — some of them about 1600 
 years before the time of Assurbanipal, so that they go back to 
 a time anterior to that of the early Hebrew patriarchs. Their 
 genuineness has been endorsed, in one case, by the discovery 
 by Mr. Loftus, in the city of Senkereh, of an apparent origi- 
 nal, bearing date about 1600 years before Christ, and other 
 inscriptions of equal or greater antiquity have been found in 
 the ruins of Ur, on the Euphrates. Nor does there seem 
 any reason to doubt that the scribes of Assurbanipal faith- 
 fully transcribed the oldest records extant in their time. 
 Their care and diligence are also shown by the fact that 
 where different versions of these records existed in different 
 cities, they have made copies of these variant manuscripts, in- 
 stead of attempting to reduce them to one text. The sub- 
 jects treated of in the Nineveh tablets are very various, 
 but those that concern our present purpose are the docu- 
 ments relating to the creation, the fall of man, and the 
 
20 The Origin of the World. 
 
 deluge, of which considerable portions have been recovered, 
 and have been translated by Mr. Smith. 
 
 These documents carry us back to a time when the Tura- 
 nian religions had not yet been separated from the Semitic. 
 The early Chaldeans, termed Cushites in the Bible, and who 
 under Nimrod seem to have established the first empire in 
 that region, are now known to have been Turanian ; and 
 among them apparently arose at a very early period a litera- 
 ture and a mythology. The Chaldeans were politically subju- 
 gated by the Semitic Assyrians, but they retained their re- 
 ligious predominance ; and until a comparatively late period 
 existed as a learned and priestly caste. To these primitive 
 Chasdim were undoubtedly due the creation legends collected 
 by the scribes of Assurbanipal. They were obtained in the 
 old Chaldean cities, in the temples under the guardianship of 
 Chaldean priests ; and their date carries them back to a time 
 anterior to the Assyrian conquest, and in which Chaldean 
 kings still reigned. Here, then, we have an important con- 
 necting link between the cosmogonies of the Turanian and 
 Semitic races ; and leaving out of sight for the present the 
 legends of the deluge and other matters allied to it, we may 
 inquire as to the nature and contents of the Assyrian and 
 Chaldean record of creation. 
 
 The Assyrian Genesis is similar in order and arrangement 
 to that in our own Bible, and gives the same general order of 
 the creative work. Its days, however, of creation, as indeed 
 there is good internal evidence to prove those of Moses also 
 are, seem to be periods or ages. It treats of the creation of 
 gods, as well as of the universe, and thus introduces a poly- 
 theistic system ; and it seems to recognize, like the Avesta, a 
 primitive principle of evil, presiding over chaos, and subse- 
 quently introducing evil among men. These points may be 
 
The Mystery of Origins and its Solutions. 21 
 
 illustrated by an extract from Mr. Smith's translation. It re- 
 lates to the earlier part of the work : 
 
 " When above were not raised the heavens, 
 And below on the earth a plant had not grown up 
 The deep also had not broken up its boundaries 
 Chaos (or water) Tiamat (the sea or abyss) was the producing mother 
 
 of them all 
 These waters at the beginning were ordained 
 But a tree had not grown a flower had not unfolded 
 When the gods had not sprung up any one of them 
 A plant had not grown and order did not exist 
 Were made also the great gods 
 
 The gods Lahma and Lahamu they caused to come * * * 
 And they grew * * * 
 The gods Sar and Kisar were made 
 A course of days and a long time passed 
 The god Anu * * * 
 The gods Sar and * * * " 
 
 Here the first existences are Chaos (Mummu, or confusion) 
 and Tiamat, which is the Thalatth of Berosus, representing 
 the sea or primitive abyss, but also recognized as a female 
 deity or first mother. Then we have Lahma and Lahamu, 
 which represent power or motion in nature, and are the equiv- 
 alents of the Divine Spirit moving on the face of the waters 
 in our Genesis. Next we have the production of Sar or Hoar 
 and Kisar, representing the expanse or firmament. Sar is 
 supposed to be the god Assur of the Assyrians, a great 
 weather god, and after whom their nation and its founder 
 were named. The next process is the creation of the heaven 
 and the earth, represented by Anu and Anatu. Anu was al- 
 ways one of the greater gods, and was identified with the 
 higher or starry heavens. In succeeding tablets to this we 
 find Bel or Belus introduced, as the agent in the creation of 
 
no 
 
 The Origin of the World. 
 
 animals and of men ; and he is the true Demiurgus or Me- 
 diator of the Assyrian system. Next we have the introduction 
 of Hea or Saturn, who is the equivalent of the Biblical Adam, 
 and of Ishtar, mother of men, who is the Isha or Eve of 
 Genesis. The rest of this legend evidently relates to dei- 
 fied men, among whom are INIerodach, Nebo, and other he- 
 roes. 
 
 The first remark that we may make on this Assyrian Gene- 
 sis is that, while it resembles generally the Mosaic account of 
 creation, it also strongly resembles the old cosmogonies of 
 the Egyptians and Persians, and those of the widely scattered 
 Turanians of Northern Asia and of America. As an extreme 
 illustration of this, and to obviate the necessity of digression 
 at this point of our inquiry, I introduce here some extracts 
 from the Popul Vuh, or sacred book of the Quiche Indians 
 of Central America, an undoubted product of prehistoric re- 
 ligion in the western continent.* 
 
 " And the heaven was formed, and all the signs thereof set in their 
 angle and alignment, and its boundaries fixed toward the four winds by 
 the Creator and Former, and Mother and Father of life and existence — he 
 by whom all move and breathe, the Father and Cherisher of the peace of 
 nations and of the civilization of his people — he whose wisdom has pro- 
 jected the excellence of all that is on the earth or in the lakes or in the 
 sea." 
 
 " Behold the first word and the first discourse. There w^as yet no man 
 nor any animal, * * * nothing w^as but the firmament. The face of the earth 
 had not yet appeared over the peaceful sea, and all the space of heaven 
 * * * nothing but immobility and silence in the night." 
 
 "Alone also the Creator, the Former, the Dominator, the Feathered 
 Serpent — those that engender, those that give being — they are upon the 
 
 * I avail myself of the condensed translation in Bancroft's " Native 
 Races," vol. iii. The original French translation of Brasseur du Bour- 
 bourg is more full. 
 
The Mystery of Origins and its Solutions. 23 
 
 water like a growing light. They are enveloped in green and blue, and 
 therefore their name is Gucumatz."* 
 
 " Lo now how the heavens exist, how exists also the Heart of Heaven ; 
 such is the name of God. It is thus that he is called. And they spake, 
 they consulted together and meditated; they mingled their words and 
 their opinions." 
 
 " And the creation [of the earth] was verily after this wise. Earth, 
 they said, and on the instant it was formed ; like a cloud or a fog was 
 its beginning. Then the mountains rose over the water like great fishes ; 
 in an instant the mountains and the plains were visible, and the cypress 
 and the pine appeared. Then was the Gucumatz filled with joy, crying 
 out : Blessed be thy coming, O Heart of Heaven, Hurakan, Thunderbolt. 
 Our work and our labor has accomplished its end." 
 
 This corresponds to the work of the first four creative days; 
 and next details are given as to the introduction of animals, 
 with which, however, the Creator is represented as dissatisfied, 
 because they could not know or invoke the Creator. They 
 are therefore condemned to be subject to be devoured one of 
 another. Again there is a council in heaven, and the gods 
 determine to make man. But he also is imperfect, for he has 
 speech without intelligence: so he is condemned to be de- 
 stroyed by water. A new council is held, and a second race 
 of men produced ; but this fails in the capacity for religious 
 worship — " they forgot the Heart of Heaven." These were 
 partly destroyed by fire and partly converted into apes. 
 Lastly another council is held, and perfect men created. 
 Then follows a remarkable series of stories relating to the 
 early history and migrations of men. 
 
 It is known that similar creation myths existed among the 
 
 * The Feathered Serpent is perhaps the representative of the Dragon 
 and Serpent in the Semitic version ; but has not the same evil import, 
 and his color gave sacredness to blue and green stones, as the turquois 
 and emerald, both in North and South America, and perhaps also in Asia 
 and Africa. 
 
24 The Origin of the World. 
 
 Mexicans and other early civilized nations of America, and 
 in ruder and more grotesque forms even among the semi-bar- 
 barous and hunter tribes. Their connection with the ancient 
 Semitic and Turanian revelations of Asia is unquestionable. 
 
 We have thus in the Assyrian Genesis a relic of early relig- 
 ious belief belonging to a period when such widely separated 
 stocks as the Assyrian and American were still one : to a 
 period, therefore, presumably long anterior to that of Moses. 
 Yet at this very early period the central portions at least of 
 the Turanian race had already devised some means of record- 
 ing their traditions in writing — probably the arrow-head writ- 
 ing, afterwards used by the Assyrians, had already been in- 
 vented. Again, at this early period a complex polytheism 
 had already sprung up, and this was connected with cosmo- 
 logical ideas, inasmuch as the primitive abyss, the firmament, 
 the starry heavens, the principle of life, were all subordinate 
 gods ; and so were also some of the earliest of the patriarchs 
 of the human race. It is possible, however, that this was 
 among the early Chaldeans an exoteric representation for the 
 vulgar, and that the priestly caste may have understood it in 
 a monotheistic sense. In any case, the idea of a Supreme 
 Creator remains behind the whole. Farther, in the early 
 Chaldean record we have a more detailed and expanded 
 document than that of the Hebrew Genesis, probably intend- 
 ed for the popular ear, and to include as much as possible of 
 the current mythology. As an example, I quote the follow- 
 ing in relation to the creation of the moon, being apparently 
 a part of the narrative of that creative period corresponding 
 with the fourth day of Genesis : 
 
 " In its mass [that is, of the lower chaos] he made a boiling, 
 The God Uiu [the moon] he caused to rise out, the night he over- 
 shadowed. 
 
 H. C State C#/i«f « 
 
TJie Mystery of Origins and its Solutions. 25 
 
 To fix it also for the light of the night until the shining of the day, 
 That the month might not be broken and in its amount be regular. 
 At the beginning of the month at the rising of the night, 
 His horns are breaking through to shine in the heavens. 
 On the seventh day to a circle he begins to swell, 
 And stretches toward the dawn farther." 
 
 We now come to the historical connection of all this with 
 Abraham and with the Hebrew Scriptures. The early life of 
 the "Father of the Faithful" belongs to the time v/hen Tu- 
 ranian and Semitic elements were mingled in the Euphratean 
 valley. Himself of the stock of Shem, he dwelt in Ur of the 
 Chaldees, a city in whose ruins, now known by the name of 
 Mugheir, Chaldean inscriptions have been found of a date 
 anterior to that of the patriarch. In the time of Abraham a 
 polytheistic religion already existed in Ur, for we are told 
 that his father "served other gods." Further, the legends of 
 the creation and the deluge, and the antediluvian age, with 
 the history of Nimrod and other postdiluvian heroes, existed 
 in a written form ; and, strange though this may seem, there 
 can be little doubt that Abraham, before he left Ur of the 
 Chaldees, had read the same creation legends that have so 
 recently been translated and published by Mr. Smith. But 
 Abraham's relation to these was of a peculiar kind. With a 
 spiritual enlightenment beyond that of his age, he dissented 
 from the Turanian animism and polytheism, and maintained 
 that pure and spiritual monotheism which, according to the 
 Bible, had been the original faith of the sons of Noah. But 
 he was overborne by the tendencies of his time, and probably 
 by the ro3-al and priestly influence then dominant in Chaldea, 
 and he went forth from his native land in search of a country 
 where he might have freedom to worship God. It is thus 
 that Abraham appears as the earliest reformer, the first of 
 
 B 
 
26 The Origin of the World. 
 
 those martyrs of conscience who fear not to differ from the 
 majority, the father and prototype of the faithful of every age, 
 and the earliest apostle of the monotheistic faith which still 
 reigns among all the higher races of men. 
 
 Did Abraham take with him in his pilgrimage the records 
 of his people ? It is scarcely possible to doubt that he did, 
 and this probably in a written form, but purified from the 
 polytheism and inane imaginations accreted upon them ; or 
 perhaps he had access to still older and more primitive rec- 
 ords anterior to the rise of the Turanian superstitions. In 
 any case we may safely infer that Abraham and his tribe 
 carried with them the substance of all that part of Genesis 
 which contains the history of the world up to his time, and 
 that this would be a precious heir-loom of his family, until it 
 was edited and incorporated in the Pentateuch by his great 
 descendant Moses. It seems plain, therefore, that the origi- 
 nal prophet or seer to whom the narrative of creation was 
 revealed lived before Abraham, but we need not doubt that 
 the latter had the benefit of divine guidance in his noble 
 stand against the idolatry of his age, and in his selection of 
 the documents on which his own theology was based. These 
 considerations help us to understand the persistence of He- 
 brew monotheism in the presence of the idolatries of Canaan 
 and Eg3'pt, since these were closely allied to the Chaldean 
 system against which Abraham had protested. They also 
 explain the recognition by Abraham, as co-religionists, of 
 such monotheistic personages as Melchisedec, king of Salem. 
 They further illustrate the nature of the religious basis in his 
 people's beliefs on which Moses had to work, and on which 
 he founded his theocratic system. 
 
 Before leaving this part of the subject, I would observe that 
 the view above given, while it explains the agreement be- 
 
The Mystery of Origins and its Solntions. 27 
 
 tween the Hebrew Genesis and other ancient rehgious be- 
 liefs, is in strict accordance with the teachings of Genesis it- 
 self The history given there implies monotheism and knowl- 
 edge of God as the Creator and Redeemer, in antediluvian 
 and early postdiluvian times, a decadence from this into a sys- 
 tematic polytheism at a very early date, the protest and dis- 
 sent of Abraham, his call of God to be the upholder of a purer 
 faith, and the maintenance of that faith by his descendants. 
 Besides this, any careful reader of Genesis and of the book of 
 Job, which, whatever its origin, must be more ancient than the 
 Mosaic law, will readily discover indications that Abraham 
 and the patriarchs were in the possession of documents and 
 traditions of the same purport with those in the early chapters 
 of Genesis, and that these were to them their only sacred lit- 
 erature. The reader of the Pentateuch must carry this idea 
 with him, if he would have any clear conception of the unity 
 and symmetry of these remarkable books. 
 
 THE MOSAIC GENESIS. 
 
 In the period of 400 years intervening between Abraham's 
 departure from Ur and the exodus of Israel from Egypt, no 
 great prophetic mind, like that of the Father of the Faithful, 
 appeared among the Hebrews. But then arose Moses, the 
 greatest figure in all antiquity before the advent of Christ, 
 and who was destined to give permanence and world-wide 
 prevalence to the faith for w^hich Abraham had sacrificed so 
 much. Under the leadership of Moses, the Abrahamidse, 
 now reduced to the condition of a serf population, emanci- 
 pated themselves from Egyptian bondage, and, after forty 
 years of wandering desert life, settled themselves permanent- 
 ly on the hills and in the valleys of Palestine. The voice of 
 the ruling race, indistinctly conveyed to us from that distant 
 
28 The Origin of ike World. 
 
 antiquity, maintains that the fugitive slaves were an abject and 
 contemptible herd ; but the leader of the exodus informs us 
 that, though cruelly trodden down by a haughty despot, they 
 \vere of noble parentage, the heirs of high hopes and prom- 
 ises. Their migration is certainly the most remarkable nation- 
 al movement in the world's history — remarkable, not merely 
 in its events and immediate circumstances, but in its remote 
 political, literary, and moral results. The rulers of Egypt, 
 polished, enlightened, and practical men, were yet the devo- 
 tees of a complicated system of hero and animal worship, like 
 that from which Abraham dissented, and derived in great part 
 from the " animism " which caused some of the oldest nations 
 of the world to associate a spiritual indwelling with the natu- 
 ral objects surrounding them ; or, if they had ceased to be- 
 lieve in this, they had sunk into a materialistic devotion to 
 the good things of the present world, combined with a super- 
 stitious belief in the efficacy of priestly absolution. 
 
 The slaves, leaving all this behind them, rose in their relig- 
 ious opinions to the pure and spiritual monotheism of the 
 great father of their race ; and their leader presented to them 
 a law unequalled up to our time in its union of justice, patriot- 
 ism, and benevolence, and established among them, for the 
 first time in the world's history, a free constitutional republic. 
 Nor is this all ; unexampled though such results are elsewhere 
 in the case of serfs suddenly emancipated. The Hebrew law- 
 giver has interwoven his institutions in a great historical 
 composition, including the grand and simple cosmogony of 
 the patriarchs, a detailed account of the affiliation and ethno- 
 logical relations of the races of men, and a narrative of the 
 fortunes of his own people ; intimating not only that they 
 were a favored and chosen race, but that of them was to arise 
 a great Deliverer, who would bless all nations with pardon 
 
The Mystery of Origins and its Solutions. 29 
 
 and with peace,* and would solve once for all those great 
 problems of the relations of man to God and the unseen 
 world, which in the time of Moses as in our own were the 
 most momentous of all, and gave to questions of origins all 
 their practical value. 
 
 The lawgiver passed to his rest. His laws and literature, 
 surviving through many vicissitudes, have produced in each 
 succeeding age a new harvest of poetry and history, leaven- 
 ed with their own spirit. In the mean time the learning and 
 the superstition of Egypt faded from the eyes of men. The 
 splendid political and military organizations of Assyria, 
 Babylon, Persia, and IMacedon arose and crumbled into 
 dust. The wonderful literature of Greece blazed forth and 
 expired. That of Rome, a reflex and copy of the former, had 
 reached its culminating point ; and no prophet had arisen 
 among any of these Gentile nations to teach them the truth 
 of God. The world, with all its national liberties crushed 
 out, its religion and its philosophy corrupted and enfeebled 
 to the last degree by an endless succession of borrowings 
 and intermixtures, lay prostrate under the iron heel of Rome. 
 Then appeared among the now obscure remnant of Israel, 
 one who announced himself as the Prophet like unto Moses, 
 promised of old ; but a prophet whose mission it was to re- 
 deem not Israel only, but the whole world, and to make all 
 who will believe, children of faithful Abraham. Adopting the 
 whole of the sacred literature of the Hebrews, and proving 
 his mission by its words, he sent forth a few plain men to 
 
 * I do not think it necessary to attach any value to the doubts of cer- 
 tain schools of criticism as to the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch. 
 Whatever quibbles may be raised on isolated texts, no rational student 
 can doubt that we have in these books a collection of authentic documents 
 of the Exodus. They are absolutely inexplicable on any other supposition. 
 
30 TJie Origin of the World, 
 
 write its closing books, and to plant it on the ruins of all the 
 time-honored beliefs of the nations — beliefs supported by a 
 splendid and highly organized priestly system and by despot- 
 ic power, and gilded by all the highest efforts of poetry and 
 art. 
 
 The story is a very familiar one ; but it is marvellous 
 beyond all others. Nor is the modern history of the Bible 
 less wonderful. Exhumed from the rubbish of the Middle 
 Ages, it has entered on a new career of victory. It has stim- 
 ulated the mind of modern Europe to all its highest efforts, 
 and has been the charter of its civil and religious liberties. 
 Its wondrous revelation of all that man most desires to know, 
 in the past, in the present, and in his future destinies, has 
 gone home to the hearts of men in all ranks of society and in 
 all countries. In many great nations it is the only rule of 
 religious faith. In every civilized country it is the basis of 
 all that is most valuable in religion. Where it has been with- 
 held from the people, civilization in its highest aspects has 
 languished, and superstition, priestcraft, and tyranny have 
 held their ground or have perished under the assaults of a 
 heartless and inhuman infidelity. Where it has been a house- 
 hold book, education has necessarily flourished, liberty has 
 taken root, and the higher nature of man has been developed to 
 the full. Driven from many other countries by tyrannical in- 
 terference with liberty of thought and discussion, or by a short- 
 sighted ecclesiasticism, it has taken up its special abode with 
 the greatest commercial nations of our time ; and, scattered 
 by their agency broadcast over the world, it is read by every 
 nation under heaven in its own tongue, and is slowly but 
 surely preparing the way for wider and greater changes than 
 any that have heretofore resulted from its influence. Ex- 
 plain it as we may, the Bible is a great literary miracle j and 
 
TJie Mystery of Origins and its Solutions. 31 
 
 no amount of inspiration or authority that can be claimed for 
 it is more strange or incredible than the actual history of the 
 book. Yet no book has ever thrown itself into so decided 
 antagonism with all the great forces of evil in the world. 
 Tyranny hates it, because the Bible so strongly maintains the 
 individual value and rights of man as man. The spirit of 
 caste dislikes it for the same reason. Anarchical license, on 
 the other hand, finds nothing but discouragement in it. 
 Priestcraft gnashes its teeth at it, as the very embodiment of 
 private judgment in religion, and because it so scornfully 
 ignores human authority in matters of conscience, and human 
 intervention between man and his INIaker. Skepticism sneers 
 at it, because it requires faith and humility, and threatens 
 ruin to the unbeliever. It launches its thunders against 
 every form of violence or fraud or allurement that seeks to 
 profit by wrong or to pander to the vices of mankind ; all 
 these consequently are its foes. On the other hand, by its 
 uncompromising stand with reference to certain scientific 
 and historical facts, it has appeared to oppose the progress 
 of thought and speculation ; though, as we shall see, it has 
 been unfairly accused in this last respect. 
 
 With its antagonism to the evil that is in the world we 
 have at present nothing to do, except to caution the student 
 of this venerable literature against the prejudices which 
 interested and unscrupulous foes seek to cultivate. Its 
 doctrine of the origin of man and of the world, and the rela- 
 tion of this to modern scientific and historical results, is that 
 which now claims our attention ; and this more especially in 
 the relation which the Mosaic cosmogony, considered as an 
 early revelation from God, may be found to bear to the facts 
 which modern scientific research has elicited from the uni- 
 verse itself. The aspects in which apparent conflicts present 
 
32 TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 themselves are threefold. At one time it was not unusual to 
 impugn the historical accuracy of the Pentateuch on the 
 evidence of the Greek historians ; and on many points 
 scarcely any corroborative evidence could be cited in favor 
 of the Hebrew writers. In our own time much of this diffi- 
 culty has been removed, and an immense amount of learned 
 research has been reduced to v;aste paper, by the circum- 
 stance that the monuments of Egypt and Assyria have risen 
 up to bear testimony in favor of the Bible ; and scarcely any 
 sane man now doubts the value of the Hebrew history. The 
 battle-ground has in consequence been shifted farther back, 
 to points concerning the affiliation of the races of men, the 
 absolute antiquity of man's residence on the earth, and the 
 condition of prehistoric men ; questions on which we can 
 scarcely expect to find, at least for a long time, any de- 
 cisive monumental or scientific evidence. Secondly, the 
 Bible commits itself to certain cosmological doctrines and 
 statements respecting the system of nature, and details of 
 that system, more or less approaching to the domain which 
 geology occupies in its investigations of the past history of 
 the earth ; and at every stage in the progress of modern 
 science, independently of the mischief done by smatterers and 
 skeptics, earnest bigotry on the one hand, and earnest scien- 
 tific enthusiasm on the other, have come into collision. One 
 stumbling-block after another has, it is true, been removed 
 by mutual concession and farther enlightenment, and by the 
 removal of false traditional interpretations of the sacred rec- 
 ords, as well as by farther discoveries in relation to nature. 
 But the field of conflict has thereby apparently only changed ; 
 and we still have some Christians in consequence regarding 
 the revelations of natural science with suspicion, and some 
 scientific men cherishing a sullen resentment against what 
 
The Mystery of Origins and its Solutions. 33 
 
 they regard as an intolerant intermeddling of theology with 
 the domain of legitimate investigation. Lastly, the great 
 growth of physical science, and the tendency to take partial 
 views of the universe as if it were comprehended in mere 
 matter and force, with similarly partial views of the doctrines 
 of continuity and the conservation of forces, along with the 
 growth of a belief in spontaneous evolution as a philosophical 
 dogma, have placed many scientific minds in a position which 
 makes them treat the whole question of the origin and des- 
 tiny of man and of the world with absolute indifference. 
 
 There can nevertheless be no question that the whole 
 subject is at the present moment in a more satisfactory state 
 than ever previously ; that much has been done for the solu- 
 tion of difficulties ; that many theologians admit the great 
 service which in many cases science has rendered to the 
 interpretation of the Bible, and that most naturalists feel 
 themselves free from undue trammels. Above all, there is 
 a very general disposition to admit the distinctness and inde- 
 pendence of the fields of revelation and natural science, the 
 possibility of their arriving at some of the same truths, though 
 in very different ways, and the folly of expecting them fully 
 and manifestly to agree in the present state of our informa- 
 tion. The literature of this kind of natural history has also 
 become very extensive, and there are few persons who do not 
 at least know that there are methods of reconciling the cos- 
 mogony of Moses with that obtained from the study of nature. 
 For this very reason the time is favorable for an unprejudiced 
 discussion of the questions involved ; and for presenting on 
 the one hand to naturalists a summary of what the Bible does 
 actually teach respecting the early history of the earth and 
 man, and on the other to those whose studies lie in the book 
 which they regard as the Word of God, rather than in the 
 
 B2 
 
34 The Origin of the World. 
 
 material universe which they regard as his work, a view of 
 the points in which the teaching of the Bible comes into 
 contact with natural science at its present stage of progress. 
 These are the ends which I propose to myself in the follow- 
 ing pages, and which I shall endeavor to pursue in a spirit of 
 fair and truthful investigation ; having regard on the one 
 hand to the claims and influence of the venerable Book of 
 God, and on the other to the rights and legitimate results of 
 modern scientific inquiry. 
 
 The plan which I have proposed to myself in this part of 
 my subject is to take the statements of Genesis in their order, 
 and consider what they import, and how they appear to har- 
 monize with what we know from other sources. This will 
 occupy some space, but it will save time in dealing with the 
 remaining parts of the subject. Before entering upon it, I 
 propose to devote one chapter to the answers to three ques- 
 tions which concern the whole doctrine of revealed religion, 
 whether Semitic, Turanian, or Aryan. These are: (i) Why 
 the origin of things should be revealed; (2) How it could be 
 revealed; and (3) What would require to be revealed in or- 
 der to form the basis of a rational theism. 
 
Objects and Nature of a Revelation of Origins. 35 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 OBJECTS AND NATURE OF A REVELATION OF ORIGINS. 
 
 " There are two books from which I collect my divinity ; besides that 
 written one of God, another of his servant nature — that universal and pub- 
 lic manuscript that lies expansed unto the eyes of all." — Sir T. Browne. 
 
 There are some questions, simple enough in themselves, 
 respecting the general character and object of the references 
 to nature and creation in the Scriptures, which yet are so 
 variously and vaguely answered that they deserve some con- 
 sideration before entering on the detailed study of the sub- 
 ject. These are : (i) The object of the introduction of such 
 subjects into the Hebrew sacred books — the why of the reve- 
 lation of origins. (2) The origin, character, and structure of 
 the narrative of creation and other cosmological statements in 
 those books — the how of the revelation. (3) The character 
 of the Biblical cosmogony, and genei-al views of nature to 
 which it leads — the what of the revelation. 
 
 ( I ) The Object of the Introduction of a Cosmogony in the Bible. 
 — Man, even in his rudest and most uncivilized state, does not 
 limit his mental vision to his daily wants. He desires to live 
 not merely in the present, but in the future also and the past. 
 This is a psychological peculiarity which, as much as any 
 other, marks his separation from the lower animals, and which 
 in his utmost degradation he never wholly loses. Whatever 
 may be fancied as to imagined prehistoric nations, it is cer- 
 tain that no people now existing, or historically known to us. 
 
36 The Origin of the World, 
 
 is so rude as to be destitute of some hopes or fears in refer- 
 ence to the future, some traditions as to the distant past. 
 Every religious system that has had any influence over the 
 human mind has included such ideas. Nor are we to regard 
 this as an accident. It depends on fixed principles in our 
 constitution, which crave as their proper aliment such in- 
 formation; and if it can not be obtained, the mind, rather 
 than want it, invents for itself. We might infer from this 
 very circumstance that a true religion, emanating from the 
 Creator, would supply this craving; and might content our- 
 selves with affirming that, on this ground alone, it behooved 
 revelation to have a cosmogony. 
 
 But the religion of the Hebrews especially required to be 
 explicit as to the origin of the earth and all things therein. 
 Its peculiar dogma is that of one only God, the Creator, re- 
 quiring the sole homage of his creatures. The heathen for 
 the most part acknowledged in some form a supreme god, 
 but they also gave divine honors to subordinate gods, to de- 
 ceased ancestors and heroes, and to natural phenomena, in 
 such a manner as practically to obscure their ideas of the 
 Creator, or altogether to set aside his worship. The influ- 
 ence of such idolatry was the chief antagonism which the 
 Hebrew monotheism had to encounter; and we learn from 
 the history of the nation how often the worshippers of Jehovah 
 were led astray by its allurements. To guard against this 
 danger, it was absolutely necessary that no place should be 
 left for the introduction of polytheism, by placing the whole 
 work of creation and providence under the sole jurisdiction 
 of the One God. Moses consequently takes strong ground 
 on these points. He first insists on the creation of all things 
 by the fiat of the Supreme. Next he specifies the elaboration 
 and arrangement of all the powers of inanimate nature, and 
 
Objects and Nature of a Revelation of Origins. 37 
 
 the introduction of every form of organic existence, as the 
 work of the same First Cause. Lastly, he insists on the cre- 
 ation of a primal human pair, and on the descent from them 
 of all the branches of the human race, including of course 
 those ancestors and magnates who up to his time had been 
 honored with apotheosis; and on the same principle he ex- 
 plains the golden age of Eden, the fall, the cherubic emblems, 
 the deluge, and other facts in human history interwoven by 
 the heathen with their idolatries. He thus grasps the whole 
 material of ancient idolatry, reduces it within the compass of 
 monotheism, and shows its relation to the one true primitive 
 religion, which was that not only of the Hebrews, but of 
 right that of the whole world, whose prevailing polytheism 
 consisted in perversions of its truth or unity. ' For such rea- 
 sons the early chapters of Genesis are so far from being of 
 the character of digressions from the scope and intention of 
 the book, that they form a substratum of doctrine absolutely 
 essential to the Hebrew faith, and equally so to its develop- 
 ment in Christianity. 
 
 The references to nature in the Bible, however, and 
 especially in its poetical books, far exceed the absolute re- 
 quirements of the reasons above stated ; and this leads to 
 another and very interesting view, namely, the tendency of 
 monotheism to the development of truthful and exalted ideas 
 of nature. The Hebrew theology allowed no attempt at visi- 
 ble representations of the Creator or of his works for purposes 
 of worship. It thus to a great extent prevented that connec- 
 tion of imitative art with religion which flourished in heathen 
 antiquity, and has been introduced into certain forms of 
 Christianity. But it cultivated the higher arts of poetry and 
 song, and taught them to draw their inspiration from nature 
 as the only visible revelation of Deity. Hence the growth 
 
38 The Origin of the World. 
 
 of a healthy " physico-theology," excluding all idolatry of 
 natural phenomena, and all superstitious dread of them as 
 independent powers, but inviting to their examination as 
 manifestations of God, and leading to conceptions of the 
 unity of plan in the cosmos, of which polytheism, even in its 
 highest literary efforts, was quite incapable. In the same 
 manner the Bible has always proved itself an active stimulant 
 of natural science, connecting such studies, as it does, with 
 our higher religious sentiments j while polytheism and ma- 
 terialism have acted as repressive influences, the one because 
 it obscures the unity of nature, the other because, in robbing 
 it of its presiding Divinity, it gives a cold and repulsive, 
 corpse-like aspect, chilling to the imagination, and incapable 
 of attracting the general mind. 
 
 Naturalists should not forget their obligations to the Bible 
 in this respect, and should on this very ground prefer its 
 teachings to those of modern pantheism and positivism, and 
 still more to those of mere priestly authority. Very few 
 minds are content with simple materialism, and those who 
 must have a God, if they do not recognize the Jehovah of the 
 Hebrew Scriptures as the Creator and Supreme Ruler of the 
 universe, are too likely to seek for him in the dimness of 
 human authority and tradition, or of pantheistic philosophy ; 
 both of them more akin to ancient heathenism than to modern 
 civilization, and in their ultimate tendencies, if not in their 
 immediate consequences, quite as hostile to progress in sci- 
 ence as to evangelical Christianity. 
 
 Every student of human nature is aware of the influence 
 in favor of the appreciation of natural beauty and sublimity 
 which the Bible impresses on those who are deeply imbued 
 with its teaching ; even where that same teaching has in- 
 duced what may be regarded as a puritanical dislike of imita- 
 
Objects and Nature of a Revelation of Origins. 39 
 
 tive art, at least in its religious aspects. On the other hand, 
 naturalists can not refuse to acknowledge the surpassing 
 majesty of the views of nature presented in the Bible. No 
 one has expressed this better than Humboldt : " It is charac- 
 teristic of the poetry of the Hebrews that, as a. reflex of mon- 
 otheism, it always embraces the universe in its unity, com- 
 prising both terrestrial life and the luminous realms of space; 
 it dwells but rarely on the individuality of phenomena, pre- 
 ferring the contemplation of great masses. The Hebrew 
 poet does not depict nature as a self-dependent object, 
 glorious in its individual beauty, but always as in relation or 
 subjection to a higher spiritual power. Nature is to him a 
 work of creation and order — the living expression of the 
 omnipresence of the Divinity in the visible w^orld." In refer- 
 ence to the 104th Psalm, which may be viewed as a poetical 
 version of the narrative of creation in Genesis, the same 
 great writer remarks : " We are astonished to find in a lyr- 
 ical poem of such a limited compass, the whole universe — the 
 heavens and the earth — sketched with a few bold touches. 
 The calm and toilsome life of man, from the rising of the sun 
 to the setting of the same, when his daily work is done, is here 
 contrasted with the moving life of the elements of nature. 
 This contrast and generalization in the conception of the 
 nmtual action of natural phenomena, and the retrospection of 
 an omnipresent invisible Power, which can renew the earth or 
 crumble it to dust, constitute a solemn and exalted rather than 
 a gentle form of poetic creation."* 
 
 If we admit the source of inspiration claimed by the He- 
 brew poets, we shall not be surprised that they should thus 
 write of nature. We shall only lament that so many pious 
 
 * *' Cosmos," Otte's translation. 
 
40 The Origin of the World. 
 
 and learned interpreters of Scripture have been too little ac- 
 quainted with nature to appreciate the natural history of the 
 Book of God, or adequately to illustrate it to those who de- 
 pend on their teaching ; and that so many naturalists have 
 contented themselves with wondering at the large general 
 views of the Hebrew poets, without considering that they are 
 based on a revelation of the nature and order of the creative 
 work which supplied to the Hebrew mind the place of those 
 geological wonders which have astonished and enlarged the 
 minds of modern nations. A modern divine, himself well 
 read in nature, truly says : " If men of piety were also men 
 of science, and if men of science were to read the Scriptures, 
 there would be more faith on the earth and also more phi- 
 losophy."* In a similar strain the patient botanist of the 
 marine algce thus pleads for the joint claims of the Bible and 
 nature : " Unfortunately it happens that in the educational 
 course prescribed to our divines natural history has no place, 
 for which reason many are ignorant of the important bearings 
 which the book of nature has on the book of revelation. 
 They do not consider, apparently, that both are from God — 
 both are his faithful witnesses to mankind. And if this be so, 
 is it reasonable to suppose that either, without the other, can 
 be fully understood ? It is only necessary to glance at the 
 absurd commentaries in reference to natural objects which 
 are to be found in too many annotations of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures to be convinced of the benefit which the clergy w^ould 
 themselves derive from a more extended study of the works 
 of creation. And to missionaries especially, a minute famil- 
 iarity with natural objects must be a powerful assistance in 
 awakening the attention of the savage, who, after his manner, 
 
 * Hamilton, " Royal Preacher." 
 
Objects ajid Nature of a Revelation of Origins. 41 
 
 is a close observer, and likely to detect a fallacy in his teach- 
 er, should the latter attempt a practical illustration of his dis- 
 course without sufficient knowledge. These are not days in 
 which persons who ought to be our guides in matters of doc- 
 trine can afford to be behind the rest of the world in knowl- 
 edge ; nor can they safely sneer at the knowledge which puff- 
 eth up, until, like the apostle, they have sounded its depths 
 and proved its shallowness."* It is truly much to be desired 
 that divines and commentators, instead of trying to distort 
 the representations of nature in the Bible into the supposed 
 requirements of a barbarous age, or of setting aside modern 
 discoveries as if they could have no connection with Scrip- 
 ture truth, would study natural objects and laws sufficiently 
 to bring themselves in this respect to the level of the Hebrew 
 writers. Such knowledge would be cheaply purchased even 
 by the sacrifice of a part of their verbal and literary training. 
 It is well that this point is now attracting the attention of 
 the Christian world, and it is but just to admit that some of 
 our more eminent religious writers have produced noble ex- 
 amples of accurate illustrations of Scripture derived from nat- 
 ure. In any case, the Bible itself can not be charged with 
 any neglect of the claims of nature or with any narrow tend- 
 ency to place material and spiritual things in antagonism to 
 one another. 
 
 Another reason why a revelation from God must deal with 
 the origins of things, is that such revelation is, like creation, 
 in its own nature progressive. It is given little by little to 
 successive generations of men, and must proceed from the 
 first rudiments of religious truth onward to its higher devel- 
 opments with the growth of humanity from age to age. Hence 
 
 * Harvey, " Nereis Boreali Americana." 
 
42 TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 the teachings in the early chapters of Genesis are of the sim- 
 plest and most child-like character, and the first of these early 
 teachings is necessarily that of God the Creator, just as our 
 elementary catechisms for children have been wont to begin 
 with the question, " Who made you ?" In this way man is led 
 in the most direct and simple way to the feet of the Universal 
 Father, and a foundation is laid whereon further religious 
 teaching adapted to the growth of the individual mind and 
 to the growing complications of human society can be built. 
 But again, alike in the earliest and simplest as in the more 
 advanced states of the human mind, if spiritual things are to 
 be taught, it must be through the medium of material things. 
 We have no language to express in any direct way spiritual 
 truths ; they must be given to us in terms of the natural. W^e 
 have not yet learned the tongue of the immortals, and proba- 
 bly can not learn it in this world. The word *' spirit " itself, 
 which we borrow from the Latin, the Greek Fnejwia, the He- 
 brew Ruahf primarily all agree in signifying breath or wind. 
 We have to speak of our own breath when we mean our 
 spiritual nature, of God's breath when we mean his spiritual 
 nature, and so of all other things not obvious to our senses. 
 There is constant danger in this that the material shall be 
 taken for the spiritual of which it is the symbol, the figure 
 for the reality, the creature for the Creator, and this danger is 
 best counteracted by a decided testimony in relation to the 
 origin of all material things in the will of the spiritual and 
 eternal God. Thus the Bible writers are enabled to use a 
 free and bold manner of speech respecting divine things. 
 Their expressions at one time appear pantheistic and at an- 
 other anthropomorphic; they see God in every thing, and use 
 with the utmost freedom natural emblems to indicate his per- 
 fections and procedure, and our relations to him. In this way 
 
Objects and Nature of a Revelation of Origins. 43 
 
 there is life and action in their teaching, and it is removed as 
 far as possible from a dry, abstract theology, while equally re- 
 mote from any tinge of idolatry or superstition. 
 
 It may, however, be objected that by the introduction of a 
 cosmogony the Bible exposes itself to a conflict with science, 
 and that thereby injury results both to science and to religion. 
 This is a grave charge, and one that has evidently had much 
 weight with many minds, since it has been the subject of en- 
 tire treatises designed to illustrate the history of the conflict 
 or to explain its nature. The revelation of God's will to man 
 for his moral guidance, if necessary at all, was necessary be- 
 fore the rise of natural science. Men could not do without 
 the knowledge of the unity of nature and of the unity of God, 
 until these great truths could be worked out by scientific in- 
 duction. Perhaps they might never have been so worked 
 out. Therefore a revealed book of origins has a right to 
 precedence in this matter. Nor need it in any way come 
 into conflict with the science subsequently to grow up. Sci- 
 ence does not deal so much with the origin of nature as with 
 its method and laws, and all that is necessary on the part of 
 a revelation, to avoid conflict with it, is to confine itself to 
 statements of phenomena and to avoid hypotheses. This is 
 eminently the course of the Bible. In its cosmogony it shuns 
 all embellishments and details, and contents itself with the 
 fact of creation and a slight sketch of its order; and in their 
 subsequent references to nature the sacred writer* are strict- 
 ly phenomenal in their statements, and refer every thing di- 
 rectly to the will of God, without any theory as to secondary 
 causes and relations. They are thus decided and positive 
 on the points with reference to which it behooves revelation 
 to testify, and absolutely non-committal on the points which 
 belong to the exclusive domain of science. 
 
44 The Origin of the World. 
 
 What, then, are we to say of the imaginary " conflict of sci- 
 ence with religion," of which so much has been made ? Simply 
 that it results largely from misapprehension and from misuse 
 of terms. True religion, which consists in practical love to 
 God and to our fellow-men, can have no conflict with science. 
 True science is its fast ally. The Bible, considered as a rev- 
 elation of spiritual truth to man for his salvation and enlight- 
 enment, can have no conflict with science. It promotes the 
 study of nature, rendering it honorable by giving it the dig- 
 nity of an inquiry into the ways of God, and rendering it safe 
 by separating it from all ideas of magic and necromancy. It 
 gives a theological basis to the ideas of the unity of nature 
 and of natural law. The conflict of science, when historical- 
 ly analyzed, is found to have been fourfold — with the Church, 
 with theology, with superstition, and with false or imperfect 
 science and philosophy. Religious men may have identi- 
 fied themselves from time to time with these opponents, but 
 that is all ; and much more frequently the opposition has 
 been by bad men more or less professing religious objects. 
 Organizations calling themselves " the Church," and whose 
 warrant from the Bible is often of the slenderest, have de- 
 nounced and opposed and persecuted new scientific truths ; 
 but they have just as often denounced the Bible itself, and 
 religious doctrines founded on it. Theology claims to be it- 
 self one of the sciences, and as such it is necessarily imper- 
 fect and progressive, and may at any time be more or less in 
 conflict with other sciences ; but theology is not religion, and 
 may often have very little in common either with true religion 
 or the Bible. When discussions arise between theology and 
 other sciences, it is only a pity that either side should indulge 
 in what has been called the odium theologicum^ but which is 
 unfortunately not confined to divines. Superstition, consid- 
 
Objects and Nature of a Revelation of Origi)is. 45 
 
 ered as the unreasonable fear of natural agencies, is a passive 
 rather than an active opponent of science. But revelation, 
 which affirms unity, law, and a Father's hand in nature, is the 
 deadly foe of superstition, and no people who have been read- 
 ers of the Bible and imbued with its spirit have ever been found 
 ready to molest or persecute science. Work of this sort has 
 been done only by the ignorant, superstitious, and priest-rid- 
 den votaries of systems which withhold the Bible from the 
 people, and detest it as much as they dislike science. Per- 
 haps the most troublesome opposition to science, or rather to 
 the progress of science, has sprung from the tenacity with 
 which men hold to old ideas. These, which may have been 
 at one time the best science attainable, root themselves in 
 popular literature, and even in learned bodies and in educa- 
 tional books and institutions. They become identified with 
 men's conceptions both of nature and religion, and modify 
 their interpretations of the Bible itself It thus becomes a 
 most difficult matter to wrench them from men's minds, and 
 their advocates are too apt to invoke in their defense polit- 
 ical, social, and ecclesiastical powers, and to seek to support 
 them by the authority of revelation, when this may perhaps 
 be quite as favorable to the newer views opposed to them. 
 All these conflicts are, however, necessary incidents in human 
 progress, which comes only by conflict ; and there is reason 
 to believe that they would be as severe in the absence of re- 
 vealed religion as in its presence, were it not that the ab- 
 sence of revelation seems often to produce a fixity and 
 stagnation of thought unfavorable to any new views, and con- 
 sequently to some extent to any intellectual conflict. It has 
 been, indeed, to the disinterment of the Bible in the Reforma- 
 tion of the fifteenth century that the world owes, more than to 
 any other cause, the immense growth of modern science, and 
 
46 The Origin of the World, 
 
 the freedom of discussion which now prevails. The Protest- 
 ant idea of individual judgment in matters of religion is thor- 
 oughly Biblical, for the Bible everywhere appeals to men in 
 this way ; and this idea is the strongest guarantee that the 
 world possesses for intellectual liberty in other matters. 
 
 We conclude, therefore, on all these grounds, that it was 
 necessary that a revelation from God should take strong and 
 positive ground on the question of the origin of the universe. 
 
 (2) The Origin, Ale t hod, and Sfnidure of the Scriptural 
 Cosfnogony. — A respectable physicist, but somewhat shallow 
 naturalist and theologian, whose works at one time attracted 
 much attention, has said of the first chapter of Genesis: " It 
 can not be history — it may be poetry." Its claims to be his- 
 tory we shall investigate under another head, but it is perti- 
 nent to our present inquiry to ask whether it can be poetry. 
 That its substance or matter is poetical no one who has read 
 it once can believe; but it can not be denied that in its form 
 it approaches somewhat to that kind of thought-rhythm or 
 parallelism w^hich gives so peculiar a character to Hebrew 
 poetry. We learn from many Scripture passages, especially 
 in the Proverbs, that this poetical parallelism need not neces- 
 sarily be connected with poetical thought; that in truth it 
 might be used, as rhyme is sometimes with us, to aid the 
 memory. The oldest acknowledged verse in Scripture is a 
 case in point. Lamech, who lived before the flood, appears 
 to have slain a man in self-defense, or at least in an encounter 
 in which he himself was wounded ; and he attempts to define 
 the nature of the crime in the followins: words : 
 
 'is 
 
 "Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; 
 Ye wives of Lamech, hearken to my speech :- 
 I have slain a man to my wounding, 
 
Objects and Nature of a Revelation of Origins. 47 
 
 And a young man to my hurt ; 
 
 If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, 
 
 Truly Lamech seventy and seven fold." 
 
 All this is prosaic enough in matter, but the form into which 
 it is thrown gives it a certain dignity, and impresses it on the 
 memory; which last object was probably what the author of 
 this sole fragment of antediluvian literature had in view. He 
 succeeded too — for the sentiment was handed down, probably 
 orally; and IMoses incorporates it in his narration, perhaps 
 on account of its interest as the first record of the distinc- 
 tion between willful murder like that of Cain, and justifiable 
 homicide. It is interesting also to observe the same parallel- 
 ism of style, no doubt with the same objects, in many old 
 Egyptian monumental inscriptions, which, however grandilo- 
 quent, are scarcely poetical* It also appears in that ancient 
 record of creation and the deluge recently rescued from the 
 clay tablets of Nineveh. 
 
 Now in the first chapter of Genesis, and the first three 
 verses of chapter second, being the formal general narrative 
 of creation, on which, as we shall see, every other statement 
 on the subject in the Bible is based, we have this peculiar 
 parallelism of style. If we ask why, the answer must, I 
 think, be — to give dignity and symmetry to what would other- 
 wise be a dry abstract, and still more to aid memory. This 
 last consideration, perhaps indicating that this chai^ter, like 
 the apology of Lamech, had been handed down orally for a 
 long period, connects itself with the theory of the pre-Abra- 
 hamic origin of these documents to which reference has al- 
 ready been made. 
 
 The form of the narrative, however, in no way impairs its 
 
 * Osburn, " Monumental History of Egypt." 
 
48 The Origin of the World. 
 
 precision or accuracy of statement. On this Eichhorn well 
 says : " There lies at the foundation of the first chapter a 
 carefully designed plan, all whose parts are carried out with 
 much art, whereby its appropriate place is assigned to every 
 idea;" and we may add, whereby every idea is expressed in 
 the simplest and fewest words, yet with marvellous accuracy, 
 amounting to an almost scientific precision of diction, for 
 which both the form into which it is thrown and the homo- 
 geneous and simple character of the Hebrew language are 
 very w^ell adapted. Much of this indeed remains in the En- 
 glish version, though our language is less perfectly suited 
 than the Hebrew for the concise announcement of general 
 truths of this description. Our translators have, however, 
 deviated greatly from the true sense of many important words, 
 especially where they have taken the Septuagint translation 
 for their guide, as in the words "firmament," "whales," 
 " creeping things," etc. These errors will be noticed in sub- 
 sequent pages. In the mean time I may merely add that the 
 labors of the ablest Biblical critics give us every reason to 
 conclude that the received text of Genesis preserves, almost 
 without an iota of change, the beautiful simplicity of its first 
 chapter; and that we now have it in a more perfect state 
 than that in which it was presented to the translators of most 
 of the early versions. It must also be admitted that the ob- 
 ject in view was best served by that direct reference to the 
 creative fiat, and ignoring of all secondary causes, which are 
 conspicuous in this narrative. This is indeed the general 
 tone of the Bible in speaking of natural phenomena; and this 
 mode of proceeding is in perfect harmony with its claims to 
 divine authority. Had not this course been chosen, no other 
 could have been adopted, in strict consistenc}^ with truth, 
 short of a full revelation of the whole system of nature, in the 
 
Objects and Nature of a Revelation of Origins. 49 
 
 details of all its laws and processes. This we now know 
 would have been impossible, and, if possible, useless or even 
 mischievous. 
 
 Regarded from this point of view — the plenary inspiration 
 of the book — the Scriptural references to creation profess to 
 furnish a very general outline, for theological purposes, of the 
 principal features of a vast region unexplored when they were 
 written, and into which human research has yet penetrated 
 along only a few lines. Natural science, in following out 
 these lines of observation, has reached some of the objects 
 delineated in the Scriptural sketch ; of others it has obtained 
 distant glimpses; many are probably unknown, and we can 
 appreciate the true value and dimensions relatively to the 
 whole of very few. So vast indeed are the subjects of the 
 bold sketch of the Hebrew prophet, that natural science can 
 not pretend as yet so to fill in the outline as quite to measure 
 the accuracy of its proportions. Yet the lines, though few, 
 are so boldly drawn, and with so much apparent unity and 
 symmetry, that we almost involuntarily admit that they are 
 accurate and complete. This may appear to be underrating 
 the actual progress of science relatively to this great fore- 
 shadowing outline ; but I know that those most deeply versed 
 in the knowledge of nature will be the least disposed to quar- 
 rel with it, whatever skepticism they may entertain as to the 
 greater general completeness of the inspired record. 
 
 Another point which deserves a passing notice here is the 
 theory of Dr. Kurtz and others, that the Mosaic narrative 
 represents a vision of creation, analogous to those prophetic 
 visions which appear in the later books of Scripture. This 
 is beyond all question the most simple and probable solution 
 of the origin of the document, when viewed as inspired, but 
 we shall have to recur to it on a future page. 
 
 C 
 
50 The Origin of the World. 
 
 But with respect to the precise origin of this cosmogony, 
 the question now arises, Is it really in substance a revelation 
 from God to man ? We must not disguise from ourselves 
 that this deliberate statement of an order of creation in so 
 far challenges comparison with the results of science, and 
 this in a very different way from that which applies to the in- 
 cidental references to nature in the Bible. Further, inasmuch 
 as it relates to events which transpired before the creation of 
 man, it is of the nature of prophecy rather than of history. 
 It is, in short, either an inspired revelation of the divine pro- 
 cedure in creation, or it is a product of human imagination 
 or research, or a deliberate fraud. 
 
 To no part of the Bible do these alternatives more strictly 
 apply than to its first chapter. This "can not be history" 
 in the strict acceptation of the term. It relates to events 
 which no human eye witnessed, respecting which no human 
 testimony could give any information. It represents the cre- 
 ation of man as the last of a long series of events, of which it 
 professes to inform us. The knowledge of these events can 
 not have been a matter of human experience. If at all en- 
 titled to confidence, the narrative must, therefore, be received 
 as an inspired document, not handed down by any doubtful 
 tradition, but existing as originally transfused into human 
 language from the mind of the Author of nature himself. 
 This view is in no way affected by the hypothesis, already 
 mentioned, that the first chapters of Genesis were compiled 
 by Moses from more ancient documents. This merely throws 
 back the revelation to a higher antiquity, and requires us to 
 suppose the agency of two inspired men instead of one. 
 
 It would be out of place here to enter into any argument 
 for the inspiration of Scripture, or to attempt to define the 
 nature of that inspiration. I merely wish to impress on the 
 
Objects and Nature of a Revelation of Origins. 5 1 
 
 mind of the reader that without the admission of its reality, 
 or at least its possibility, our present inquiry becomes merely 
 a matter of curious antiquarian research. AVe must also on 
 this ground distinguish between the claims of the Scriptures 
 and those of tradition or secular history, when they refer to 
 the same facts. The traditions and cosmogonies of some 
 ancient nations have many features in common with the Bible 
 narrative ; and, on the supposition that Moses compiled from 
 older documents, they may be portions of this more ancient 
 sacred truth, but clothed in the varied garments of the fanci- 
 ful mythological creeds which have sprung up in later and 
 more degenerate times. Such fragments may safely be re- 
 ceived as secondary aids to the understanding of the authen- 
 tic record, but it would be folly to seek in them for the whole 
 truth. They are but the scattered masses of ore, by tracing 
 which we may sometimes open up new and rich portions of 
 the vein of primitive lore from which they have been derived. 
 It is, however, quite necessary here formally to inquire if 
 there are any hypotheses short of that of plenary inspiration 
 which may allow us to attach any value whatever to this most 
 ancient document. I know but two views of this kind that 
 are worthy of any attention. 
 
 1. The Mosaic account of creation may be a result of an- 
 cient scientific inquiries, analogous to those of modern geol- 
 ogy- 
 
 2. It may be an allegorical or poetical mythus, not intend- 
 ed to be historical, but either devised for some extraneous 
 purpose, or consisting of the conjectures of some gifted in- 
 tellect. 
 
 These alternatives we may shortly consider, though the 
 materials for their full discussion can be furnished only by 
 facts to be subsequently stated. I am not aware that the 
 
52 The Origin of the World. 
 
 first of these views has been maintained by any modern 
 writer. Some eminent scientific men are, however, disposed 
 to adopt such an explanation of the ancient Hindoo hymns, 
 as well as of the cosmogony of Pythagoras, which bears evi- 
 dence of this origin ; and it may be an easy step to infer that 
 the Hebrew cosmogony was derived from some similar source. 
 Not many years ago such a supposition would have been re- 
 garded as almost insane. Then the science of antiquity was 
 only another name for the philosophy of Greece and Rome. 
 But in recent times we have seen Egypt disclose the ruins of 
 a mighty civilization, more grand and massive though less 
 elegant than that of Greece, and which had reached its acme 
 ere Greece had received its alphabet — a civilization which, 
 according to the Scripture history, is derived from that of the 
 primeval Cushite empire, which extended from the plains of 
 Shinar over all Southeastern Asia, but was crushed at its 
 centre before the dawn of secular history. We have now 
 little reason to doubt that Moses, when he studied the learn- 
 ing of Egypt, held converse with men who saw more clearly 
 and deeply into nature's mysteries than did Thales or Py- 
 thagoras, or even Aristotle.* Still later the remnants of old 
 
 * On this subject I may refer naturalists to the intimate acquaintance 
 with animals and their habits, indicated by the manner of their use as sa- 
 cred emblems, and as symbols in hieroglyphic writing. Another illustra- 
 tion is afforded by the Mosaic narrative of the miracles and plagues con- 
 nected with the exodus. The Egyptian king, on this occasion, consulted 
 the philosophers and migtirs. These learned men evidently regarded the 
 serpent-rod miracle as but a more skilful form of one of the tricks of ser- 
 pent-charmers. They showed Pharaoh the possibility of reddening the 
 Nile water by artificial means, or perhaps by the development of red al- 
 gae in it. They explained the inroad of frogs on natural principles, prob- 
 ably referring to the immense abundance ordinarily of the ova and tadpoles 
 of these creatures compared with that of the adults. But when the dust 
 of the land became gnats (" lice" in our version), this was a phenomenon 
 beyond their experience. Either the species was unknown to them, or its 
 
Objects and Nature of a Revelation of Origins. 5 
 
 'V 
 
 Nineveh have been exhumed from their long sepulture, and 
 antiquaries have been astonished by the discovery that knowl- 
 edge and arts, supposed to belong exclusively to far more re- 
 cent times, were in the days of the early Hebrew kings, and 
 probably very long previously, firmly established on the banks 
 of the Tigris. Such discoveries, when compared with hints 
 furnished by the Scriptures, tend greatly to exalt our ideas of 
 the state of civilization at the time when they were written ; 
 and we shall perceive, in the course of our inquiry, many ad- 
 ditional reasons for believing that the ancient Israelites were 
 much farther advanced in natural science than is commonly 
 supposed. 
 
 We have, however, no positive proof of such a theory, and 
 it is subject to many grave objections. The narrative itself 
 makes no pretension to a scientific origin, it quotes no au- 
 thority, and it is connected with no philosophical speculations 
 or deductions. It bears no internal evidence of havins: been 
 the result of inductive inquiry, but appeals at once to faith in 
 the truth of the great ultimate doctrine of absolute creation, 
 and then proceeds to detail the steps of the process, in the 
 manner of history as recorded by a witness, and not in the 
 manner of science tracing back effects to their causes. Far- 
 ther, it refers to conditions of our planet respecting which 
 science has even now attained to no conclusions supported 
 by evidence, and is not in a position to make dogmatic as- 
 sertions. The tone of all the ancient cosmogonies has in 
 
 production out of the dry ground was an anomaly, or they knew that no 
 larvae adequate to explain it had previously existed. In the case of this 
 plague, therefore, comparatively insignificant and easily simulated, they 
 honestly confessed — "This is the finger of God." No better evidence 
 could be desired that the savans here opposed to Moses were men of 
 high character and extensive observation. Many other facts of similar 
 tendency might be cited both from Moses and the Egyptian monuments. 
 
54 Ti^'^ Origin of the World, 
 
 these respects a resemblance to that of the Scriptures, and 
 bears testimony to a general impression pervading the mind 
 of antiquity that there was a divine and authoritative testi- 
 mony to the facts of creation, distinct from histor}-, philosoph- 
 ical speculation, or induction. 
 
 One of the boldest and simplest methods of this kind is 
 that followed by the authors of the " Types of 2vlankind," in 
 the attempt to assign a purely human origin to Genesis ist. 
 These writers admit the greater antiquity of the first chapter, 
 though assigning the whole of the book to a comparatively 
 modern date. They say: 
 
 "The 'document Jehovah'* does not especially concern 
 our present subject; and it is incomparable with the grander 
 conception of the more ancient and unknown writer of Gene- 
 sis I St. With extreme felicity of diction and conciseness of 
 plan, the latter has defined the most philosophical views of 
 antiquity upon cosmogony ; in fact so well that it has required 
 the palaeontological discoveries of the nineteenth century — at 
 least 2500 years after his death — to overthrow his septenary 
 arrangement of ' Creation ;' which, after all, would still be 
 correct enough in great principles, were it not for one indi- 
 vidual oversight and one unlucky blunder; not exposed, how- 
 ever, until long after his era, by post-Copernican astronomy. 
 The oversight is where he wrote (Gen. i. 6-8), ' Let there be 
 raquie,'' i.e., 2i firmament ; which proves that his notions of 
 *sky' (solid like the concavit}- of a copper basin, with stars 
 set as brilliants in the metal) were the same as those of ad- 
 jacent people of his time — indeed, of all men before the pub- 
 lication of Newton's 'Principia' and of Laplace's ' Mecanique 
 Ce'leste.' The blunder is where he conceives that aur, ' light,' 
 
 That in Genesis, chap. ii. 
 
Objects and Nature of a Revelation of Origins. 
 
 i)D 
 
 and iojn^ May* (Gen. i. 14-18), could have been physically 
 possible three whole days before the 'two great luminaries,' 
 Sun and Moon, \Yere created. These venial errors deducted, 
 his majestic song beautifully illustrates the simple process of 
 ratiocination through which — often without the slightest his- 
 torical proof of intercourse — different ' T3-pes of Mankind,' at 
 distinct epochas, and in countries widely apart, had arrived, 
 naturally, at cosmogonic conclusions similar to the doctrines 
 of that Hebraical school of which his harmonic and melodi- 
 ous numbers remain a magnificent memento. 
 
 " That process seems to have been the following : The an- 
 cients knew, as we do, that man is upon the earth ; and they 
 were persuaded, as we are, that his appearance was preceded 
 by unfathomable depths of time. Unable (as we are still) to 
 measure periods antecedent to man by any chronological si2Lnd- 
 ard, the ancients rationally reached the tabulation of some 
 events anterior to man through induction — a method not orig- 
 inal with Lord Bacon, because known to St. Paul ; * for his 
 unseen things from the creation of the world, his power and 
 Godhead, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that 
 are made' (Rom. i., 20). Man, they felt, could not have 
 lived upon earth without animal food ; ergo, * cattle ' pre- 
 ceded him, together with birds, reptiles, fishes, etc. Noth- 
 ing living, they knew, could have existed without light and 
 heat ; ergo, the solar system antedated animal life, no less 
 than the legetation indispensable for animal support. But 
 terrestrial plants can not grow without earth; ergo, that dr}' 
 land had to be separated from pre-existent 'waters.' Their 
 geological speculations inclining rather to the XcptuniaJi than 
 to the Plutonian theor}- — for Werner ever preceded Hutton — 
 the ancients found it difficult to 'divide the waters from the 
 waters ' without interposing a metallic substance that'di\ided 
 
56 The Origin of the World. 
 
 the waters which were tmder the firmament from the waters 
 that were above the firmament j' so they inferred, logically, 
 that 2. firmament must have been actually created for this ob- 
 ject. \E.g., ' The windows of the skies ' (Gen. vii., 11) ; ' the 
 waters above the skies ' (Psa. cxlviii., 4).] Before the 'waters ' 
 (and here is the peculiar error of the genesiacal bard) some 
 of the ancients claimed the pre-existence of light (a view 
 adopted by the writer of Genesis ist) ; while others asserted 
 that ' chaos ' prevailed. Both schools united, however, in the 
 conviction that darkness — Erebus — anteceded all other C7'e- 
 ated thifigs. What, said these ancients, can have existed be- 
 fore the ' darkness ?' £ns entiiun, the Creator, was the 
 humbled reply. Elohi?n is the Hebrew vocal expression of 
 that climax ; to define whose attributes, save through the 
 phenomena of creation, is an attempt we leave to others more 
 presumptuous than ourselves." 
 
 The problem here set to the " unknown " author of Gene- 
 sis is a hard one — given the one fact that " man is " to find 
 in detail how the world was formed in a series of preceding 
 ages of vast duration. Is it possible that such a problem 
 could have been so worked out as to have endured the test 
 of three thousand years, and the scrutiny of modern science ? 
 But there is an "oversight" in one detail, and a "blunder" 
 in another. By reference farther on, the reader will find un- 
 der the chapters on "Light" and the "Atmosphere" that the 
 oversight and blunder are those not of the writer of Genesis, 
 but of the learned American ethnologists in the nineteenth 
 century ; a circumstance which cuts in two ways in defense 
 of the ancient author so unhappily unknown to his modern 
 critics. 
 
 The second of the alternatives above referred to, the myth- 
 ical hypothesis, has been advanced and ably supported, es- 
 
Objects and Nature of a Revelation of Origins. 57 
 
 pecially on the continent of Europe, and by such English 
 writers as are disposed to apply the methods of modern 
 rationalistic criticism to the Bible. In one of its least ob- 
 jectionable forms it is thus stated by Professor Powell : 
 
 " The narrative, then, of six periods of creation, followed by 
 a seventh similar period of rest and blessing, was clearly de- 
 signed by adaptation to their conceptions to enforce upon the 
 Israelites the institution of the Sabbath; and in whatever way 
 its details may be interpreted, it can not be regarded as an 
 historical statement of the primeval institution of a Sabbath ; 
 a supposition which is indeed on other grounds sufficiently 
 improbable, though often adopted. * * =* If^ then, we would 
 avoid the alternative of being compelled to admit what must 
 amount to impugning the truth of those portions at least of 
 the Old Testament, we surely are bound to give fair consider- 
 ation to the only suggestion which can set us entirely free 
 from all the difficulties arising from the geological contra- 
 diction which does and must exist against any conceivable 
 interpretation which retains the assertion of the historical 
 character of the details of the narrative, as referring to the 
 distinct transactions of each of the seven periods. * * * The 
 one great fact couched in the general assertion that all things 
 were created by the sole power of one Supreme Being is the 
 whole of the representation to which an historical character 
 can be assigned. As to the particular form in which the de- 
 scriptive narrative is conveyed, we merely affirm that it can 
 not be history — it may be poetry."* 
 
 The general ground on which this view is entertained is 
 the supposed irreconcilable contradiction between the literal 
 interpretation of the Mosaic record and the facts of geology. 
 
 * Kitto's Cyclopaedia, art. " Creation." 
 
 C 2 
 
58 The Origin of the World. 
 
 The real amount of this difficulty we are not, in the present 
 stage of our inquiry, prepared to estimate. We can, however, 
 readily understand that the hypothesis depends on the sup- 
 position that the narrative of creation is posterior in date to 
 the Mosaic ritual, and that this plain and circumstantial series 
 of statements is a fable designed to support the Sabbatical 
 institution, instead of the rite being, as represented in the 
 Bible itself, a commemoration of the previously recorded fact. 
 This is, fortunately, a gratuitous assumption, contrary to the 
 probable date of the documents, as deduced from internal 
 evidence and from comparison with the Assyrian and other 
 cosmogonies ; and it also completely ignores the other mani- 
 fest uses mentioned under our first head. If proved, it would 
 give to the whole the character of a pious fraud, and would 
 obviously render any comparison with the geological history 
 of the earth altogether unnecessary. While, therefore, it 
 must be freely admitted that the Mosaic narrative can not 
 be history, in so far at least as history is a product of human 
 experience, we can not admit that it is a poetical mythus, or, 
 in other words, that it is destitute of substantial truth, unless 
 proved by good evidence to be so ; and, when this is proved, 
 we must also admit that it is quite undeserving of the credit 
 which it claims as a revelation from God. 
 
 Since, therefore, the events recorded in the first chapter of 
 Genesis were not witnessed by man ; since there is no reason 
 to believe that they were discovered by scientific inquiry ; 
 and since, if true, they can not be a poetical myth, we must, 
 in the mean time, return to our former supposition that the 
 Mosaic cosmogony is a direct revelation from the Creator. 
 In this respect, the position of this part of the earth's Biblical 
 history resembles that of prophecy. Writers may accurately 
 relate contemporary events, or those which belong to the hu- 
 
Objects and Nature of a Revelation of Origins. 59 
 
 man period, without inspiration ; but the moment that they 
 profess accurately to foretell the history of the future, or to 
 inform us of events which preceded the human period, we 
 must either believe them to be inspired, or reject them as 
 impostors or fanatics. Many attempts have been made to 
 find intermediate standing -ground, but it is so precarious 
 that the nicest of our modern critical balancers have been 
 unable to maintain themselves upon it. 
 
 Having thus determined that the Mosaic cosmogony, in its 
 grand general features, must either be inspired or worthless, 
 we have further to inquire to what extent it is necessary to 
 suppose that the particular details and mode of expression 
 of the narrative, and the subsequent allusions to nature in 
 the Bible, must be regarded as entitled to this position. We 
 may conceive them to have been left to the discretion of the 
 writers ; and, in that case, they will merely represent the 
 knowledge of nature actually existing at the time. On the 
 other hand, their accuracy may have been secured by the di- 
 vine afflatus. Few modern writers have been disposed to in- 
 sist on the latter alternative, and have rather assumed that 
 these references and details are accommodated to the state 
 of knowledge at the time. I must observe here, however, 
 that a careful consideration of the facts gives to a naturalist 
 a much higher estimate of the real value of the observations 
 of nature embodied in the Scriptures than that which divines 
 have ordinarily entertained; and, consequently, that if we sup- 
 pose them of human origin, we must be prepared to modify 
 the views generally entertained of early Oriental simplicity 
 and ignorance. The truth is, that a large proportion of the 
 difficulties in Scriptural natural history appear to have arisen 
 from want of such accommodation to the -low state of the 
 knowledge of nature among translators and expositors; and 
 
6o TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 this is precisely what we should expect in a veritable revela- 
 tion. Its moral and religious doctrines were slowly devel- 
 oped, each new light illuminating previous obscurities. Its 
 human history comes out as evidence of its truth, when com- 
 pared with monumental inscriptions \ and why should not 
 the All-wise have constructed as skilfully its teachings re- 
 specting his own works? There can be no doubt whatever 
 that the Scripture writers intended to address themselves to 
 the common mind, which now as then requires simple and 
 popular teaching, but they w^ere under obligation to give 
 truthful statements ; and we need not hesitate to say, with 
 Dr. Chalmers, in reference to a book making such claims as 
 those of the Bible : " There is no argument, saving that 
 grounded on the usages of popular language, which would 
 tempt us to meddle with the literalities of that ancient and, 
 as appears to us, authoritative document, any farther than 
 may be required by those conventionalities of speech which 
 spring from 'optical' impressions of nature."^ 
 
 Attempt as we may to disguise it, any other view is totally 
 unworthy of the great Ruler of the universe, especially in a 
 document characterized as emphatically the truth, and in a 
 
 * Much that is very silly has been written as to the extent of the sup- 
 posed " optical view" taken by the Hebrew writers ; many worthy liter- 
 ary men appearing to suppose that scientific views of nature must neces- 
 sarily be different from those which we obtain by the evidence of our 
 senses. The very contrary is the fact ; and so long as any writers state 
 correctly what they observe, without insisting on any fanciful hypotheses, 
 science has no fault to find with them. What science most detests is the 
 ignorant speculations of those who have not observed at all, or have ob- 
 served imperfectly. It is a leading excellence of the Hebrew Scriptures 
 that they state facts without giving any theories to account for them. It is, 
 on the contrary, the circumstance that unscientific writers will not be con- 
 tent to be "optical," but must theorize, that spoils much of our modern 
 literature, especially in its descriptions of nature. 
 
Objects and Nature of a Revelation of Origins. 6i 
 
 moral revelation, in which statements respecting natural 
 objects need not be inserted, unless they could be rendered 
 at once truthful and illustrative of the higher objects of the 
 revelation. The statement often so flippantly made that the 
 Bible was not intended to teach natural history has no appli- 
 cation here. Spiritual truths are no doubt shadowed forth in 
 the Bible by material emblems, often but rudely resembling 
 them, because the nature of human thought and language 
 render this necessary, not only to the unlearned, but in some 
 degree to all ; but this principle of adaptation can not be 
 applied to plain material facts. Yet a confusion of these two 
 very distinct cases appears to prevail almost unaccountably 
 in the minds of many expositors. They tell us that the 
 Scriptures ascribe bodily members to the immaterial God, 
 and typify his spiritual procedure by outward emblems ; and 
 this they think analogous to such doctrines as a solid firma- 
 ment, a plane earth, and others of a like nature, which they 
 ascribe to the sacred writers. We shall find that the writers 
 of the Scriptures had themselves much clearer views, and 
 that, even in poetical language, they take no such liberties 
 with truth. 
 
 As an illustration of the extent to which this doctrine of 
 " accommodation " carries us beyond the limits of fair interpre- 
 tation, I cite the following passage from one of the ablest and 
 most judicious writers on the subject :* "It was the opinion 
 of the ancients that the earth, at a certain height, was sur- 
 rounded by a transparent hollow sphere of solid matter, which 
 they called the firmament. When rain descended, they sup- 
 posed that it was through windows or holes made in the 
 crystalline curtain suspended in mid-heavens. To these 
 
 * Prof. Hitchcock. 
 
62 The Origin of the World. 
 
 notions the language of the Bible is frequently conformed. 
 * =* * But the most decisive example I have to give on this 
 subject is derived from astronomy. Until the time of Coper- 
 nicus no opinion respecting natural phenomena was thought 
 better established than that the earth is fixed immovably in 
 the centre of the universe, and that the heavenly bodies move 
 diurnally round it. To sustain this view the most decisive 
 language of Scripture might be quoted. God is there said to 
 have '' established the fowidatiojis of the earthy so that they could 
 not he 7-emoved forever /' and the sacred writers expressly de- 
 clare that the heavenly bodies arise and set^ and nowhere al- 
 lude to any proper motion of the earth." 
 
 Will it be believed that, with the exception of the poetical 
 expression, " windows of heaven," and the common forms of 
 speech relating to sunrise and sunset, the above "decisive" 
 instances of accommodation have no foundation whatever in 
 the language of Scripture. The doctrine of the rotation of 
 solid celestial spheres around the earth belongs to a Greek 
 philosophy which arose after the Hebrew cosmogony was 
 complete ; and though it occurs in the Septuagint and other 
 ancient versions, it is not based on the Hebrew original. In 
 truth, we know that those Grecian philosophers — of the Ionic 
 and Pythagorean schools — who lived nearest the times of the 
 Hebrew writers, and who derived the elements of their 
 science from Egypt and Western Asia, taught very different 
 doctrines. How absurd, then, is it thus to fasten upon the 
 sacred writers, contrary to their own words, the views of a 
 school of astronomy which probably arose long after their 
 time, when we know that more accurate ideas prevailed 
 nearer their epoch. Secondly, though there is some reason 
 for stating that the " ancients," though certainly not those of 
 Israel, believed in celestial spheres supporting the heavenly 
 
Objects and Nature of a Revelation of Origins. 63 
 
 bodies, I suspect that the doctrine of a soHd vault support- 
 ing the clouds^ except as a mere poetical or mythological fancy, 
 is a product of the imagination of the theologians and closet 
 philosophers of a more modern time. The testimony of 
 men's senses appears to be in favor of the whole universe 
 revolving around a plane earth, though the oldest astronom- 
 ical school with which we are acquainted suspected that this 
 is an illusion ; but the every-day observation of the most un- 
 lettered man who treads the fields and is wet with the mists 
 and rains must convince him that there is no sub-niibilar 
 solid sphere. If, therefore, the Bible had taught such a doc- 
 trine, it would have shocked the common-sense even of the 
 plain husbandmen to whom it was addressed, and could have 
 found no fit audience except among a portion of the literati 
 of comparatively modern times. Thirdly, with respect to the 
 foundations of the earth, I may remark that in the tenth verse 
 of Genesis there occurs a definition as precise as that of any 
 lexicon — " and God called the dry land earth ;" consequent- 
 ly it is but fair to assume that the earth afterwards spoken of 
 as supported above the waters is the dry land or continental 
 masses of the earth, and no geologist can object to the state- 
 ment that the dry land is supported above the waters by 
 foundations or pillars. 
 
 We shall find in our examination of the document itself 
 that all the instances of such accommodation which have 
 been cited by writers on this subject are as baseless as those 
 above referred to. It is much to be regretted that so many 
 otherwise useful expositors have either wanted that familiarity 
 with the aspects of external nature by which all the Hebrew 
 writers are characterized, or have taken too little pains to 
 ascertain the actual meaning of the references to creation 
 which they find in the Bible. I may further remark that if 
 
64 The Origin of the World. 
 
 such instances of accommodation could be found in the later 
 poetical books, it would be extremely unfair to apply them as 
 aids in the interpretation of the plain, precise, and unadorned 
 statements of the first chapters of Genesis. There is, how- 
 ever, throughout even the higher poetry of the Bible, a truth- 
 ful representation and high appreciation of nature for which 
 we seek in vain in any other poetry, and we may fairly trace 
 this in part to the influence of the cosmogony w^hich appears 
 in its first chapter. The Hebrew was thus taught to recog- 
 nize the unity of nature as the work of an Almighty Intelli- 
 gence, to regard all its operations as regulated by his un- 
 changing law or " decree," and to venerate it as a revelation 
 of his supreme wisdom and goodness. On this account he 
 was likely to regard careful observation and representation 
 with as scrupulous attention as the modern naturalist. Nor 
 must we forget that the Old Testament literature has descend- 
 ed to us through two dark ages — that of Greek and Roman 
 polytheism and of Middle Age barbarism — and that we must 
 not confound its tenets with those of either. The religious 
 ideas of both these ages were favorable to certain forms of 
 literature and art, but eminently unfavorable to the success- 
 ful prosecution of the study of nature. Hence we have a 
 right to expect in the literature of the golden age of primeval 
 monotheism more affinity with the ideas of modern science 
 than in any intermediate time; and the truthful delineation 
 which the claims of the Bible to inspiration require might 
 have been, as already hinted, to a certain extent secured 
 merely by the reflex influence of its earlier statements, with- 
 out the necessity of our supposing that illustrations of this 
 kind in the later books came directly from the Spirit of God. 
 Our discussion of this part of the subject has necessarily 
 been rather desultory, and the arguments adduced must de- 
 
Objects and Nature of a Revelation of Origins. 65 
 
 pend for their full confirmation on the results of our future 
 inquiries. The conclusions arrived at may be summed up as 
 follows : I. That the Mosaic cosmogony must be considered, 
 like the prophecies of the Bible, to claim the rank of inspired 
 teaching, and must depend for its authority on the maintenance 
 of that claim. 2, That the incidental references to nature in 
 other parts of Scripture indicate, at least, the influence of 
 these earlier teachings, and of a pure monotheistic faith, in 
 creating a high and just appreciation of nature among the 
 Hebrew people. 
 
 It is now necessary to inquire in what precise form this re- 
 markable revelation of the origin of the world has been given. - 
 I have already referred to the hypothesis that it represents a 
 vision of creation presented to the mind of a seer, as if in a 
 series of pictures which he represents to us in words. This 
 is perhaps the most intelligible conception of the manner of 
 communication of a revelation from God; and inasmuch as it 
 is that referred to in other parts of the Bible as the mode of 
 presentation of the future to inspired prophets, there can be 
 no impropriety in supposing it to have been the means of 
 communicating the knowledge of the unknown past. We 
 may imagine the seer — perhaps some aboriginal patriarch, 
 long before the time of Moses — perhaps the first man himself 
 — wrapt in ecstatic vision, having his senses closed to all the 
 impressions of the present time, and looking as at a moving 
 procession of the events of the earth's past history, presented 
 to him in a series of apparent days and nights. In the first 
 chapter of Genesis he rehearses this divine vision to us, not 
 in poetry, but in a series of regularly arranged parts or 
 strophes, thrown into a sort of rhythmical order fitted to im- 
 press them on the memory, and to allow them to be handed 
 down from mouth to mouth, perhaps through successive gen- 
 
66 ' The Origin of the World. 
 
 erations of men, before they could be fixed in a written form 
 of words. Though the style can scarcely be called poetical, 
 since its expressions are obviously literal and unadorned by 
 figures of speech, the production may not unfairly be called 
 the Song or Ballad of Creation, and it presents an Archaic 
 simplicity reminding us of the compositions of the oldest and 
 rudest times, while it has also an artificial and orderly ar- 
 rangement, much obscured by its division into verses and chap- 
 ters in our Bibles. It is undoubtedly also characterized by a 
 clearness and grandeur of expression very striking and majes- 
 tic, and which shows that it was written by and intended for 
 men of no mean and contracted minds, but who could grasp 
 the great problems of the origin of things, and comprehend 
 and express them in a bold and vigorous manner. It may be 
 well, before proceeding farther, to present to the reader this 
 ancient document in a form more literal and intelligible, and 
 probably nearer to its original dress, than that in which we are 
 most familiar with it in our English Bibles : 
 
 THE ABORIGINAL SONG OF CREATION. 
 Beginning. 
 
 In the Beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth, 
 
 And the Earth was formless and empty, 
 
 And darkness on the surface of the deep, 
 
 And the Breath of God moved on the Surface of the Waters. 
 
 Day One. 
 
 And God said— '' Let Light be," 
 
 And Light was. 
 And God saw the Light that it was good. 
 
 And God called the Light Day, 
 
 And the darkness he called Night. 
 And Evening was and Morning was — Day one. 
 
 Day Second. 
 
 And God said — " Let there be an Expanse in the midst of the waters, 
 
Objects and Nature of a Revelation of Origins. 6y 
 
 And let it divide the waters from the waters." 
 
 And God made the Expanse, 
 
 And divided the waters below the Expanse from the waters above 
 
 the Expanse. 
 And it was so. 
 
 And God called the Expanse Heavens. 
 And Evening was and Morning was, a Second Day. 
 
 Day Third. 
 
 And God said — "Let the waters under the Heavens be gathered into 
 
 one place, 
 And let the Dry Land appear." 
 And it was so. 
 
 And God called the Dry Land Earth, 
 And the gathering of waters called he Seas. 
 And God saw that it was good. 
 And God said — *' Let the earth shoot forth herbage. 
 The Herb yielding seed and the fruit-tree yielding fruit containing 
 
 seed after its kind, on the earth." 
 And it was so". 
 
 And the earth brought forth herbage, 
 
 The Herb yielding seed and the Tree yielding fruit whose seed is in 
 it after its kind. 
 And God saw that it was good. 
 And Evening was and Morning was, a Third Day. 
 
 Day Fourth. 
 
 And God said — "Let there be Luminaries in the Expanse of Heaven, 
 
 To divide the day from the night. 
 
 And let them be for Signs and for Seasons, 
 
 And for Days and for Years. 
 
 And let them be Luminaries in the Expanse of Heaven 
 
 To give light on the earth." 
 
 And it was so. 
 
 And God made two great Luminaries, 
 
 The greater Luminary to rule the day. 
 
 The lesser Luminary to rule the night, 
 
 The Stars also. 
 
 And God placed them in the Expanse of Heaven 
 
6S TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 To give light upon the earth, 
 
 And to rule over the day and over the night, 
 
 And to divide the light from the darkness. 
 And God saw that it was good. 
 And Evening was and Morning was, a Fourth Day. 
 
 Day Fifth. 
 
 And God said — " Let the waters swarm with swarmers, having life, 
 
 And let winged animals fly over the earth on the surface of the ex- 
 panse of heaven." 
 
 And God created great Reptiles, 
 
 And every living thing that moveth, 
 
 With which the waters swarmed after their kind, 
 
 And every winged bird after its kind. 
 And God saw that it was good. 
 
 And God blessed them, saying — 
 
 " Be fruitful and multiph-, 
 
 And fill the waters of the sea ; 
 
 And let birds multiply in the land." 
 And Evening was and Morning was, a Fifth Day. 
 
 Day Sixth. 
 
 A7id God said — " Let the Land bring forth living things after their 
 
 kind, 
 Herbivores and smaller mammals and Carnivores after their kind." 
 And it was so. 
 
 And God made all Carnivores after their kind, 
 And all Herbivores after their kind. 
 And all minor mammals after their kind. 
 And God saw that it was good. 
 And God said — " Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, 
 And let him have dominion over the fish in the sea 
 And over the birds of the heavens, 
 And over the Herbivora, 
 And over the Earth, 
 
 And over all the minor animals that creep upon the earth." 
 And God created man in his own image. 
 In the image of God created he him, 
 Male and female created he them. 
 
Objects and Nature of a Revelation of Origins. 69 
 
 And God blessed them. 
 
 And God said unto them — 
 
 " Be fruitful and multipl}', 
 
 And replenish the earth and subdue it, 
 
 And have dominion over the fishes of the sea 
 
 And over the birds of the air, 
 
 And over all the animals that move upon the earth." 
 
 And God said— '' Behold, I have given you all herbs yielding seed, 
 
 Which are on the surface of the whole earth, 
 
 And every tree with fruit having seed, 
 
 They shall be unto you for food. 
 
 And to all the animals of the land 
 
 And to all the birds of the heavens, 
 
 And to all things moving on the land having the breath of life, 
 
 I have given every green herb for food." 
 And it was so. 
 And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold it was very 
 
 good. 
 And Evening was and Morning was, a Sixth Day. 
 
 Day Seventh. 
 
 Thus the Heavens and the Earth were finished, 
 
 And all the hosts of them. 
 
 And on the seventh day God ended the work which he had made. 
 
 And he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had 
 
 made. 
 And God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, 
 Because that in it he rested from all his work that he had created and 
 made. 
 
70 The Origin of the World. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 OBJECTS AND NATURE OF A REVELATION OF ORIGINS 
 
 — Contimied. 
 
 "What if earth 
 Be but a shadow of heaven, and things therein 
 Each to the other like ; more than on earth is thought." 
 
 Milton. 
 
 (3) Character of the Biblical Cosmogo?iy, and getter al Views 
 of Nature which it Co7itains or to which it Leads. — Much of 
 what appertains to the character of the revelation of origins 
 has been anticipated under previous heads. We have only 
 to read the Song of Creation, as given in the last chapter, to 
 understand its power and influence as a beginning of relig- 
 ious doctrine. The revelation was written for plain men in 
 the infancy of the world. Imagine Chaldean or Hebrew 
 shepherd listening to these majestic lines from the lips of 
 some ancient patriarch, and receiving them as truly the 
 words of God. What a grand opening to him of both the 
 seen and unseen w^orlds ! Henceforth he has no super- 
 stitious dread of the stars above, or of the lightning and 
 thunder, or of the dark woods and flowing waters beneath. 
 They are all the works of the one Creator, the same Creator 
 who is his own Maker, in whose image and shadow he is 
 made. He can look up now to the heavens or around upon 
 .the earth, and see in all the handiwork of God, and can wor- 
 ship God through all. He can see that the power that cares 
 
Objects and Nature of a Revelation of Origins. 71 
 
 for the birds and the flo\Yers of the field cares for him. He 
 is no longer the slave and sport of unknown and dreadful 
 powers ; they are God's workmanship and under his control 
 — nay, God has given him a mission to subdue and rule over 
 them. So these noble words raise him to a new manhood, 
 and emancipate him from the torture of endless fears, and 
 open to him vast new fields of thought and inquiry, which 
 may enrich him with boundless treasures of new religious 
 and intellectual wealth. Imagine still farther that he wan- 
 ders into those great cities which are the seats of the idola- 
 tries of his time. He enters magnificent temples, sees elab- 
 orately decorated altars, huge images, gorgeous ceremonials, 
 priests gay in vestments and imposing in numbers. He is 
 invited to bow down before the bull Apis, to worship the 
 statue of Belus or of Ishtar, of Osiris or of Isis. But this is 
 not in his book of origins. All these things are contrivances 
 of man, not w^orks of God, and their aim is to invite him to 
 adore that which is merely his fellow-creature, that which he 
 has the divine commission to subdue and rule. So our 
 primitive Puritan turns away. He will rather raise an altar 
 of rough stones in the desert, and worship the unseen yet 
 real Creator, the God that has no local habitation in temples 
 made with hands, yet is everywhere present. Such is the 
 moral elevation to which this revelation of origins raises hu- 
 manity ; and when there was added to it the farther history 
 of primeval innocence, of the fall, and of the promise of a 
 Redeemer, and of the fate of the godless antediluvians, there 
 was a whole system of religion, pure and elevating, and plac- 
 ing the Abrahamidce, who for ages seem alone to have held 
 to it, on a plane of spiritual vantage immeasurably above that 
 of other nations. Farther, every succeeding prophet whose 
 works are included in the sacred canon, following up these 
 
72 The Origin of the World. 
 
 doctrines in the same spirit, and added new treasures of di- 
 vine knowledge from age to age. 
 
 But admitting all this, it may be asked, Are these ancient 
 records of any value to us ? ]\Iay we not now dispense v.'itli 
 them, and trust to the light of science ? The infinitely varied 
 and discordant notions of our modern literature on these 
 great questions of origin, the incapacity of any philosophical 
 system to reach the common mind for practical purposes, 
 and the baseless character of any religious system which 
 does not build on these great primitive truths, give a suffi- 
 cient answer. Farther, we may affirm that the greatest and 
 widest generalizations of our modern science have, in so far 
 as they are of practical importance, been anticipated in the 
 revelations of the Bible, and that in the cosmogony of Gene- 
 sis and its continuation in the other sacred books we have 
 general views of the universe as broad as those of any phi- 
 losophies, ancient or modern. This is a hard test for our 
 revelation, but it can be endured, and we may shortly inquire 
 what we find in the Bible of such great general truths. 
 
 Many may be disposed to admit the accurate delineation 
 of natural facts open to human observation in the sacred 
 Scriptures, who may not be prepared to find in these ancient 
 books any general views akin to those of the ancient philos- 
 ophers, or to those obtained by inductive processes in mod- 
 ern times. Yet views of this kind are scattered through the 
 Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, and are a natural out- 
 growth and development of the great facts and principles 
 asserted in the first chapter of Genesis. They resolve 
 themselves, almost as a matter of course, into the two lead- 
 ing ideas of order and adaptation. I have already quoted 
 the eloquent admission by Baron Humboldt of the presence 
 of these ideas of the cosmos in Psalm civ. They are both 
 
Objects and Natttre of a Revelation of Origins. 73 
 
 conspicuous in the narrative of creation, and equally so in a 
 great number of other passages. " Order is heaven's first 
 law j and the second is, like unto it — that every thing serves 
 an end. This is the sum of all science. These are the 
 two mites, even all that she hath, which she throws into the 
 treasury of the Lord ; and, as she does so in faith. Eternal 
 Wisdom looks on and approves the deed."* These two 
 mites, lawfully acquired by science, by her independent exer- 
 tions, she may, however, recognize as of the same coinage 
 with the treasure already laid up in the rich storehouse of 
 the Hebrew literature; but in a peculiar and complex form, 
 which may be illustrated under the following general state- 
 ments : 
 
 I. The Scriptures assert invariable natural law, and con- 
 stantly recurring cycles in nature. Natural law is expressed 
 as the ordinance or decree of Jehovah. From the oldest of 
 the Hebrew books I select the following examples : f 
 
 ** When he made a decree for the rain, 
 And a way for the thunder-flash." 
 
 — Job xxviii., 26. 
 
 " Knowest thou the ordinances of the heavens ? 
 Canst thou establish a dominion even over the earth ?" 
 
 — Job xxxviii., 33. 
 
 The later books give us such views as the following : 
 
 ** He hath established them [the heavens] for ever and ever ; 
 He hath made a decree which shall not pass." 
 
 — Psa. cxlviii., 6. 
 
 * McCosh, " Typical Forms and Special Ends." 
 
 1 1 adopt that view of the date of Job which makes il precede the Exo- 
 dus, because the religious ideas of the book are patriarchal, and it contains 
 no allusions to the Hebrew history or institutions. Were I to suggest an 
 hypothesis as to its origin, it would be that it was written or found by 
 
 D 
 
74 The Origin of the World. 
 
 " Thou art forever, O Jehovah, thy word is established in the heavens ; 
 
 Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth ; 
 
 They continue this day according to thine ordinances, for all are thy 
 
 servants." _ 
 
 — rsa. cxix., 90. 
 
 " When he established the clouds above ; 
 
 "When he strengthened the fountains of the deep ; 
 
 When he gave to the sea his decree, 
 
 That the waters should not pass his commandment ; 
 
 When he appointed the foundations of the earth." 
 
 — Prov. viii., 28. 
 
 Many similar instances \vill be found in succeeding pages; 
 and in the mean time we may turn to the idea of recurring 
 cycles, which forms the starting-point of the reasonings of 
 Solomon on the current of human affairs, in the book of 
 Ecclesiastes : " One generation passeth away, and another 
 generation cometh ; but the earth abideth for the ages. The 
 sun ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteneth to its 
 place whence it arose. The wind goeth toward the south, 
 and turneth unto the north. It whirleth about continually, 
 and returneth again according to its circuits. All the rivers 
 run into the sea, yet the sea doth not overflow ; unto the 
 place whence the rivers came, thither they return again." I 
 might fill pages with quotations more or less illustrative of 
 the statement in proof of which the above texts are cited; but 
 enough has been given to show that the doctrine of the Bible 
 is not that of fortuitous occurrence, or of materialism, or of 
 pantheism, or of arbitrary supernaturalism, but of invariable 
 natural law representing the decree of a wise and unchanging 
 Creator. It is a common but groundless and shallow charge 
 against the Bible that it teaches an '• arbitrary supernatural- 
 Moses when in exile, and published among his countrymen in Eg}'pt, to 
 revive their monotheistic religion, and cheer them under the apparent de- 
 r,ertion of their God and the evils of their bondage. 
 
Objects and Nature of a Revelation of Origins. 75 
 
 ism." What it does teach is that all nature is regulated by 
 the laws of God, which like himself are unchanging, but which 
 are so complex in their relations and adjustments that they 
 allow of infinite variety, and do not exclude even miraculous 
 intervention, or what appears to our limited intelligence as 
 such. In opposition to this, it is true, some physicists have 
 held that natural law is a fatal necessity.* If they mean by 
 this a merely hypothetical necessity that certain effects must 
 follow if certain laws act, this is in accordance with the Bib- 
 lical view, for nothing can resist the \\\\\ of God. But if they 
 mean an absolute necessity that these laws can not be sus- 
 pended or counteracted by higher laws, or by the will of the 
 Creator, they assert what is not only contrary to Scripture, but 
 absurd, for " blind metaphysical necessity, which is the same 
 always and everywhere, could produce no variety of things."! 
 It could lead merely to a dead and inert equilibrium. On the 
 hypothesis of mere physical necessity, the universe either never 
 could have existed, or must have come to an end infinite ages 
 ago, which is the same thing. Only on the hypothesis of law 
 proceeding from an intelligent will can we logically account 
 for nature. 
 
 2. The Bible recognizes progress and development in nat- 
 ure. At the very outset we have this idea embodied in the 
 gradual elaboration of all things in the six creative periods, 
 rising from the formless void of the beginning, through suc- 
 cessive stages of inorganic and organic being, up to Eden 
 and to man. Beyond this point the work of creation stops; 
 but there is to be an occupation and improvement of the 
 whole earth by man spreading from Eden. This process is 
 arrested or impeded by sin and the fall. Here commences 
 
 * Tyndall seems to hold this. t Newton. 
 
76 The Origin of the World, 
 
 the special province of the Bible, in explaining the means of 
 recovery from the fall, and of the establishment of a new 
 spiritual and moral kingdom, and finally of the restoration of 
 Eden in a new heaven and earth. All this is moral, and re- 
 lates to man, in so far as the present state of things is con- 
 cerned ; but we have the commentary of Jesus : " My Father 
 worketh hitherto, and I work ;" the remarkable statement of 
 Paul, that the whole creation is involved in the results of 
 man's moral fall and restoration, and the equally remarkable 
 one that the Redeemer is also the maker of the "worlds" or 
 ages of the earth's physical progress, as well as of the future 
 " new heaven and new earth." Peter also rebukes indignant- 
 ly those scoffers who maintained that all things had remained 
 as they are since the beginning ; and refers to the creation 
 week and to the deluge as earnests of the great changes yet 
 in store for the earth.* 
 
 It is indeed curious to observe how in our version of the 
 Bible this idea of progress in the universe, or of " time-worlds," 
 as it has been called, has been variously replaced by the \vords 
 " world " and " eternity," owing to the defective ideas preva- 
 lent at the time when the translation was made. In the He- 
 brew Scriptures the term Olam, " age," and in the New Testa- 
 ment the equivalent term Aion have been thus treated, and 
 their real significance much obscured. Thus when it is said, 
 " by faith we understand that the worlds were framed," or " by 
 him God made the worlds"'\ or that certain of God's plans 
 have been hid "from the beginning of the world,''^X the refer- 
 ence is not to worlds in space, but to worlds in time, or ages 
 of God's working in the universe. So also these ages of God's 
 
 * John v., 17 ; Rom. viii., 22 ; Heb. i., 2 ; 2 Peter iii. 
 t Heb. i., 2. X Eph. iii., 9. 
 
Objects and Nature of a Revelation of Origins. 77 
 
 working are given to us as our only intelligible type of eter- 
 nity, of which absolutely we can have no conception. Thus 
 God's " eternal purpose " is his purpose of the ages. So when 
 he is the " King eternal,"* and in that capacity gives to his 
 people " life everlasting," he is the King of the ages, and gives 
 life of the ages. So in the noble hymn attributed to Moses 
 (Psalm xc), where our version has, "from everlasting to ever- 
 lasting thou art God," the original is, " from age to age thou 
 art, O God." It has perhaps been a defect of our modern 
 science that it has familiarized us merely with the existence 
 of worlds in space, and not with their existence in time. It 
 is only in comparatively modern times that the developments 
 of chronological geology and of physical astronomy have 
 brought before us, not only the long ages in which the earth 
 was passing through its formative stages, but also the fact 
 that still longer oeons are embraced in the history of the other 
 bodies of our solar system, and of the starry orbs and nebulae. 
 These grand conceptions were already embodied in the He- 
 brew revelation, and were used there as the means of giving 
 some faint approach to a conception of the unlimited exist- 
 ence of God himself, of the ages in which his creative work 
 has been going on, and of the future life he has prepared for 
 his redeemed people. 
 
 Such views of development and progress are not unknown 
 to many ancient cosmogonies and philosophical systems, but 
 they had no stable foundation in observed fact until the rise 
 of modern geology and physical astronomy; which enable us 
 to afnrm that, in addition to those changeless physical laws 
 which cause the bodies of the universe to wheel in unvarying 
 cycles, and all natural powers to reproduce themselves, and, in 
 
 * I Tim. i., 17. t Eph. iv., 11. 
 
78 TJic Origin of the World. 
 
 addition to those organic laws which produce unceasing suc- 
 cessions of living individuals, there is a higher law of prog- 
 ress. We can now trace back man, the animals and plants 
 his contemporaries, and others which preceded them, our con- 
 tinents and mountain ranges, and the solid rocks of which 
 they are composed — nay, the very fabric of the solar system 
 itself — to their several origins at distinct points of time; and 
 can maintain that since the earth began to wheel around the 
 sun, no succeeding year has seen it precisely as it was in the 
 year before. The old Hebrew record affirms, and I presume 
 scarcely any sane man really doubts, that this law of progress 
 emanates from the mind and power of one creative Being. 
 When men see in natural law only recurring cycles, they may 
 be pardoned for falling even into the absurdity of believing 
 in eternal succession; but \^ien they see change and prog- 
 ress, and this in a uniform direction, overmastering recurring 
 cycles, and introducing new objects and powers not account- 
 ed for by previous objects or powers, they are brought very 
 near to the presence of the Spiritual Creator. And hence, 
 although no science can reach back to the act of creation, 
 this doctrine is much more strongly held in our day by geol- 
 ogists than by physicists. It is quite true that the idea of 
 creative acts has been superseded to a great extent by that 
 of " creation by law," or by that of "evolution." Still behind 
 all there lies a primary creative power; and the validity of 
 these ideas and their bearing on theism and creation we shall 
 have to discuss in the sequel. In one thing only does the 
 Bible here part company with natural science. The Bible 
 goes on into the future, and predicts a final condition of our 
 planet, of which science can from its investigations learn 
 nothing. 
 
 3. The Bible recognizes purpose, use, and special adapta- 
 
Objects and Nature of a Revelation of Origins. 79 
 
 tion in nature. It is, in short, full of natural theology, akin 
 in some respects to that which has been so elaborately work- 
 ed out by so many modern writers. Numerous passages in 
 support of this will occur to every one who has read the 
 Scriptures. It is necessary here, however, to direct attention 
 to a distinction very obvious in Scripture, but not always 
 attended to by writers on this subject. The Bible maintains 
 the true "final cause" of all nature to be, not its material 
 and special adaptations or its value to man, but the pleasure 
 or satisfaction of the Creator himself In the earlier periods 
 of Creation, before man was upon the earth, God contemplates 
 his work and pronounces it good. The heavenly hosts praise 
 him, saying, " Thou hast created all things, and for thy pleas- 
 ure they are and were created." Further, the Bible repre- 
 sents intelligences higher than man as sharing in the delight 
 which may be derived from the contemplation of God's works. 
 When the earth first rose from the waters to greet the light, 
 " the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God 
 shouted for jo3\" There are many things in nature that 
 strongly impress the naturalist with this same view, that the 
 Creator takes pleasure in his works; and, like human genius 
 in its highest efforts, rejoices in production, even if no sen- 
 tient being should be ready to sympathize. The elaborate 
 structures of fossils, of which we have only fragmentary re- 
 mains, the profusion of natural objects of surpassing beauty 
 that grow and perish unseen by us, the delicate microscopic 
 mechanism of nearly all organic structures, point to other 
 reasons for beauty and order than those that concern man, or 
 the mere utilities of human beings; and though there are now 
 naturalists who deny absolutely that beauty is an object in 
 nature, and assign even the colors of flowers and insects to 
 utility alone, and this of a very low order, this doctrine is so 
 
8o The Origin of the World. 
 
 repulsive to our higher sentiments that there is little danger 
 of its general acceptance ; while the slightest consideration 
 shows that the utihties referred to could have been secured 
 without any of this consummate beauty associated with them, 
 and our perception of and delight in which mark in a way 
 beyond the ability of skepticism to cavil at our own spiritual 
 kinship with the Author of all this profusion of beauty. Yet 
 man is represented as the chief created being for whom this 
 earth has been prepared and designed. He obtains dominion 
 over it. A chosen spot is prepared for him, in which not only 
 his wants but his tastes are consulted ; and, being made in 
 the image of his Maker, his aesthetic sentiments correspond 
 with the beauties of the Maker's work, and he finds there 
 also food for his reason and imagination. This view of the 
 subject, as well as others already referred to, is finely repre- 
 sented in the address of the Almighty to Job.* 
 
 The Bible also very often refers to the special adapta- 
 tions of natural objects and laws to each other, and to the 
 promotion of the happiness of sentient creatures lower than 
 man. The 104th Psalm is replete with notices of such 
 adaptations, and so is the address to Job ; and indeed this 
 view seems hardly ever absent from the minds of the Hebrew 
 writers, but has its highest applications in the lilies of the 
 field, that toil not neither do they spin, and the sparrows that 
 are sold for a farthing, yet the heavenly Father has clothed 
 the one with surpassing beauty, and provides food for the 
 other, nor allows it to fall without his knowledge. I may, by 
 way of farther illustration, merely name a few of the adapta- 
 tions referred to in Job xxxviii. and the following chapters. 
 The winds and the clouds are so arranged as to afford the 
 
 * Job xxxviii. and xxxix. 
 
Objects and Nature of a Revelation of Origins. 8i 
 
 required supplies of moisture to the wilderness where.no man 
 is, to "cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth." 
 For similar objects the tempest is ordered, and the clouds 
 arranged " by wisdom." The adaptations of the wild ass, the 
 wild goat, the ostrich, the migratory birds, the horse, the hip- 
 popotamus, the crocodile, to their several habitats, modes of 
 life, and uses in nature, are most vividly sketched and applied 
 as illustrations of the consummate wisdom of the Creator, 
 which descends to the minutest details of organization and 
 habit. 
 
 It is to be observed here that in holding this doctrine of 
 use and adaptation in nature, the Bible is only consistent 
 with its own theory of rational theism. The Monotheist can 
 not refer nature to a conflict of antagonistic powers and 
 forces. He must recognize in it a unity of plan ; and even 
 those things which appear aberrant, irregular, or noxious 
 must have their place in this plan. Hence in the Bible God 
 is maker not only of the day but of the night, not only of the 
 peaceful cattle but of the voracious crocodile, not only of 
 the sunshine and shower but of the tornado and the earth- 
 quake. Further, in all these things God is manifested, so 
 that we may learn "his eternal power and divinity* from the 
 things which he has made," and in all these also there are 
 emblems of his relations to us. This argument from design 
 is in truth the only proof the Bible condescends to urge for 
 the existence of God ; and it is the only one in which in his 
 later days our great English philosopher Mill could see any 
 
 validity.! 
 
 If the reader happens to be familiar with the objections to 
 the doctrine of final causes, or teleology, in nature, urged in 
 
 * Romans i., 20. t Essays on Theism, 
 
 D2 
 
S2 TJlc Origin of the World. 
 
 our day by Spencer, Haeckel, and others, he will have seen 
 from the foregoing statements that these objections are in 
 themselves baseless, or inapplicable to this doctrine as main- 
 tained in the Bible. There is no consistency in the position 
 of men who, when they dig a rudely chipped flint out of a bed 
 of gravel, immediately infer an intelligent workman, and who 
 refuse to see any indication of a higher intelligence in the 
 creation of the workman himself It is a blind philosophy 
 which professes to see in primal atoms the "promise and 
 potency of mind," and which fails to perceive that such 
 potency is more inconceivable than the evidence of primary 
 and supreme mind. The men who maintain that wings were 
 not planned for flight, but that flight has produced wings, 
 and thousands of like propositions, are simply amusing them- 
 selves with paradoxes to which may very properly be applied 
 the strange word devised by Haeckel to express his theory of 
 nature — Dystekology, or purposelessness. It is to be borne 
 in mind, however, that the teleology of the Bible is not of that 
 narrow kind which would make man the sole object of nat- 
 ure, and the supreme judge of its adaptations. Inasmuch as 
 God's plan goes over all the ages past and future, and relates 
 to the welfare of all sentient beings known or unknown to us, 
 and also to his own sovereign pleasure as the supreme object, 
 we may not be in a position either to understand or profit by 
 all its parts, and hence may expect to find many mysteries, 
 and many things that we can not at present reconcile with 
 God's wisdom and goodness. We know but "parts of his 
 ways," the " fullness of his power who can understand." 
 "His judgments are unsearchable," "his ways are past 
 finding out." 
 4. The law of type or pattern in nature is distinctly indicat- 
 ed in the Bible. This is a principle only recently understood 
 
Objects and Nature of a Revelation of Origins. 83 
 
 by naturalists, but it has more or less dimly dawned on the 
 minds of many great thinkers in all ages. Nor is this won- 
 derful, for the idea of type is scarcely ever absent from our 
 own conceptions of any work that we may undertake. In 
 any such work we anticipate recurring daily toil, like the re- 
 turning cycles of nature. We look for progress, like that of 
 the growth of the universe. We study adaptation both of the 
 several parts to subordinate uses, and of the whole to some 
 general design. But we also keep in view some pattern, style, 
 or order, according to which the whole is arranged, and the 
 mutual relations of the parts are adjusted. The architect 
 must adhere to some order of architecture, and to some style 
 within that order. The potter, the calico-printer, and the 
 silversmith must equally study uniformity of pattern in their 
 several manufactures. The Almighty Worker has exhibited 
 the same idea in his works. In the animal kingdom, for in- 
 stance, we have four or more leading types of structure. 
 Taking any one of these — the vertebrate, for example — we 
 have a uniform general plan, embracing the vertebral column 
 constructed of the same elements ; the members, whether the 
 arm of man, the limb of the quadruped, or the wing of the 
 bat or the bird, or the swimming-paddle of the whale, built of 
 the same bones. In like manner all the parts of the verte- 
 bral column itself in the same animal, whether in the skull, 
 the neck, or the trunk, are composed of the same elementary 
 structures. These types are farther found to be sketched out 
 — first in their more general, and then in their special features 
 — in proceeding from the lower species of the same type to 
 the higher, in proceeding from the earlier to the later stages 
 of embryonic development, and in proceeding from the more 
 ancient to the more recent creatures that have succeeded 
 each other in geological time. Man, the highest of the ver- 
 
84 TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 tebrates, is thus the archetype, representing and including all 
 the lower and earlier members of the vertebrate type. The 
 above are but trite and familiar examples of a doctrine which 
 may furnish and has furnished the material of volumes. 
 There can be no question that the Hebrew Bible is the old- 
 est book in which this principle is stated. In the first chap- 
 ter of Genesis we have specific type in the creation of plants 
 and animals after their kinds or species, and in the formation 
 of man in the image and likeness of the Creator ; and, as we 
 shall find in the sequel, there are some curious ideas of high- 
 er and more general types in the grouping of the creatures 
 referred to. The same idea is indicated in the closing chap- 
 ters of Job, where the three higher classes of the vertebrates 
 are represented by a number of examples, and the typical 
 likeness of one of these — the hippopotamus — to man, seems 
 to be recognized. Dr. McCosh has quoted, as an illustration 
 of the doctrine of types, a very remarkable passage from 
 Psalm cxxxix. : 
 
 " I will praise Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. 
 Marvellous are thy works, 
 And that my soul knoweth right well. 
 My substance was not hid from Thee, 
 When I was made in secret, 
 
 And curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth ; 
 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect ; 
 And in thy book all my members were written, 
 Which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none 
 of them." 
 
 It would too much tax the faith of many to ask them to 
 believe that the writer of the above passage, or the Spirit that 
 inspired him, actually meant to teach — what we now know so 
 well from geology — that the prototypes of all the parts of the 
 
Objects and Nature of a Revelation of Origins. 85 
 
 archetypal human structure may be found in those fossil re- 
 mains of extinct animals which may, in nearly every country, 
 be dug up from the rocks of the earth. No objection need, 
 however, be taken to our reading in it the doctrine of embry- 
 onic development according to a systematic type. 
 
 Science, it is true, or rather I should perhaps say philo- 
 sophical speculation, has sometimes pushed this idea of plan 
 into that of a spontaneous genetic evolution of things in time, 
 without any creative superintendence or definite purpose. 
 This way of viewing the matter is, however, as we shall have 
 occasion to see, both bald and irrational, and wants the sym- 
 metry and completeness of that style of thought which grasps 
 at once progress and plan and adaptation, as emanating from 
 a Supreme Will. The question of how the plan has been 
 worked out will come up for detailed consideration farther 
 on. In the mean time we have before us the fact that the 
 Bible represents the cosmos as not the product of a blind 
 conflict of self-existent forces, but as the result of the pro- 
 duction and guidance of these forces by infinite wisdom. 
 
 It is more than curious that this idea of type, so long exist- 
 ing in an isolated and often depised form, as a theological 
 thought in the imagery of Scripture, should now be a lead- 
 ing idea of natural science j and that while comparative 
 anatomy teaches us that the structures of all past and pres- 
 ent lower animals point to man, w^ho, as Professor Owen ex- 
 presses it, has had all his parts and organs " sketched out in 
 anticipation in the inferior animals," the Bible points still 
 farther forward to an exaltation of the human type itself into 
 what even the comparative anatomist might perhaps regard 
 as among the " possible modifications of it beyond those 
 realized in this little orb of ours," could he but learn its real 
 nature. 
 
86 TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 Under the foregoing heads, of the object, the structure, the 
 authority, and the general cosmical views of the Scripture, I 
 have endeavored to group certain leading thoughts important 
 as preliminary to the study of the subject; and, in now enter- 
 ing on the details of the Old Testament cosmogony, I trust 
 the reader will pardon me for assuming, as a working hypoth- 
 esis, that we are studying an inspired book, revealing the 
 origin of nature, and presenting accurate pictures of natural 
 facts and broad general views of the cosmos, at least until in 
 the progress of our inquiry we find reason to adopt lower 
 views ; and that he will, in the mean time, be content to fol- 
 low me in that careful and systematic analysis which a work 
 claiming such a character surely demands. 
 
The Beginning, 87 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE BEGIXXIXG. 
 
 " In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth." — Gene- 
 sis i., I. 
 
 It is a remarkable and instructive fact that the first verse 
 of the Hebrew sacred writings speaks of the material uni- 
 verse — speaks of it as a whole, and as originating in a power 
 outside of itself The universe, then, in the conception of 
 this ancient writer, is not eternal. It had a beginning, but 
 that beginning in the indefinite and by us unmeasured past. 
 It did not originate fortuitously, or by any merely accidental 
 conflict of self existent material atoms, but by an act — an act 
 of will on the part of a Being designated by that name which 
 among all the Semitic peoples represented the ultimate, eter- 
 nal, inscrutable source of power and object of awe and ven- 
 eration. "With the simplicity and child-like faith of an archaic 
 age, the writer makes no attempt to combat any objections or 
 difficulties with which this great fundamental truth may be as- 
 sailed. He feels its axiomatic force as the basis of all true 
 religion and sound philosophy, and the ultimate fact which 
 must ever bar our further progress in the investigation of the 
 origin of things — the production from non-existence of the 
 material universe by the eternal self-existent God. 
 
 It did not concern him to know what might be the nature 
 of that unconditioned self- existence ; for though, like our 
 
88 TJic Origin of the World. 
 
 ideas of space and time, incomprehensible, it must be as- 
 sumed. It did not concern him to know how matter and 
 force subsist, or what may be the difference between a ma- 
 terial universe cognizable by our senses and the absolute 
 want of all the phenomena of such a universe or of whatever 
 may be their basis and essence. Such questions can never 
 be answered, yet the succession of these phenomena must 
 have had a commencement somewhere in time. How sim- 
 ple and how grand is his statement ! How plain and yet 
 how profound its teachings ! 
 
 It is evident that the writer grasps firmly the essence of 
 the question as to the beginning of things, and covers the 
 whole ground which advanced scientific or philosophical 
 speculation can yet traverse. That the universe must have 
 had a beginning no one now needs to be told. If any phil- 
 osophical speculator ever truly held that there has been an 
 endless succession of phenomena, science has now completely 
 negatived the idea by showing us the beginning of all things 
 that we know in the present universe, and by establishing 
 the strongest probabilities that even its ultimate atoms could 
 not have been eternal. But the question remains — If there 
 was a beginning, what existed in that beginning ? To this 
 question many partial and imperfect answers have been 
 given, but our ancient record includes them all. 
 
 If any one should say, "In the beginning was nothing." 
 Yes, says Genesis, there was, it is true, nothing of the pres- 
 ent matter and arrangements of nature. Yet all was pres- 
 ent potentially in the will of the Creator. 
 
 " In the beginning were atoms," says another. Yes, says 
 Genesis, but they were created ; and so says modern science, 
 and must say of ultimate particles determined by weight and 
 measure, and incapable of modification in their essential 
 
TJic Beginning, 89 
 
 properties — " They have the properties of a manufactured 
 article."* 
 
 " In the beginning were forces," says yet another. True, 
 says Genesis; but all forces are one in origin — they represent 
 merely the fiat of the eternal and self-existent. So says sci- 
 ence, that force must in the ultimate resort be an "expression 
 of Will." t 
 
 " In the beginning was Elohim," adds our old Semitic au- 
 thority, and in him are the absolute and eternal thought and 
 will, the Creator from whom and by whom and in whom are 
 all things. 
 
 Thus the simple familiar words, " In the beginning God 
 created the heaven and the earth," answer all possible ques- 
 tions as to the origin of things, and include all under the 
 conception of theism. Let us now look at these pregnant 
 words more particularly as to their precise import and sig- 
 nificance. 
 
 The divine personality expressed by the Hebrew Elohim 
 may be fairly said to include all that can be claimed for the 
 pantheistic conception of "dynamis," or universal material 
 power. Lange gives this as included in the term Elohim, in 
 his discussion of this term in his book on Genesis. It has 
 been aptly said that if, physically speaking, the fall of a spar- 
 row produces a gravitative effect that extends throughout the 
 universe, there can be no reason why it should be unknown 
 to God. God is thus everywhere, and always. Yet he is 
 everywhere and always present as a personality knowing 
 and willing. From his thought and will in the beginning 
 proceeded the universe. By him it was created. 
 
 * Herschel, Dissertation on the Study of Natural Philosophy ; Maxwell, 
 Lecture before the British Association, 
 t Carpenter, "Human Physiology." 
 
90 The Origin of the World. 
 
 What, then, is creation in the sense of the Hebrew writer. 
 The act is expressed by the verb hara, a word of compara- 
 tively rare occurrence in the Scriptures, and employed to de- 
 note absolute creation, though its primary sense is to cut or 
 carve, and it is indeed a near relative of our own English 
 word " pare." If, says Professor Stuart, of Andover, this 
 word " does not mean to create in the highest sense, then the 
 Hebrews had no word by which they could designate this 
 idea." Yet, like our English " create," the word is used in 
 secondary and figurative senses, which in no degree detract 
 from its force when strictly and literally used. Since, how- 
 ever, these secondary senses may often appear to obscure the 
 primitive meaning, we must examine them in detail. 
 
 In the first chapter of Genesis, after the general statement 
 in verse i, other verbs signifying \.o form or viake are used to 
 denote the elaboration of the separate parts of the universe, 
 and the word "create" is found in only two places, when it re- 
 fers to the introduction of "great whales" (reptiles) and of 
 man. These uses of the word have been cited to disprove 
 its sense of absolute creation. It must be observed, how- 
 ever, that in the first of these cases we have the earliest ap- 
 pearance of animal life, and in the second the introduction 
 of a rational and spiritual nature. Nothing but pure mate- 
 rialism can suppose that the elements of vital and spiritual 
 being were included in the matter of the heavens and the 
 earth as produced in the beginning ; and as the Scripture 
 writers were not materialists, we may infer that they recog- 
 nized, in the introduction of life and reason, acts of absolute 
 creation, just as in the origin of matter itself In Genesis ii. 
 and iii. we have a form of expression which well marks the dis- 
 tinction between creation and making. God is there said to 
 have rested from all his works which he " created and made " 
 
TJie Beginning. 91 
 
 — literally, created '' for or in reference to making," the word 
 for making being one of those already referred to.* The 
 force of this expression consists in its intimating that God 
 had not only finished the work of creation, properly so called, 
 but also the elaboration of the various details of the universe, 
 as formed or fashioned out of the original materials. Of a 
 similar character is the expression in Isaiah xlii., 5, " Jeho- 
 vah, he that created the heavens and spread them out ;" and 
 that in Psalm cxlviii., 5, " He commanded and they were cre- 
 ated, he hath also established them for ever and ever." 
 
 In as far as I am aware, the word bara in all the remaining 
 instances of its occurrence in the Pentateuch refers to the 
 creation of man, with the following exceptions : Exodus 
 xxxiv., 10, " I will do (create) marvels, such as have not 
 been seen in all the earth ;" Numbers xvi., 30, " If the 
 Lord make a new thing (create a creation), and the earth 
 open her mouth and swallow them up." These verses are 
 types of a class of expressions in which the proper term for 
 creation is applied to the production of something new, 
 strange, and marvellous ; for instance, " Create in me a 
 clean heart, O Lord;" "Behold, I create new heavens and a 
 new earth." It is, hov/ever, evidently an inversion of sound 
 exposition to say that these secondary or figurative mean- 
 ings should determine the primary and literal sense in Gen- 
 esis i. On the contrary, we should rather infer that the 
 sacred writers in these cases selected the proper word for 
 creation, to express in the most forcible manner the novel 
 and thorough character of the changes to which they refer, 
 and their direct dependence on the Divine will. By such 
 expressions we are in effect referred back to the original use 
 
 * Asah. 
 
92 The Origin of the World. 
 
 of the word, as denoting the actual creation of matter by the 
 command of God, in contradistinction from those arrange- 
 ments which have been effected by the gradual ojoeration of 
 secondary agents, or of laws attached to matter at its crea- 
 tion. It has been farther observed* that in the Hebrew 
 Scriptures this word bara is applied to God only as an 
 agent, not to any human artificer ; a fact wdiich is very im- 
 portant with reference to its true significance. Viewing cre- 
 ation in this light, we need not perplex ourselves with the 
 question whether we should consider Genesis i., i, to refer 
 to the essence of matter as distinguished from its qualities. 
 We may content ourselves with the explanation given by 
 Paul in the eleventh of Hebrews : " By faith we are certain 
 that the worldsf were created by the decree of God, so that 
 that which is seen was made of that which aJ>J>ears noL^^ Or, 
 with reference to the other uses of the w-ord, if the first in- 
 troduction of animal life was a creation, and if the introduc- 
 tion of the rational nature of man was a creation, we may 
 suppose that the original creation was in like manner the in- 
 troduction or first production of those entities which we call 
 matter and force, and which to science now are as much ulti- 
 mate facts as they were to Moses. 
 
 The fiature of the act of creation being thus settled, its 
 extent may be ascertained by an examination of the terms 
 heaven and earth. 
 
 The word " heavens " {shamayim) has in Hebrew as in 
 English a variety of significations. Of material heavens there 
 are, in the quaint language of Poole, ^'■tres regiones, iihi aves, 
 nhi niihes, uM sidera;'^ or (i) the atmosphere or firmament ;$ 
 
 * McDonald, ''Creation and the Fall." 
 
 t Literally, " ages " or " time-worlds," as they have been called. 
 
 I Genesis i., 8, 26-28. 
 
Tlie Bezinnins'. 93 
 
 '-<b "'""■"'"i^' 
 
 (2) the region of clouds in the upper part of the atmosphere ;* 
 
 (3) the depths of space comprehending the starry orbs.f Be- 
 sides these we have the "heaven of heavens," the abode of God 
 and spiritual beings.l The application of the term "heav- 
 en" to the atmosphere will be considered when we reach the 
 6th and 7th verses. In the mean tim.e we may accept the 
 word in this place as including the material heavens in the 
 widest sense : (i.) Because it is not here, as in verse 8th, re- 
 stricted to the atmosphere by the terms of the narrative; this 
 restriction inverse 8th in fact implying the wider sense of the 
 word in preceding verses. (2.) Because the atmospheric firma- 
 ment, elsewhere called heaven, divides the waters above from 
 those below, whereas it is evident that all these waters, and of 
 consequence the materials of the atmosphere itself, are includ- 
 ed in the earth of the following verse. (3.) Because in verse 
 14th the sidereal heavens are spoken of as arranged from 
 pre-existing materials, which refers their actual creation back 
 to this passage. 
 
 In the words now under consideration we therefore regard 
 the heavens as including the whole material universe beyond 
 the limits of our earth. That this sense of the word is not 
 unknown to the writers of Scripture, and that they had en- 
 larged and rational views of the star-s^Dangled abysses of 
 space, will appear from the terms employed by Moses in his 
 solemn warning against the Saba^an idolatry, in Deuteronomy 
 iv. : " And lest thou lift up thine eyes to the heavens, and 
 when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars, even all 
 the host of the heavens, shouldest be incited to worship them 
 and serve them which Jehovah thy God hath appointed to all 
 
 * Job xxxviii., 37. t Gen. i., 14 ; Deut. xvii., 3. 
 
 X Gen. xxviii., 17 ; Job xv., 15 ; Tsa. ii., 4. 
 
94 The Origin of the World. 
 
 nations under the whole heavens." To the same effect is the 
 expression of the awe and wonder of the poet king of Israel 
 in Psalm viii. : 
 
 " When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, 
 The moon and the stars which thou hast ordained; 
 What is man that thou art mindful of him ?" 
 
 I may observe, however, that throughout the Scriptures the 
 word in question is much more frequently apphed to the 
 atmospheric than to the sidereal heavens. The reason of 
 this appears in the terms of verse 8th. 
 
 If we have correctly referred the term "heavens" to the whole 
 of extramundane space, then the word "earth" must denote our 
 globe as a distinct world, with all the liquid and aeriform sub- 
 stances on its surface. The arrangement of the wdiole uni- 
 verse under the heads "heaven" and "earth" has been derided 
 as a division into " infinity and an atom ;" but when we con- 
 sider the relative importance of the earth to us, and that it 
 constitutes the principal object of the whole revelation to 
 which this is introductory, the absurdity disappears, and we 
 recognize the classification as in the circumstances natural 
 and rational. The word " earth " {areiz) is, however, generally 
 used to denote the dry land, or even a region or district of 
 country. It is indeed expressly restricted to the dry land in 
 verse loth; but as in the case of the parallel limitation of the 
 word "heaven," we may consider this as a hint that its previous 
 meaning is more extended. That it is really so, appears from 
 the following considerations : (i.) It includes the deep, or the 
 material from which the sea and atmosphere were afterwards 
 formed. (2.) The subsequent verses show that at the period 
 in question no dry land existed. If instances of a similar 
 meaning from other parts of Scripture are required, I give 
 
The Beginning. 95 
 
 the following : Genesis ii., i to 4, " Thus the heavens and the 
 earth were finished, and all the host of them ;" "these are the 
 generations of the heavens and the earth.' In this general 
 summary of the creative work, the earth evidently includes the 
 seas and all that is in them, as well as the dry land ; and the 
 whole expression denotes the universe. The well-known and 
 striking remark of Job, " Who hangeth the earth upon noth- 
 ing," is also a case in point, and must refer to the whole 
 world, since in other parts of the same book the dry land or 
 continental masses of the earth are said, and with great truth 
 and propriety, to be supported above the waters on pillars or 
 foundations. The following passages may also be cited as 
 instances of the occurrence of the idea of the whole world 
 expressed by the word "earth:" Exodus x., 29, "And Moses 
 said unto him. As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will 
 spread abroad my hands unto the Lord, and the thunder shall 
 cease, neither shall there be any more hail ; that thou mayest 
 know the earth is the Lord's;" Deuteronomy x., 14," Behold, 
 the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord's, the earth 
 also, and all that therein is." 
 
 The material universe was brought into existence in the 
 " beginning " — a term evidently indefinite as far as regards 
 any known epoch, and implying merely priority to all other 
 recorded events. It can not be the first day, for there is no 
 expressed connection, and the work of the first day is distinct 
 from that of the beginning. It can not be a general term for 
 the whole six days, since these are separated from it by that 
 chaotic or formless state to which we are next introduced. 
 The beginning, therefore, is the threshold of creation — the 
 line that separates the old tenantless condition of space from 
 the world-crowded galaxies of the existing universe. The 
 only other information respecting it that we have in Scrip- 
 
96 The Origin of the World. 
 
 ture is in that fine descriptive poem in Proverbs viii., in 
 which the Wisdom of God personified — who may be held to 
 represent the Almighty Word, or Logos, introduced in the 
 formula '^God said/' and afterward referred to in Scrip- 
 ture as the manifested or conditioned Deity, the Mediator 
 between man and the otherwise inaccessible Divinity, the 
 agent in the work of creation as well as in that of redemption 
 — narrates the origin of all created things : 
 
 "Jehovah possessed* me, the beginning of his way, 
 Before his work of old. 
 I was set up from everlasting, 
 From the beginning, before the earth was ; 
 When there were no deeps I was brought forth, 
 When there were no fountains abounding in water." 
 
 The beginning here precedes the creation of the earth, as 
 well as of the deep which encompassed its surface in its 
 earliest condition. The beginning, in this point of view, 
 stretches back from the origin of the world into the depths 
 of eternity. It is to us emphatically the beginning, because 
 it witnessed the birth of our material system ; but to the 
 eternal Jehovah it was but the beginning of a great series of 
 his operatioas, and we have no information of its absolute 
 duration. From the time when God began to create the 
 celestial orbs, until that time when it could be said that he 
 had created the heavens and the earth, countless ages may 
 have rolled along, and myriads of worlds may have passed 
 through various stages of existence, and the creation of our 
 planetary system may have been one of the last acts of that 
 long beginning. 
 
 The author of creation is Elohim, or God in his general 
 
 * Not " created," as some read. The verb is kana, not hara. 
 
TJie Beginning. 97 
 
 aspect to nature and man, and not in that special aspect in 
 reference to the Hebrew commonwealth and to the work of 
 redemption indicated by the name Jehovah {lave/i). We 
 need not enter into the doubtful etymology of the word ; but 
 may content ourselves with that supported by many, perhaps 
 the majority of authorities, which gives it the meaning of 
 " Object of dread or adoration," or with that preferred by 
 Gesenius, which makes it mean the '•' Strong or mighty one." 
 Its plural form has also greatly tried the ingenuity of the 
 commentators. After carefully considering the various hy- 
 potheses, such as that of the plural of majesty of the Rabbins, 
 and the primitive polytheism supposed by certain Rational- 
 ists, I can see no better reason than an attempt to give a 
 grammatical expression to that plurality in unity indicated 
 by the appearance of the Spirit or breath of God and his 
 Word, or manifested will and power, as distinct agents in the 
 succeeding verses. This was probably always held by the 
 Hebrews in a general form ; and was by our Saviour and his 
 apostles specialized in that trinitarian doctrine which enables 
 both John and Paul explicitly to assert the agency of the 
 second person of the Trinity in the creative work. 
 
 This elementary trinitarian idea of the first chapter of 
 Genesis may be further stated thus : The name Elohim 
 expresses the absolute unconditioned will and reason — the 
 Godhead. The manifestation of God in creative power, 
 and in the framing and ordering of the cosmos, is repre- 
 sented by the formula " God said " — the equivalent of the 
 Divine Word. The further manifestation of God in love 
 of and sympathy with his work is represented by the Breath 
 of God, and by the expression, "God saw that it was good" 
 — operations these of the Divine Spirit. 
 
 The aboriginal root of the word Elohink probably lies far 
 
 E 
 
98 TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 back of the Semitic literature, and comes from the natural 
 exclamations "al," "lo," "la," which arise from the sponta- 
 neous action of the human vocal organs in the presence of 
 any object of awe or wonder. The plural form may in like 
 manner be simply equivalent to our terms Godhead or Divin- 
 ity, implying all that is essentially God without specification 
 or distinction of personalities. As Dr. Tayler Lewis well re- 
 marks in his "Introduction to Genesis," we should not dis- 
 miss such plurals as mere iistis loquendi. The plural form 
 of the name of God, of the heavens (literally, the "heights"), 
 of the olamifii^ or time-worlds, of the word for life in Genesis 
 (lives), indicates an idea of vastness and diversity not meas- 
 urable by speech, which must have been impressed on the 
 minds of early men, otherwise these forms would not have 
 arisen. God, heaven, time, life, were to them existences 
 stretching outward to infinity, and not to be denoted by the 
 bare singular form suitable to ordinary objects. 
 
 Fairly regarding, then, this ancient form of words, we may 
 hold it as a clear, concise, and accurate enunciation of an 
 ultimate doctrine of the origin of things, which with all our 
 increased knowledge of the history of the earth w^e are not 
 in a position to replace with any thing better or more prob- 
 able. On the other hand, this sublime dogma of creation 
 leaves us perfectly free to interrogate nature for ourselves, as 
 to all that it can reveal of the duration and progress of the 
 creative work. But the positive gain which comes from this 
 ancient formula goes i\ir beyond these negative qualities. 
 If received, this one word of the Old Testament is sufficient to 
 deliver us forever from the superstitious dread of nature, and 
 to present it to us as neither self-existent nor omnipotent, 
 but as the mere handiwork of a spiritual Creator to whom we 
 are kin ; as not a product of chance or caprice, but as the 
 
The Beginning. 99 
 
 result of a definite plan of the All-wise; as not a congeries of 
 unconnected facts and processes, but as a cosmos, a \Yell- 
 ordered though complex machine, designed by Him who is 
 the Almighty and the supreme object of reverence. Had 
 this verse alone constituted the whole Bible, this one utter- 
 ance would, wherever known and received, have been an 
 inestimable boon to mankind ; proclaiming deliverance to 
 the captives of every form of nature-worship and idolatry, and 
 fixing that idea of unity of plan in the universe which is the 
 fruitful and stable root of all true progress in science. We 
 owe profound thanks to the old Hebrew prophet for these 
 words — words which have broken from the necks of once 
 superstitious Aryan races chains more galling than those of 
 Egyptian bondage. 
 
100 The Origin of the World. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE DESOLATE VOID. 
 
 "And the earth ^Yas desolate and empty, and darkness was upon the 
 surface of the deep ; and the Spirit of God moved on the surface of the 
 waters." — Genesis i., 2. 
 
 We have here a few bold outlines of a dark and mysterious 
 scene — a condition of the earth of which we have no certain 
 intimation from any other source, except the speculations 
 based on modern discoveries in physical science. It was 
 " unshaped and empty," formless and uninhabited. The 
 words thus translated are sufficiently plain in their meaning. 
 The first is used by Isaiah to denote the desolation of a ruin- 
 ed city, and in Job and the Psalms as characteristic of the 
 wilderness or desert. Both in connection are employed by 
 Isaiah to express the destruction of Idumea, and by Jeremiah 
 in a powerful description of the ruin of nations by God's judg- 
 ments. When thus united, they form the strongest expression 
 which the Hebrew could supply for solitary, uninhabited des- 
 olation, like that of a city reduced to heaps of rubbish, and 
 to the silence and loneliness of utter decay. 
 
 In the present connection these words inform us that the 
 earth was in a chaotic state, and unfit for the residence of 
 organized beings. The words themselves suggest the impor- 
 tant question : Are they intended to represent this as the 
 original condition of the earth? Was it a scene of desolation 
 and confusion when it sprang from the hand of its Creator ? 
 
The Desolate Void. loi 
 
 or was this state of ruin consequent on convulsions which 
 may have been preceded by a very different condition, not 
 mentioned by the inspired historian ? That it may have been 
 so is rendered possible by the circumstance that the words 
 employed are generally used to denote the ruin of places 
 formerly inhabited, and by the want of any necessary connec- 
 tion in time between the first and second verses. It has even 
 been proposed, though this does violence to the construction, 
 to read "and the earth became" desolate and empty. Far- 
 ther, it seems, a priori, improbable that the first act of crea- 
 tive power should have resulted in the production of a mere 
 chaos. The crust of the earth also shows, in its alternations 
 of strata and organic remains, evidence of a great series of 
 changes extending over vast periods, and which might, in a 
 revelation intended for moral purposes, with great propriety 
 be omitted. 
 
 For such reasons some eminent expositors of these words 
 are disposed to consider the first verse as a title or introduc- 
 tion, and to refer to this period the whole series of geological 
 changes ; and this view has formed one of the most popular 
 solutions of the apparent discrepancies between the geological 
 and Scriptural histories of the world. It is evident, however, 
 that if we continue to view the term "earth" as including the 
 whole globe, this hypothesis becomes altogether untenable. 
 The subsequent verses inform us that at the period in question 
 the earth was covered by a universal ocean, possessed no at- 
 mosphere and received no light, and had not entered into its 
 present relations with the other bodies of our system. No 
 conceivable convulsions could have effected such changes on 
 an earth previously possessing these arrangements ; and ge- 
 ology assures us that the existing laws and dispositions in 
 these respects have prevailed from the earliest periods to 
 
102 The Origin of the World. 
 
 which it can lead us back, and that the modern state of 
 things was not separated from those which preceded it by any- 
 such general chaos. To avoid this difficulty, which has been 
 much more strongly felt as these facts have been more and 
 more clearly developed by modern science, it has been held 
 that the word earth may denote only a particular region, 
 temporarily obscured and reduced to ruin, and about to be 
 fitted up, by the operations of the six days, for the residence 
 of man ; and that consequently the narrative of the six days 
 refers not to the original arrangement of the surface, rela- 
 tions, and inhabitants of our planet, but to the retrieval from 
 ruin and repeopling of a limited territory, supposed to have 
 been in Central Asia, and which had been submerged and its 
 atmosphere obscured by aqueous or volcanic vapors. The 
 chief support of this view is the fact, previously noticed, that 
 the word earth is very frequently used in the signification of 
 region, district, country; to which may be added the supposed 
 necessity for harmonizing the Scriptures with geological dis- 
 covery, and at the same time viewing the days of creation as 
 literal solar days. 
 
 Can we, however, after finding that in verse ist the term 
 earth must mean the whole world, suddenly restrict it in verse 
 2d to a limited region. Is it possible that the writer who 
 in verse loth for the first time intimates a limitation of the 
 meaning of this word, by the solemn announcement, "And 
 God called the dry land earth," should in a previous place use 
 it in a much more limited sense without any hint of such re- 
 striction. The case stands thus : A writer uses the word 
 earth in the most general sense ; in the next sentence he is 
 supposed, without any intimation of his intention, to use the 
 same w^ord to denote a region or country', and by so doing 
 entirely to change the meaning of his whole discourse from 
 
TIlc Desolate Void. 103 
 
 that which would otherwise have attached to it. Yet the 
 same writer when, a few sentences farther on, it becomes 
 necessary for him to use the word earth to denote the dry 
 land as distinguished from the seas, formally and with an as- 
 sertion of divine authority, intimates the change of meaning. 
 Is not this supposition contrary not only to sound principles 
 of interpretation, but also to common -sense; and would it 
 not tend to render worthless the testimony of a writer to 
 whose diction such inaccuracy must be ascribed. It is in 
 truth to me surprising beyond measure that such a view could 
 ever have obtained currency ; and I fear it is to be attributed 
 to a determination, at all hazards and with any amount of 
 violence to the written record, to make geology and religion 
 coincide. Must we then throw aside this simple and con- 
 venient method of reconciliation, sanctioned by Chalmers, 
 Smith, Harris, King, Hitchcock, and many other great or re- 
 spectable names, and on which so many good men compla- 
 cently rest. Truth obliges us to do so, and to confess that 
 both geology and Scripture refuse to be reconciled on this 
 basis. We may still admit that the lapse of time between 
 the beginning and the first day may have been great ; but we 
 must emphatically deny that this interval corresponds with 
 the time indicated by the series of fossiliferous rocks. 
 
 Before leaving this part of the subject, I may remark that 
 the desolate and empty condition of the earth was not neces- 
 sarily a chaotic mass of confusion — 7'iidis indigestaque moles; 
 but in reality, when physically considered, may have been a 
 more symmetrical and homogeneous condition than any that 
 it subsequently assumed. If the earth were first a vast globe 
 of vapor, then a liquid spheroid, and then acquired a crust 
 not yet seamed by fissures or broken by corrugations, and 
 eventually covered with a universal ocean, then in each of 
 
104 T^^^^ Origin of the World. 
 
 s 
 
 these early conditions it would, in regard to its form, be a 
 more perfect globe than at any succeeding time. That some- 
 thing of this kind is the intention of our historian is implied 
 in his subsequent statements as to the absence of land and 
 the prevalence of a universal ocean in the immediately suc- 
 ceeding period, which imply that the crust had not yet been 
 ruptured or disturbed, but presented an even and uniform 
 surface, no part of which could project above the compara- 
 tively thin fluid envelope. 
 
 The second clause introduces a new object — " ///^ decpy 
 Whatever its precise nature, this is evidently something in- 
 cluded in the earth of verse ist, and created with it. The 
 word occurs in other parts of the Hebrew Scriptures in vari- 
 ous senses. It often denotes the sea, especially when in an 
 agitated state (Psa. xlii., 8 ; Job xxxviii., lo). In Psalm cxxxv., 
 however, it is distinguished from the sea : " Whatsoever the 
 Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, in the earth, in the 
 seas, and i7i all deepsT In other cases it has been supposed 
 to refer to interior recesses of the earth, as when at the del- 
 uge "the fountains of the great deep" are said to have been 
 broken up. It is probable, however, that this refers to the 
 ocean. In some places it would appear to mean the atmos- 
 phere or its waters; as Prov.viii., 27-29, "When he prepared 
 the heavens, I was there ; when he described a circle on 
 the face of the deep, when he established the clouds above, 
 when he strengthened the fountains of the deep." The Sep- 
 tuagint in this passage reads "throne on the winds" and 
 " fountains under the heaven."* Though we can not attach 
 much value to these readings, there seems little reason to 
 doubt that the author of this passage understands by the 
 
 * The usual Septuagint rendering is Ahyssjts. 
 
The Desolate Void, 105 
 
 deep the atmospheric waters, and not the sea, which he men- 
 tions separately. The same meaning must be attached to 
 the word in another passage of the Book of Proverbs : 
 " The Lord in wisdom hath founded the earth, by under- 
 standing hath he estabhshed the heavens ; by his knowl- 
 edge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down 
 the small rain." 
 
 In the passage now under consideration, it would seem 
 that we have both the deep and the waters mentioned, and 
 this not in a way which would lead us to infer their identity. 
 The darkness on the surface of the deep and the Spirit of 
 God on tlie face of the waters seem to refer to the condition 
 of two distinct objects at the same time. Neither can the 
 word here refer to subterranean cavities, for the ascription of 
 a surface to these, and the statement that they were enveloped 
 in darkness, would in this case have neither meaning nor use. 
 For these reasons I am induced to believe that the locality 
 of the deep or abyss is to be sought, not in the universal 
 ocean or the interior of the earth, but in the vaporous or aeri- 
 form mass mantling the surface of our nascent planet, and 
 containing the materials out of which the atmosphere was 
 afterward elaborated. This is a view leading to important 
 consequences : one of which is that the darkness on the 
 surface of the deep can not have been, as believed by the 
 advocates of a local chaos, a mere atmospheric obscura- 
 tion ; since even at the surface of what then represented the 
 atmosphere darkness prevailed. " God covered the earth 
 with the deep as with a garment, and the waters stood above 
 the hills," and without this outer garment was the darkness 
 of space destitute of luminaries, at least of those greater ones 
 which are of primary importance to us. We learn from the 
 following verses that there was no layer of clear atmosphere 
 
 E 2 
 
io6 TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 in this misty deep, separating the clouds from the ocean 
 waters. 
 
 The last clause of the verse has always been obscure, and 
 perhaps it is still impossible to form a clear idea of the oper- 
 ation intended to be described. We are not even certain 
 whether it is intended to represent any thing within the com- 
 pass of ordinary natural laws, or to denote a direct interven- 
 tion of the Creator, miraculous in its nature and confined to 
 one period. It is possible that the general intention of the 
 statement may be to the effect that the agency of the divine 
 power in separating the waters from the incumbent vapors 
 had already commenced — that the Spirit which would after- 
 ward evoke so many wonders out of the chaotic mass was 
 already acting upon it in an unseen and mysterious way, pre- 
 paring it for its future destiny. 
 
 Some commentators, both Jewish and Christian, are, how- 
 ever, disposed to view the Riiach EloJwn, Spirit, or breath of 
 God, as meaning a wind of God, or mighty wind, according to 
 a well-known Hebrew idiom. The word in its primary sense 
 means wind or breath, and there are undoubted instances of 
 the expression "wind of God" for a great or strong wind. 
 For example, Isaiah xl., 7 : " The grass withereth because 
 the wind of the Lord bloweth upon it;" see also 2 Kings 
 ii., 16. Such examples, how^ever, are very rare, and by no 
 means sufficient of themselves to establish this interpretation. 
 Those who hold this view do so mainly in consideration of 
 the advantage which it affords in attaching a definite meaning 
 to the expression. Many of them are not, however, aware of 
 its precise import in a cosmical point of view. A violent 
 wind, before the formation of the atmosphere, and the estab- 
 lishment of the laws which regulate the suspension and mo- 
 tions of aqueous vapors and clouds, must have been merely 
 
The Desolate Void. 107 
 
 an agitation of the confused misty and vaporous mass of the 
 deep ; since, as Ainsworth — more careful than modern inter- 
 preters — long ago observed, " winde (which is the moving of 
 the aier) was not created till the second day, that the firma- 
 ment was spred, and the aier made." Such an agitation is by 
 no means improbable. It would be a very likely accompani- 
 ment of a boiling ocean, resting on a heated surface, and of 
 excessive condensation of moisture in the upper regions of the 
 atmosphere; and might act as an influential means of pre- 
 paring the earth for the operations of the second day. It is 
 curious also that the Phoenician cosmogony is said to have 
 contained the idea of a mighty wind in connection with this 
 part of creation, and the idea of seething or commotion in the 
 primitive chaos also occurs in the Assyrian tablets of crea- 
 tion, while the Quiche legend represents Hurakon, the storm- 
 god, as specially concerned in the creative work.* On the 
 other hand, the verb used in the text rather expresses hover- 
 ing or brooding than violent motion, and this better corre- 
 sponds with the old fable of the mundane ^gg^ which seems 
 to have been derived from the event recorded in this verse. 
 The more evangelical view, which supposes the Holy Spirit 
 to be intended, is also more in accordance with the general 
 scope of the Scripture teachings on this subject; and the 
 opposite idea is, as Calvin well says, " too frigid" to meet with 
 much favor from evangelical theologians. 
 
 Chaos, the equivalent of the Hebrew " desolation and 
 emptiness," figures largely in all ancient cosmogonies. That 
 of the Egyptians is interesting, not only from its resemblance 
 to the Hebrew doctrine, but also from its probable connec- 
 
 * Smith, "Assyrian Genesis." Brasseur de Eourbourg's translation of 
 the "Popol Vuh" of the ancient Central American Indians. 
 
io8 TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 tion with the cosmogony of the Greeks. Taking the version 
 of Diodorus Siculus, which though comparatively modern, yet 
 corresponds with the hints derived from older sources, we 
 find the original chaos to have been an intermingled condi- 
 tion of elements constituting heaven and earth. This is the 
 Hebrew " deep." The first step of progress is the separation 
 of these ; the fiery particles ascending above, and not only 
 producing light, but the revolution of the heavenly bodies — a 
 curious foreshadowing of the nebular hypothesis of modern 
 astronomy. After these, in the terms of the lines quoted by 
 Diodorus from Euripides, plants, birds, mammals, and finally 
 man are produced, not however by a direct creative fiat, but 
 by the spontaneous fecundity of the teeming earth. The 
 Phcenician cosmogony attributed to Sancuniathon has the 
 void, the deep, and the brooding Spirit; and one of the terms 
 employed, " baau," is the same with the Hebrew " bohu," 
 void, if read without the points. The Babylonians, according 
 to Berosus, believed in a chaos — which, however, like the lit- 
 eral-day theory of some moderns, produced many monsters be- 
 fore Belus intervened to separate heaven and earth. But the 
 Assyrian legend found in the Nineveh tablets is very precise 
 in its intimation of the Chaos or Tiamat, the mother of all 
 things ; and, farther, it recognizes this personified chaos as 
 the principle of evil, whose " dragon " becomes the tempter 
 of the progenitors of mankind, exactly like the Biblical ser- 
 pent. This " dragon of the abyss " is thus identical in name 
 and function with the evil principle even of the last book of the 
 New Testament, and we have in this also probably the origin 
 of the Ahriman of the Avesta. Thus in these Eastern theolo- 
 gies the primeval chaos becomes the type of evil as opposed 
 to the order, beauty, and goodness of the creation of God — a 
 very natural association ; but one kept in the background by 
 
The Desolate Void. 109 
 
 the Hebrew Scriptures, as tending to a dualistic belief sub- 
 versive of monotheism. The Greek m3-th of Chaos, and its 
 children Erebus and Night, who give birth to Aether and 
 Day, is the same tradition, personified after the flinciful man- 
 ner of a people who, in the primitive period of their civiliza- 
 tion, had no profound appreciation of nature, but were full of 
 Innnan sympathies.* Lastly, in a hymn translated by Dr. 
 
 * It is impossible to avoid recognizing in the Greek Theogon}', as it ap- 
 pears in Ilesiod and the Orphic poems, an inextricable intermingling of a 
 cosmogony akin to that of Moses with legendary stories of deceased an- 
 cestors ; and this has, I must confess, always appeared to me to be a more 
 rational way of accounting for it than its reference to mere nature-myths. 
 Chaos, or space, for the chaos of Hesiod differs from that of Ovid, came 
 first, then Gaea, the earth, and Tartarus, or the lower world. Chaos gave 
 birth to Erebos (identical with the Hebrew Ereb or Erev, evening) and 
 Nyx, or night. These again give birth to Aether, the equivalent of the 
 Hebrew expanse or firmament, and to Hemera, the day, and then the 
 heavenly bodies were perfected. So far the legend is apparently based 
 on some primitive history of creation, not essentially different from that 
 of the Bible. Eut the Greek Theogony here skips suddenly to the hu- 
 man period ; and under the fables of the marriage of Gaea and Uranos, 
 and the Titans, appears to present to us the antediluvian world, with its 
 intermarriages of the sons of God and men, and its Nephelim or Giants, 
 with their mechanic arts and their crimes. Beyond this, in Kronos and 
 his three sons, and in the strange history of Zeus, the chief of these, w'e 
 have a coarse and fanciful version of the story of the family of Noah, the 
 insult offered by Ham to his father, and the subsequent quarrels and dis- 
 persion of mankind. The Zeus of Homer appears to be the elder of the 
 three, or Japheth, the real father of the Greeks, according to the Bible ; but 
 in the time of Hesiod Zeus was the youngest, perhaps indicating that the 
 worship of the Egyptian Zeus, Amnion or Ham, had already supplanted 
 among the Greeks that of their own ancestor. But it is curious that even 
 in the Bible, though Japhet is said to be the greater, he is placed last in 
 the lists. After the introduction of Greek savans and literati to Egypt, 
 about B.C. 660, they began to regard their own mythology from this point 
 of view, though obliged to be reserved on the subject. The cosmology of 
 Thales, the astronomy of Anaxagoras, and the history of Herodotus afford 
 early evidence of this, and it abounds in later writers. I may refer the 
 reader to Grote (History of Greece, vol. i.) for an able and agreeable sum- 
 
no TJie Origin of tJie World, 
 
 Max Miiller from the Rig- Veda, a work probably far older 
 than the Institutes of Menu, we have such utterances as the 
 following : 
 
 " Nor aught nor nought existed : yon bright sky 
 Was not, nor heaven's broad woof outstretched above. 
 What covered all ? what sheltered ? what concealed ? 
 Was it the water's fathomless abyss ? * * * 
 Darkness there was, and all at first was veiled 
 In gloom profound — an ocean without light ; 
 The germ that still lay covered in the husk 
 Burst forth, one nature, from the fervent heat." 
 
 It is evident that the state of our planet which we have just 
 been considering is one of which we can scarcely form any 
 adequate conception, and science can in no way aid us, ex- 
 cept by suggesting hypotheses or conjectures. It is remark- 
 able, however, that nearly all the cosmological theories which 
 have been devised contain some of the elements of the in- 
 spired narrative. The words of Moses appear to suggest a 
 heated and cooling globe, its crust as yet unbroken by inter- 
 nal forces, covered by a universal ocean, on which rested a 
 mass of confused vaporous substances ; and it is of such ma- 
 terials, thus combined by the sacred historian, that cosmolo- 
 gists have built up their several theories, aqueous or igneous, 
 of the early state of the earth. Geology, as a science of ob- 
 
 mary of this subject ; and inay add that even the few coincidences above 
 pointed out between Greek mythology and the Bible, independently of the 
 multitudes of more doubtful character to be found in the older writers on 
 this subject, appear very wonderful, when we consider that among the 
 Greeks these vestiges of primitive religion, whether brought with them 
 from the East or received from abroad, must have been handed down for 
 a long time by oral tradition among the people ; but obscure though they 
 may be, the circumstance that some old writers have ridden the resem- 
 blances to death affords no excuse for the prevailing neglect of them 
 in more modern times. 
 
The Desolate Void. 1 1 1 
 
 servation and induction, does not carry us back to this period. 
 It must still and always say, with Hutton,that it can find "no 
 trace of a beginning, no prospect of an end " — not because 
 there has been no beginning or will be no end, but because 
 the facts which it collects extend neither to the one nor the 
 other. Geology, like every other department of natural his- 
 tory, can but investigate the facts which are open to observa- 
 tion, and reason on these in accordance with the known laws 
 and arransfements of existin2: nature. It finds these laws to 
 hold for the oldest period to which the rocky archives of the 
 earth extend. Respecting the origin of these general laws 
 and arrangements, or the condition of the earth before they 
 originated, it knows nothing. In like manner a botanist 
 may determine the age of a forest by counting the growth 
 rings of the oldest trees, but he can tell nothing of the forests 
 that may have preceded it, or of the condition of the surface 
 before it supported a forest. So the archceologist may on 
 Egyptian monuments read the names and history of succes- 
 sive dynasties of kings, but he can tell nothing of the state 
 of the country and its native tribes before those dynasties 
 began or their monuments were built. Yet geology at least 
 establishes a probability that a time was when organized be- 
 ings did not exist, and when many of the arrangements of the 
 surface of our earth had not been perfected ; and the few 
 facts which have given birth to the theories promulgated on 
 this subject tend to show that this pre-geological condition 
 of the earth may have been such as that described in the 
 words now under consideration. I may remark, in addi- 
 tion, that if the words of Moses imply the cooling of the 
 globe from a molten or intensely heated state down to a 
 temperature at which water could exist on its surface, the 
 known rate of cooling of bodies of the dimensions and mate- 
 
112 TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 rials of the earth shows that the time inckided in these two 
 verses of Genesis must have been enormous, amounting it 
 may be to many milUons of years. 
 
 There are two other sciences besides geology which have 
 in modern times attempted to penetrate into the mysteries of 
 the primitive abyss, at least by hypothetical explanations — as- 
 tronomy and chemistry. The magnificent nebular hypothesis 
 of La Place, which explains the formation of the whole solar 
 system by the condensation of a revolving mass of gaseous 
 matter, would manifestly bring our earth to the condition of a 
 fluid body, with or without a solid crust, and surrounded by a 
 huge atmosphere of its more volatile materials, gradually con- 
 densing itself around the central nucleus. Chemistry informs 
 us that this vaporous mass would contain not only the atmos- 
 pheric air and water, but all the carbon, sulphur, phosphor- 
 us, chlorine, and other elements, volatile in themselves, or 
 forming volatile compounds with oxygen or hydrogen, that 
 are now imprisoned in various states of combination in the 
 solid crust of the earth. Such an atmosphere — vast, dark, 
 pestilential, and capable in its condensation of producing the 
 most intense chemical action — is a necessity of an earth con- 
 densing from a vaporous and incandescent state. Thus, in 
 so far as scientific speculation ventures to penetrate into the 
 genesis of the earth, its conclusions are at one with the Mo- 
 saic cosmogony and with the traditions of most ancient na- 
 tions as to the primitive existence of a chaos — formless and 
 void, in which "nor aught nor nought existed." 
 
 Some of the details of the Mosaic vision of the primeval 
 chaos may be supplied by the probabilities established by 
 physics and chemistry. Our first idea of the earth would be a 
 vast vaporous ball, recently spun out from the general mass of 
 vapors forming the nebula which once represented the solar 
 
TJic Desolate Void. 1 1 3 
 
 system. This huge cloud, whirling its annual round about 
 the still vaporous centre of the system, \Yould consist of all 
 the materials now constituting the solid rocks as well as those 
 of the seas and atmosphere, their atoms kept asunder by the 
 force of heat, preventing not only their mechanical union, but 
 even their chemical combination. But heat is beins: radiated 
 on all sides into sjDace, and the opposing force of gravitation 
 is little by little gathering the particles toward the centre. At 
 length a liquid nucleus is formed, while upon this are being 
 precipitated showers of condensing matter from the still vast 
 atmosphere to add to its volume. As this process advances, 
 a new brilliancy is given to the feebly shining vapors by the 
 incandescence of solid particles in the upper layers of the 
 atmosphere, and in this stage our earth would be a little sun, a 
 miniature of that which now forms the centre of our system, 
 and which still, by virtue of its greater mass, continues in this 
 state. But at length, by further cooling, this brilliancy is lost, 
 and the still fluid globe is surrounded by a vast cloudy pall, 
 in which condensing vapors gather in huge dark masses, and 
 amid terrible electrical explosions, pour, in constantly increas- 
 ing, acid, corrosive rains, upon the heated nucleus, combining 
 with its materials, or again flashing into vapors. Thus dark- 
 ness dense and gross would settle upon the vaporous deep, 
 and would continue for long ages, until the atmosphere could 
 be finally cleared of its superfluous vapors. In the mean 
 time a crust of slag or cinder has been forming upon the 
 molten nucleus. Broken again and again by the heaving of 
 the seething mass, it at length sets permanently, and finally 
 allows some portion of the liquid rain condensed upon it to 
 remain as a boiling ocean. Then began the reign of the 
 waters, under which the first stratified rocks were laid down 
 by the deposit of earthy and saline matter suspended or dis- 
 
114 TJie Origin of tJie World. 
 
 solved in the heated sea. Such is the picture which science 
 presents to us of the genesis of the earth, and so far as we 
 can judge from his words, such must have been the picture 
 presented to the mental vision of the ancient seer of crea- 
 tion ; but he could discern also that mysterious influence, the 
 "breath of Elohim," which moved on the face of the waters, 
 and prepared for the evolution of land and of life from their 
 bosom. He saw — 
 
 *' An earth — formless and void ; 
 A vaporous abyss — dark at its very surface ; 
 A universal ocean — the breath of God hovering over it." 
 
 How could such a scene be represented in words ? since it 
 presented none of the familiar features of the actual world. 
 Had he attempted to dilate upon it, he would, in the absence 
 of the facts furnished by modern science, have been obliged, 
 like the writers of some of the less simple and primitive cos- 
 mogonies already quoted,* to adopt the feeble expedient of 
 enumerating the things not present. He wisely contents 
 himself with a few well-chosen words, which boldly sketch the 
 crude materials of a world hopeless and chaotic but for the 
 animating breath of the Almight}^ who has created even that 
 old chaos out of which is to be worked in the course of the six 
 creative days all the variety and beauty of a finished world. 
 
 In conclusion, the reader will perceive how this reticence 
 of the author of Genesis strengthens the argument for the 
 primitive age of the document, and for the vision-theory as to 
 its origin ; and will also observe that, in the conception of 
 this ancient writer, the " promise and potency " of order and 
 life reside not alone in the atoms of a vaporous world, but 
 also in the will of its Creator. 
 
 * Pages 21, 22, and 109, supra. 
 
Light and Creative Days. 1 1 5 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 LIGHT AND CREATIVE DAYS. 
 
 " And God said, Let light be, and light was ; and God saw the light that 
 it was good, and separated the light from the darkness : and God called 
 the light Day ; and the darkness he called Night. And Evening was and 
 Morning was — Day one." — Genesis i., 3-5. 
 
 Light is the first element of order and perfection intro- 
 duced upon our planet — the first innovation on the old re- 
 gime of darkness and desolation. There is a beautiful 
 propriety in this, for the Hebrew Aur (light) should be view- 
 ed as including heat and electricity as well as light ; and 
 these three forces — if they are really distinct, and not merely 
 various movements of one and the same ether — are in them- 
 selves, or the proximate causes of their manifestation, the 
 prime movers of the machinery of nature, the vivifying forces 
 without which the primeval desolation would have been 
 eternal. The statement presented here is, however, a bold 
 one. Light without luminaries, which were afterward form- 
 ed — independent light, so to speak, shining all around the 
 earth — is an idea not likely to have occurred in the days 
 of Moses to the framer of a fictitious cosmogony, and yet it 
 corresponds in a remarkable manner with some of the theo- 
 ries which have grown out of modern induction. 
 
 I have said that the Hebrew word translated "light" includes 
 the vibratory movements which we call heat and electricity 
 as well. I make this statement, not intending to assert that 
 
ii6 The Origin of the World. 
 
 the Hebrews experimented on these forces in the manner of 
 modern science, and would therefore be prepared to under- 
 stand their laws or correlations as fully as we can. I give 
 the word this general sense simply because throughout the 
 Bible it is used to denote the solar light and heat, and also 
 the electric light of the thunder-cloud : " the light of His 
 cloud," "the bright light which is in the clouds." The ab- 
 sence of "^z/r," therefore, in the primeval earth, is the ab- 
 sence of solar radiation, of the lightning's flash, and of vol- 
 canic fires. We shall in the succeeding verses find addi- 
 tional reasons for excluding all these phenomena from the 
 darkness of the primeval night. 
 
 The light of the first day can not reasonably be supposed 
 to have been in anv other than a visible and active state. 
 Whether light be, as supposed by the older physicists, lumi- 
 nous matter radiated with immense velocity, or, as now ap- 
 pears more probable, merely the undulations of a universally 
 diffused ether, its motion had already commenced. The idea 
 of the matter of light as distinct from its power of affecting 
 the senses does not appear in the Scriptures any farther than 
 that the Hebrew name is probably radically identical with 
 the word ether now used to express the undulating medium 
 by which light is propagated ; and if it did, the general 
 creation of matter being stated in verse i, and the notice of 
 the separation of light and darkness being distinctly given in 
 the present verse, there is no place left for such a view here. 
 For this reason, that explanation of these words which sup- 
 poses that on the first day the ^natter of light, or the ether 
 whose motions produce light, was created, and that on the 
 fourth day, when luminaries were appointed, it became visible 
 by beginning to undulate, must be abandoned; and the con- 
 nection between these two statements must be sought in 
 
Light and Creative Days. \\j 
 
 some other group of facts than that connected with the 
 existence of the matter of light as distinct from its undu- 
 lations. 
 
 What, then, was the nature of the light which on the first 
 day shone without the presence of any local luminary ? It 
 must have proceeded from luminous matter diffused through 
 the whole space of the solar system, or surrounding our globe 
 as with a mantle. It was "clothed with light as with a 
 garment," 
 
 " Sphered in a radiant cloud, for yet the sun \Yas not." 
 
 We have already rejected the hypothesis that the primeval 
 night proceeded from a temporary obscuration of the atmos- 
 phere ; and the expression, " God said, Let light be," affords 
 an additional reason, since, in accordance wdth the strict 
 precision of language which everywhere prevails in this an- 
 cient document, a mere restoration of light would not be 
 stated in such terms. If we wish to find a natural explana- 
 tion of the mode of illumination referred to, we must recur to 
 one or other of the suppositions mentioned above, that the 
 luminous matter formed a nebulous atmosphere, slowly con- 
 'centrating itself toward the centre of the solar S3^stem, or that 
 it formed a special envelope of our earth, which subsequently 
 disappeared. 
 
 We may suppose this light-giving matter to be the same 
 with that which now surrounds the sun, and constitutes the 
 stratum of luminous substance which, by its wondrous and 
 unceasing power of emitting light, gives him all his glory. 
 To explain the division of the light from the darkness, we 
 need only suppose that the luminous matter, in the progress 
 of its concentration, was at length all gathered within the 
 earth's orbit, and then, as one hemisphere only would be 
 
Ii8 TJie Origin of tJie World. 
 
 illuminated at a time, the separation of light from dark- 
 ness, or of day from night, would be established. This 
 hypothesis, suggested by the words themselves, affords a 
 simple and natural explanation of a statement otherwise 
 obscure. 
 
 It is an instructive circumstance that the probabilities 
 respecting the early state of our planet, thus deduced from 
 the Scriptural narrative, correspond very closely with the 
 most ingenious and . truly philosophical speculation ever 
 hazarded respecting the origin of our solar system. I refer 
 to the cosmical hypothesis of La Place, which was certainly 
 formed without any reference to the Bible ; and by persons 
 whose views of the Mosaic narrative are of that shallow 
 character which is too prevalent, has been suspected as of 
 infidel tendency. La Place's theory is based on the follow- 
 ing properties of the solar system, which will be found 
 referred to in this connection in many popular works on 
 astronomy : i. The orbits of the planets are nearly circular. 
 
 2. They revolve nearly in the plane of the sun's equator.* 
 
 3. They all revolve round the sun in one direction, which is 
 also the direction of the sun's rotation. 4. They rotate on 
 their axes also, as far as is known, in the same direction. 
 5. Their satellites, with the exception of those of Uranus and 
 Neptune, revolve in the same direction. Now all these 
 coincidences can scarcely have been fortuitous, and yet they 
 might have been otherwise without affecting the working of 
 the system ; and, farther, if not fortuitous, they correspond 
 
 * The minor planets discovered in more recent times between Mars 
 and Jupiter form an exception to this ; but they are of little importance, 
 and exceptional in other respects as well. To give their arrangement 
 and the motions of the satellites of Uranus, would require the further 
 assumption of some unknown disturbing cause. 
 
Light and Creative Days. 119 
 
 precisely with the results which would flow from the conden- 
 sation of a revolving mass of nebulous matter. La Place, 
 therefore, conceived that in the beginning the matter of our 
 system existed in the condition of a mass of vaporous mate- 
 rial, having a central nucleus more or less dense, and the 
 whole rotating in a uniform direction. Such a mass must, 
 "in condensing by cold, leave in the plane of its equator 
 zones of vapor composed of substances which required an 
 intense degree of cold to return to a liquid or solid state. 
 These zones must have begun by circulating round the sun 
 in the form of concentric rings, the most volatile molecules 
 of which must have formed the superior part, and the most 
 condensed the inferior part. If all the nebulous molecules 
 of which these rings are composed had continued to cool 
 without disuniting, they would have ended by forming a 
 liquid or solid ring. But the regular constitution which all 
 parts of the ring would require lor this, and which they would 
 have needed to preserve when cooling, would make this phe- 
 nomenon extremely rare. Accordingly the solar system pre- 
 sents only one instance of \\. — that of the rings of Saturn. 
 Generally the ring must have broken into several parts which 
 have continued to circulate round the sun, and with almost 
 equal velocity, while at the same time, in consequence of 
 their separation, they would acquire a rotatory motion round 
 their respective centres of gravity ; and as the molecules of 
 the superior part of the ring — that is to say, those farthest 
 from the centre of the sun — had necessarily an absolute 
 velocity greater than the molecules of the inferior part which 
 is nearest it, the rotatory motion common to all the fragments 
 must always have been in the same direction with the orbit- 
 ual motion. However, if after their division one of these 
 fragments has been sufficiently superior to the others to unite 
 
120 TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 them to it by its attraction, tliey will have formed only a mass 
 of vapor, which, by the continual friction of all its parts, 
 must have assumed the form of a spheroid, flattened at the 
 poles and expanded in the direction of its equator.""^ Here, 
 then, are rings of vapor left by the successive retreats of the 
 atmosphere of the sun, changed into so many planets in the 
 condition of vapor, circulating round the central orb, and 
 possessing a rotatory motion in the direction of their revolu- 
 tion, while the solar mass was gradually contracting itself 
 round its centre and assuming its present organized form. 
 Such is a general view of the hypothesis of La Place, which 
 may also be followed out into all the known details of the 
 solar system, and will be found to account for them all. 
 Into these details, however, we can not now enter. Let us 
 now compare this ingenious speculation with the Scripture 
 narrative. In both we have the raw material of the heavens 
 and the earth created before it assumed its distinct forms. 
 In both we have that state of the planets characterized as 
 without form and void, the condensing nebulous mass of 
 La Place's theory being in perfect correspondence with the 
 Scriptural "deep." In both it is implied that the permanent 
 mutual relations of the several bodies of the system must 
 have been perfected long after their origin. Lastly, suppos- 
 ing the luminous atmosphere of our sun to have been of such 
 a character as to concentrate itself wholly around the centre 
 of the system, and that as it became concentrated it acquired 
 its intense luminosity, we have in both the production of light 
 from the same cause ; and in both it would follow that the 
 concentration of this matter within the orbit of the earth 
 v/ould effect the separation of day from night, by illuminating 
 
 * Nichol's " Planetary System. " 
 
Light and Creative Days. 121 
 
 alternately the opposite sides of the earth. It is true that 
 the theory of La Place does not provide for any such special 
 condensation of luminous matter, nor for any precise stage of 
 the process as that in which the arrangements of light and 
 darkness should be completed; but under his hypothesis it 
 seems necessary to account in some such way for the sole 
 luminosity of the sun ; and the point of separation of day 
 and night must have been a marked epoch in the history of 
 the process for each planet. The theory of accretion of mat- 
 ter which has in modern times been associated with that of 
 La Place would equally well accord with the indications in 
 our jMosaic record.* 
 
 It is further to be observed that so long as the material of 
 the earth constituted a part of the great vaporous mass, it 
 would be encompassed with its diffused light, and that after 
 it had been left outside the contracting solar envelope, it 
 might still retain some independent luminosity in its atmos- 
 phere, a trace of which may still exist in the auroral displays 
 of the upper strata of the air. The earth might thus at first 
 be in total darkness. It might then be dimly lighted by the 
 surrounding nebulosity, or by a luminous envelope in its own 
 atmosphere. Then it might, as before explained, relapse into 
 the darkness of its misty mantle, and as this cleared away 
 and the light of the sun increased and became condensed, the 
 latter would gradually be installed into his oflice as the sole 
 orb of day. It is quite evident that we thus have a sufficient 
 hypothetical explanation of the light of the first of the creative 
 aeons ; and this is all that in the present state of science we 
 can expect. "Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as 
 for darkness, where is the place thereof, that thou shouldest 
 
 * Proctor's Lectures, etc. 
 F 
 
122 The Origin of the World. 
 
 take it to the bound thereof, and know the way to the house 
 thereof?" 
 
 For the reasons above given, we must regard tlie hypothe- 
 sis of the great French astronomer as a wonderful approxi- 
 mation to the grand and simple plan of the construction of 
 our system as revealed in Scripture. Nor must we omit to 
 notice that the telescope and the spectroscope reveal to us in 
 the heavens gaseous nebular bodies which may well be new 
 systems in progress of formation, and in which the Creator is 
 even now dividing the light from the darkness. Still another 
 thought in connection with this subject is that the theory of 
 a condensing system affords a measure of the aggregate time 
 occupied in the work of creation. Sir William Thomson's 
 well-known calculations give us one hundred millions of 
 years as the possible age of the earth as a planetary globe; 
 but calculations of the sun's heat as produced by gravitation 
 alone would give a much less time. We have, however, a 
 right to assume an original heated condition of the vaporous 
 mass from which the sun was formed. Still the date above 
 given would seem to be a maximum rather than a minimum 
 age for the solar system, 
 
 ''God saw the light that it was good," though it illuminated 
 but a waste of lifeless waters. It was good because beautiful 
 in itself, and because God saw it in its relations to long trains 
 of processes and wonderful organic structures on which it was 
 to act as a vivifying agency. Throughout the Scriptures light 
 is not only good, but an emblem of higher good. In Psalm 
 civ. God is represented as "clothing himself with light as with 
 a garment ;" and in many other parts of these exquisite lyrics 
 we have similar figures. "The Lord is my light and salva- 
 tion ;" " Lift up the light of thy countenance upon me ;" 
 "The entrance of thy law giveth light;" "The path of the 
 
LigJU and Creative Days. 123 
 
 just is as a shining light." And the great spiritual Light of 
 the world, the " only begotten of the Father," the mediator 
 alike in creation and redemption, is himself the " Sun of 
 Righteousness." Perhaps the noblest Scripture passage re- 
 lating to the blessing of light is one in the address of Jeho- 
 vah to Job, which is unfortunately so imperfectly translated 
 in the English version as to be almost unintelligible : 
 
 " Hast thou in thy lifetime given law to the morning, 
 Or caused the dawn to know its place, 
 That it may enclose the horizon in its grasj^, 
 And chase the robbers before it : 
 It rolls along as the seal over the clay, 
 Causing all things to stand forth in gorgeous apparel."* 
 
 Job xxxviii,, 12. 
 
 The concluding words, "Day one," bring us to the con- 
 sideration of one of the most difficult problems in this his- 
 tory, and one on which its significance in a great measure 
 depends — the meaning of the word da}\ and the length of 
 the days of creation. 
 
 In pursuing this investigation, I shall refrain from noticing 
 in detail the views of the many able modern writers who, from 
 Cuvier, De Luc, and Jameson, down to Hugh Miller, Donald 
 McDonald, and Tayler Lewis, have maintained the period 
 theory, or those equally numerous and able writers who have 
 supported the opposite view. I acknowledge obligations to 
 them all, but prefer to direct my attention immediately to the 
 record itself. 
 
 The first important fact that strikes us is one which has 
 
 * This translation is as literal as is consistent with the bold abruptness 
 of the original. The last idea is that of a cylindrical seal rolling over clay, 
 and leaving behind a beautiful impression where all before was a blank. 
 
124 ' TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 not received the attention it deserves, viz., that the word 
 day is evidently used in three senses in the record itself. 
 We are told (verse 5th) that God called the light, that is, the 
 diurnal continuance of light, day. We are also informed that 
 the evening and the morimig were the first day. Day, there- 
 fore, in one of these clauses is the light as separated from the 
 darkness, which we may call the natw-al day ; in the other it 
 is the whole time occupied in the creation of light and its 
 separation from the darkness, whether that was a civil or as- 
 tronomical day of twenty-four hours or some longer period. 
 In other words, the daylight, to which God is represented as 
 restricting the use of the term day, is only a part of a day of 
 creation, which included both light and darkness, and which 
 might be either a civil day or a longer period, but could not 
 be the natural day intervening between sunrise and sunset, 
 which is the ordinary day of Scripture phraseology. Again, 
 in the 4th verse of chapter ii., which begins the second part 
 of the history, the whole creative week is called one day — 
 " In the day that Jehovah Elohim made the earth and the 
 heavens." Such an expression must surely in such a place 
 imply more than a mere inadvertence on the part of the 
 writer or writers. 
 
 To pave the way for a right understanding of the day of 
 creation, it may be well to consider, in the first place, the 
 manner in which the shorter day is introduced. In the ex- 
 pression, " God called the light da}^," we find for the first time 
 the Creator naming his works, and we may infer that some 
 important purpose was to be served by this. The nature 
 of this purpose we ascertain by comparison with other in- 
 stances of the same kind occurring in the chapter. God 
 called the darkness night, the firmament heaven, the dry land 
 earth, the gathered waters seas. In all these cases the pur- 
 
LigJit and Creative Days. 125 
 
 pose seems to have been one of verbal definition, perhaps 
 along with an assertion of sovereignty. It was necessary to 
 distinguish the diurnal darkness from that unvaried darkness 
 which had been of old, and to discriminate between the lim- 
 ited waters of an earth having dry land on its surface and 
 those of the ancient universal ocean. This is eftected by in- 
 troducing two new terms, night and seas. In like manner it 
 was necessary to mark the new application of the term earth 
 to the dry land, and that of heaven to the atmosphere, more 
 especially as these were the senses in which the words were 
 to be popularly used. The intention, therefore, in all these 
 cases was to affix to certain things names different from those 
 which they had previously borne in the narrative, and to cer- 
 tain terms new senses differing from those in which they had 
 been previously used. Applying this explanation here, it re- 
 sults that the probable reason for calling the light day is to 
 point out that the w^ord occurs in two senses, and that while 
 it was to be the popular and proper term for the natural day, 
 this sense must be distinguished from its other meaning as a 
 day of creation. In short, we may take this as a plain and 
 authoritative declaration that the day of creatio7i is not the day 
 of popular speech. We see in this a striking instance of the 
 general truth that in the simplicity of the structure of this 
 record we find not carelessness, but studied and severe pre- 
 cision, and are warned against the neglect of the smallest 
 peculiarities in its diction. 
 
 What, then, is the day of creation, as distinguished by Moses 
 himself from the natural da}'. The general opinion, and that 
 which at first sight appears most probable, is that it is merely 
 the ordinary civil day of twenty-four hours. Those who adopt 
 this view insist on the impropriety of diverting the word from 
 its usual sense. Unfortunately, however, for this argument, 
 
126 The Origin of the World. 
 
 the word is not very frequently used in the Scriptures for the 
 whole twenty-four hours of the earth's revolution. Its ety- 
 mology gives it the sense of the time of glowing or warmth, 
 and in accordance with this the divine authority here limits 
 its meaning to the daylight. Accordingly throughout the He- 
 brew Scriptures jiw;^ is generally the natural and not the civil 
 day ; and where the latter is intended, the compound terms 
 "day and night" and "evening and morning" are frequently 
 used. Any one who glances over the word "day" in a good 
 English concordance can satisfy himself of this fact. But 
 the sense of natural day from sunrise to sunset is expressly 
 excluded here by the context, as already shown ; and all that 
 we can say in favor of the interpretation that limits the day 
 of creation to twenty-four hours, is that next to the use of the 
 word for the natural day, which is its true popular meaning, 
 its use for the civil day is perhaps the most frequent. It is 
 therefore by no means a statement of the whole truth to af- 
 firm, as many writers have done, that the civil day is the ordi- 
 nary meaning of the term. At the same time we may admit 
 that this is one of its ordinary meanings, and therefore may 
 be its meaning here. Another argument frequently urged is 
 that the day of creation is said to have had an evening and 
 morning. We shall consider this more fully in the sequel, 
 and in the mean time may observe that it appears rather 
 hazardous to attribute an ordinary evening and morning to 
 a day which, on the face of the record, preceded the forma- 
 tion and arrangement of the luminaries which are " for days 
 and for years."* 
 
 * Professor Dana thus sums up the various meanings of the word day 
 in Genesis : " First, in verse 5, the light in general is called day, the dark- 
 ness night. Second, in the same verse, evening and 77ior7ting make the first 
 day, before the sun appears. Third, in verse 14, day stands for twelve hours. 
 
Light and Creative Days. 127 
 
 But it may be affirmed that in the Bible long and unde- 
 fined periods are indicated by the word "day." In many of 
 these cases the word is in the plural : as Genesis iv., 3, "And 
 after days it came to pass," rendered in our version " in proc- 
 ess of time ;" Genesis xl., 4, " days in ward," rendered " a sea- 
 son." Such instances as these are not applicable to the pres- 
 ent question, since the plural may have the sense of indefinite 
 time, merely by denoting an undetermined number of natural 
 days. Passages in which the singular occurs in this sense 
 are those which strictly apply to the case in hand, and such 
 are by no means rare. A very remarkable example is that 
 in Genesis ii., 4, already mentioned, where we find, " In the 
 day when Jehovah Elohim made the earth and the heavens." 
 This day must either mean the beginning, or must include 
 the whole six days ; most probably the latter, since the word 
 " made " refers not to the act of creation, properly so called, 
 but to the elaborating processes of the creative week ; and 
 occurring as this does immediately after the narrative of cre- 
 ation, it seems almost like an intentional intimation of the 
 wide import of the creative days. It has been objected, how- 
 ever, that the expression " in the day " is properly a com- 
 pound adverb, having the force of "when" or "at the time." 
 But the learned and ingenious authors who urge this objec- 
 tion have omitted to consider the relative probabilities as to 
 
 or the period of daylight, as dependent on the sun. Fourth, same verse, 
 in the phrase "days and seasons," day stands for a period oi tioenty-four 
 hoicrs. Fifth, at the close of the account, in verse 4 of the second chapter, 
 day means the whole period of creation. These uses are the same that Vv'C 
 have in our own language. 
 
 Warring, in his book " The Miracle of To-day," has suggested that the 
 Mosaic days are epochal days, each considered as the close and culmina- 
 tion of a period. This is an ingenious suggestion, and very well coincides 
 with the day-period theory as defended in the text. 
 
128 The Origin of the World. 
 
 whether the adverbial use had arisen while the word yom 
 meant simply a day, or whether the use of the noun for long 
 periods was the reason of the introduction of such an adverb- 
 ial expression. The probabilities are in favor of the latter, for 
 it is not likely that men would construct an adverb referring 
 to indefinite time from a word denoting one of the most pre- 
 cisely limited portions of time, unless that word had also a sec- 
 ond and more unlimited sense. Admitting, therefore, that the 
 phrase is an adverb of time, its use so early as the date of the 
 composition of Genesis, to denote a period longer than a lit- 
 eral day, seems to imply that this indefinite use of the word 
 was of high antiquity, and probably preceded the invention of 
 any term by which long periods could be denoted. 
 
 This use of the word "day" is, however, not limited to cases 
 of the occurrence of the formula " in the day." The follow- 
 ing are a few out of many instances that might be quoted: 
 Job xviii., 20, "They that come after him shall be'astonished 
 at his day;" Job xv., 32, "It shall be accomplished before 
 his tinie;'^ Judges xviii., 30, " Until the day of the captivity 
 of the land;" Deut. i., 39, "And your children which in that 
 day had no knowledge of good and evil;" Gen. xxxix., 10, 
 "And it came to pass about that time" (on that day). We 
 find also abundance of such expressions as "day of calamity," 
 "day of distress," "day of wrath," "day of God's power," 
 "day of prosperity." In such passages the word is evidently 
 used in the sense of era or period of time, and this in prose 
 as well as poetry. 
 
 There is a remarkable passage in the Psalms, which con- 
 veys the idea of a day of God as distinct from human or ter- 
 restrial days : 
 
 " Before the mountains were brought forth, 
 Or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, 
 
Light and Creative Days. 129 
 
 Even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. 
 
 Thou turnest man to destruction, 
 
 And sayest, Return, ye children of men ; 
 
 For a thousand years are in thy sight as yesterday when it is past, 
 
 And as a watch in the night."* 
 
 It is a singular coincidence that the authorship of this 
 Psalm is attributed to Moses, and that its style and language 
 correspond with the songs credited to him in Deuteronomy. 
 It is farther to be observed that the reference is to the long 
 periods employed in creation as contrasted with the limited 
 space of years allotted to man. Its meaning, too, is some- 
 what obscured by the inaccurate translation of the third line. 
 In the original it is, "From olam to olam thou art, O El" — that 
 is, "from age to age." These long ages of creation, consti- 
 tuting a duration to us relatively eternal, were so protracted 
 that even a thousand years are but as a watch in the night. 
 If this Psalm is rightly attributed to the author of the first 
 chapter of Genesis, it seems absolutely certain that he under- 
 stood his own creative days as being Olamifn or a^ons. The 
 same thought occurs in the Second Epistle of Peter : " One 
 day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand 
 years as one day." 
 
 That the other writers of the Old Testament understood 
 the creative days in this sense, might be inferred from the en- 
 tire absence of any reference to the work of creation as short, 
 since it occupied only six days. Such reference we may find 
 in modern writers, but never in the Scriptures. On the con- 
 trary, we receive the impression of the creative work as long 
 continued. Thus the divine Wisdom says in Prov. viii., The 
 Lord possessed me "from the beginning of his way before 
 
 * Psalm xc. 
 F2 
 
130 TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 his works of old, from everlasting, before the antiquities of 
 the earth." So in Psalm cxlv., God's kingdom relatively to 
 nature and providence is a kingdom "of all ages." In Psahn 
 civ^, which is a poetical version of the creative work, and the 
 oldest extant commentary on Genesis i,, it is evident that there 
 was no idea in the mind of the writer of a short time, but 
 rather of long consecutive processes; and I may remark here 
 that the course of the narrative itself in Genesis i., implies 
 time for the replenishing of the earth with various forms of 
 being in preparation for others, exactly as in Psalm civ. 
 
 Perhaps one of the most conclusive arguments in favor 
 of the length of the creative days is that furnished by the 
 seventh day and the institution of the Sabbath. In Gen- 
 esis the seventh day is not said to have had an evening or 
 morning, nor is God said to have resumed his work on any 
 eighth day. Consequently the seventh day of creation must 
 be still current. Now in the fourth commandment the Isra- 
 elites are enjoined to "remember the Sabbath-day," because 
 "in six davs God created the heavens and the earth." Ob- 
 serve here that the Sabbath is to be remembered as an insti- 
 tution already known. Observe farther that the command- 
 ment is placed in the middle of the Decalogue, a solitary piece 
 of apparently arbitrary ritual amid the plainest and most 
 obvious moral duties. Observe also that the reason given — 
 namely, God's six days' work and seventh day's rest — seems 
 at first sight both far-fetched and trivial, as an argument for 
 abstaining from work in a seventh part of our time. How is 
 all this to be explained ? Simply, I think, on the supposition 
 that the Lawgiver, and those for whom he legislated, knew be- 
 forehand the history of creation and the fall, as we have them 
 recorded in Genesis, and knew that God's days are ceons. 
 The argument is not, "God worked on six natural days, and 
 
Light and Creative Days. 131 
 
 rested on the seventh ; do you therefore the same." Such 
 an argument could have no moral or religious force, more 
 especially as it could not be affirmed that God habitually 
 works and rests in this way. The argument reaches far deep- 
 er and higher. It is this. God created the world in six of 
 his days, and on the seventh rested, and invited man in Eden 
 to enter on his rest as a perpetual Sabbath of happiness. 
 But man fell, and lost God's Sabbath. Therefore a weekly 
 Sabbath was prescribed to him as a memorial of what he had 
 lost, and a pledge of what God has promised in the renewal 
 of life and happiness through our Saviour. Thus the Sabbath 
 is the central point of the moral law — the Gospel in the Dec- 
 alogue — the connection between God and man through the 
 promise of redemption. It is this and this alone that gives it 
 its true religious significance, but is lost on the natural-day 
 theory. It would farther seem that this view of the law was 
 that of our Lord himself, and was known to the Jews of his 
 time, for, when blamed for healing a man on the Sabbath, he 
 says, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work" — an argu- 
 ment whose force depended on the fact that God continues to 
 work in his providence throughout his long Sabbath, which 
 has never been broken except by man. Farther, the writer 
 of the Epistle to the Hebrews takes this view in arguing as to 
 the rest or Sabbatism that remains to the people of God. His 
 argument (chap, iv., 4) may be stated thus: God finished his 
 work and entered into his rest. Man, in consequence of the 
 fall, failed to do so. He has made several attempts since, but 
 unsuccessfully. Now Christ has finished his work, and has 
 entered into his Sabbath, and through him we may enter into 
 that rest of God which otherwise we can not attain to. This 
 does not, it is true, refer to the keeping of a Sabbath-day ; 
 but it implies an understanding of the reference to God's 
 
132 The Origin of the World. 
 
 olamic Sabbath, and also implies that Christ, having entered 
 into his Sabbatism in heaven, gives us a warrant for the Chris- 
 tian Sabbath or Lord's day, which has the same relation to 
 Christ's present Sabbatism in heaven that the old Sabbath 
 had to God's rest from his work of creation.* 
 
 We may add to these considerations the use of the Greek 
 term Aion in the New Testament, for what may be called 
 time-worlds as distinguished from space -worlds. For ex- 
 ample, take the expression in Heb. i., 2 : " His Son, by whom 
 he made the worlds," or, literally, "constituted the aeons" — 
 the long time-worlds of the creation. For God's worlds must 
 exist in time as well as in space, and both may to our minds 
 alike appear as infinities. If, then, we find that Moses himself 
 seems to have understood his creative days as aions, that the 
 succeeding Old Testament writers favor the same view, that 
 
 * It may be desirable to give here, in a slightly paraphrased version, 
 but strictly in accordance with the views of the best expositors, the es- 
 sential part of the passage in HebrcNvs, chap. iv. : 
 
 "For God hath spoken in a certain place" (Gen. ii., 2) of the seventh 
 day in this wise — 'And God did rest on the seventh day from all his 
 works;' and in this place again — 'They shall not enter into my rest' 
 (Psa. xcv., 1 1). Seeing, therefore, it still remaineth that some enter therein, 
 and they to whom it (God's Sabbatism) was first proclaimed entered not in, 
 because of disobedience (in the fall, and afterward in the sin of the Isra- 
 elites in the desert), again he fixes a certain day, saying in David's writ- 
 ings, long after the time of Joshua — 'To-day, if3-e hear his voice, harden 
 not your hearts.' For if Joshua had given them rest in Canaan, he would 
 not afterward have spoken of another day. There is therefore yet reserved 
 a keeping of a Sabbath for the people of God. For he that is entered into 
 his rest (that is, Jesus Christ, who has finished his work and entered into 
 his rest in heaven), he himself also rested from his own works, as God did 
 from his own. Let us therefore earnestly strive to enter into that rest." 
 
 It is evident that in this passage God's Sabbatism, the rest intended for 
 man in Eden and for Israel in Canaan, Christ's rest in heaven after finish- 
 ing his work, and the final heavenly rest of Christ's people, are all indef- 
 inite periods mutually related, and can not possibly be natural days. 
 
Light and Creative Days. 133 
 
 this view is essential to the true significance of the Sabbath 
 and the Lord's day, and that it is sustained by Christ and his 
 apostles, there is surely no need for our clinging to a medi- 
 aeval notion which has no theological value, and is in opposi- 
 tion to the facts of nature. On the contrary, should not even 
 children be taught these grand truths, and led to contemplate 
 the great work of Him who is from aeon to aeon, and to think 
 of that Sabbatism which he prepared for us, and which he still 
 offers to us in the future, in connection with the succession 
 of worlds in time revealed by geology, and which rivals in 
 grandeur iind perhaps exceeds in interest the extension of 
 worlds in space revealed by astronomy. In truth, we should 
 bear in mind that the great revelations of astronomy have too 
 much habituated us to think of space-worlds rather than time- 
 worlds, while the latter idea was evidently dominant with the 
 Biblical writers as it is also with modern 2:eolo2;ists. Viewed 
 as aeons — divine days, or time-worlds — the days of creation are 
 thus a reality for all ages ; and connect themselves with the 
 highest moral teachings of the Bible in relation to the fall of 
 man and God's plan for his restoration, begun in this seventh 
 aeon of the world's long history, and to be completed in that 
 second divine Sabbatism, secured by the work of redemption, 
 the final "rest" of the "new heavens and new earth," which 
 remains for the people of God. 
 
 But supposing that the inspired writer intended to say that 
 the w^orld was formed in six long periods of time, could not he 
 have used some other word than j'^w that would have been lia- 
 ble to fewer doubts. There are words which might have been 
 used, as, for instance, eth, time, season, or olam, age, ancient 
 time, eternity. The former, however, has about it a want of 
 precision as to its beginning and end which unfits it for this 
 use; the latter we have already seen is used as equivalent to 
 
134 ^/^^ Origin of the Wo7'ld. 
 
 the creative yom. On the whole, I am unable to find any in- 
 stance which would justify me in affirming that, on the suppo- 
 sition that Moses intended long periods, he could have better 
 expressed the idea than by the use of the word yom^ more es- 
 pecially if he and those to whom he wrote were familiar with 
 the thought, preserved to us in the mythology of the Hindoos 
 and Persians, and probably widely diffused in ancient Asia, 
 that a working day of the Creator immeasurably transcends 
 a working day of man.* 
 
 Many objections to the view which I have thus endeavored 
 to support from internal evidence will at once occur to every 
 intelligent reader familiar with the literature of this subject. 
 I shall now attempt to give the principal of these objections 
 a candid consideration. 
 
 (i.) It is objected that the time occupied in the work of 
 creation is given as a reason for the observance of the seventh 
 day as a Sabbath ; and that this requires us to view the days 
 of creation as literal days. "For in six days Jehovah made 
 
 * For the benefit of those who may value ancient authorities in such 
 matters, and to show that such views may rationally be entertained inde- 
 pendently of geology, I quote the following passage from Origen : " Cuinam 
 quaeso sensum habenti convenienter videbitur dictum, quod dies prima et 
 secunda et tertia, in quibus et vespera nominatur, et mane, fuerint sine 
 sole, et sine luna et sine stellis : prima autem dies sine coelo." So St. 
 Augustine expressly states his belief that the creative days could not be 
 of the ordinary kind : " Qui dies, cujusmodi sint, aut perdifificile nobis, 
 aut etiam impossibile est cogitare, quanto magis discere." Bede also re- 
 marks, "Fortassis hie diei nomen, totius temporis nomen est, et omnia vo- 
 lumina seculorum hoc vocabulo includit." Many similar opinions of old 
 commentators might be quoted. It is also not unworthy of note that the 
 cardinal number is used here, " one day " for first day ; and though the 
 Hebrew grammarians have sought to found on this, and a few similar 
 passages, a rule that the cardinal may be substituted for the ordinal, 
 many learned Hebraists insist that this use of the cardinal number im- 
 plies singularity and peculiarity as well as mere priority. 
 
Light and Creative Days. 135 
 
 the heaven and the earth, the sea and all that in them is, and 
 rested on the seventh day ; therefore Jehovah blessed the 
 Sabbath-day and sanctified it." The argument used here is, 
 however, as we have already seen, one of analogy. Because 
 God rested on his seventh day, he blessed and sanctified it, 
 and required men in like manner to sanctify their seventh 
 day.* Now, if it should appear that the working day of God 
 is not the same with the working day of man, and that the 
 Sabbath of God is of proportionate length to his working day, 
 the analogy is not weakened ; more especially as we find the 
 same analogy extended to the seventh year. If it should be 
 said, God worked in the creation of the world in six long ages, 
 and rested on the seventh, therefore man, in commemoration 
 of this fact, and of his own loss of an interest in God's rest 
 by the fall, shall sanctify the seventh of his working days, the 
 argument is stronger, the example more intelligible, than on 
 the common supposition. This objection is, in fact, a piece 
 of pedantic hyperorthodoxy which has too long been handed 
 about without investigation. I may add to what has been 
 already said in reference to it, the following vigorous thrust 
 by Hugh Miller :t 
 
 " I can not avoid thinking that many of our theologians at- 
 tach a too narrow meaning to the remarkable reason attached 
 to the fourth commandment by the divine Lawgiver. " God 
 rested on the seventh day," says the text, " from all his work 
 which he had created and made ; and God blessed the seventh 
 day and sanctified it." And such is the reason given in the 
 Decalogue why man should rest on the Sabbath-day. God 
 
 * It is to be observed, however, that on the so-called literal day hypoth- 
 esis the first Sabbath was not man's seventh day, but rather his first, since 
 he must have been created toward the close of the sixth day. 
 
 t " Footprints of the Creator." 
 
136 TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 rested on the Sabbath-day and sanctified it; and therefore man 
 ought also to rest on the Sabbath and keep it holy. But I know 
 not where we shall find grounds for the belief that the Sab- 
 bath-day during which God rested was merely commensurate 
 with one of the Sabbaths of short-lived man — a brief period 
 measured by a single revolution of the earth on its axis. We 
 have not, as has been shown, a shadow of evidence that he 
 resumed his work of creation on the morrow j the geologist 
 finds no trace of post-Adamic creation ; the theologian can 
 tell us of none. God's Sabbath of rest may still exist ; the 
 work of redemjDtion may be the work of his Sabbath-day. 
 That elevatory process through successive acts of creation, 
 which engaged him during myriads of ages, was of an ordi- 
 nary week-day character; but when the term of his moral gov- 
 ernment began, the elevatory process peculiar to it assumed 
 the divine character of the Sabbath. This special view ap- 
 pears to lend peculiar emphasis to the reason embodied in 
 the commandment. The collation of the passage with the 
 geologic record seems, as if by a species of retranslation, to 
 make it enunciate as its injunction, "Keep this da}^, not mere- 
 ly as a day of memorial related to a past fact, but also as a 
 day of co-operation with God in the work of elevation, in re- 
 lation both to a present fact and a future purpose." " God 
 keeps his Sabbath," it says, "in order that he may save; 
 keep yours also that ye may be saved." It serves besides to 
 throw light on the prominence of the Sabbatical command, 
 in a digest of law of which no jot or tittle can pass away un- 
 til the fulfillment of all things. During the present dynasty 
 of probation and trial, that special work of both God and man 
 on which the character of the future dynasty depends is the 
 Sabbath-day work of saving and being saved. 
 
 " The common objection to that special view which regards 
 
Light and Creative Days. 137 
 
 the days of creation as immensely protracted periods of time, 
 furnishes a specimen, if not of reasoning in a circle, at least 
 of reasoning from a mere assumption. It first takes for 
 granted that the Sabbath-day during which God rested was 
 a day of but twenty-four hours, and then argues from the sup- 
 position that, in order to keep up the proportion between the 
 six previous working days and the seventh day of rest, which 
 the reason annexed to the fourth commandment demands, 
 these previous days must also have been twenty-four hours 
 each. It would, I have begun to suspect, square better with 
 the ascertained facts, and be at least equally in accordance 
 with Scripture, to reverse the process, and argue that because 
 God's working days were immensely protracted periods, his 
 Sabbath also must be an immensely protracted period. The 
 reason attached to the law of the Sabbath seems to be sim- 
 ply a reason of proportion : the objection to which I refer is 
 an objection palpably founded on considerations of propor- 
 tion, and certainly were the reason to be divested of propor- 
 tion, it would be divested also of its distinctive character as a 
 reason. "Were it as follows, it could not be at all understood : 
 " Six days shalt thou labor, etc. ; but on the seventh day 
 shalt thou do no labor, etc. ; for in six immensely protracted 
 periods of several thousand years each did the Lord make 
 the heavens and the earth, etc.; and then rested during a 
 brief day of twenty-four hours ; therefore the Lord blessed 
 the brief day of twenty-four hours and hallowed it." This, 
 I repeat, would not be reason. All, how-ever, that seems nec- 
 essary to the integrit}'' of the reason, in its character as such, 
 is that the proportion of six parts to seven should be main- 
 tained. God's periods may be periods expressed algebraic- 
 ally by letters symbolical of unknown quantities, and man's 
 periods by letters symbolical of quantities well known; but 
 
138 TJic Origin of the World. 
 
 * 
 
 if God's Sabbath be equal to one of his six working days, 
 and man's Sabbath equal to one of his six working days, the 
 integrity of proportion is maintained." 
 
 Not only does this view of the case entirely remove the ob- 
 jection, but, as we have already seen, it throws a new light 
 on the nature and reason of the Sabbath. No good reason, 
 except that of setting an example, can be assigned for God's 
 resting for a literal day. But if God's Sabbath of rest from 
 natural creation is still in progress, and if our short Sabbaths 
 are symbolical of the work of that great Sabbath in its pres- 
 ent gray morning and in its coming glorious noon, then may 
 the Christian thank this question, incidentally raised by ge- 
 ology and its long periods, for a ray of light which shines 
 along the whole course of Scripture history, from the first 
 Sabbath up to that final "rest which remaineth for the peo- 
 ple of God."=^ 
 
 (2.) It is objected that evening and morning are ascribed to 
 the first day. This has been already noticed ; it may here 
 be considered more fully. The word evening in the original 
 is literally the darkening, the sunset, the dusk. Morning is 
 the opening ox breaking forth of light — the daybreak. It must 
 not be denied that the explanation of these terms is attended 
 with some difficulty, but this is not at all lessened by narrow- 
 ing the day to twenty-four hours. The first operation of the 
 first day was the creation of light; next we have the Creator 
 contemplating his work and pronouncing it to be good ; then 
 we have the separation of the light and darkness, previously, 
 it is to be presumed, intermixed; and all this without the 
 presence of a sun or other luminar}'. Which of these opera- 
 
 * This idea occurs in Lord Bacon's *' Confession of Faith," and De Luc 
 also maintains that the Creator's Sabbath must have been of long contin- 
 uance. 
 
Light and Creative Days. 139 
 
 tions occupied the evening, and which the morning, if the 
 day consisted of but twenty-four hours, beginning, according 
 to Hebrew custom, in the evening? Was the old primeval 
 darkness the evening or night, and the first breaking forth 
 of liglit morning? This is almost the only view compatible 
 with the Hebrew civil day beginning at evening, but it would 
 at once lengthen the day beyond twenty-four hours, and con- 
 tradict the terms of the record. Again, were the separated 
 light and darkness the morning and evening? If so, why is 
 the evening mentioned first, contrary to the supposed facts 
 of the case? why, indeed, are the evening and morning men- 
 tioned at all, since on that supposition this is merely a rep- 
 etition ? Lastly, shall we adopt the ingenious expedient of 
 dividing the evening and morning between two days, and 
 maintaining that the evening belongs to the first and the 
 morning to the second day, which would deprive the first 
 day of a morning, and render the creative days, whatever 
 their length, altogether different from Hebrew natural or 
 civil days ? It is unnecessary to pursue such inquiries far- 
 ther, since it is evident that the terms of the record will not 
 agree with the supposition of natural evening and morning. 
 This is of itself a strong presumption against the hypothesis 
 of civil days, since the writer was under no necessity so to 
 word these verses that they would not give any rational or 
 connected sense on the supposition of natural evening and 
 morning, unless he wished to be otherwise understood. 
 
 But what is the meaning of evening and morning, if these 
 days were long periods ? Here fewer difficulties meet us. 
 First: It is readily conceivable that the beginning and end 
 of a period named a day should be called evening and morn- 
 ing. But what made the use of these divisions necessary or 
 appropriate ? I answer that nature and revelation both give 
 
140 TJie Origi?i of the World. 
 
 grounds at least to suspect that the evening, or earlier part 
 of each period, was a time of comparative inaction, sometimes 
 even of retrogression, and that the latter part of each period 
 was that of its greatest activity and perfection. Thus, on the 
 views stated in a former chapter, in the first day there was a 
 time when luminous matter, either gradually concentrating 
 itself toward the sun, or surrounding the earth itself, shed a 
 dim but slowly increasing light; then there were day and 
 night, the light increasing in intensity as, toward the end of 
 the period, the luminous matter became more and more con- 
 centrated around the sun. So in our own seventh day, the 
 earlier part was a time of deplorable retrogression, and 
 though the Sun of Righteousness has arisen, we have seen 
 as yet only a dim and cloudy morning. On the theory of 
 days of vision, as expounded by Hugh Miller, in the "Testi- 
 mony of the Rocks," in one of his noblest passages, the even- 
 ing and night fall on each picture presented to the seer like 
 the curtain of a stage. Secondly : Though the explanation 
 stated above is the most probable, the hypothesis of long 
 periods admits of another, namely, that the writer means to 
 inform us that evening and morning, once established by the 
 separation of light from darkness, continued without cessa- 
 tion throughout the remainder of the period — rolling from 
 this time uninterruptedly around our planet, like the seal cyl- 
 inder over the clay.* This explanation is, however, less ap- 
 plicable to the following days than to the first. Nor does 
 this accord with the curious fact that the seventh day, which, 
 on the h3'pothesis of long periods, is still in progress, is not 
 said to have had an evening or morning. 
 
 (3.) It is objected that the first chapter of Genesis " is not a 
 
 * See the quotation from Job, supra. 
 
Light and Creative Days. 141 
 
 poem nor a piece of oratorical diction," but a simple prosaic 
 narrative, and consequently that its terms must be taken in a 
 literal sense. In answer to this, I urge that the most truly 
 literal sense of the word, namely, the natural day, is excluded 
 by the terms of the narrative ; and that the word may be 
 received as a literal day of the Creator, in the sense of one 
 of his working periods, without involving the use of poetical 
 diction, and in harmony with the wording of plain prosaic 
 passages in other parts of the Bible. Examples of this have 
 already been given. It is, however, true that, though the first 
 chapter of Genesis is not strictly poetical, it is thrown into a 
 metrical form which admits of some approach to a figurative 
 expression in the case of a term of this kind. 
 
 (4.) It has been urged that in cases where day is used to 
 denote period, as in the expressions " day of calamity," etc., 
 the adjuncts plainly show that it can not mean an ordinary 
 day. In answer to this, I merely refer to the internal evi- 
 dence already adduced, and to the deliberate character of the 
 statements, in the manner rather of the description of proc- 
 esses than of acts. The difficulties attending the explana- 
 tion of the evening and the morning, and the successive crea- 
 tion of herbivorous and carnivorous animals, are also strong 
 indications which should serve here to mark the sense, just 
 as the context does in the cases above referred to. 
 
 (5.) In Professor Hitchcock's valuable and popular "Re- 
 ligion of Geology," I find some additional objections, which 
 deserve notice as specimens of the learned trifles which pass 
 current among writers on this subject, much to the detriment 
 of sound Scriptural literature. I give them in the words of 
 the author, i. "From Genesis ii., 5 compared with Genesis 
 i., II and 12, it seems that it had not rained on the earth till 
 the third day ; a fact altogether probable if the days were of 
 
142 The Origin of the World. 
 
 twenty-four hours, but absurd if they were long periods." It 
 strikes us that the absurdity here is all on the side of the 
 short days. Why should any prominence be given to a fact 
 so common as the lapse of two ordinary days without rain, 
 more especially if a region of the earth and not the whole is 
 referred to, and in a document prepared for a people residing 
 in climates such as those of Egypt and Palestine. But what 
 could be more instructive and confirmatory of the truth of the 
 narrative than the fact that in the two long periods which pre- 
 ceded the formation and clearing up of the atmosphere or 
 firmament, on which rain depends, and the elevation of the 
 dry land, which so greatly modifies its distribution, there had 
 been no rain such as now occurs. This is a most important 
 fact, and one of the marked coincidences of the record with 
 scientific truth. The objection, therefore, merely shows that 
 the ordinary day h3'pothesis tends to convert one of the finest 
 internal harmonies of this wonderful history into an empty 
 and, in some respects, absurd commonplace. 2. "This hy- 
 pothesis (that days are long periods) assumes that Moses de- 
 scribes the creation of all the animals and plants that have 
 ever lived on our globe. But geology decides that the spe- 
 cies now living, since they are not found in the rocks any 
 lower than man is,* could not have been contemporaneous 
 with those in the rocks, but must have been created when 
 man was — that is, in the sixth day. Of such a creation no 
 mention is made in Genesis; the inference is that Moses does 
 not describe the creation of the existing races, but only of 
 those that lived thousands of years earlier, and whose exist- 
 
 * This is not strictly correct, as many animals, especially of the lower 
 tribes, extend back to the early tertiary periods, long before the creation 
 of man; a fact which of itself is irreconcilable with the Mosaic narrative 
 on the theory of literal or ordinary days. 
 
Light and Creative Days, 143 
 
 ence was scarcely suspected till modern times. Who will 
 admit such an absurdity?" In answer to this objection, I re- 
 mark that it is based on a false assumption. The hypothesis 
 of long periods does not require us to assume that Moses no- 
 tices all the animals and plants that have ever lived, but on 
 the contrar)' that he informs us only of the^rst appearance of 
 each great natural type in the animal and vegetable king- 
 doms ; just as he informs us of the first appearance of dry 
 land on the third day, but says nothing of the changes which 
 it underwent on subsequent days. Thus plants were created 
 on the third day, and though they may have been several 
 times destroyed and renewed as to genera and species, we 
 infer that they continued to exist in all the succeeding days, 
 though the inspired historian does not inform us of the fact. 
 So also many tribes of animals were created in the early part 
 of the fifth day, and it is quite unnecessary for us to be in- 
 formed that these tribes continued to exist through the sixth 
 day. If the days were long periods, the inspired writer could 
 not have adopted any other course, unless he had been in- 
 structed to write a treatise on Palaeontology, and to describe 
 the fauna and flora of each successive period with their char- 
 acteristic differences. 3. " Though there is a general resem- 
 blance between the order of creation as described in Genesis 
 and by geology, yet when we look at the details of the crea- 
 tion of the organic world, as required by this hypothesis, we 
 find manifest discrepancy. Thus the Bible represents plants 
 only to have been created on the third day, and animals not 
 till the fifth ; and hence at least the lower half of the fossilif- 
 erous rocks ought to contain nothing but vegetables. Where- 
 as in fact the lower half of these rocks, all below the carbon- 
 iferous, although abounding in animals, contain scarcely any 
 plants, and these in the low^est strata fucoids or sea-weeds. 
 
144 ^'^"^ Origin of the World. 
 
 But the Mosaic account evidently describes flowering and 
 seed-bearing plants, not flowerless and seedless algse. Again, 
 reptiles are described in Genesis as created on the fifth day; 
 but reptilia and batrachians existed as early as the time when 
 the lower carboniferous and even old red sandstone were in 
 course of deposition, as their tracks on those rocks in Nova 
 Scotia and Pennsylvania evince.* In short, if we maintain 
 that Moses describes fossils as well as living species, we find 
 discrepancy instead of correspondence between his order of 
 creation and that of geology." In this objection it is assumed 
 that the geological history of the earth goes back to the third 
 day of creation, or, in other words, to the dawn of organic life. 
 None of the greater authorities in geology would, however, 
 now venture to make such an assertion, and the progress of 
 geology is rapidly making the contrary more and more prob- 
 able. The fact is that, on the supposition that the days of 
 creation are long periods, the whole series of the fossiliferous 
 rocks belongs to the fifth and sixth days; and that for the 
 early plant creation of the third day, and the great physical 
 changes of the fourth, geology has nothing as yet to sho'w, ex- 
 cept a mass of metamorphosed eozoic rocks which have hither- 
 to yielded no fossils except a few Protozoa ; but which con- 
 tain vast quantities of carbon in the form of graphite, which 
 may be the remains of plants. 
 
 I have much pleasure in quoting, as a further answer to 
 these objections, the following from Professor Dana :t 
 
 "Accepting the account in Genesis as true, the seeming 
 
 * Since this was written, the bones of many Batrachian reptiles have 
 been found in the Carboniferous, both in Europe and America. No rep- 
 tilian remains have yet been found in the Devonian rocks. 
 
 ^ Biblical Repository, 1856. See also an excellent paper by Prof. C. H. 
 Hitchcock, Bibliotheca Sacra, 1867. 
 
Light and Creative Days. 145 
 
 discrepancy between it and geology rests mainly here : Geol- 
 ogy holds, and has held from the first, that the progress of 
 creation was mainly through secondary causes; for the ex- 
 istence of the science presupposes this. Moses, on the con- 
 trary, was thought to sustain the idea of a simple fiat for each 
 step. Grant this first point to science, and what farther con- 
 flict is there .^ The question of the length of ti?ne, it is replied. 
 But not so ; for if we may take the record as allowing more 
 than six days of twenty-four hours, the Bible then places no 
 limit to time. The question of the days a7id periods, it is replied 
 again. But this is of little moment in comparison with the 
 first principle granted. Those who admit the length of time 
 and stand upon days of twenty-four hours have to place ge- 
 ological time before the six days, and then assume a chaos 
 and reordering of creation, on the six-day and fiat principle, 
 after a previous creation that had operated for a long period 
 through secondary causes. Others take days as periods, and 
 thus allow the required time, admitting that creation was one 
 in progress, a grand whole, instead of ayfrj"^ creation except- 
 ing man by one method, and a second with man by the other. 
 This is now the remaining question between the theologians 
 and geologists ; for all the minor points, as to the exact in- 
 terpretation of each day, do not affect the general concord- 
 ance or discordance of the Bible and science. 
 
 " On this point geology is now explicit in its decision, and 
 indeed has long been so. It proves that there was no return 
 to chaos, no great revolution, that creation was beyond doubt 
 one in its progress. We know that some geologists have 
 taken the other view\ But it is only in the capacity of theo- 
 logians, and not as geologists. The Rev. Dr. Buckland, in 
 placing the great events of geology between the first and sec- 
 ond verses of the Mosaic account, did not pretend that there 
 
 G 
 
146 The Origin of the World, 
 
 was a geological basis for such an hypothesis ; and no writer 
 since has ever brought forward the first fact in geology to 
 support the idea of a rearrangement just before man ; not 
 one solitary fact has ever been appealed to. The conclusion 
 was on Biblical grounds, and not in any sense on geological. 
 The best that Buckland could say, when he wrote twenty-five 
 years since, was that geology did not absolutely disprove 
 such an hypothesis ; and that can not be said now. 
 
 "It is often asserted, in order to unsettle confidence in these 
 particular teachings of geology, that geology is a changing 
 science. In this connection the remark conveys an errone- 
 ous impression. Geology is a progressive science; and all 
 its progress tends to establish more firmly these two prin- 
 ciples : (i) The slow progress of creation through secondary 
 causes, as explained; and (2) the progress by periods analo- 
 gous to the days of Genesis." 
 
 I have, I trust, shown that the principal objections to the 
 lengthening of the Mosaic days into great cosmical periods 
 are of a character too light and superficial to deserve any re- 
 gard. I shall now endeavor to add to the internal evidence 
 previously given some considerations of an external charac- 
 ter which support this view. 
 
 I. The fact that the creation was progressive, that it pro- 
 ceeded from the formation of the raw material of the universe, 
 through successive stages, to the perfection of living organ- 
 isms, if we regard the analogy of God's operations as dis- 
 closed in the geological history of the earth and in the pres- 
 ent course of nature, must impress us with a suspicion that 
 long periods were employed in the work. God might have 
 prepared the earth for man in an instant. He did not choose 
 to do so, but on the contrary proceeded step by step; and the 
 record he has given us does not receive its full significance 
 
Light and Creative Days. 147 
 
 nor attain its full harmony with the course of geological his- 
 tory, unless we can understand each day of the creative week 
 as including a long succession of ages. 
 
 2. We have, as already explained, reason to believe that 
 the seventh day at least has been of long duration. At the 
 close of the si.xth, God rested from all his work of material 
 creation, and we have as yet no evidence that he has re- 
 sumed it. Neither theologians nor evolutionists will, I pre- 
 sume, desire to maintain that any strictly creative acts have 
 occurred in the modern period of geology. We know that 
 the present day, if it is the seventh, has lasted already for 
 at least six thousand years, and, if we may judge from the 
 testimony of prophecy, has yet a long space to run, before 
 it merges in that " new heaven and new earth " for which 
 all believers look, and which will constitute the first day of 
 an endless sabbatism. 
 
 3. The philosophical and religious systems of many ancient 
 nations afford intimations of the somewhat extensive preva- 
 lence in ancient times of the notion of long creative periods, 
 corresponding to the Mosaic days. These notions, in so far 
 as they are based on truth, are probably derived from the 
 Mosaic narrative itself, or from the primitive patriarchal doc- 
 uments which may have formed the basis of that narrative. 
 They are, no doubt, all more or less garbled versions, and 
 can not be regarded as of any authorit}', but they serve to 
 show what was the interpretation of the document in a very 
 remote antiquity. I have collected from a variety of sources 
 the following examples : 
 
 The ancient mythology of Persia appears to have had six 
 creative periods, each apparently of a thousand years, and 
 corresponding very nearly with the Mosaic days.* The 
 
 * Rhode, quoted by McDonald, "Creation and the Fall," p. 62 ; Euse- 
 bius, Chron. Arm, 
 
148 The Origin of the World, 
 
 Chaldeans had a similar system, to which in a previous 
 chapter we have already referred. The Etruscans possessed 
 a history of the creation, somewhat resembling that of the 
 Bible, and representing the creation as occupying six periods 
 of a thousand years each.* 
 
 The Egyptians believed that the world had been subject 
 to a series of destructions and renewals, the intervals between 
 which amounted to 120,000 years, or, according to other au- 
 thorities, to 300,000 or 360,000 years. This system of de- 
 struction and renewal the Egyptian priests appear to have 
 wrought out into considerable detail, but though important 
 truths may be concealed under their mysterious dogmas, it 
 will not repay us to dwell on the fragments that remain of 
 them. There can be no doubt, however, that at least the ba- 
 sis of the Egyptian cosmogony must have been the common 
 property of all the Hamite nations, of which Egypt was the 
 greatest and most permanent ; and therefore in all probabil- 
 ity derived from the ideas of creation which were current not 
 long after the Deluge. The Egyptians appear also, as already 
 stated, to have had a physical cosmogony, beginning with a 
 chaos in which heaven and earth were mingled, and from 
 wdiich were evolved fiery matters which ascended into the 
 heavens, and moist earthy matters which formed the earth 
 and the sea ; and from these were produced, by the agency 
 of solar heal", the various animals. The terms of this cosmog- 
 ony, as it is given by Diodorus Siculus, indicate the belief of 
 long formative periods.f 
 
 The Hindoos have a somewhat extended, though, accord- 
 ing to the translations, a not very intelligible cosmogony. It 
 
 * Suidas, Lexicon — '* Tyrrenia." 
 
 t Diodorus Siculus, bk. i. Prichard, Egyptian Mythology. 
 
Light and Creative Days, 149 
 
 plainly, however, asserts long periods of creative work, and is 
 interesting as an ancient cosmogony preserved entire and 
 without transmission through secondary channels. The fol- 
 lowing is a summary, in so far as I have been able to gather 
 it, from the translation of the Institutes of Menu by Sir W. 
 Jones.* 
 
 The introduction to the Institutes represents Menu as 
 questioned by the " divine sages " respecting the laws that 
 should regulate all classes or castes. He proceeds to detail 
 the course of creation, stating that the " Self-existing Power,t 
 undiscovered, but making this world discernible. He whom 
 the mind alone can perceive, whose essence eludes the ex- 
 ternal senses, who has no visible parts, w^ho exists from eter- 
 nity, even the soul of all being, whom no being can compre- 
 hend, shone forth in person." 
 
 After giving this exalted view of the Creator, the writer pro- 
 ceeds to state that the Self-existent created the waters, and 
 then an ^gg^ from which he himself comes forth as Brahma 
 the forefather of spirits. "The waters are called Nara be- 
 cause they are the production oi Nara, the spirit of God, and 
 since they were his first Ayajia, or place of motion, he thence 
 is named Naraya?ia, or moving on the waters. In the ^gg 
 Brahma remained a year, and caused the egg to divide, form- 
 ing the heaven above and the earth beneath, and the subtile 
 ether, the eight regions, and the receptacle of waters between. 
 He then drew forth from the supreme soul mind with all its 
 powers and properties." The rest of the account appears to 
 be very confused, and I confess to a great extent unintelli- 
 
 * "Asiatic Researches." 
 
 t This name is exactly identical in meaning with the Hebrew Jehovah 
 Elohim. 
 
150 The Origin of the World. 
 
 gible to me. There follows, however, a continuation of the 
 narrative, stating that there is a succession of seven Menus, 
 each of whom produces and supports the earth during his 
 reisfn. It is in the account of these successive Menus that 
 the following statement respecting the days and years of 
 Brahma occurs : 
 
 "A day of the Gods is equal to a year. Four thousand 
 years of the Gods are called a Critya or Satya age. Four 
 ages are an age of the Gods. One thousand divine ages {equal 
 to more thaii four millions of human years) are a day of Brah- 
 ma the C?rator. Seventy-two divine ages are one manwan- 
 tara. * * * The aggregate of four ages they call a divine 
 age, and believe that in every thousand such ages, or in every 
 day of Brahma, fourteen Menus are successively invested 
 with the sovereignty of the isarth. Each Menu they sup- 
 pose transmits his authority to his sons and grandsons dur- 
 ing a period of seventy-tw^o divine ages, and such a period 
 they call a manwantara. Thirty such days (of the Creator), 
 or calpas, constitute a month of Brahma; twelve such months 
 one of his years, and 100 such years his age, of which they 
 assert that fifty years have elapsed. We are thus, according 
 to the Hindoos, in the first day or calpa of the fifty-first year 
 of Brahma's life, and in the twenty-eighth divine age of the 
 seventh manwa?itara of that day. In the present day of 
 Brahma the first jMenu was named the Son of the Self-exist- 
 ent, and by him the institutes of religion and civil duties are 
 said to have been delivered. In his time occurred a new crea- 
 tion called the Lotos creation." Of five Menus who succeed- 
 ed him, Sir William could find little but the names, but the 
 accounts of the seventh are very full, and it appears that in 
 his reign the earth was destroyed by a flood. Sir William 
 suggests that the first Menu may represent the creation, and 
 
Light and Creative Days. 151 
 
 that the seventh may be Noah. The name Menu or Manu is 
 equivalent to "man," and signifies "the intelligent."* 
 
 In this Hindoo cosmogony we have many points of corre- 
 spondence ^Yith the Scripture narrative : for instance, the 
 Self-existent Creator ; the agency of the Son of God and 
 the Holy Spirit ; the absolute creation of matter ; the hov- 
 ering of the Spirit over the primeval waters ; the sevenfold 
 division of the creative process ; and the idea of days of 
 the Creator of immense duration. If we suppose the day 
 of Brahma in the Hindoo cosmogony to represent the Mo- 
 saic day, then it amounts to no less than 4,320,000 years ; or 
 if, with Sir W. Jones, we suppose the manwantara to repre- 
 sent the Mosaic day, its duration will be 308,571 years; and 
 the total antiquity of the earth, without counting the unde- 
 fined "beginning," will be either more than twenty-five or 
 than two millions of years. It would be folly, however, to 
 suppose that these Hindoo numbers, which are probably 
 purely conjectural, or based on astronomical cycles, make 
 any near approximation to the facts of the case. The Insti- 
 tutes of Menu are probably in their present form not of great 
 antiquity, but there are other Hindoo documents of greater 
 age which maintain similar views, and it is probable that the 
 account of the creation in the Institutes is at least an imper- 
 fect version of the original narrative as it existed among 
 the earliest colonists of India.f It corresponds in many 
 points with the oldest notions on these subjects that remain 
 to us in the wrecks of the mythology of Egypt and other an- 
 
 * Miiller, Sanscrit Literature. 
 
 t The theology of the Institutes is clearly primitive Semitic in its char- 
 acter ; and therefore, if the Bible is true, must be older than the Arj-an 
 theogony of the Rig-Veda, as expounded by Miiller, whatever the relative 
 age of the documents. 
 
152 The Orighi of the World. 
 
 cient nations, and it aids in proving that the fabulous ages of 
 gods and demi-gods in the ancient mythologies are really pre- 
 Ada7nite ; and belong not to human history, but to the work of 
 creation. It also shows that the idea of long creative periods 
 as equivalents of the Mosaic days must, in the infancy of the 
 postdiluvian world, have been very widely diffused. Such 
 evidence is, no doubt, of small authority in the interpretatio .. 
 of Scripture ; but it must be admitted that serious considera- 
 tion is due to a method of interpretation which thus tends to 
 bring the Mosaic account into harmony with the facts of 
 modern science, and with the belief of almost universal an- 
 tiquity, and at the same time gives it its fullest significance 
 and most perfect internal symmetry of parts. It is also very 
 interesting to note the wide diffusion among the most ancient 
 nations of cosmological views identical in their main features 
 with those of the Bible, proving, almost beyond doubt, that 
 these views had some common and very ancient source, and 
 commanded universal belief among the primitive tribes of men. 
 I have hitherto in this part of the discussion avoided de- 
 tailed reference to what may be regarded as the " prophetic 
 day" view of the narrative of creation. This may be shortly 
 stated as follows : In the prophetical parts of Scripture the 
 prophet sees in vision, as in a picture or acted scene, the 
 events that are to come to pass, and in consequence repre- 
 sents years or longer periods by days of vision. Now the 
 revelation of the pre-Adamite past is in its nature akin to 
 that of the unknown future ; and Moses may have seen these 
 wondrous events in vision — in visions of successive days — 
 under the guise of which he presents geological time. Some 
 things in the form of the narrative favor this view, and it cer- 
 tainly affords the most clearly intelligible theory as to the 
 mode in which such a revelation may have been made to 
 
LigJit and Creative Days. 153 
 
 man. It is advocated by Kurtz, by the author of an excel- 
 lent little work, the " Harmony of the Mosaic and Geological 
 Records," by Hugh ]\liller, and more recently by Tayler 
 Lewis. To these writers I must refer for its more full il- 
 lustration, and for the grand pictorial view which it gives of 
 the vision of the creative week. 
 
 In reviewing the somewhat lengthy train of reasoning into 
 which the term "day" has led us, it appears that from internal 
 evidence alone it can be rendered probable that the day of 
 creation is neither the natural nor the civil day. It also ap- 
 pears that the objections urged against the doctrine of day- 
 periods are of no weight when properly scrutinized, and that 
 it harmonizes with the progressive nature of the work, the 
 evidence of geology, and the cosmological notions of ancient 
 nations. I do not suppose that this position has been incon- 
 trovertibly established ; but I believe that every serious dif- 
 ficulty has been removed from its acceptance j and with this, 
 for the present, I remain satisfied. Every step of our subse- 
 quent progress will afford new criteria of its truth or fallacy. 
 
 One further question of some interest is — What, according 
 to the theory of long creative days and the testimony of ge- 
 ology, would be the length and precise cosmical nature of 
 these days .-* With regard to the first part of the question, 
 we do not know the actual value of our geological ages in 
 time ; but it is probable that each great creative aeon may 
 have extended through millions of years. As to the nature 
 of the days, this may have been determined by direct voli- 
 tions of the Creator, or indirectly by some of those great 
 astronomical cycles which arise from the varying eccentricity 
 of the earth's orbit, or the diminution of the velocity of its 
 rotation, or by its gradual cooling. 
 
 With reference to these points, science has as yet little in- 
 
 G 2 
 
154 T^^^^ Origin of the World. 
 
 formation to give. Sir William Thomson has, indeed, indi- 
 cated for the time since the earth's crust first began to form 
 a period of between one and two hundred millions of years; 
 but Professor Guthrie Tait, on the other hand, argues that 
 ten or fifteen millions of years are probably sufficient,* and 
 Lockyer has suggested an hypothesis of successive rekind- 
 lings of the solar heat which might give a more protracted 
 time than that of Thomson. Some of the hypotheses of der- 
 ivation current, but which are based rather on philosophical 
 speculation than on scientific fact, would also require a 
 longer time than that allowed by Thomson ; and it is to be 
 regretted that some geologists, by giving credence to such 
 hypotheses of derivation, and by loose reasoning on the time 
 required for the denudation and deposition of rocks, have 
 been induced to commit themselves to very extravagant esti- 
 mates as to geological time. On the whole, it is evident that 
 only the most vague guesses can at present be based on the 
 facts in our pT)ssession, though the whole time required has 
 unquestionably been very great, the deposition of the series 
 of stratified rocks probably requiring at least the greater part 
 of the minimum time allowed by Thomson.! 
 
 As to the cosmical nature of the periods, while some geolo- 
 gists appear to regard the whole of geological time as a con- 
 tinuous evolution without any breaks, it is evidently more in 
 accordance with facts to hold that there have been cycles of 
 repose and activity succeeding each other, and that these 
 have been of different grades. In the succession of deposits 
 it is plain that periods of depression and upheaval common 
 to all the continental masses have succeeded each other at 
 
 * " Recent Advances in Physical Science." 
 
 t Croll's *• Climate and Time " contains some interesting facts as to this. 
 
Light and Creative Days. 155 
 
 somewhat regular intervals, and that within these periods 
 there have been alternations of colder and warmer climates. 
 These, however, are not equal to the creative days of our rec- 
 ord, for they are greatly more numerous. They are but the 
 vastly protracted hours of these almost endless days. Beyond 
 and above these there is another grade of geological period, 
 marked not by mere gradual elevation and depression of the 
 continental areas, but by vast crumplings of the earth's crust 
 and enormous changes of level. Such a great movement un- 
 questionably closed the Eozoic period of geology. Another 
 of less magnitude occurred in what is termed the Permian age 
 at the end of the Palaeozoic. A third terminated the Meso- 
 zoic age, and introduced the Tertiary or Kainozoic. Perhaps 
 we should reckon the glacial age, though characterized by far 
 less physical change than the others, as a fourth. The pos- 
 sible physical causes which have been suggested for such 
 greater disturbances are the collapses of the crust in equa- 
 torial regions, which may be supposed to have resulted at 
 long intervals of time, from the gradual retardation of the 
 earth's rotation caused by the tides, or the similar collapses 
 and other changes due to the shrinkages of the earth's inte- 
 rior caused by its gradual cooling, and to the unequal deposi- 
 tion of material by water on different parts of its surface.* 
 The more full discussion of these points belongs, however, to 
 a future chapter. 
 
 These greater movements of the crust, would, as already 
 stated, coincide to some extent with the later creative days 
 in the manner indicated below : 
 
 Collapse of crust at close of Eozoic ) Close of Fourth ^on, and beginning 
 Time, ^ of Fifth. 
 
 * See the discussion of this in the author's " Story of the Earth," and 
 in Sir William Thomson's British Association Address, 1876. 
 
156 TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 Collapse in Permian Period and end ) ^^.^^j^ ^^ ^.^^^ ^^^^ 
 of Palaeozoic Time, ' 
 
 Great subsidence and collapse at ) Close of Fifth ^on, and beginning 
 close of Mesozoic Age, > of Sixth. 
 
 Great subsidence of the Pleistocene 
 or Glacial Age, 
 
 > End of Sixth /Eon. 
 
 The question recurs — Why are God's days so long ? He 
 is not Hke us, a being of yesterday. He is " from 01am to 
 01am," and even in human history one day is with him as a 
 thousand years; and we who live in these later days of the 
 world know full well how slow the march of his plan has 
 been even in human history. We shall know in the endless 
 ages of a future eternity that even to us these long creative 
 days may at last become but as watches in the night. 
 
The Atmosphere. 157 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE ATMOSPHERE. 
 
 "And God said, Let there be an expanse between the waters ; and let 
 it separate the waters from the waters. And God made the expanse, and 
 separated the waters which are under the expanse from the waters which 
 are over the expanse : and it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven. 
 And the evening and the morning were the second day." — Genesis i. 6-8. 
 
 At the opening of the period to which we are now intro- 
 duced the earth was covered by the waters, and these were 
 in such a condition that there was no distinction between the 
 seas and the clouds. No atmosphere separated them, or, in 
 other words, dense fogs and mists everywhere rested on the 
 surface of the primeval ocean. To understand as far as 
 possible the precise condition of the earth's surface at this 
 period, it will be necessary to notice the present constitu- 
 tion of the atmosphere, especially in its relations to aqueous 
 vapor. 
 
 The regular and constant constituents of the atmosphere 
 are the elements oxygen and nitrogen, which, at the temper- 
 ature and pressure existing on the surface of our globe, are 
 permanently aeriform or gaseous. Beside these gases, the 
 air always contains a quantity of the vapor of water in a 
 perfectly aeriform and transparent condition. This vapor is 
 not, however, permanently gaseous. At all temperatures be- 
 low 212 degrees it tends to the liquid state; and its elastic 
 force, which preserves its particles in the separated state of 
 
158 The Origin of the World. 
 
 vapor, increases or diminishes at a more rapid rate than the 
 increase or diminution of temperature. Hence tlie quantity 
 of vapor that can be suspended in clear air depends on the 
 temperature of the air itself. As the temperature of the air 
 rises, its power of sustaining vapor increases more rapidly 
 than its temperature ; and as the temperature of the air falls, 
 the elastic force of its contained vapor diminishes in a great- 
 er ratio, until it can exist as an invisible vapor no longer, but 
 becomes condensed into minute bubbles or globules,, forming 
 cloud, mist, or rain. Two other circumstances operate along 
 with these properties of air and vapor. The heat radiated 
 from the earth's surface causes the lower strata of air to be, 
 in ordinary circumstances, warmer than the higher ; and, on 
 the other hand, warm air, being lighter than that which is 
 colder, the warm layer of air at the surface continually tends 
 to rise through and above the colder currents immediately 
 over it. Let us consider the operation of the causes thus 
 roughly sketched in a column of calm air. The low'er por- 
 tion becomes warmed, and if in contact with water takes up a 
 quantity of its vapor proportioned to the temperature, or in 
 ordinary circumstances somewhat less than this proportion. 
 It then tends to ascend, and as it rises and becomes mixed 
 with colder air it gradually loses its power of sustaining 
 moisture, and at a height proportioned to the diminution of 
 temperature and the quantity of vapor originally contained in 
 the air, it begins to part with water, which becomes con- 
 densed in the form of mist or cloud ; and the surface at 
 which this precipitation takes place is often still more dis- 
 tinctly marked when two masses or layers of air at different 
 temperatures become intermixed ; in which case, on the 
 principle already stated, the mean temperature produced is 
 unable to sustain the vapor proper to the two extremes, and 
 
The Atmosphere. 159 
 
 moisture is precipitated. It thus happens that layers of 
 cloud accumulate in the atmosphere, while between them 
 and the surface there is a stratum of clear air. Fosfs and 
 mists are in the present state of nature exceptional appear- 
 ances, depending generally on local causes, and showing 
 what the world might be but for that balancing of temper- 
 ature and the elastic force of vapor which constitutes the 
 atmospheric firmament.* 
 
 The quantity of water thus suspended over the earth is 
 enormous. " When we see a cloud resolve itself into rain, 
 and pour out thousands of gallons of water, we can not com- 
 prehend how it can float in the atmosphere."t The expla- 
 nation is — ist, the extreme levity of the minute globules, 
 which causes them to fall very slowly ; 2d, they are support- 
 ed by currents of air, especially by the ascending currents 
 developed both in still air and in storms ; 3dly, clouds are 
 often dissolving on one side and forming on another. A 
 cloud gradually descending may be dissolving away by evap- 
 oration at the base as fast as new matter is being added 
 above. On the other hand, an ascending warm current of air 
 may be constantly depositing moisture at the base of the 
 cloud, and this may be evaporating under the solar rays 
 above. In this case a cloud is " merely the visible form of 
 an aerial space, in which certain processes are at the moment 
 in equilibrium, and all the particles in a state of upward 
 movement."! But so soon as condensation markedly ex- 
 ceeds evaporation, rain falls, and the atmosphere discharges 
 its vast load of water — how vast we may gather from the fact 
 
 * Daniell's I\reteorological Essays ; Prout's Bridgewater Treatise ; art. 
 "Meteorology," Encyc. Brit. ; "Maury's Physical Geography of the Sea." 
 t Kaemtz, "Course of Meteorology." 
 X Encyc. Brit, art. " Meteorology." 
 
i6o The Origin of the World. 
 
 that the waters of all the rivers are but a part of the overflow- 
 ings of the great atmospheric reservoir. "God binds up the 
 waters in his thick cloud, and the cloud is not rent under 
 them." It is thus that the terrestrial waters are divided into 
 those above and those below that expanse of clear air in 
 which we live and move, exempt from the dense, dark mists 
 of the earth's earlier state, yet enjoying the benefits of the 
 cloudy curtain that veils the burning sun, and of the cloudy 
 reservoirs that drop down rain to nourish every green thing. 
 
 AVe have no reason to suppose that the laws which regulate 
 mixtures of gases and vapors did not prevail in the period in 
 question. It is probable that these laws are as old as the 
 creation of matter ; but the condition of our earth up to the 
 second day must have been such as prevented them from 
 operating as at present. Such a condition might possibly be 
 the result of an excessive evaporation occasioned by internal 
 heat. The interior of the earth still remains in a heated 
 state, and includes large subterranean reservoirs of melted 
 rock, as is proved by the increase of temperature in deep 
 mines and borings, and by the widely extended phenomena 
 of hot springs and volcanic action. At the period in question 
 the internal temperature of the earth was probably vastly 
 greater than at present, and perhaps the whole interior of the 
 globe may have been in a state of igneous fluidity. At the 
 same time the external solid crust may have been thin, and it 
 was not fractured and thickened in places by the upheaval of 
 mountain chains or the deposition of great and unequal sheets 
 of sediment ; for, as I may again remind the reader, the prim- 
 itive chaos did not consist of a confused accumulation of 
 rocky masses, but the earth's crust must then have been more 
 smooth and unbroken than at any subsequent period. This 
 being the internal condition of the earth, it is quite conceiva- 
 
The Atmosphere. i6i 
 
 ble, without any violation of the existing laws of nature, that 
 the waters of the ocean, warmed by internal heat, may have 
 sent up a sufficient quantity of vapor to keep the lower strata 
 of air in a constant state of saturation, and to occasion an 
 equally constant precipitation of moisture from the colder 
 strata above. This would merely be the universal operation 
 of a cause similar to that which now produces fogs at the 
 northern limit of the Atlantic Gulf Stream, and in other lo- 
 calities where currents of warm water flow under or near to 
 cooler air. Such a state of'things is more conceivable in a 
 globe covered with water, and consequently destitute of the 
 dry and powerfully radiating surfaces which land presents, 
 and receiving from without the rays, not of a solar orb, but of 
 a comparatively feeble and diffused luminous ether. The 
 continued action of these causes would gradually cool the 
 earth's crust and its incumbent waters, until the heat from 
 without preponderated over that from within, when the result 
 stated in the text would be effected. 
 
 The statements of our primitive authority for this condition 
 of the earth might also be accounted for on the supposition 
 that the permanently gaseous part of the atmosphere did not 
 at the period in question exist in its present state, but that it 
 was on the second day actually elaborated and caused to take 
 its place in separating the atmospheric from the oceanic wa- 
 ters. The first is by far the more probable view; but we 
 may still apply to such speculations the words of Elihu, the 
 friend of Job : 
 
 " Stand still and consider the wonderful works of God. 
 Dost thou know when God disposes them, 
 And the lightning of his cloud shines forth ? 
 Dost thou know the poising of the dark clouds, 
 The wonderful works of the Perfect in knowledge ?" 
 
1 62 The Origin of the World. 
 
 We may now consider the words in which this great im- 
 provement in the condition of the earth is recorded. The 
 Hebrew term for the atmosphere is Rakiah, literally, some- 
 thing expanded or beaten out — an expanse. It is rendered 
 in our version " firmament," a word conveying the notion of 
 support and fixit}'-, and in the Septuagint ^^ Stereoma" a word 
 having a similar meaning. The idea conveyed by the He- 
 brew word is not, however, that of strength, but of exte?it; or 
 as Milton — the most accurate of expositors of these words — 
 has it : 
 
 "The firmament, expanse of liquid, pure. 
 
 Transparent, elemental air, diffused 
 
 In circuit to the uttermost convex 
 
 Of this great round." 
 
 That this was really the way in which this word was under- 
 stood by the Hebrews appears from several passages of the 
 Bible. Job says of God, "Who 2i\ox\Q sp?'eadeth out the heav- 
 ens.'"* David, in the 104th Psalm, which is a poetical par- 
 aphrase of the history of creation, speaks of the Creator as 
 ^^ stretching out the heavens as a curtain." In later writers, 
 as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, similar expressions occur. The 
 notion of a solid or arched firmament was probably altogether 
 remote from the minds of these writers. Such beliefs may 
 have prevailed at the time when the Septuagint translation 
 was made, but I have no hesitation in affirming that no trace 
 of them can be found in the Old Testament. In proof of 
 this, I may refer to some of the passages which have been 
 cited as affording the strongest instances of this kind of 
 
 * It is not meant that the word rakiah occurs in these passages, but to 
 show how by other words the idea of stretching out or extension rather 
 than solidity is implied. The verb in the first two passages is nata, to 
 spread out. 
 
TJie Atmosphere. 163 
 
 "accommodation." In Exodus xxiv., 10, we are told, "And 
 they saw the God of Israel, and under his feet as it were a 
 paved work of sapphire, and as it were the heaven itself in its 
 clearness." This is evidently a comparison of the pavement 
 seen under the feet of Jehovah to a sapphire in its color, and 
 to the heavens in its transparency. The intention of the 
 writer is not to give information respecting the heavens, or to 
 liken them either to a pavement or a sapphire ; all that we 
 can infer is that he believed the heavens to be clear or trans- 
 parent. Job mentions the "pillars of heaven," but the con- 
 nection shows that this is merely a poetical expression for 
 lofty mountains. The earthquake causes these pillars of 
 heaven to " tremble." We are informed in the book of Job 
 that God "ties up his waters in his thick cloud, and the cloud 
 is not rent under them." We are also told of the "treasures 
 of snow and the treasures of hail," and rain is called the 
 "bottles of heaven," and is said to be poured out of the 
 "lattices of heaven." I recognize in all these mere poetical 
 figures, not intended to be literally understood. Some learn- 
 ed writers wish us to believe that the intention of the Bible in 
 these places is actually to teach that the clouds are contained 
 in skin bottles, or something similar, and that they are emp- 
 tied through hatches in a solid firmament. To found such a 
 belief, however, on a few figurative statements, seems ridicu- 
 lous, especially when we consider that the writers of the Scrip- 
 tures show themselves to be well acquainted with nature, and 
 would not be likely on any account to deviate so far from the 
 ordinary testimony of the senses; more especially as by doing 
 so they would enable every unlettered man who has seen a 
 cloud gather on a mountain's brow or dissolve away before 
 increasing heat to oppose the evidence of his senses to their 
 statements, and perhaps to reject them with scorn as a bare- 
 
164 The Origin of the World. 
 
 faced imposture. But, lastly, we are triumphantly directed to 
 the question of Elihu in his address to Job : 
 
 " Hast thou with him stretched out the sky, 
 Which is firm and like a molten mirror ?" 
 
 But the word translated sky here is not ^'' rakiah^^ or 
 ^^ shamayim,^^ but another signifying the clouds^ so that we 
 should regard Elihu as speaking of the apparent firmness or 
 stability, and the beautiful reflected tints of the clouds. His 
 words may be paraphrased thus : " Hast thou aided Him in 
 spreading out those clouds, which appear so stable and self- 
 sustaining, and so beautifully reflect the sunlight?"* The 
 above passages form the only authority which I can find in 
 the Scriptures for the doctrine of a solid firmament, which 
 may therefore be characterized as a modern figment of men 
 more learned in books but less acquainted with nature than 
 the Scripture writers. As a contrast to all such doctrines I 
 may quote the sublime opening of the poetical account of 
 creation in Psalm civ., which we may also take here as else- 
 where as the oldest and most authoritative commentary on 
 the first chapter of Genesis : 
 
 " Bless the Lord, O my soul ! 
 O Lord, my God, thou art very great : 
 Thou art clothed with honor and majesty, 
 AVho coverest thyself with light as with a garment. 
 Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain (of a tent), 
 
 Who layest the beams of thy chambers in the "waters. 
 
 Who makest the clotids thy chariots, 
 
 Who %valkest tipon the wings of the wind.'''' 
 
 The waters here are those above the firmament, the whole 
 * See also Humboldt, " Cosmos," vol. ii., pt. i. 
 
The Atmosphere. 165 
 
 of this part of the Psalm being occupied with the heavens ; 
 and there is no place left for the solid firmament, of which 
 the writer evidently knew nothing. He represents God as 
 laying his chambers on the waters, instead of on the sup- 
 posed firmament, and as careering in cloudy chariots on the 
 wings of the wind, instead of over a solid arch. For all the 
 above reasons, we conclude that the " expanse " of the verses 
 under consideration W'as understood by the writers of the 
 book of God to be aerial, not solid ; and the " establishment 
 of the clouds above," as it is finely called in Proverbs, is 
 the effect of those meteorological laws to which I have 
 already referred, and which were now for the first time 
 brought into operation by the divine Legislator. The He- 
 brew theology was not of a kind to require such expedi- 
 ents as that of solid heavenly arches ; it recurred at once 
 to the will — the decree — of Jehovah ; and was content to 
 believe that through this efficient cause the " rivers run 
 into the sea, yet the sea is not full," for " to the place 
 whence the rivers came, thither they return again," through 
 the agency of those floating clouds, " the waters above the 
 heavens," which " pour down rain according to the vapor 
 thereof." 
 
 God called the expanse " Heaven." In former chapters 
 we have noticed that heaven in the popular speech of the 
 Hebrews, as in our own, had different meanings, applying 
 alike to the cloudy, the astral, and the spiritual heavens. 
 The Creator here sanctions its application to the aerial ex- 
 panse ; and accordingly throughout the Scriptures it is used 
 in this way ; rakiah occurs very rarely, as if it had become 
 nearly obsolete, or was perhaps regarded as a merely tech- 
 nical or descriptive term. The divine sanction for the use 
 of the term heaven for the atmosphere is, as already explain- 
 
1 66 The Origin of the World. 
 
 ed, to indicate that this popular use is not to interfere with 
 its application to the whole universe beyond our earth in 
 verse ist. 
 
 The poetical parts of the Bible, and especially the book 
 of Job, which is probably the most ancient of the whole, 
 abound in references to the atmosphere and its phenomena. 
 I may quote a few of these passages, to enable us to under- 
 stand the views of these subjects given in the Bible, and the 
 meaning attached to the creation of the atmosphere, in very 
 ancient periods. In Job, 38th chapter, we have the following: 
 
 " In what way is the lightning distributed, 
 And how is the east wind spread abroad over the earth ? 
 Who hath opened a channel for the pouring rain, 
 Or a way for the thunder-flash ? 
 To cause it to rain on the land where no man is, 
 In the desert where no one dwells ; 
 To saturate the desolate and waste ground, 
 And to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth." 
 
 Here we have the unequal and unforeseen distribution of 
 thunder-storms, be3'ond the knowledge and power of man, 
 but under the absolute control of God, and designed by him 
 for beneficent purposes. Equally fine are some of the fol- 
 lowins: lines : 
 
 'fc. 
 
 " Dost thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, 
 That abundance of waters may cover thee ? 
 Dost thou send forth the lightnings, and they go. 
 And say unto thee, Here are we ? 
 Who can number the clouds by wisdom. 
 Or cause the bottles of heaven to empty themselves ? 
 When the dust groweth into mire. 
 And the clods cleave fast tosrether ?" 
 
 •'t>^ 
 
 In the 36th and 37th chapters of the same book we have 
 a grand description of atmospheric changes in their relation 
 
The Atmosphere, 167 
 
 to man and his works. The speaker is EHhu, who in this an- 
 cient book most favorably represents the knowledge of nature 
 that existed at a time probably anterior to the age of Moses 
 — a knowledge far superior to that which we find in the works 
 of many modern poets and expositors, and accompanied by 
 an intense appreciation of the grandeur and beauty of natural 
 objects : 
 
 " For he draweth up the drops of water, 
 Rain is condensed * from his vapor, 
 Which the clouds do drop, 
 And distill upon man abundantly. 
 Yea, can any understand the distribution of the clouds 
 Or the thundering of his tabernacle.t 
 Behold he spreadeth his lightning upon it. 
 He covereth it as with the depths of the sea.| 
 By these he executes judgment on the people. 
 By these also he giveth food in abundance ; 
 His hands he covers with the lightning, 
 And commands it (against the enemy) in its striking; 
 He uttereth to it his decree,§ 
 Concerning the herd as well as proud man. 
 At this also my heart trembles, 
 And bounds out of its place ; 
 Hear attentively the thunder of his voice, ' 
 And the loud sound that goes from his mouth. 
 He directs it under the whole heavens. 
 And his lightning to the ends of the earth. 
 After it his voice roareth. 
 
 * Heb., " they refine." 
 
 t " His pavilion round about him was dark waters and thick clouds of 
 the skies," Psa. xviii. This expression explains that in the text. 
 
 X Or " He darkens the depths of the sea." 
 
 § Translation of these lines much disputed and very difficult. Gesenius 
 and Conant render it, ** His thunder tells of him ; to the herds even of 
 him who is on high." 
 
1 68 The Origin of the World, 
 
 He thundereth with the voice of his majesty ; 
 
 And delays not (the tempest) when his voice is heard. 
 
 God thundereth marvellously with his voice, 
 
 He doeth wonders which we can not comprehend ; 
 
 For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth. 
 
 Also to the pouring rain, even the great rain of his might. 
 
 He sealeth up the hand of every man, 
 
 That all men may know his work. 
 
 Then the beasts go to their dens, 
 
 And remain in their caverns. 
 
 Out of the south cometh the whirlwind 
 
 And cold out of the north, 
 
 By the breath of God the frost is produced 
 
 And the breadth of waters becomes bound ; 
 
 With moisture he loads the thick cloud, 
 
 He spreads the cloud of his lightning, 
 
 And it is turned about by his direction. 
 
 To execute his pleasure on the face of the world ; 
 
 Whether for correction, for his land, or for mercy. 
 
 He causeth it to come. 
 
 Hearken unto this, O Job, 
 
 Stand still and consider the wonderful works of God. 
 
 Dost thou know when God disposes these things, 
 
 And the lightning of his cloud flashes forth ? 
 
 Dost thou know the poising of the clouds. 
 
 The wonderful work of the Perfect in knowledge .'* 
 
 When thy garments become warm 
 
 When he quieteth the earth by the south wind ; 
 
 Hast thou with him spread out the clouds 
 
 Firm and like a molten mirror ?"* 
 
 * I take advantage of this long quotation to state that in the case of 
 this and other passages quoted from the Old Testament I have carefully 
 consulted the original ; but have availed myself freely of the renderings 
 of such of the numerous versions and commentaries as I have been able 
 to obtain, whenever they appeared accurate and expressive, and have not 
 scrupled occasionally to give a free translation where this seemed neces- 
 sary to perspicuity. In the book of Job, I have consulted principally the 
 
The Atmosphere. i6g 
 
 It would not be easy to find, in the poetry of any nation or 
 time, a description of so many natural phenomena, so fine in 
 feeling or truthful in delineation. It should go far to dispel 
 the too prevalent ideas of early Oriental ignorance, and 
 should lead to a more full appreciation of these noble pictures 
 of nature, unsurpassed in the literature of any people or time. 
 I trust that the previous illustrations are sufficient to show, 
 not only that the sfe?'eoma, or solid firmament of the Septua- 
 gint, is not to be found in Scripture, but that the positive 
 doctrine of the Bible on the subject is of a very different 
 character. For instance, in the above extract from the book 
 of Job, Elihu speaks of the poising or suspension of the clouds 
 as inscrutable, and tells us that God draws up water into the 
 clouds, and pours down rain according to the vapor thereof; 
 he also speaks of the clouds as being scattered before the 
 brightness of the sun ; and notices, in truthful as well as ex- 
 alted language, the nature and succession of the lightning's 
 flash, the thunder, and the precipitation of rain that follows. 
 Solomon also informs us that the " establishment of the 
 clouds above " is due to the law or will of Jehovah. Finally, 
 in this connection, the divine sanction given to the use of the 
 term heaven for the atmosphere may in itself be regarded as 
 an intimation that no definite barrier separates our film of 
 atmosphere from the boundless abyss of heaven without. 
 
 Of this period natural science gives us no intimation. In 
 the earliest geological epochs organic life, dry land, and an 
 atmosphere already existed. At the period now under con- 
 sideration the two former had not been called into existence, 
 and the latter was in process of elaboration from the materi- 
 
 translation appended to Barnes's Commentary, Conant's translation, 1857, 
 and those of Tayler Lewis and Evans in Schaff's edition of Lange, 1874. 
 
 H 
 
I/O TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 als of the primeval deep. If the formation of the atmosphere 
 in its existing conditions was, as already hinted, a result of 
 the gradual cooling of the earth, then this period must have 
 been of great length, and the action of the heated waters on 
 the crust of the globe may have produced thick layers of 
 detrital matter destined to form the first soils of the succeed- 
 ing jEon. We know nothing, however, of these primitive 
 strata, and most of them must have been removed by denud- 
 ing agencies in succeeding periods, or restored by subterra- 
 nean heat to the ciystalline state. The events and results of 
 this day may be summed up as follows : 
 
 "At the commencement of the period the earth was envel- 
 oped by a misty or vaporous mantle. In its progress those 
 relations of air and vapor which cause the separation of the 
 clouds from the earth by a layer of clear air, and the varied 
 alternations of sunshine and rain, were established. At the 
 close of the period the newly formed atmosphere covered a 
 universal ocean ; and there was probably a very regular and 
 uniform condition of the atmospheric currents, and of the 
 processes of evaporation and condensation." 
 
 But while we must affirm that no idea of a solid atmos- 
 pheric vault can be detected in the Bible, and while we may 
 also affirm that such an idea would have been altogether for- 
 eign to its tone, which invariably refers all things not to sec- 
 ondary machinery, but to the will and fiat of the Supreme, we 
 must not forget that a most important moral purpose was to 
 be served by the assertion of the establishment of the atmos- 
 pheric expanse. Among all nations the phenomena of the 
 atmosphere have had important theological and mythological 
 relations. The ever-changing and apparently capricious as- 
 pects of the atmosphere and its clouds, the terrible effects of 
 storms, and the balmy influence of sunshine and calm, deeply 
 
The Atmosphere, i^i 
 
 impress the minds of simple and superstitious men, and this 
 all the more that in their daily life and expeditions they are 
 constantly subjected to the effects of atmospheric vicissitudes. 
 Hence the greatest gods of all the ancient nations are weath- 
 er-gods — rulers of the atmospheric heavens — displaying their 
 anger in the thunder-storm and tornado. It is likely that in 
 most cases, as in many barbarous tribes of modern times, 
 these weather-gods were malevolent beings contending against 
 the genial influences of the heavenly Sun-god ; but in nearly 
 every case their supposed practical importance has elevated 
 them, as in the case of the Olympian Zeus, the Scandinavian 
 Thor, and the American Hurakon, to the place of supreme 
 divinity. This was one of the superstitions which the He- 
 brew monotheism had to overcome. Hence the atmosphere 
 is afBrmed to be under Jehovah's law, and all its phenomena 
 are attributed to his power. The value of this as cutting at 
 the root of the most widespread superstitions it is easy to 
 understand, and it has a farther value in teaching that even 
 the apparently unstable and capricious air is a thing estab- 
 lished from the first and amenable to the ordinance of God. 
 How difficult it has been to eradicate superstitious views of 
 the atmosphere may be learned from the fact that St. Paul, in 
 writing to the enlightened citizens of Ephesus, could speak 
 of the power which the heathen worshipped as the " Prince 
 of the powers of the air," and it is also evidenced by the 
 abundant notions of this kind which have survived from the 
 Middle Ages among the more ignorant part of the people 
 even in lands called Christian. 
 
 While, however, the Bible affirms the atmosphere to be sub- 
 ject to law, it does not carry this into the domain of physical 
 necessity, and affirm with some modern materialistic philoso- 
 phers that it is useless to pray for- rain. It is God who gives 
 
1/2 The Origin of the World. 
 
 rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, and what he gives 
 he can withhold. Perhaps no part of our subject can bet- 
 ter than this illustrate the rational distinction between a 
 mere physical fatalism, or a mere superstitious fear of capri- 
 cious nature, and that belief in a divine Lawgiver which lies 
 between these extremes. Modern science may smile at the 
 poor Indian, who in his fear invokes Hurakon or Tlaloc or 
 the terrible Thunder-bird, and may even despise that nobler 
 worship of the great Phoenician Sun-god, the source and fount- 
 ain of all light and life ; against which, though it was the 
 grandest of all the old idolatries, Elijah waged war to the 
 death. But may it not equally deride the faith of Elijah 
 himself, when, after three years of drought, he prayed in the 
 sight of assembled Israel for rain ? It may do so if physical 
 law amounts to an invariable necessity, and if there is no 
 supreme Will behind it. But if natural laws are the expres- 
 sion of the divine will, if these laws are multiform and com- 
 plicated in their relations, and regulate vastly varied causes 
 interacting with each other, and if the action and welfare of 
 man come within the scope -of these laws, then there is noth- 
 ing irrational in the supposition that God, without any capri- 
 cious or miraculous intervention, may have so correlated the 
 myriad adjustments of his creation as that, while it is his usual 
 rule that rain falls alike on the evil and on the good, he may 
 make its descent at particular times and places to depend on 
 the needs and requests of his own children. In truth the 
 belief in law is essential to the philosojDhical conception of 
 prayer. If the universe wer a mere chaos of chances, or 
 if it were a result of absolute necessity, there would be no 
 place for intelligent prayer; but if it is under the control of 
 a Lawgiver, wise and merciful, not a mere manager of mate- 
 rial machinery, but a true Father of all, then we can go to 
 
The Atmosphere, 173 
 
 such a being with our requests, not in the belief that we can 
 change his great plans, or that any advantage could result 
 from this if it were possible, but that these plans may be 
 made in his boundless wisdom and love to meet our necessi- 
 ties. There is also in the Bible the farther promise that, if 
 we are truly the children of God, regulating our conduct by 
 his will and enlightened by his spirit, we shall know how to 
 pray for what is in accordance with his divine purpose, and 
 how to receive with gladness whatever he sees fit to give. 
 While, therefore, the Biblical doctrine as to natural law eman- 
 cipates us from fears of angry storm-demons, it draws us near 
 to a heavenly Father, whose power is above all the tempests 
 of earth, and who, while ruling by law, has regulated all things 
 in conformity with the higher law of love. When God had 
 made the atmosphere, he saw that it was good, and the high- 
 est significance is given to this by the consideration that God 
 is love. The position of the Bible is thus the true mean be- 
 tween superstitions at once unhappy and debasing, and a ma- 
 terialistic infidelity that w^ould reduce the universe to a dead, 
 remorseless machine, in which we must struggle for a precari- 
 ous existence till wc are crushed between its wheels. 
 
 0' 
 
174 ^^^(^ Origin of the World. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE DRY LAND AND THE FIRST PLANTS. 
 
 "And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered into one 
 place, and let the dry land appear : and it was so. And God called the dry 
 land earth, and the gathering of waters called he seas ; and God saw that 
 it was good. 
 
 " And God said, Let the earth bring forth the springing herb, the herb 
 bearing seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit, after its kind, whose seed is 
 in it on the earth : and it was so. And the earth brought forth the tender 
 herb, the herb yielding seed, and the tree bearing fruit whose seed is in it, 
 after its kind ; and God saw that it was good." — Genesis i., lo, ii. 
 
 These are events sufficiently simple and intelligible in 
 their general character. Geology shows us that the emer- 
 gence of the dry land must have resulted from the elevation 
 of parts of the bed of the ancient universal ocean, and that 
 the agent employed in such changes is the bending and 
 crumpling of the outer crust of the earth, caused by lateral 
 pressure, and operating either in a slow and regular man- 
 ner or by sudden paroxysms. It farther informs us that the 
 existing continents consist of stratified or bedded masses, 
 more or less inclined, fissured and irregularly elevated, and 
 usually supported by crystalline rocks which have been pro- 
 duced among them, or forced up beneath or through them by 
 internal agencies, and which truly constitute the pillars and 
 foundations of the earth. These elevations, it is true, were 
 successive, and belong to different periods; but the appear- 
 ance of the first dry land is that intended here. 
 
The Dry Land and the First Plants. 175 
 
 The elevation of the dry land is more frequently referred 
 to in Scripture than any other cosmological fact ; and while 
 all have been misapprehended, the statements on this subject 
 have been even more unjustly dealt with than others. In the 
 text, the word "earth" (aretz*) is, by divine sanction, narrowed 
 in meaning to the dry land ; but while some expositors are 
 quite willing to restrict it to this, or even a more limited 
 sense, in the first and second verses of this chapter, almost 
 the only verses in the Bible w'here the terms of the narrative 
 make such a restriction inadmissible, they are equally ready 
 to understand it as meaning the whole globe in places where 
 the explanatory clause in the verse now under consideration 
 teaches us that we should understand the land only, as dis- 
 tinguished from the sea. I may quote some of these pas- 
 sages, and note the views they give ; always bearing in mind 
 that, after the intimation here given, we must understand the 
 term "earth" as applying only to the contijicnts or dry land, 
 unless where the context otherwise fixes the meaning. We 
 may first turn to Psalm civ^ : 
 
 •* Thou laidst the foundations of the earth, 
 That it should never be removed ; 
 Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment; 
 The waters stood above the mountains ; 
 At thy rebuke they fled ; 
 
 At the sound of thy thunder they hasted away; 
 Mountains ascended, valleys descended 
 To the place thou hast appointed for them : 
 Thou hast appointed them bounds that they may not pass, 
 That they return not again to cover the earth." 
 
 * The word is one of those that pervade both Semitic and Indo- 
 European tongues: Sanscrit, rt'/^^r^; Pehlevi, fl'r/iz; "LdLtiu, terra ; German, 
 Enfe; Gothic, an'/Aa ; Scottish, yircf ; English, (?«;-///.— Gesenius. 
 
17^ The Origin of the World. 
 
 , The position of these verses in this "the hymn of creation" 
 leaves no doubt that they refer to the events we are now con- 
 sidering. I have given above the literal reading of the line 
 that refers to the elevation of mountains and subsidence of 
 valleys ; admitting, however, that the grammatical construc- 
 tion gives an air of probability to the rendering in our version, 
 " they go up by the mountains, they go down by the valleys;" 
 which, on the other hand, is rendered very improbable by the 
 sense. In whichever sense we understand this line, the pict- 
 ure presented to us by the Psalmist includes the elevation of 
 the mountains and continents, the subsidence of the waters 
 into their depressed basins, and the firm establishment of the 
 dry land on its rocky foundations, the whole accompanied by 
 a feature not noticed in Genesis — the voice of God's thunder 
 — or, in other words, electrical and volcanic explosions. The 
 following quotations refer to the same subject : 
 
 "Before the mountains were settled, 
 Before the hills was I (the Wisdom of God) brought forth ; 
 While as yet he had not made the earth, 
 Nor the plains, nor the higher parts of the habitable world. 
 When he gave the sea his decree 
 That the waters should not pass his limits, 
 When he determined the foundations of the earth." 
 
 — Proverbs viii., 25. 
 
 "Thou hast established the earth, and it endureth, 
 
 According to thy decrees they continue this day. 
 
 For all are thy servants." 
 
 — Psalm cxix., 90. 
 
 " Who shaketh the earth out of its place, 
 
 And its pillars tremble." 
 
 — Job ix., 6. 
 
 *■' Where wast thou when I founded the earth "i 
 Declare, if thou hast knowledge. 
 
TJie Dry Land and the First Plants. ly'j 
 
 Who hath fixed the proportion thereof, if thou knowest? 
 
 Who stretched the line upon it? 
 
 Upon what are its foundations settled? 
 
 Or who laid its corner-stone, 
 
 When the morning stars sang together, 
 
 And all the sons of God shouted for joy? 
 
 Who shut up the sea with doors 
 
 In its bursting forth as from the womb? 
 
 When I made the cloud its garment, 
 
 And swathed it in thick darkness, 
 
 I measured out for it my limit. 
 
 And fixed its bars and doors ; 
 
 And said. Thus far shalt thou come, but no farther, 
 
 And here shall thy proud waves be stayed." 
 
 — Job xxxviii., 4. 
 
 In these passages the foundation of the earth at first, as 
 well as the shaking of its pillars by the earthquake, are con- 
 nected with what we usually call natural law — the decree of 
 the Almighty — the unchanging arrangements of an unchange- 
 able Creator, whose "hands formed the dry land,"* This is 
 the ultimate cause not only of the elevation of the land, but 
 of all other natural things and processes. The naturalist does 
 not require to be informed that the details, in so far as they 
 are referred to in the above passages, are perfectly in accord- 
 ance with what we know of the nature and support of con- 
 tinental masses. Geolo2:ical observation and mathematical 
 calculation have in our day combined their powers to give 
 clear views of the manner in which the fractured strata of the 
 earth are wedged and arched together, and supported by in- 
 ternal igneous masses upheaved from beneath, and subse- 
 quently cooled and hardened. A general view of these facts 
 which we have learned from scientific inquiry, the Hebrews 
 
 * Psalm xcv. 
 H 2 
 
178 The Origin of the World. 
 
 gleaned with nearly as much precision from the short account 
 of the elevation of the land in Genesis, and from the later 
 comments of their inspired poets. From the same source 
 our own great poet, Milton, learned these cosmical facts, be- 
 fore the rise of geology, and expressed them in unexception- 
 able terms : 
 
 *' The mountains huge appear 
 
 Emergent, and their broad bare backs upheave 
 Into the clouds, their tops ascend the sky. 
 So high as heaved the tumid hills, so low 
 Down sunk a hollow bottom, broad and deep. 
 Capacious bed of waters," 
 
 In further illustration of the opinions of the Scripture 
 writers respecting the nature of the earth, and the disturb-, 
 ances to wdiich it is liable, I quote the following passages. 
 The first is from the magnificent description of Jehovah 
 descending to succor his people amid the terrors of the earth- 
 quake, the volcano, and the thunder-storm, in Psalm xviii. : 
 
 ** Then shook and trembled the earth, 
 The foundations of the hills moved and were shaken, 
 Because he was angry. 
 Smoke went up from his nostrils, 
 Fire from his mouth devoured, 
 Coals were kindled by it. 
 Then were seen the channels of the waters, 
 And the foundations of the world were discovered, 
 A tthy rebuke — O Jehovah — 
 At the blast of the breath of thy nostrils." 
 
 In another place in the Psalms we find volcanic action 
 thus tersely sketched : 
 
 *' He lookcth on the earth and it trembleth. 
 He toucheth the hills and they smoke." 
 
 — Psalm civ., 32. 
 
The Dry Land and the First Plants. lyg 
 
 Perhaps the most remarkable discourse on this subject in 
 the whole Bible is that in Job xxviii., in which mining opera- 
 tions are introduced as an illustration of the difficulty of ob- 
 taining true wisdom. This passage is interesting both from 
 its extreme antiquit}', and the advancement in knowledge and 
 practical skill which it indicates. It presents, however, many 
 difficulties ; and its details have almost entirely lost their 
 true significance in our common English version : 
 
 " Surely there is a vein for silver, 
 And a place for the gold which men refme ; 
 Iron is taken from the earth, 
 And copper is molten from the ore. 
 
 To the end of darkness and to all extremes man searcheth, 
 For the stones of darkness and the shadow of death. 
 He opens a passage [shaft] from where men dwell, 
 Unsupported by the foot, they hang down and swing to and fro.* 
 The earth — out of it cometh bread ; 
 And beneath, it is overturned as by fire.t 
 Its stones are the place of sapphires. 
 And it hath lumps | of gold. 
 
 The path (thereto) the bird of prey hath not known. 
 The vulture's eye hath not seen it.§ 
 The wild beasts' whelps have not trodden it, 
 The lion hath not passed over it. 
 Man layeth his hand on the hard rock. 
 He turneth up the mountains from their roots. 
 He cutteth channels [cidifs} in the rocks, 
 His eye seeth every precious thing. 
 
 * Gesenius. 
 
 t Perhaps "changed," metamorphosed, as by fire. Conant has "de- 
 stroyed." 
 
 t " Dust " in our version, literally lumps or " nuggets." 
 
 § The vulgar and incorrect idea that the vulture " scents the carrion 
 from afar," so often reproduced by later poets, has no place in the Bible 
 poetry. It is the bird's keen eye that enables him to find his prey. 
 
i8o The Origin of the World. 
 
 He restraineth the streams from trickling, 
 And bringeth the hidden thing to light. 
 But where shall wisdom be found, 
 And where is the place of understanding?" 
 
 This passage, incidentally introduced, gives us a glimpse 
 of the knowledge of the interior of the earth and its products, 
 as it existed in an age probably anterior to that of Moses. 
 It brings before us the repositories of the valuable metals 
 and gems — the mining operations, apparently of some mag- 
 nitude and difficulty, undertaken in extracting them — and 
 the wonderful structure of the earth itself, green and product- 
 ive at the surface, rich in precious metals beneath, and deep- 
 er still the abode of intense subterranean fires. The only 
 thing wanting to give completeness to the picture is some 
 mention of the fossil remains buried in the earth ; and, as 
 the main thought is the eager and successful search for use- 
 ful minerals, this can hardly be regarded as a defect. The 
 application of all this is finer than almost any thing else in 
 didactic poetry. Man can explore depths of the earth in- 
 accessible to all other creatures, and extract thence treas- 
 ures of inestimable value ; yet, after thus exhausting all the 
 natural riches of the earth, he too often lacks that highest 
 wisdom which alone can fit him for the true ends of 
 his spiritual being. How true is all this, even in our own 
 wonder-working days! A poet of to-day could scarcely 
 say more of subterranean wonders, or say it more truth- 
 fully and beautifully ; nor could he arrive at a conclusion 
 more pregnant with the highest philosophy than the closing 
 words : 
 
 '* The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom ; 
 And to depart from evil is understanding." 
 
The Dry Land and the First Plants. i8i 
 
 The emergence of the dry land is followed by a repetition 
 of the approval of the Creator. *•' God saw that it was good." 
 To our view that primeval dry land would scarcely have 
 seemed good. It was a world of bare, rocky peaks, and 
 verdureless valleys — here active volcanoes, with their heaps 
 of scoriae and scarcely cooled lava currents — there vast mud- 
 flats, recently upheaved from the bottom of the waters — no- 
 where even a blade of grass or a clinging lichen. Yet it was 
 good in the view of its Maker, who could see it in relation to 
 the uses for which he had made it, and as a fit preparatory 
 step to the new wonders he was soon to introduce. Then 
 too, as we are informed in Job xxxviii., " The morning stars 
 sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." We 
 also, when we think of the beautiful variety of the terrestrial 
 surface, the character and composition of its soils, the variety 
 of climate and exposure resulting from its degrees of eleva- 
 tion, the arrangements for the continuance of springs and 
 streams, and many other beneficial provisions connected with 
 the merely mechanical arrangements of the dry land, may 
 well join in the tribute of praise to the All-wise Creator. 
 There is, however, a farther thought suggested by the approv- 
 al of the great Artificer. In this wondrous progress of crea- 
 tion, it seems as if every thing at first was in its best estate. 
 No succeeding state could parallel the unbroken symmetry 
 of the earth in the fluid and vaporous condition of the 
 "deep." Before the elevation of the land, the atmospheric 
 currents and the deposition of moisture must have been sur- 
 passingly regular. The first dry land may have presented 
 crags and peaks and ravines and volcanic cones in a more 
 marvellous and perfect manner than any succeeding conti- 
 nents — even as the dry and barren moon now, in this re- 
 spect, far surpasses the earth. In the progress of organic 
 
1 82 TJic Origin of the World, 
 
 life, geology gives similar indications, in the variety and mag- 
 nitude of many animal types on their first introduction; so 
 that this may very possibly be a law of creation. 
 
 During the emergence of the first dry land, large quantities 
 of detrital matter must have been deposited in the waters, 
 and in part elevated into land. All of these beds would, 
 probably, be destitute of organic remains ; but if such beds 
 were formed and still remain, they are probably unknown to 
 us, for the oldest formations that we know — those of the Eo- 
 zoic age — contain traces of such remains. It has, indeed, 
 been suggested that these most ancient organisms are, as it 
 were, overlooked in the history of creation, or regarded as 
 equivalent to those shapeless monsters and animals of the 
 darkness that are referred to in the older Turanian versions 
 of this story of creation. I doubt very much, however, if this 
 is a fair interpretation of our ancient record ; but we shall be 
 in a better position to discuss it when we come to the actual 
 introduction of animals. 
 
 Modern analogy would induce us to believe that the land 
 was not elevated suddenly; but either by a series of small 
 paroxysms, as in the case of Chili, or by a gradual and im- 
 perceptible movement, as in the case of Sweden — two of the 
 most remarkable modern instances of elevation of land — ac- 
 companied, however, in the case of the last by local subsid- 
 ence.^ In either of these ways the seas and rivers would 
 have time to smooth the more rugged inequalities, to widen 
 the ravines into valleys, and to spread out sediment in the 
 lower grounds ; thus fitting the surface for the habitation of 
 plants and animals. We must not suppose, however, that the 
 dry land had any close resemblance to that now existing in 
 
 * Lyell's *' Principles of Geology." 
 
The Dry Land and the First Plants. 183 
 
 its form or distribution. Geology amply proves that since 
 the first appearance of dry land, its contour has frequently 
 been changed, and probably also its position. Hence near- 
 ly all our present land consists of rocks which have been 
 formed under the waters, long after the period now under 
 consideration, and have been subsequently hardened and 
 elevated ; and since all the existing high mountain ranges 
 are of a comparatively late age, it is probable that this prime- 
 val dry land was low, as well as, in the earlier part of the pe- 
 riod at least, of comparatively small extent. It is, however, 
 by no means certain that there may not have been a greater 
 expanse of land toward the close of this period than that 
 which afterwards existed in those older periods of animal life 
 to which the earliest fossiliferous rocks of the geologist carry 
 us back; since, as already hinted, it seems to be a rule in 
 creation that each new object shall be highly developed of 
 its kind at its first appearance, and since there have been in 
 geological time many great subsidences as well as elevations. 
 Neither must we forget that the oldest land has been sub- 
 jected throughout geological time to wearing and degrading- 
 agencies, and that from its waste the later formations have 
 been mainly derived. 
 
 It would be wrong, however, to omit to state that, though 
 we may know at present no remains of the first dry land, we 
 are not ignorant of its general distribution; for the present 
 continents show, in the arrangement of their formations and 
 mountain chains, evidence that they are parts of a plan 
 sketched out from the beginning. It has often been re- 
 marked by physical geographers that the great lines of coast 
 and mountain ranges are generally in directions approaching 
 to northeast and southwest, or northwest and southeast, and 
 that where they run in other directions, as in the case of the 
 
1 84 TJic Origin of the World. 
 
 south of Europe and Asia, they are much broken by salient 
 and re-entering angles, formed by lines having these direc- 
 tions. Professor R. Owen, of Tennessee, and Professor Pierce, 
 of Harvard College, were, I believe, the first to point out that 
 these lines are in reality parts of great circles tangent to the 
 polar circles, and the latter to suggest a theory of their ori- 
 gin, based on the action of solar heat and the seasons on a 
 cooling earth. This has been more fully stated by Mr. W. 
 Lowthian Green in his curious book, " Vestiges of the Molten 
 Globe." * It would appear that the great circles in question are 
 in reality at right angles to the line of direction of the attrac- 
 tion of the sun and moon at the period of either solstice, and 
 when they happen to be in conjunction or opposition at these 
 periods; and that such circles would be the lines on which 
 the thin crust of a cooling globe would be most likely to be 
 ruptured by its internal tidal-wave. Whatever the cause of 
 the phenomenon, it is evident that in the formation of its 
 surface inequalities the earth has cracked — so to speak — 
 along two series of great circles tangent to the polar circles; 
 and that these, with certain subordinate lines of fracture run- 
 ning north and south and east and west, have determined the 
 forms of the continents from their origin. 
 
 M. Elie de Beaumont, and after him most other geologists, 
 have attributed the elevation of the continents and the up- 
 heaval and plication of mountain chains to the secular re- 
 frigeration of the earth, causing its outer shell to become too 
 capacious for its contracting interior mass, and thus to break 
 or bend, and to settle toward the centre. This view would 
 well accord with the terms in which the elevation of the land 
 is mentioned throughout the Bible, and especially with the 
 
 * Stanford, London, 1875. - 
 
TJic Dry Land and the First Plants. 185 
 
 general progress of the work as we have gleaned it from the 
 Mosaic narrative; since from the period of the desolate void 
 and aeriform deep to that now before us secular refrigeration 
 must have been steadily in progress. Let us also observe 
 here that the earliest fractures of the crust would determine 
 the first coast lines, and the first slopes along which sedi- 
 mentary matter would descend from the land and be depos- 
 ited in the sea. They would also modify the direction of 
 the ocean currents. Thus the deposition of new formations 
 would be directed by these old lines, as would also to some 
 extent the course of all subsequent fractures and plications. 
 Thus it happens that the lines of outcrop of the oldest rocks 
 first raised out of the waters already marked out the forms 
 of the continents, and that the later formations appear rather 
 as fillings-up and extensions of the skeleton established by 
 the first dry land. Farther, the lines of plication first estab- 
 lished along the borders of the continents formed resisting 
 walls along which, in the continued contraction of the earth, 
 pressure was exerted from the ocean bed, widening and ele- 
 vating these lines of upheaval, and still farther fixing the 
 general forms of the continents, and giving variety to their 
 surfaces. In the progress of geological time there have also 
 been successive depressions and re-elevations of the conti- 
 nental plateaus, subjecting them alternately to the wearing 
 and disintegrating action of the atmosphere and its waters, 
 and to the influence of waves and ocean currents, and es- 
 pecially to that of the deep-seated polar currents which have 
 throughout geological ages been loading the submerged 
 areas of the earth's surface with the products of the waste 
 caused by frost and ice in the polar regions. These causes 
 again have been progressively increasing the oblateness of the 
 earth's figure,' and, along with the slackening of its rotation, 
 
1 86 TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 preparing the way for those periodical collapses in the equa- 
 torial and temperate regions which form the boundaries of 
 some of our most important geological periods.* Through- 
 out all these changes the great general plan of the conti- 
 nents, first sketched out when the " foundations of the earth " 
 were laid, before Eozoic time, was being elaborated. 
 
 The same creative period that witnessed the first appear- 
 ance of dry land saw it also clothed with vegetation; and it 
 is quite likely that this is intended to teach that no time was 
 lost in clothing the earth with plants — that the first emerg- 
 ing portions received their vegetable tenants as they became 
 fitted for them — and that each additional region, as it rose 
 above the surface of the waters, in like manner received the 
 species of plants for which it was adapted. What was the 
 nature of this earliest vegetation ? The sacred writer speci- 
 fies three descriptions of plants as included in it; and, by 
 considering the terms which he uses, some information on 
 this subject may be gained. 
 
 JDes/ie, translated " grass " in our version, is derived from a 
 verb signifying to spring up or bud forth ; the same verb, in- 
 deed, used in this verse to denote " bringing forth," literally 
 causing to spring up. Its radical meaning is, therefore, vege- 
 tation in the act of sprouting or springing forth; or, as con- 
 nected with this, young and delicate herbage. Thus, in Job 
 xxxviii., " To satisfy the desolate and waste ground, and to cause 
 the bud ol \\-\Q young herbage to spring forth." Here the ref- 
 erence is, no doubt, to the bulbous and tuberous rooted plants 
 of the desert plains, which, fading away in the summer 
 drought, burst forth with magical rapidity on the setting-in 
 
 * In further explanation of these general geological changes, see** The 
 Story of the Earth and Man," by the author. 
 
TJic Dry Land and the First Plants. 187 
 
 of rain. The following passages are similar : Psalm xxiii., 
 "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures" (literally, 
 young or tender herbage) \ Deuteronomy xxiii., "Small rain 
 upon the tender herb;^^ Isaiah xxxvii., " Grass on the house- 
 tops." The word is also used for herbage such as can be 
 eaten by cattle or cut down for fodder, though even in these 
 cases the idea of young and tender herbage is evidently in- 
 cluded ; " Fat as a heifer at grass " (Jer. xi\^) — that is, feeding 
 on young succulent grass, not that which is dry and parched. 
 " Cut down as the grass, or wither as the green herb," like 
 the soft, tender grass, soon cut down and quickly withering. 
 With respect to the use of the word in this place, I may re- 
 mark : I. It is not here correctly translated by the word "grass ;" 
 for grass bears seed, and is, consequently, a member of the 
 second class of plants mentioned. Even if we set aside all 
 idea of inspiration, it is obviously impossible that any one 
 living among a pastoral or agricultural people could have 
 been ignorant of this fact. 2. It can scarcely be a general 
 term, including all plants when in a young or tender state. 
 The idea of their springing up is included in the verb, and 
 this was but a very temporary condition. Besides, this word 
 does not appear to be employed for the young state of shrubs 
 or trees. 3. We thus appear to be shut up to the conclusion 
 that deshe here means those plants, mostly small and her- 
 baceous, which bear no proper seeds ;* in other words, the 
 Cryptogamia — as fungi, mosses, lichens, ferns, etc. The re- 
 maining words are translated with sufficient accuracy in our 
 version. They denote seed-bearing or phoenogamous herbs 
 and trees. The special mention of the fructification of 
 plants is probably intended not only for distinction, but also 
 
 ^ * " Tenera herba, sine semine saltern conspicuo."— Rosenmiiller, " Scho- 
 lia." 
 
1 88 Tlie Origin of the World. 
 
 to indicate tlie new power of organic reproduction now first 
 introduced on the surface of our planet, and to mark its dif- 
 ference from tlie creative act itself. That this new and won- 
 drous phenomenon should be so stated is thus in strict sci- 
 entific iDropriety, and it is precisely the point that would be 
 seized by an intelligent spectator of the visions of creation, 
 who had previously witnessed only the accretion and disin- 
 tegration of mineral substances, and to whom this marvellous 
 power of organic reproduction would be in every respect a 
 new creation. 
 
 The arrangement of plants in the three great classes of 
 cryptogams, seed-bearing herbs, and fruit-bearing trees dif- 
 fers in one important point — viz., the separation of herbaceous 
 plants from trees — from modern botanical classification. It 
 is, however, sufficiently natural for the purposes of a general 
 description like this, and perhaps gives more precise ideas of 
 the meaning intended than any other arrangement equally 
 concise and popular. It is also probable that the object of 
 the writer was not so much a natural-history classification as 
 an account of the order of creation, and that he wishes to af- 
 firm that the introduction of these three classes of plants on 
 the earth corresponded with the order here stated. This 
 view renders it unnecessary to vindicate the accuracy of the 
 arrangement on botanical grounds, since the historical order 
 was evidently better suited to the purpose in view, and in so 
 far as the earlier appearance of cryptogamous plants is con- 
 cerned, it is in strict accordance with geological fact. 
 
 A very important truth is contained in the expression 
 "after its kind" — that is, after its species; for the Hebrew 
 ^'- min,^^ used here, has strictly this sense, and, like the Greek 
 idea and the Latin species, conveys the notion of form as well 
 as that of kind. It is used to denote species of animals, 
 
TJie Dry Land and the First Plants. 189 
 
 in Leviticus i., 14, and in Deuteronomy xiv., 15. We are 
 taught by this statement that plants were created each kind 
 by itself, and that creation was not a sort of slump-work to be 
 perfected by the operation of a law of development, as fancied 
 by some modern speculators. In this assertion of the distinct- 
 ness of species, and the production of each as a distinct part 
 of the creative plan, revelation tallies perfectly with the con- 
 clusions of natural science, which lead us to believe that 
 each species, as observed by us, is permanently reproductive, 
 variable within narrow limits, and incapable of permanent in- 
 termixture with other species; and though hypotheses of mod- 
 ification by descent, and of the production of new species by 
 such modification, may be formed, they are not in accordance 
 with experience, and are still among the unproved specula- 
 tions which haunt the outskirts of true science. We shall be 
 better prepared, however, to weigh the relations of such hy- 
 potheses to our revelation of origins when we shall have 
 reached the period of the introduction of animal life. 
 
 Some additional facts contained in the recapitulation of 
 the creative work in Chapter II. may very properly be con- 
 sidered here, as they seem to refer to the climatal conditions 
 of the earth during the growth of the most ancient vegetation^ 
 and before the final adjustment of the astronomical relations 
 of the earth on the fourth day. "And every shrub of the 
 land before it was on the earth, and every herb of the land 
 before it sprung up. For the Lord God had not caused it to 
 rain on the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground ; 
 but a mist ascended from the earth and watered the whole 
 surface of the ground." This has been supposed to be a de- 
 scription of the state of the earth during the whole period an- 
 terior to the fiUl of man. There is, however, no Scripture 
 evidence of this ; and geology informs us that rain fell as at 
 
1 90 TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 present far back in the Palaeozoic period, countless ages be- 
 fore the creation of man or the existing animals. Although, 
 however, such a condition of the earth as that stated in these 
 verses has not been known in any geological period, yet it is 
 not inconceivable, but in reality corresponds with the other 
 conditions of nature likely to have prevailed on the third day, 
 as described in Genesis. The land of this period, we may 
 suppose, was not very extensive nor very elevated. Hence 
 the temperature would be uniform and the air moist. The 
 luminous and calorific matter connected with the sun still 
 occupied a large space, and therefore diffused heat and light 
 more uniformly than at present. The internal heat of the 
 earth may still have produced an effect in warming the oce- 
 anic waters. The combined operation of these causes, of 
 wdiich we, perhaps, have some traces as late as the Carbon- 
 iferous period, might well produce a state of things in which 
 the earth was watered, not by showers of rain, but by the 
 gentle and continued precipitation of finely divided moisture, 
 in the manner now observed in those climates in which veg- 
 etation is nourished for a considerable part of the year by 
 nocturnal mists and copious dews. The atmosphere, in short, 
 as yet partook in some slight degree of the same moist and 
 misty character which prevailed before the " establishment of 
 the clouds above" — the airy firmament of the second day. 
 The introduction of these explanatory particulars by the sacred 
 historian furnishes an additional argument for the theory of 
 long periods. That vegetation should exist for two or three 
 natural days without rain or the irrigation which is given in 
 culture, was, as already stated, a circumstance altogether un- 
 worthy of notice ; but the growth during a long period of a 
 varied and highly organized flora, without this advantage, and 
 by the aid of a special natural provision afterward discontin- 
 
The Dry Land and the First Plants. 191 
 
 ued, was in all respects so remarkable and so highly illustra- 
 tive of the expedients of the divine wisdom that it deserved a 
 prominent place. 
 
 It is evident that the words of the inspired writer include 
 plants belonging to all the great subdivisions of the vegetable 
 kingdom. This earliest vegetation was not rude or incom- 
 plete, or restricted to the lower forms of life. It was not 
 even, like that of the coal period, solely or mainly cryptoga- 
 mous or gymnospermous. It included trees bearing fruit, as 
 well as lichens and mosses, and it received the same stamp of 
 approbation bestowed on other portions of the work — " it was 
 good." We have a good right to assume that its excellence 
 had reference not only to its own period, but to subsequent 
 conditions of the earth. Vegetation is the great assimilating 
 power, the converter of inorganic into organic matter suita- 
 ble for the sustenance of animals. In like manner the lower 
 tribes of plants prepare the way for the higher. We should 
 therefore have expected a priori that vegetation would have 
 clothed the earth before the creation of animals, and a suffi- 
 cient time before it to allow soils to be accumulated, and sur- 
 plus stores of organic matter to be prepared in advance : this 
 consideration alone would also induce us to assign a consider- 
 able duration to the third day. After the elevation of land, 
 and the draining off from it of the saline matter with which it 
 would be saturated, a process often very tedious, especially in 
 low tracts of ground, the soil would still consist only of min- 
 eral matter, and must have been for a long period occupied 
 by plants suited to this condition of things, in order that suf- 
 ficient organic matter might be accumulated for the growth 
 of a more varied vegetation ; a consideration which perhaps 
 illustrates the order of the plants in the narrative. 
 
 It may be objected to the above views that, however ac- 
 
192 The Origin of the World. 
 
 cordant with chemical and physiological probabilities, they 
 do not harmonize with the facts of geology ; since the earliest 
 fossiliferous formations contain almost exclusively the remains 
 of animals, which must therefore have preceded, or at least 
 been coeval with, the earliest forms of terrestrial vegetation. 
 This objection is founded 011 well-ascertained facts, but facts 
 which may have no connection with the third day of creation 
 when regarded as a long period. The oldest geological for- 
 mations are of marine origin, and contain remains of marine 
 animals, with those of plants supposed \o be allied to the exist- 
 ing algae or sea-weeds. Geology can not, however, assure us 
 either that no land plants existed contemporaneously with these 
 earliest animals, or that no land flora preceded them. These 
 oldest fossiliferous rocks may mark the commencement of 
 animal life, but they testify nothing as to the existence or 
 non-existence of a previous period of vegetation alone. Far- 
 ther, the rocks which contain the oldest remains of life exist 
 as far as yet known in a condition so highly metamorphic as 
 almost to preclude the possibility of their containing any 
 distinguishable vegetable fossils ; yet they contain vast de- 
 posits of carbon in the form of graphite, and if this, like more 
 modern coaly matter, was accumulated by vegetable growth, 
 it must indicate an exuberance of plants in these earliest ge- 
 ological periods, but of plants as yet altogether unknown to 
 us. It is possible, therefore, that in these Eozoic rocks we 
 may have remnants of the formations of the third IMosaic day; 
 and if we should ever be so fortunate as to find any portion 
 of them containing vegetable fossils, and these of species 
 differing from any hitherto known, either in a fossil state or 
 recent, and rising higher, in elevation and complexity of type, 
 than the flora of the succeeding Silurian and Carbonifer- 
 ous eras, we may then suppose that we have penetrated to 
 
The Dry Land and the First Plants. 193 
 
 the monuments of this third creative aeon. The only other 
 alternative by which these verses can be reconciled with ge- 
 ology is that adopted by the late Hugh Miller, who supposes 
 that the plants of the third day are those of the Carboniferous 
 period; but, besides the apparent anachronism involved in 
 this, we now know that the coal flora consisted mainly of 
 cryptogams allied to ferns and club-mosses, and of gymno- 
 sperms allied to the pines and cycads, the higher orders of 
 plants being almost entirely wanting. For these reasons we 
 are shut up to the conclusion that this flora of the third 
 day must have its place before the Palaeozoic period of 
 geology. 
 
 To those who are familiar with the vast lapse of time re- 
 quired by the geological history of the earth, it may be start- 
 ling to ascribe the whole of it to three or four of the creative 
 days. If, however, it be admitted that these days were pe- 
 riods of unknown duration, no reason remains for limiting 
 their length any farther than the facts of the case require. 
 If in the strata of the earth which are accessible to us we can 
 detect the evidence of its existence for myriads of years, why 
 may not its Creator be able to carry our view back for myr- 
 iads more. It may be humbling to our pride of knowledge, 
 but it is not on any scientific ground improbable, that the 
 oldest animal remains known to geology belong to the middle 
 period of the earth's history, and were preceded by an enor- 
 mous lapse of ages in which the earth was being prepared for 
 animal existence, but of which no records remain, except 
 those contained in the inspired history. 
 
 It would be quite unphilosophical for geology to affirm 
 either that animal life must always have existed, or that its 
 earliest animals are necessarily the earliest organic beings. 
 To use, with a slight modification, the words of an able think- 
 
 I 
 
194 ^/^^ Origin of the World, 
 
 er on these subjects,* "For ages the prejudice prevailed that 
 the historical period, or that which is coeval with the life of 
 man, exhausted the whole history of the globe. Geologists 
 removed that prejudice," but must not substitute " another in 
 its place, viz., that geological time is coeval with the globe it- 
 self, or that organic life always existed on its surface." 
 
 A second doubt as to the existence of this primitive flora 
 may be based on the statement that it included the highest 
 forms of plants. Had it consisted only of low and imperfect 
 vegetables, there might have been much less difficulty in ad- 
 mitting its probability. Farther, we find that even in the 
 Carboniferous period scarcely any plants of the higher orders 
 flourished, and there was a preponderance of the lower forms 
 of the vegetable kingdom. We have, however, in geological 
 chronology, many illustrations of the fact that the progress 
 of improvement has not been continuous or uninterrupted, 
 and that the preservation of the flora and fauna of many ge- 
 ological periods has been very imperfect. Hence the occur- 
 rence in one particular stratum or group of strata of few or 
 low representatives of animal and vegetable life affords no 
 proof that a better state of things may not have existed pre- 
 viously. We also find, in the case of animals, that each tribe 
 attained to its highest development at the time when, in the 
 progress of creation, it occupied the summit of the scale of 
 life. Analogy would thus lead us to believe that when plants 
 alone existed, they may have assumed nobler forms than any 
 now existing, or that tribes now represented by few and hum- 
 ble species may at that time have been so great in numbers 
 and development as to fill all the offices of our present com- 
 plicated flora, as well as, perhaps, some of those now occupied 
 
 * Haughton, Address to the Geological Society, Dublin. 
 
TJie Dry Land and the First Plants. 195 
 
 by animals. We have this principle exemplified in the Car- 
 boniferous flora, by the magnitude of its arborescent club- 
 mosses, and the vast variety of its gymnosperms. For this 
 reason we may anticipate that if any remains of this early 
 plant-creation should be disinterred, they will prove to be 
 among the most wonderful and interesting geological relics 
 ever discovered, and will enlarge our views of the compass 
 and capabilities of the vegetable kingdom, and especially of 
 its lower forms. 
 
 A farther objection is the uselessness of the existence of 
 plants for a long period, without any animals to subsist on or 
 enjoy them, and even without forming any accumulation of 
 fossil fuel or other products useful to man. The only direct 
 answer to this has already been given. The previous exist- 
 ence of plants may have been, and probably was, essential to 
 the comfort and subsistence of the animals afterwards intro- 
 duced. Independently of this, however, we have an analo- 
 gous case in the geological history of animals, which prevents 
 this fact from standing alone. Why was the earth tenanted 
 so long by the inferior races of animals, and why were so 
 much skill and contrivance expended on their structures, and 
 even on their external ornament, when there was no intelligent 
 mind on earth to appreciate their beauties. Even in the pres- 
 ent world we may as well ask why the uninhabited islands 
 of the ocean are found to be replete with luxuriant vegetable 
 life, whv God causes it to rain in the desert where human foot 
 never treads, or why he clothes with a marvellous exuberance 
 of beautiful animal and plant forms the depths of the sea. We 
 can but say that these things seemed and seem good to the 
 Creator, and may serve uses unknown to us ; and this is pre- 
 cisely what we must be content to say respecting the plant- 
 creation of the Eozoic period. 
 
196 The Origin of the World. 
 
 Some writers* on this subject have suggested that the cos- 
 mical use of this plant-creation was the abstraction from the 
 atmosphere of an excess of carbonic acid unfavorable to the 
 animal life subsequently to be introduced. This use it may 
 have served, and when its effects had been gradually lost 
 through metamorphism and decay, that second great with- 
 drawal of carbon which took place in the Carboniferous pe- 
 riod may have been rendered necessary. The reasons afford- 
 ed by natural history for supposing that plants preceded ani- 
 mals are thus stated by Professor Dana : 
 
 " The proof from science of the existence of plants before 
 animals is inferential, and still may be deemed satisfactory. 
 Distinct fossils have not been found, all that ever existed in 
 the azoic t rocks having been obliterated. The arguments in 
 the affirmative are as follows : 
 
 " I. The existence of limestone rocks among the other beds, 
 similar limestones in later ages having been of organic origin ; 
 also the occurrence of carbon in the shape of graphite, graph- 
 ite being, in known cases in rocks, a result of the alteration 
 of the carbon of plants. 
 
 "2. The fact that the cooling earth would have been fitted 
 for vegetable life for a long age before animals could have 
 existed ; the principle being exemplified everywhere that the 
 earth was occupied at each period with the highest kinds of 
 life the conditions allowed. 
 
 "3. The fact that vegetation subserved an important pur- 
 
 * See McDonakI, " Creation and the Fall." Professor Guyot, I believe, 
 deserves the credit of having first mentioned, on the American side of the 
 Atlantic, the doctrine respecting the introduction of plants advocated in 
 this chapter. 
 
 t "Eozoic" of this work. Professor Dana in the latest edition of his 
 Manual uses the name "Archaean." 
 
TJie Dry Land and the First Plants. 197 
 
 pose in the coal-period in ridding the atmosphere of carbonic 
 acid for the subsequent introduction of land animals, suggests 
 a valid reason for believing that the same great purpose, the 
 true purpose of vegetation, was effected through the ocean 
 before the waters were fitted for animal life. 
 
 "4. Vegetation being directly or mediately the food of 
 animals, it must have had a previous existence. The latter 
 part of the azoic age in geology we therefore regard as the 
 age when the plant kingdom was instituted, the latter half of 
 the third day in Genesis. However short or long the epoch, 
 it was one of the great steps of progress." 
 
 In concluding the examination of the work of the third day, 
 I must again remind the reader that, on the theory of long 
 creative periods, the words under consideration must refer to 
 the first introduction of vegetation, in forms that have long 
 since ceased to exist. Geology informs us that in the period 
 of which it is cognizant the vegetation of the earth has been 
 several times renewed, and that no plants of the older and 
 middle geological periods now exist. We may therefore rest 
 assured that the vegetable species, and probably also many 
 of the generic and family forms of the. vegetation of the third 
 day, have long since perished, and been replaced by others 
 suited to the changed condition of the earth. It is indeed 
 probable that during the third and fourth days themselves 
 there might be many removals and renewals of the terrestrial 
 flora, so that perhaps every species created at the commence- 
 ment of the introduction of plants may have been extinct be- 
 fore the close of the period. Nevertheless it was marked by 
 the introduction of vegetation, which in one or another set of 
 forms has ever since clothed the earth. 
 
 At the commencement of the third day the earth was still 
 covered by the waters. As time advanced islands and 
 
198 The Origin of the World. 
 
 mountain-peaks arose from the ocean, vomiting forth the 
 molten and igneous materials of the interior of the earth's 
 crust. Plains and valleys were then spread around, rivers 
 traced out their beds, and the ocean was limited by coasts 
 and divided by far-stretching continents. At the command 
 of the Creator plants sprung from the soil — the earliest of 
 organized structures — at first probably few and small, and 
 fitted to contend against the disadvantages of soils impreg- 
 nated with saline particles and destitute of organic matter ; 
 but as the day advanced increasing in number, magnitude, 
 and elevation, until at length the earth was clothed with a 
 luxuriant and varied vegetation, worthy the approval of the 
 Creator, and the admiring song of the angelic "sons of 
 God." 
 
Luminaries. 
 
 199 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 LUMINARIES. 
 
 "And God said, Let there be luminaries in the expanse of heaven, to 
 divide the day from the night ; and let them be for signs and for seasons, 
 and for days and for years. And let them be for luminaries in the ex- 
 panse of heaven, to give light on the earth : and it was so. 
 
 "And God made two great luminaries, the greater luminary to preside 
 over the day, the lesser luminary to preside over the night. He made 
 the stars also. And God placed them in the expanse of heaven to give 
 light on the earth, and to preside over the day and over the night, and to 
 separate the light from the darkness : and God saw that it was good. And 
 the evening and the morning w^ere the fourth day." — Genesis i., 14-19. 
 
 After so long a sojourn on the earth, we are in these 
 verses again carried to the heavens. Every scientific reader 
 is struck with the position of this remarkable statement, inter- 
 rupting as it does the progress of the organic creation, and 
 constituting a break in the midst of the terrestrial history 
 which is the immediate subject of the narrative ; thus, in 
 effect, as has often been remarked, dividing the creative 
 week into two portions. Why was the completion of the 
 heavenly bodies so long delayed t Why were light and veg- 
 etation introduced previously ? If we can not fully answer 
 these questions, we may at least suppose that the position of 
 these verses is not accidental, though certainly not that which 
 would have been chosen for its own sake by any fabricator 
 of systems ancient or modern. Let us inquire, however, 
 what are the precise terms of the record. 
 
200 The Origin of the World. 
 
 1. The word here used to denote the objects produced clear- 
 ly distinguishes them from the product of the first day's cre- 
 ation. Then God said, " Let light be ;" he now says, " Let lu- 
 minaries or light-bearers be." We have already seen that the 
 light of the first day may have emanated from an extended 
 luminous mass, at first occupying the whole extent of the 
 solar system, and more or less attached to the several planetary 
 bodies, and afterwards concentrated within the earth's orbit. 
 The verses now under consideration inform us that the proc- 
 ess of concentration was now complete, that our great cen- 
 tral luminary had attained to its perfect state. This proc- 
 ess of concentration may have been proceeding during the 
 whole of the intervening time, or it may have been com- 
 pleted at once by some more rapid process of the nature of 
 a direct interposition of creative power. 
 
 2. The division of light from darkness is expressed by the 
 same terms, and is of the same nature with that on the first 
 day. This separation was now produced in its full extent by 
 the perfect condensation of the luminiferous matters around 
 the sun. 
 
 3. The heavenly bodies are said to be intended for signs — 
 that is, for marks or indications — either of the seasons, days, 
 and years afterwards mentioned, or of the majesty and 
 power of the true God, as the Creator of objects so grand 
 and elevated as to become to the ignorant heathen objects 
 of idolatrous worship ; or perhaps of the earthly events they 
 are supposed to influence. The arrangements now perfected 
 for the first time enabled natural days, seasons, and years 
 to have their limits accurately marked. Previously to this 
 period there had been no distinctly marked seasons, and 
 consequently no natural separation of years, nor were the 
 limits of days at all accurately defined. 
 
Luminaries. 201 
 
 4. The terms expanse and heaven, previously applied to the 
 atmosphere, are here combined to denote the more distant 
 starry and planetary heavens. There is no ambiguity in- 
 volved in this, since the writer must have well known that no 
 one could so far mistake as to suppose that the heavenly 
 bodies are placed in that atmospheric expanse which sup- 
 ports the clouds. 
 
 5. The luminaries were made or appointed to their office on 
 the fourth day. They are not said to have been created, be- 
 ing included in the creation of the beginning. They were 
 now completed, and fully fitted for their work. An impor- 
 tant part of this fitting seems to have been the setting or 
 placing them in the heavens, conveying to us the impression 
 that the mutual relations and regular motions of the heaven- 
 ly bodies were now for the first time perfected. 
 
 6. The stars are introduced in a parenthetical manner, 
 which leaves it doubtful whether we are merely informed 
 in general terms that they are works of God, as well as those 
 heavenly bodies which are of more importance to us, or that 
 they were arranged as heavenly luminaries useful to our 
 earth on the fourth day. The term includes the fixed stars, 
 and it is by no means probable that these were in any way 
 affected by the work referred to the fourth day, any farther 
 than their appearance from our earth is concerned. This 
 view is confirmed by the language of the 104th Psalm, which 
 in this part of the work mentions the sun and moon alone, 
 without the fixed stars or planets. 
 
 It is evident that the changes referred to this period re- 
 lated to the whole solar system, and resulted in the comple- 
 tion of that system in the form which it now bears, or at 
 least in the final adjustment of the motions and relations of 
 the earth; and we have reason to believe that the condensa- 
 
 I 2 
 
202 The Origin of the World. 
 
 tion of the luminous envelope around the sun was one of the 
 most important of these changes. On the hypothesis of La 
 Place, already referred to as most in accordance with the 
 earlier stages of the work, ther^ seems to be no especial 
 reason why the completion of the process of elaboration of 
 the sun and planets should be accelerated at this particular 
 stage. We can easily understand, however, that those clos- 
 ing steps which brought the solar system into a state of per- 
 manent and final equilibrium would form a marked epoch in 
 the work ; and we can also understand that now, on the eve 
 of the introduction of animal life, there is a certain propriety 
 in the representation of the Creator interfering to close up 
 the merely inorganic part of his great work, and bring this 
 department at least to its final perfection. The fourth day, 
 then, in geological language, marks the complete vit7'oduction 
 of " existing causes " i?t itiorgafiic nature, and we henceforth 
 find no more creative interference, except in the domain of 
 organization. This accords admirably with the deductions 
 of modern geology, and especially with that great principle 
 so well expounded by Sir Charles Lyell, and which forms 
 the true basis of modern geological reasonings — that we 
 should seek in existing causes of change for the explanation 
 of the appearances of the rocks of the earth's crust. Geol- 
 ogy probably carries us back to the introduction of animal 
 life ; and shows us that since that time land, sea, and at- 
 mosphere, summer and winter, day and night — all the great 
 inorganic conditions affecting animal life — have existed as at 
 present, and have been subject to modifications the same in 
 kind with those which they now experience, though perhaps 
 different in degree. In this ancient record we find in like 
 manner that the period immediately preceding the creation 
 of animals witnessed the completion of all the great general 
 
Ltiminaries, 203 
 
 arrangements on which these phenomena depend. The Bible, 
 therefore, and science agree in the truth that existing causes 
 have been in full force since the creation of animals ; and 
 that since that period the exercise of creative power has 
 been limited to the organic world. This has a curious bear- 
 ing, not often thought of, on modern theories of evolution as 
 compared with the teaching of the Bible. In one important 
 sense, absolute creation, in so far as the inorganic universe is 
 concerned, is in our Mosaic narrative limited to the produc- 
 tion of matter and force at first. All else is called makinar, 
 forming, or appointing. Thus the production of all the ar- 
 rangements of the waters, the atmosphere, the earth, and the 
 heavens, in the work of the first four days, and even the in- 
 troduction of plants, may be correctly termed an evolution 
 or development from preformed materials, with the single ex- 
 ception that the reproductive power and specific diversities 
 of plants are recognized as entirely new facts. Creation is 
 properly resumed when animal life is introduced. Hence, 
 in so far as a comparison with the terms of Genesis is con- 
 cerned, hypotheses as to the evolution of animal life from in- 
 organic matter are in a different position from hypotheses 
 as to the previous evolution of the parts of inorganic nature ; 
 and still more so from statements as to the progress of in- 
 organic nature subsequent to the introduction of animals ; 
 since within that period, which really includes the whole of 
 geological time, absolutely no creation whatever in the do- 
 main of inanimate nature is affirmed in the Biblical record to 
 have taken place. On the contrar}^ all the arrangements of 
 inorganic nature are represented as finally completed before 
 the creation of animals. 
 
 The obliquity of the earth's axis, which gives us the changes 
 of the seasons, is apparently included in the arrangements 
 
204 The Origin of the World. 
 
 of the fourth creative day. The cause of this obliquity, and 
 the time when it may have attained to its present amount, 
 have been fertile themes of discussion. It is clear, however, 
 that if this obliquity was established, as appears to be stated 
 here, before the introduction of animal life, it can have no 
 bearing on the changes of climate of ^vhich we have evi- 
 dence in geological time since the dawn of animal life, un- 
 less, indeed, it is capable of greater variation than astron- 
 omers admit j and the same remark applies to supposed 
 changes in the position of the poles themselves. There is, 
 however, nothing in this record to oppose the idea of any 
 secular changes in these arrangements under the laws ap- 
 pointed in the fourth creative period. 
 
 The record relating to the fourth day is silent respecting 
 the mundane history of the period ; and geology gives no 
 very certain information concerning it. If, however, we as- 
 sume that any of the Eozoic or pre-eozoic rocks are deposits 
 of this or the preceding period, w^e may infer from the dis- 
 turbances and alteration which these have suffered, prior to 
 the deposition of the Cambrian and Silurian, that during or 
 toward the close of this day the crust of the earth was af- 
 fected by great movements. There is another consideration 
 also leading to important conclusions in relation to this pe- 
 riod. In the earliest fossiliferous rocks there seems to be 
 good evidence that the dry land contemporary with the seas 
 in which they were formed was of very small extent. Now, 
 since on the third day a very plentiful and highly developed 
 vegetation was produced, we may infer that during that peri- 
 od the extent of dry land was considerable, and was probably 
 gradually increasing. If, then, the Cambrian and Silurian 
 systems, so rich in marine organic remains, belong to the 
 commencement of the fifth day, we must conclude that dur- 
 
Luminaries. 205 
 
 ing the fourth much of the land previously existing had been 
 again submerged. In other words, during the third day the 
 extent of terrestrial surface was increasing, on the fourth day 
 it diminished, and on the fifth it again increased, and proba- 
 bly has on the whole continued to increase up to the present 
 time. One most important geological consequence of this is 
 that the marine animals of the fifth day probably commenced 
 their existence on sea bottoms which were the old soil sur- 
 faces of submerged continents previously clothed with vege- 
 tation, and which consequently contained much organic mat- 
 ter fitted to form a basis of support for the newly created an- 
 imals. 
 
 I shall close my remarks on the fourth day by a few quo- 
 tations from those passages of Scripture which refer to the 
 objects of this day's work. I have already referred to that 
 beautiful passage in Deuteronomy where the Israelites are 
 warned against the crime of worshipping those heavenly 
 bodies which the Lord God hath "divided to every nation 
 under the whole heaven." In the book of Job also we find 
 that the heavenly bodies were in his day regarded as signal 
 manifestations of the power of God, and that several of the 
 principal constellations had received names : 
 
 '' He commandeth the sun, and it shineth not ; 
 He sealeth up the stars ;* 
 He alone spreadeth out the heavens, 
 And walketh on the high waves of the sea ;t 
 
 * This may refer to an eclipse, but from the character of the preceding 
 verses more probably to the obscurity of a tempest. It is remarkable that 
 eclipses, which so much strike the minds of men and affect them with su- 
 perstitious awe, are not distinctly mentioned in the Old Testament, though 
 referred to in the prophetical parts of the New Testament. 
 
 t Perhaps rather the high places of the waters, referring to the atmos- 
 pheric waters. 
 
2o6 The Origin of the World, 
 
 He maketh Arcturus, Orion, 
 
 The Pleiades, and the hidden chambers of the south ; 
 
 Who doeth great things past finding out ; 
 
 Yea, marvellous things beyond number." 
 
 —Job ix., 9. 
 
 " Canst thou tighten the bonds of the Pleiades,* 
 Or loose the bands of Orion ? 
 
 Canst thou bring forth the Mazzaroth in their season, 
 Or lead forth Arcturus and its sons? 
 Knowest thou the laws of the heavens. 
 Or hast thou appointed their dominion over the earth?" 
 
 — Job xxxviii., 31. 
 
 I may merely remark on these passages that the chambers 
 of the south are supposed to be those parts of the southern 
 heavens invisible in the latitude in which Job resided. The 
 bonds of Pleiades and of Orion probably refer to the ajDpar- 
 ently close union of the stars of the former group, and the 
 wide separation of those of the latter; a difference which, to 
 the thoughtful observer of the heavens, is more striking than 
 most instances of that irregular grouping of the stars which 
 still forms a question in astronomy, from the uncertainty 
 whether it is real, or only an optical deception arising from 
 stars at different distances coming nearly into a line with 
 each other. I have seen in some recent astronomical work 
 this very instance of the Pleiades and Orion taken as a mark- 
 ed illustration of this problematical fact in astronomy. Maz- 
 
 * The rendering " sweet influences " in our version may be correct, but 
 the weight of argument appears to favor the view of Gesenius that the 
 close bond of union between the stars of this group is referred to. I 
 think it is Herder who well unites both views, the Pleiades being bound 
 together in a sisterly union, and also ushering in the spring by their ap- 
 pearance above the horizon. Conant applies the whole to the seasons, 
 the bands of Orion being in this view those of winter. 
 
Ltuninaries. 
 
 207 
 
 zaroth are supposed by modern expositors to be the signs of 
 the Zodiac. 
 
 On the whole, the Hebrew books give us little information 
 as to the astronomical theories of the time when they were 
 written. They are entirely non-committal as to the nature of 
 the connections and revolutions of the heavenly bodies; and 
 indeed regard these as matters in their time beyond the grasp 
 of the human mind, though well known to the Creator and 
 regulated by his laws. From other sources we have facts 
 leading to the belief that even in the time of Moses, and 
 certainly in that of the later Biblical writers, there was not a 
 little practical astronomy in the East, and some good theory. 
 The Hindoo astronomy professes to have observations from 
 3000 B.C., and the arguments of Baily and others, founded 
 on internal evidence, give some color of truth to the claim. 
 The Chaldeans at a very early period had ascertained the 
 principal circles of the sphere, the position of the poles, and 
 the nature of the apparent motions of the heavens as the re- 
 sults of revolution on an inclined axis. The Egyptian astron- 
 omy we know mainly from what the Greeks borrowed from it. 
 Thales, 640 B.C., taught that the moon is lighted by the sun,, 
 and that the earth is spherical, and the position of its five 
 zones. Pythagoras, 580 B.C., knew, in addition to the sphe- 
 ricity of the earth, the obliquity of the ecliptic, the identity of 
 the evening and morning star, and that the earth revolves 
 round the sun. This Greek astronomy appears immediately 
 after the opening of Egypt to the Greeks ; and both these 
 philosophers studied in that country. Such knowledge, and 
 more of the same character, may therefore have existed in 
 Eg}'pt at a much earlier period. 
 
 The Psalms abound in beautiful references to the creation 
 of the fourth day : 
 
2o8 The Origin of the World. 
 
 " When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, 
 The moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained ; 
 What is man, that thou art mindful of him ? 
 Or the son of man, that thou visitest him ?" 
 
 — Psalm viii. 
 
 "Who telleth the number of the stars, 
 Who calleth them all by their names. 
 Great is our Lord, and of great praise ; 
 His understanding is infinite. 
 The Lord lifteth up the meek; 
 He casteth the wicked to the ground." 
 
 — Psalm cxlvii. 
 
 " The heavens declare the glory of God, 
 The firmament showeth his handiwork ; 
 Day unto day uttereth speech, 
 Night unto night showeth knowledge. 
 They have no speech nor language. 
 Their voice is not heard ; 
 Yet their line is gone out to all the earth. 
 And their words to the end of the world. 
 In them hath he set a pavilion for the sun, 
 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, 
 And rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. 
 ^ Its going forth is from the end of the heavens, 
 
 And its circuit unto the end of them. 
 And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof" 
 
 — Psalm xix. 
 
 These are excellent illustrations of the truth of the Scrip- 
 ture mode of treating natural objects, in connection with 
 their Maker. It is but a barren and fruitless philosophy 
 which sees the work and not its author — a narrow piety 
 which loves God but despises his works. The Bible holds 
 forth the golden mean between these extremes, in a strain of 
 lofty poetry and acute perception of the great and beautiful, 
 'whether seen in the Creator or reflected from his works. 
 
Luminaries. 
 
 J09 
 
 The work of this day opens up a wide field for astronom- 
 ical illustration, more especially in relation to the wisdom 
 and benevolence of the Creator as displayed in the heavens ; 
 but it would be foreign to our present purpose to enter into 
 these. 
 
 It may be well, however, to think for a moment of the 
 importance of the facts suggested by the writer of Genesis in 
 mentioning the use of the heavenly bodies as signs of time. 
 To what extent civilization or even the continued existence of 
 man as an intelligent being would have been possible with- 
 out the marks of subdivision of time given by the great astro- 
 nomical clock of the universe, it is almost impossible for us 
 to imagine. Without such marks of time, in any case, the 
 whole fabric of human culture must have been different from 
 what it is. Farther, in connection with this, it is a grand 
 thought of our early revelation that all these heavenly bodies, 
 however magnificent, and however they might seem to the 
 heathen to be objects of worship, are but marks on God's 
 clock, parts of a mere machine which keeps time for us, and 
 is therefore our servant, as the children of the great Artificer, 
 and not our ruler. The idea has been termed an astrolog- 
 ical one ; but astrology as a means of divination has no 
 place in the record. The heavenly bodies are under the law 
 of the Creator, and their function relatively to us is to give 
 light and to give time. Astrological divination is an out- 
 growth of the Sabasan idolatry, and held in abomination 
 by the monotheistic author of Genesis. His object may be 
 summed up in the following general statements : 
 
 I. The heavenly hosts and their arrangements are the work 
 of Jehovah, and are regulated wholly by his laws or ordi- 
 nances ; a striking illustration of the recognition by the He- 
 brew writer both of creative interference, and that stable. 
 
210 The Origin of the World. 
 
 natural law which too often withdraws the mind of the 
 philosopher from the ideas of creation and of providence. 
 
 2. The heavenly bodies have a relation to the earth — are 
 parts of the same plan, and, whatever other uses they were 
 made to serve, were made for the benefit of man. 
 
 3. The general physical arrangements of the solar system 
 were perfected before the introduction of animals on our 
 planet. 
 
TJie Loiver Afiimals. 211 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE LOWER ANIMALS. 
 
 "And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarming living creatures, 
 and let birds fly on the surface of the expanse of heaven. And God 
 created great reptiles, and every living moving thing, which the waters 
 brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every bird after its kind ; 
 and God saw that it was good. 
 
 " And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the 
 waters of the seas, and let the flying creatures multiply in the earth. And 
 the evening and the morning were the fifth day." — Genesis i., 20-23. 
 
 In these words, so full of busy, active, thronging life, we 
 now enter on that part of the earth's history which has been 
 most fully elucidated by geology, and we have thus an ad- 
 ditional reason for carefully weighing the terms of the narra- 
 tive, which here, as in other places, contain large and impor- 
 tant truths couched in language of the simplest character. 
 
 I. In accordance with the views now entertained by the 
 best lexicographers, the word translated in our version "creep- 
 ing things" has been rendered "prolific or swarming creat- 
 ures." The Hebrew is Sherefz, a noun derived from the verb 
 used in this verse to denote bringing forth abundantly. It is 
 loosely translated in the Septuagint Erpeta, reptiles ; and this 
 view our English translators appear to have adopted, without, 
 perhaps, any very clear notions of the creatures intended. 
 The manner in which it is used in other passages places its 
 true meaning beyond doubt. I select as illustrations of the 
 
212 The Origin of the World, 
 
 most apposite character those verses in Leviticus in which 
 clean and unclean animals are specified, and in which we 
 have a right to expect the most precise zoological nomen- 
 clature that the Hebrew can afford. In Leviticus xi., 20-23, 
 ijtsects are defined to h^ flying sheretzim^ and in verse 29, etc., 
 under the designation '^ sheretzim of the land,'' we have ani- 
 mals named in our version the weasel, mouse, tortoise, ferret, 
 chameleon, lizard, snail, and mole. The first of these ani- 
 mals is believed to have been a burrowing creature, perhaps 
 a mole; the second, from the meaning of its name, "ravager 
 of fields," is thought to have been a mouse. Some doubt, 
 however, attends both of these identifications, but it appears 
 certain that the remaining six species are small reptiles, prin- 
 cipally lizards. We learn, therefore, that the smaller reptiles, 
 and perhaps also a few small mammals, are sheretzim. In 
 verses 41 and 42 we are introduced to other tribes. "And 
 every sheretz that swarmeth on the earth shall be an abomina- 
 tion unto you ; it shall not be eaten ; whatsoever goeth upon 
 the belly (serpents, worms, snails, etc.), and whatsoever hath 
 more feet (than four) (insects, arachnidans, myriapods). In 
 verses 9 and 10 of the same chapter we have an enumeration 
 of the sheretzim of the waters : " Whatsoever hath fins and 
 scales in the waters, in the seas and in the rivers, them shall 
 ye eat. And all that have not fins and scales in the seas and 
 the rivers, of all that swarm in the waters (all the sheretzim 
 of the waters), they shall be an abomination unto you." Here 
 the general term sheretz includes all the fishes and the inver- 
 tebrate animals of the waters. From the whole of the above 
 passages we learn that this is a general term for all the inver- 
 tebrate animals and the two lower classes of vertebrates, or, 
 in other words, for the whole animal kingdom except the 
 mammalia and birds. To all these creatures the name is 
 
The Lower Animals. 213 
 
 particularly appropriate, all of them being oviparous or ovo- 
 viviparous, and consequently producing great numbers of 
 young and multiplying very rapidly. The only other creat- 
 ures which can be included under the term are the two doubt- 
 ful species of small mammals already mentioned. Nothing 
 can be more fair and obvious than this explanation of the 
 term, based both on etymology and on the precise nomen- 
 clature of the ceremonial law. We conclude, therefore, that 
 the prolific animals of the fifth day's creation belonged to the 
 three Cuvierian sub-kingdoms of the Radiata, Articulata, and 
 Mollusca, and to the classes of Fish and Reptiles among the 
 vertebrata. 
 
 2. One peculiar group oi sheretziin is especially distinguish- 
 ed by name — the tLVi7iimm^ or "great whales" of our ver- 
 sion. It would be amusing, had we time, to notice the va- 
 riety of conjectures to which this word has given rise, and 
 the perplexities of commentators in reference to it. In our 
 version and the Septuagint it is usually rendered dragon ; 
 but in this place the seventy have thought proper to put Ketos 
 (whale), and our translators have followed them. Subsequent 
 translators and commentators have laid under contribution 
 all sorts of marine monsters, including the sea-serpent, in 
 their endeavors to attach a precise meaning to the word ; 
 while others have been content to admit that it may signify 
 any kind or all kinds of large aquatic animals. The greater 
 part of the difficulty appears to have arisen from confounding 
 two distinct words, tannin and tan^ both names of animals ; 
 and the confusion has been increased by the circumstance 
 that in two places the words have been interchanged, proba- 
 bly by errors of transcribers. Tan occurs in twelve places, 
 and from these we can gather that it inhabits ruined cities, 
 deserts, and places to which ostriches resort, that it suckles 
 
214 The Origin of the World. 
 
 its young, is of predaceous and shy habits, utters a wailing 
 cry, and is not of large size, nor formidable to man. The 
 most probable conjecture as to the animal intended is that 
 of Gesenius, who supposes it to be the jackal. The other 
 word {fajinin), which is that used in the text, is applied as an 
 emblem of Egypt and its kings, and also of the conquering 
 kings of Babylon. It is spoken of as furious when enraged, 
 and formidable to man, and is said to be an inhabitant of 
 rivers and of the sea, but more especially of the Nile. In 
 short, it is the crocodile of the Nile. We can easily under- 
 stand the perplexity of those writers who suppose these two 
 words to be identical, and endeavor to combine all the char- 
 acters above mentioned in one animal or tribe of animals. 
 As a farther illustration of the marked difference in the mean- 
 ings of the two words, we may compare the 34th and 37th 
 verses of the fifty-first chapter of Jeremiah. In the first of 
 these verses the King of Babylon is represented as a " dra- 
 gon" {tannin), vihich. had swallowed up Israel. In the second 
 it is predicted that Babylon itself shall become heaps, a dwell- 
 ing-place for "dragons" {tanint). There can be no doubt 
 that the animals intended here are quite different. The de- 
 vouring tajinin is a huge predaceous river reptile, a fit em- 
 blem of the Babylonian monarch ; the taji is the jackal that 
 will soon howl in his ruined palaces. It is interesting to know 
 that philologists trace a connection between tannin and the 
 Greek iei7io, Latin tendo, and similar words, signifying to stretch 
 or extend, in the Sanscrit, Gothic, and other languages, lead- 
 ing to the inference that the Hebrew w'ord primarily denotes 
 a lengthened or extended creature, which corresponds well 
 with its application to the crocodile. Taking all the above 
 facts in connection, we are quite safe in concluding that the 
 creatures referred to by the word under consideration are 
 
The Lower Animals. 215 
 
 literally large reptilian ammals ; and, from the special men- 
 tion made of them, we may infer that, in their day, they were 
 the lords of creation.* 
 
 3. In verse 21 the remainder of the ^//^r^/s:/;;/, besides the 
 larger reptiles, are included in the general expression, " Living 
 creature that moveth." The term " living creature " is, liter- 
 ally, " creature having the breath of life ;" the power of res- 
 piration being apparently in Hebrew the distinctive character 
 of the animal. The word moveth {raviash)^ in its more gen- 
 eral sense, expresses the power of voluntary motion, as ex- 
 hibited in animals in general. In a few places, however, it has 
 a more precise meaning, as in i Kings iv., -^-^^ where the ver- 
 tebrated animals are included in the four classes of "beasts, 
 fowl, C7'eeping tilings (or reptiles, remes), and fishes." In the 
 present connection it probably has its most general sense ; 
 unless, indeed, the apparent repetition in this verse relates to 
 the amphibious or semi-terrestrial creatures associated with 
 the great reptiles ; and, in that case, the humbler reptilian 
 animals alone may be meant. 
 
 4. We may again note that the introduction of animal life 
 is marked by the use of the word " create," for the first time 
 since the general creation of the heavens and the earth. We 
 may also note that the animal, as well as the plant, was cre- 
 ated "after its kind," or "species by species." The animals 
 are grouped under three great classes — the Remes, the Tan- 
 ninim, and the Birds; but, lest any misconception should arise 
 as to the relations of species to these groups, we are expressly 
 informed that the species is here the true unit of the creative 
 work. It is worth while, therefore, to note that this most an- 
 
 * It would be unfair to suppress the farther probability that the writer 
 intends specially to indicate that the sacred crocodile of the Nile was itself 
 a creature of Jehovah, and among the humbler of those creatures. 
 
2i6 TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 cient authority on this much controverted topic connects spe- 
 cies on the one hand with the creative fiat, and on the other 
 with the power of continuous reproduction. 
 
 5. In addition to the great mass oi sheretzi?n, so accurately 
 characterized by Milton as 
 
 ** Reptile with spawn abundant," 
 
 the creation of the fifth day included a higher tribe of ovipa- 
 rous animals — the birds, the fowl or winged creature of the 
 text. Birds alone, we think, must be meant here, as we have 
 already seen that insects are included under the general term 
 sheretzim. 
 
 6. It is farther to be observed that the waters give origin to 
 the first animals — an interesting point when we consider the 
 contrast here with the creation of plants and of the higher 
 animals, both of which proceed from the earth. 
 
 7. It can not fail to be observed that we have in these 
 verses two different arrangements of the animals created, 
 neither corresponding exactly with what modern science 
 teaches us to regard as the true grouping of the animal king- 
 dom, according to its affinities. The order in the first enu- 
 meration should, from the analogy of the chapter, indicate 
 that* of successive creation. The order of the second list 
 may, perhaps, be that of the relative importance of the ani- 
 mals, as it appeared to the writer. Or there may have been 
 a twofold division of the period — the earlier commencing 
 with the creation of the humbler invertebrates, the later 
 characterized by the great reptiles — which is the actual state 
 of the case as disclosed by geology. 
 
 8. The Creator recognizes the introduction of sentient ex- 
 istence and volition by blessing this new work of his hands, 
 and inviting the swarms of the newly peopled world to enjoy 
 
TJie Loivcr Animals. 217 
 
 that happiness for which they were fitted, and to increase and 
 fill the earth, inaugurating thus a new power destined to still 
 higher developments. 
 
 When we inquire what information geology affords respect- 
 ing the period under consideration, the answer may be full 
 and explicit. Geological discovery has carried us back to 
 an epoch corresponding with the beginning of this day, and 
 has disclosed a long and varied series of living beings, ex- 
 tending from this early period up to the introduction of the 
 higher races of animals. To enter on the geological details of 
 these changes, and on descriptions of the creatures which suc- 
 ceeded each other on the earth, would swell this volume into a 
 treatise on palaeontology, and would be quite unnecessary, as 
 so many excellent popular works on this subject already exist. 
 I shall, therefore, confine myself to a few general statements, 
 and to marking the points in which Scripture and geology 
 coincide in their respective histories of this long period, 
 which appears to include the whole of the Palaeozoic and 
 Mesozoic epochs of geology, with their grand and varied 
 succession of rock formations and living beings. 
 
 In the Primordial or oldest fossiliferous rocks next in suc- 
 cession to those great Eozoic formations in which protozoa 
 alone have been discovered, we find the remains of crusta- 
 ceans, mollusks, and radiates — such as shrimps, shell-fish, and 
 starfishes — which appear to have inhabited the bottom of a 
 shallow ocean. Among these were some genera belonging 
 to the higher forms of invertebrate life, but apparently as yet 
 no vertebrated animals. Fishes were then introduced, and 
 have left their remains in the upper Silurian rocks, and very 
 abundantly in the Devonian and Carboniferous, in the latter 
 of which also the first reptiles occur, but are principally mem- 
 bers of -that lower group to which the frogs and newts and 
 
 K 
 
2i8 The Origin of the World. 
 
 their allies belong. The animal kingdom appears to have 
 reached no higher than the reptiles in the Palaeozoic or 
 primary period of geology, and its reptiles are comparatively 
 small and few ; though fishes had attained to a point of per- 
 fection which they have not since exceeded. There was 
 also, especially in the Carboniferous age, an abundant and 
 luxuriant vegetation. The Mesozoic period is, however, em- 
 phatically the age of reptiles. This class then reached its cli- 
 max, in the number, perfection, and magnitude of its species, 
 which filled all those stations in the economy of nature now 
 assigned to the mammalia. Birds also belong to this era, 
 though apparently much less numerous and important than at 
 present. Only a few species of small mammals, of the lowest 
 or marsupial type, appear as a presage of the mammalian crea- 
 tion of the succeeding tertiary era. In these two geological pe- 
 riods, then — the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic — we find, first, the 
 lower sheretzim represented by the invertebrata and the fishes, 
 then the great reptiles and the birds ; and it can not be de- 
 nied that, if we admit that the Mosaic day under consideration 
 corresponds with these geological periods, it would be impos- 
 sible better to characterize their creations in so few words 
 adapted to popular comprehension. I may add that all the 
 species whose remains are found in the Palaeozoic and Meso- 
 zoic rocks are extinct, and known to us only as fossils ; and 
 their connection with the present system of nature consists 
 only in their forming with it a more perfect series than our 
 present fauna alone could afford, unless, indeed, we should 
 find reason to believe that any modern animals are their 
 modified descendants. They belong to the same system of 
 types, but are parts of it which have served their purpose and 
 have been laid aside. The coincidences above noted be- 
 tween geology and Scripture may be summed up as follows : 
 
The Lower Animals. 219 
 
 1. According to both records, the causes which at present 
 regulate the distribution of light, heat, and moisture, and of 
 land and water, were, during the whole of this period, much 
 the same as at present. The eyes of the trilobite of the old 
 Silurian rocks are fitted for the same conditions with respect 
 to light with those of existing animals of the same class. 
 The coniferous trees of the coal measures show annual rings 
 of growth. Impressions of rain-marks have been found in 
 the shales of the coal measures and Devonian system. Hills 
 and valleys, swamps and lagoons, rivers, bays, seas, coral 
 reefs and shell beds, have all left indubitable evidence of 
 their existence in the geological record. On the other hand, 
 the Bible affirms that all the earth's physical features were 
 perfected on the fourth day, and immediately before the cre- 
 ation of animals. The land and the water have undergone 
 during this long lapse of ages many minor changes. Whole 
 tribes of animals and plants have been swept away and re- 
 placed by others, but the general aspect of inorganic nature 
 has remained the same. 
 
 2. Both records show the existence of vegetation during 
 this period; though the geologic record, if taken alone, would, 
 from its want of information respecting the third day, lead us 
 to infer that plants are no older than animals, while the Bible 
 does not speak of the nature of the vegetation that may have 
 existed on the fifth day. 
 
 3. Both records inform us that reptiles and birds were the 
 higher and leading forms of animals, and that all the lower 
 forms of animals co-existed with them. In both we have es- 
 pecial notice of the gigantic Saurian reptiles of the latter 
 part of the period ; and if we have the remains of a few small 
 species of mammals in the Mesozoic rocks, these, like a few 
 similar creatures apparently included under the word sheretz 
 
220 TJie Orighi of the World. 
 
 in Leviticus, are not sufficiently important to negative the 
 general fact of the reign of reptiles.* 
 
 4. It accords with both records that the work of creation in 
 this period was gradually progressive. Species after species 
 was locally introduced, extended itself, and, after having 
 served its purpose, gradually became extinct. And thus 
 each successive rock formation presents new groups of spe- 
 cies, each rising in numbers and perfection above the last, 
 and marking a gradual assimilation of the general conditions 
 of our planet to their present state, yet without any convul- 
 sions or general catastrophes affecting the whole earth at 
 once. 
 
 5. In both records the time between the creation of the 
 first animals and the introduction of the mammalia as a 
 dominant class forms a well-marked period. I would not 
 too positively assert that the close of the fifth day accords 
 precisely with that of the Mesozoic or secondary period. 
 The well-marked line of separation, however, in many parts 
 of the world, between this and the earlier tertiary rocks suc- 
 ceeding to it, points to this as extremely probable. 
 
 It thus appears that Scripture and geology so far concur 
 respecting the events of this period as to establish, even 
 without any other evidence, a probability that the fifth day 
 corresponds with the geological ages with which I have 
 endeavored to identify it. Geology, however, gives us no 
 
 ' * The interesting discovery, by Mr. Beale and others, of several species 
 of mammalia in the Purbeck, and that of Professor Emmons of a mam- 
 mal in rocks of similar age in the Southern States of America, do not in- 
 validate this statement ; for all these, like the Alicrolestes of the German 
 trias and the Ajuphitherium of the Stonesfeld slate, are small marsupials 
 belonging to the least perfect type of mammals. The discovery of so many 
 species of these humbler creatures, goes far to increase the improbability 
 of the existence of the higher mammals. 
 
The Loiver Animals, 221 
 
 means of measuring precisely the length of this clay ; but it 
 gives us the impression that it occupied an enormous length 
 of time, compared with which the whole human period is 
 quite insignificant \ and rivalling those mythical " days of 
 the Creator " which we have noticed as forming a part of the 
 Hindoo mythology. 
 
 Why was the earth thus occupied for countless ages by an 
 animal population whose highest members were reptiles and 
 birds ? The fact can not be doubted, since geology and 
 Scripture, the research of man and the Word of God, concur 
 in affirming it. We know that the lowest of these creatures 
 was, in its own place, no less worthy of the Creator than 
 those which we regard as the highest in the scale of organi- 
 zation, and that the animals of the ancient, equally with those 
 of the modern world, abounded in proofs of the wisdom, pow- 
 er, and goodness of their Maker. Comparative anatomy has 
 shown that these extinct animals, though often varying much 
 from their modern representatives, are in no respect rude or 
 imperfect ; that they have the same appearance of careful 
 planning and elaborate execution, the same combination of 
 ornament and utility, the same nice adaptation to the condi- 
 tions of their existence, which we observe in modern creat- 
 ures. In addition to this, the many new and wonderful con- 
 trivances and combinations which they present, and their re- 
 lations to existing objects, have greatly enlarged our views 
 of the variety and harmony of the whole system of nature. 
 They are, therefore, in these respects, not without their use 
 as manifestations of the Creator, in this our later age. 
 
 There is another reason, hinted at by Buckland, Miller, 
 and other writers on this subject, which weighs much with 
 my mind. All animals and plants are constructed on a few 
 leading types or patterns, which are again divided into sub- 
 
222 The Origin of the World. 
 
 ordinate types, just as in architecture we have certain lead- 
 ing styles, and these again may admit of several orders, and 
 these of farther modifications. Types are farther modified to 
 suit a great variety of minor adaptations. Now we know that 
 the earth is, at any one time, inadequate to display all the 
 modifications of all the types. Hence our existing system 
 of organic nature, though probably more complete than any 
 that preceded it, is still only fragmentary. It is like what 
 architecture would be, if all memorials of all buildings more 
 than a century old were swept away. But, from the begin- 
 ning to the end of the creative work, there has been, or will 
 be, room for the whole plan. Hence fossils are little by lit- 
 tle completing our system of nature ; and, if all were known, 
 would perhaps wholly do so. The great plan must be pro- 
 gressive, and all its parts must be perishable, except its last 
 culminating-point and archetype, man. Tennyson expresses 
 this truth in the following lines : 
 
 "The wish that of the living whole 
 
 No life may fail beyond the grave ; 
 Derives it not from what we have 
 The likest God within the soul ,-* 
 
 Are God and Nature then at strife, 
 
 That Nature lends such evil dreams ? 
 So careful of the type she seems, 
 
 So careless of the single life. 
 
 * So careful of the type ?' but no. 
 
 From scarped cliff and quarried stone 
 She cries, ' a thousand types are gone ; 
 
 I care for nothing, all shall go. 
 
 ' Thou makest thine appeal to me : 
 I bring to life, I bring to death : 
 The spirit does but mean the breath: 
 
 I know no more.' And he, shall he, 
 
The Loiuer Animals. 223 
 
 Man, her last work, who seem'd so fair, 
 Such splendid purpose in his eyes, 
 Who roll'd the psalm to wintry skies. 
 
 Who built him fanes of fruitless prayer, 
 
 Who trusted God was love indeed, 
 And love Creation's final law — 
 Tho' Nature, red in tooth and claw. 
 
 With ravine, shriek'd against his creed — 
 
 Who loved, who suffer'd countless ills. 
 Who battled for the True, the Just, 
 Be blown about the desert dust, 
 
 Or seal'd within the iron hills ? 
 
 No more ? A monster, then, a dream, 
 A discord. Dragons of the prime, 
 That tare each other in their slime. 
 
 Were mellow music match'd with him. 
 
 O life as futile, then, as frail ! 
 
 O for thy voice to soothe and bless! 
 
 What hope of answer, or redress? 
 Behind the veil, behind the veil." 
 
 The farther explanation given by evolutionists that those 
 ancient forms of life may be the actual ancestors of the pres- 
 ent animals, and that through all the ages the Creator was 
 gradually perfecting his work by a series of descents with 
 modification, was probably not before the mind of our ancient 
 Hebrew authority, nor need we attach much value to it till 
 some proof of the process has been obtained from Nature. 
 A farther reason, however, which was intelligible to the author 
 of Genesis, and which is fondly dwelt on in succeeding books 
 of the Bible, depends on the idea that the Creator himself is 
 not indifferent to the marvellous structures, instincts, and pow- 
 ers which he has bestowed upon the lower races of animals. 
 
224 1^^^^ Origin of the World. 
 
 Witness the answer of the Almighty to Job, when he spake 
 out of the whirlwind to vindicate his own plans in creation 
 and providence ; and brought before the patriarch a long train 
 of animals, explaining and dwelling on the structure and pow- 
 ers of each, in contrast with the puny efforts and rude artificial 
 contrivances of man. Witness also the preservation, in the 
 rocks, of the fossil remains of extinct creatures, as if he who 
 made them was unwilling that the evidence of their existence 
 should perish, and purposely treasured them through all the 
 revolutions of the earth, that through them men might mag- 
 nify his name. The Psalmist would almost appear to have 
 had all these thoughts before his mind when he poured out 
 his wonder in the 104th Psalm: 
 
 " O Lord, how manifold are thy works ! 
 In wisdom hast thou made them all. 
 The earth is full of thy riches ; 
 So is this wide and great sea, 
 Wherein are moving things innumerable, 
 Creatures both small and great. 
 There go the ships [or " floating animals "] ; 
 There is leviathan, which thou hast formed to sport therein : 
 That thou givest them they gather. 
 Thou openest thy hand, they are filled with good ; 
 Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled; 
 Thou takest away their breath, they return to their dust. 
 Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created, 
 And thou renewest the face of the earth." 
 
 There are, however, good reasons to believe that, in the 
 plans of divine wisdom, the long periods in which the earth 
 was occupied by the inferior races were necessary to its sub- 
 sequent adaptation to the residence of man. In these periods 
 our present continents gradually grew up in all their variety 
 and beauty. The materials of old rocks were comminuted and 
 
The Lozver Animals. 225 
 
 mixed to form fertile soils,* and stores of mineral products 
 were accumulated to enable man to earn his subsistence and 
 the blessings of civilization by the sweat of his brow. If it 
 pleased the Almighty during these preparatory stages to re- 
 plenish the land and sea with living things full of life and 
 beauty and happiness, who shall venture to criticise his pro- 
 cedure, or to say to Him, " What doest thou ?" 
 
 It would be decidedly wrong, in the present state of that 
 which is popularly called science, to omit to inquire here what 
 relation to the work of the fifth creative day those theories of 
 development and evolution which have obtained so great cur- 
 rency may bear. The long time employed in the introduc- 
 tion of the lower animals, the use of the terms "make" and 
 " form," instead of " create," and the expression " let the wa- 
 ters bring forth," may well be understood as countenancing 
 some form of mediate creation, or of " creation by law," or 
 " theistic evolution," as it has been termed ; but they give 
 no countenance to the idea either of the spontaneous evolu- 
 tion of living beings under the influence of merely physical 
 causes and without creative intervention, or of the transmuta- 
 tion of one kind of animal into another. Still, with reference 
 to this last idea, it is plain that revelation gives us no defini- 
 tion of species as distinguished from varieties or races, so 
 that there is nothing to prevent the supposition that, within 
 certain limits indicated by the expression "after its kind," 
 animals or plants may have been so constituted as to vary 
 greatly in the progress of geological time. 
 
 If we ask whether any thing is known to science which can 
 
 * It is very interesting, in connection with this, to note that nearly all 
 the earliest and greatest seats of population and civilization have been 
 placed on the more modern geological deposits, or on those in which stores 
 of fuel have been accumulated by the growth of extinct plants. 
 
 K 2 
 
226 The Origin of the World. 
 
 give even a decided probability to the notion that living be- 
 ings are parts of an undirected evolution proceeding under 
 merely dead insentient forces, and without intention, the an- 
 swer must be emphatically no. 
 
 I have elsewhere fully discussed these questions, and may 
 here make some general statements as to certain scientific 
 facts which at present bar the way against the hypothesis of 
 evolution as applied to life, and especially against that form 
 of it to which Darwin and his disciples have given so great 
 prominence. 
 
 1. The albuminous or protoplasmic material, which seems 
 to be necessary to the existence of every living being, is known 
 to us as a product only of the action of previously living pro- 
 toplasm. Though it is often stated that the production of 
 albumen from its elements is a process not differing from the 
 formation of water or any other inorganic material from its 
 elements, this statement is false in fact, since, though many 
 so-called organic substances have been produced by chemical 
 processes, no particle of either living or non-living organiz- 
 able matter of the nature of protoplasm has ever been so pro- 
 duced. The origin, therefore, of this albuminous matter is 
 as much a mystery to us at present as that of any of the 
 chemical elements. 
 
 2. Though some animals and plants are very simple in 
 their visible structure, they all present vital properties not to 
 be found in dead albuminous matter, and no mode is known 
 whereby the properties of life can be communicated to dead 
 matter. All the experiments hitherto made, and very emi- 
 nently those recently performed by Pasteur, Tyndall, and Dal- 
 linger, lead to the conclusion that even the simplest living 
 beings can be produced only from germs originating in pre- 
 viously living organisms of similar structure. The simplest 
 
TJie Lower Animals. 227 
 
 living organisms are thus to science ultimate facts, for which 
 it can not account except conjecturally. 
 
 3. No case is certainly known in human experience where 
 any species of animal or plant has been so changed as to as- 
 sume all the characters of a new species. Species are thus 
 practically to science unchangeable units, the origin of which 
 we have as yet no means of tracing. 
 
 4. Though the general history of animal life in time bears 
 a certain resemblance to the development of the individual 
 animal from the embrvo, there is no reason whatever to be- 
 lieve that this is more than a mere relation of analogy, arising 
 from the fact that in both cases the law of procedure is to 
 pass from the simpler forms to the more complex, and from 
 the more generalized to the more specialized. The external 
 conditions and details of the two kinds of series are altogether 
 different, and become more so the more they are investigated. 
 This shows that the causes can not have been similar. 
 
 5. In tracing back animals and groups of animals in geo- 
 logical time, we find that they always end without any link 
 of connection wdth previous beings, and in circumstances which 
 render any such connections improbable. In the work of our 
 next creative day, the series of animals preceding the modern 
 horse has been cited as a good instance of probable evolu- 
 tion ; but not only are the members of the series so widely 
 separated in space and time that no connection can be traced, 
 but the earliest of them, the Orohippiis, would require, on the 
 theory, to have been preceded by a previous series extending 
 so far back that it is impossible, under any supposition of the 
 imperfection of our present knowledge, to consider such ex- 
 tension probable. The same difficulty applies to every case 
 of tracing back any specific form either of animal or plant. 
 This general result proves, as I have elsewhere attempted to 
 
228 TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 show,* that the introduction of the various animal types must 
 have been abrupt, and under some influence quite different 
 from that of evolution. 
 
 These are what I would term the five fatal objections to 
 evolution as at present held, as a means of accounting for the 
 introduction and succession of animals. To what extent they 
 may be weakened or strengthened by the future progress of 
 science it is impossible to say, but so long as they exist it is 
 mere folly and presumption to affirm that modern science sup- 
 ports the doctrine of evolution. There can be no doubt, how- 
 ever, that the Bible leaves us perfectly free to inquire as to 
 the plan and method of the Creator, and that, whatever dis- 
 coveries we may make, we shall find that his plans are order- 
 ly, methodical, and continuous, and not of the nature of an 
 arbitrary patchwork. 
 
 Though science as yet gives us no certain laws for the in- 
 troduction of new specific types, it indicates certain possible 
 modes of the origination of varieties, races, and sub-species 
 of previously existing types. One of these is that struggle for 
 existence against adverse external conditions, which, however, 
 has been harped upon too exclusively by the Darwinian school, 
 and which will give chiefly depauperated and degraded forms. 
 Another is that expansion under exceptionally favorable con- 
 ditions which arises where species are admitted to wider new 
 areas of geographical range and more abundant and varied 
 means of sustenance. Land animals and plants must have 
 experienced this in times of continental elevation ; marine 
 animals and plants in times of continental depression. An- 
 other is the tendency to what has been called reproductive 
 retardation and acceleration which species undergo under 
 
 * See Appendix. 
 
The Lower Animals. 229 
 
 conditions exceptionally unfavorable or favorable, and which 
 in some modern aquatic animals produces differences so great 
 that members of the same species have sometimes been placed 
 in different genera. Lastly, it is conceivable that species may 
 have been so constructed that after a certain number of s:en- 
 erations they may spontaneously undergo either abrupt or 
 gradual changes, similar to those which the individual under- 
 goes at certain stages of growth. This last furnishes the only 
 true analogy possible between embryology and geological suc- 
 cession. 
 
 While, however, science is silent as to the production of 
 new specific types, and only gives us indications as to the 
 origin of varieties and races, it is curious that the Bible sug- 
 gests three methods in which new organisms may be, and ac- 
 cording to it have been introduced by the Creator. The first 
 is that of immediate and direct creation, as when God created 
 the great Tanninim. The second is that of mediate creation, 
 through the materials previously existing, as when he said, 
 "Let the land bring forth plants," or "Let the waters bring 
 forth animals." The third is that of production from a pre- 
 vious organism by power other than that of ordinary repro- 
 duction, as in the origination of Eve from Adam, and the mi- 
 raculous conception of Jesus. These are the only points in 
 which its teachings approach the limits of speculations as to 
 evolution, and they certainly leave scope enough for the le- 
 gitimate inquiries of science.* 
 
 * See Appendix for farther discussion of this subject. 
 
230 TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE HIGHER ANIMALS AND MAN. 
 
 " And God said, Let the land bring forth animals after their kinds ; the 
 herbivora, the reptiles, and the carnivora, after their kinds ; and it was so. 
 And God made carnivorous mammals after their kinds, and herbivorous 
 mammals after their kinds, and every reptile of the land after its kind ; 
 and God saw that it was good, 
 
 "And God said, Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness ; 
 and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, and 
 over the herbivora and over all the land. So God created man in his 
 own image, in the image of God created he him ; male and female 
 created he them. And God blessed them ; and God said. Be fruitful and 
 multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it ; and have dominion 
 over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air, and over every 
 living thing that moveth upon the earth. 
 
 " And God said. Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed 
 which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in which is the 
 fruit of a tree yielding seed ; to you it shall be for food, and to every 
 beast of the earth and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that 
 creepeth upon the earth wherein there is life, I have given every green 
 herb for meat ; and it was so. And God saw every thing that he had made, 
 and, behold, it was very good. And evening and morning were the sixth 
 day." — Genesis i., 24-31. 
 
 The creation of animals, unlike that of plants, occupies 
 two days. Here our attention is restricted to the inhabitants 
 of the /a?id, and chiefly to their higher forms. Several new 
 names are introduced to our notice, which I have endeavored 
 to translate as literally as possible by introducing zoological 
 terms where those in common use were deficient. 
 
The Higher Animals and Alan, 231 
 
 1. The first tribe of animals noticed here is named 
 Bhemah, "cattle" in our version; and in the Septuagint 
 "quadrupeds" in one of the verses, and "cattle" in the 
 other. Both of these senses are of common occurrence in 
 the Scriptures, cattle or domesticated animals being usually 
 designated by this word ; while in other passages, as in 
 I Kings iv., 33, where Solomon is said to have written a 
 treatise on ''^beasts, fowls, creeping things, and fishes," it 
 appears to include all the mammalia. Notwithstanding this 
 wide range of meaning, however, there are passages, and 
 these of the greatest authority in reference to our present 
 subject, in which it strictly means the herbivorous mammals, 
 and which show that when it was necessary to distinguish 
 these from the predaceous or carnivorous tribes this term 
 was specially employed. In Leviticus xi,, 22-27, ^^'^ have a 
 specification of all the Bhemoth that might and might not be 
 used for food. It includes all the true ruminants, with the 
 coney, the hare, and the hog, animals of the rodent and pachy- 
 dermatous orders. The carnivorous quadrupeds are desig- 
 nated by a different generic term. In this chapter of Leviti- 
 cus, therefore, which contains the only approach to a system 
 in natural history to be found in the Bible, bhemah is strictly 
 a synonym of herbivora, including especially ungulates and 
 rodents. That this is its proper meaning here is confirmed 
 by the considerations that in this place it can denote but a 
 part of the land quadrupeds, and that the idea of cattle or 
 domesticated animals would be an anachronism. At the 
 same time there need be no objection to the view that the 
 especial capacity of ruminants and other herbivora for domes- 
 tication is connected with the use of the word in this place. 
 
 2. The word remes^ "creeping things " in our version, as we 
 have already shown, is a very general term, referring to the 
 
232 The Origin of the World. 
 
 power of motion possessed by animals, especially on the sur- 
 face of the ground. It here in all probability refers to the 
 additional types of terrestrial, reptiles, and other creatures 
 lower than the mammals, introduced in this period. 
 
 3. The compound term {haf th-eretz) which I have vent- 
 ured to render "carnivora," is literally animal of the land; but 
 though thus general in its meaning, it is here evidently in- 
 tended to denote a particular tribe of animals inhabiting the 
 land, and not included in the scope of the two words already 
 noticed. In other parts of Scripture this term is used in the 
 sense of a " wild beast." In a few places, like the other terms 
 already noticed, it is used of all kinds of animals, but that 
 above stated is its general meaning, and perfectly accords 
 with the requirements of the passage. 
 
 The creation of the sixth day therefore includes — ist, the 
 herbivorous mammalia; 2d, a variety of terrestrial reptilia, 
 and other lower forms not included in the work of the pre- 
 vious day; 3d, the carnivorous mammalia. It will be ob- 
 served that the order in the two verses is different. In verse 
 24th it is herbivora, "creeping things," and carnivora. In 
 verse 25th it is carnivora, herbivora, and "creeping things." 
 One of these may, as in the account of the fifth day, indicate 
 the order oi time in the creation, and the other the order of 
 rafik in the animals made, or there may have been two divis- 
 ions of the work, in the earlier of which herbivorous animals 
 took the lead, and in the later those that are carnivorous. 
 In either case we may infer that the herbivora predominated 
 in the earlier creations of the period. 
 
 It is almost unnecessary to say this period corresponds 
 with the Tertiary or Cainozoic era of geologists. The coin- 
 cidences are very marked and striking. As already stated, 
 though in the later secondary period there were great facili- 
 
The Higher Animals and Man. 233 
 
 ties for the preservation of mammals in the strata then being 
 deposited, only a few small species of the humblest order 
 have been found ; and the occurrence of the higher orders of 
 this class is to some extent precluded by the fact that the 
 place in nature now occupied by the mammals was then pro- 
 vided for by the vast development of the reptile tribes. At 
 the very beginning of the tertiary period all this was changed ; 
 most of the gigantic reptiles had disappeared, and terrestrial 
 mammals of large size and high organization had taken their 
 place. Perhaps no geological change is more striking and 
 remarkable than the sudden disappearance of the reptilian 
 fauna at the close of the mesozoic, and the equally abrupt 
 appearance of numerous species of large mammals, and this 
 not in one region onl}^, but over both the great continents, 
 and not only where a sudden break occurs in the series of 
 formations, but also where, as in Western America, they pass 
 gradually into each other. During the whole tertiary period 
 this predominance of the mammalia continued; and as the 
 mesozoic was the period of giant reptiles, so the tertiary was 
 that of great mammals. It is a singular and perhaps not ac- 
 cidental coincidence that so many of the early tertiary mam- 
 mals known to us are large herbivora, such as would be in- 
 cluded in the Hebrew word hhemah; and that in the book of 
 Job the hippopotamus is called hehemoih, the plural form be- 
 ing apparently used to denote that this animal is the chief of 
 the creatures known under the general term hhemah, while ge- 
 ology informs us that the prevailing order of mammals in the 
 older tertiary period was that of the ungulates, and that many 
 of the extinct creatures of this group are very closely allied 
 to the hippopotamus. Behemoth thus figures in the book of 
 Job, not only as at the time a marked illustration of creative 
 power, but to our farther knowledge also as a singular rem- 
 
234 The Origin of the World. 
 
 nant of an extinct gigantic race. It is at least curious that 
 while in the fifth day great reptiles like those of the secondary 
 rocks form the burden of the work, in the sixth we have a 
 term which so directly reminds us of those gigantic pachy- 
 derms which figure so largely in the tertiary period. Large 
 carnivora also occur in the tertiary formations, and there are 
 some forms of reptile life, as, for example, the serpents, w^hich 
 first appear in the tertiary. 
 
 I may refer to any popular text-book of geology in evidence 
 of the exact conformity of this to the progress of mammalian 
 life, as we now know it in detail from the study of the suc- 
 cessive tertiary deposits. The following short summary from 
 Dana, though written several years ago, still expresses the 
 main features of the case : 
 
 " The quadrupeds did not all come forth together. Large 
 and powerful herbivorous species first take possession of the 
 earth, with only a few small carnivora. These pass away. 
 Other herbivora with a larger proportion of carnivora next 
 appear. These also are exterminated ; and so with others. 
 Then the carnivora appear in vast numbers and power, and 
 the herbivora also abound. Moreover these races attain a 
 magnitude and number far surpassing all that now exist, as 
 much so indeed, on all the continents. North and South 
 America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, as the old mas- 
 todon, twenty feet long and nine feet high, exceeds the mod- 
 ern buffalo. Such, according to geology, was the age of 
 mammals, when the brute species existed in their greatest 
 magnificence, and brutal ferocity had free play; when the 
 dens of bears and hyenas, prowling tigers and lions far larger 
 than any now existing, covered Britain and Europe. Mam- 
 moths and mastodons wandered over the plains of North 
 America, huge sloth -like Megatheria passed their sluggish 
 
TJie Higher Atiinials and Man. 235 
 
 lives on the pampas of South America, and elephantine mar- 
 supials strolled about Australia. 
 
 " As the mammalian age draws to a close, the ancient car- 
 nivora and herbivora of that era all pass away, excepting, it 
 is believed, a few that are useful to man. New creations of 
 smaller size peopled the groves; the vegetation received ac- 
 cessions to its foliage, fruit-trees and flowers, and the seas 
 brighter forms of water life. This we know from compari- 
 sons with the fossils of the preceding mammalian age. There 
 was at this time no chaotic upturning, but only the opening 
 of creation to its fullest expansion ; and so in Genesis no 
 new day is begun, it is still the sixth day^ 
 
 The creation of man is prefaced by expressions implying 
 deliberation and care. It is not said, " Let the earth bring 
 forth" man, but let us form or fashion man. This marks the 
 relative importance of the human species, and the heavenly 
 origin of its nobler immaterial part. Man is also said to 
 have been "created," implying that in his constitution there 
 was something new and not included in previous parts of the 
 work, even in its material. Man was created, as the Hebrew 
 literally reads, the shadow and similitude of God — the greatest 
 of the visible manifestations of Deity in the lower world — the 
 reflected image of his Maker, and, under the Supreme Law- 
 giver, the delegated ruler of the earth. Now for the first time 
 was the earth tenanted by a being capable of comprehending 
 the purposes and plans of Jehovah, of regarding his works 
 with intelligent admiration, and of shadowing forth the excel- 
 lences of his moral nature. For countless ages the earth had 
 been inhabited by creatures wonderful in their structures and 
 instincts, and mutely testifying, as their buried remains still 
 do, to the Creator's glory; but limited within a narrow range 
 of animal propensities, and having no power of raising a 
 
236 TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 thought or asph"ation toward the Being who made them. 
 Now, however, man enters on the scene, and the sons of 
 God, who had shouted for joy when the first land emerged 
 from the bosom of the deep, saw the wondrous spectacle of a 
 spiritual nature analogous to their own, united to a corporeal 
 frame constructed on the same general type with the higher 
 of those irrational creatures whose presence on earth they 
 had so Ions: witnessed. 
 
 Man was to rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the 
 air, and the hhemah or herbivorous animals. The carnivo- 
 rous creatures are not mentioned, and possibly were not in- 
 cluded in man's dominion. We shall find an explanation of 
 this farther on. The nature of man's dominion we are left 
 to infer. In his state of innocence it must have been a mild 
 and gentle sway, interfering in no respect with the free exer- 
 cise of the powers of enjoyment bestowed on animals by the 
 Creator, a rule akin to that which a merciful man exercises 
 over a domesticated animal, and which some animals are 
 capable of repaying with a warm and devoted affection. 
 Now, however, man's rule has become a tyranny. " The 
 whole creation groans " because of it. He desolates the face 
 of nature wherever he appears, unsettling the nice balance of 
 natural agencies, and introducing remediless confusion and 
 suffering among the lower creatures, even when in the might 
 of his boasted civilization he professes to renovate and im- 
 prove the face of nature. He retains enough of the image 
 of his Maker to enable him to a great extent to assert his 
 dominion, and to aspire after a restoration of his original 
 paradise, but he has lost so much that the power which he 
 retains is necessarily abused to selfish ends. 
 
 Man, like the other creatures, was destined to.be fruitful 
 and multiply and replenish the earth. We are also informed 
 
The HigJicr Animals and Man. 237 
 
 in chapter second that he was placed in a " garden," a chosen 
 spot in the alluvial plains of Western Asia, belonging to the 
 later geological formations, and thus prepared by the whole 
 series of prior geological changes, replenished with all things 
 useful to him, and containing nothing hurtful, at least in so 
 far as the animal creation was concerned. These facts, 
 taken in connection, lead to grave questions. How is the 
 happy and innocent state of man consistent with the con- 
 temporaneous existence of carnivorous and predaceous ani- 
 mals, which, as both Scripture and geology state, were created 
 in abundance in the sixth day? How, when confined to a 
 limited region, could he increase and multiply and replenish 
 the earth 1 These questions, which have caused no little 
 perplexity, are easily solved when brought into the light of 
 our modern knowledge of nature, i. Every large region of 
 the earth is inhabited by a group of animals differing in the 
 proportions of identical species, and in the presence of distinct 
 species, from the groups inhabiting other districts. There is 
 also sufficient reason to conclude that all animals and plants 
 have spread from certain local centres of creation, in which 
 certain groups of species have been produced and allowed 
 to extend themselves, until they met and became inter- 
 mingled with species extending from other centres. Now 
 the district of Asia, in the vicinity of the Euphrates and 
 Tigris, to which the Scripture assigns the origin of the hu- 
 man race, is the centre to which we can with the greatest 
 probability trace several of the species of animals and plants 
 most useful to man, and it lies near the confines of warmer 
 and colder regions of distribution in the Old World, and also 
 near the boundary of the Asiatic and European regions. At 
 the period under consideration it may have been peojDled 
 with a group of animals specially suited to association with 
 
238 TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 the progenitors of mankind. 2. To remove all zoological 
 difficulties from the position of primeval man in his state of 
 innocence, we have but to suppose, in accordance with all 
 the probabilities of the case, that man was created along with 
 a group of creatures adapted to contribute to his happiness, 
 and having no tendency to injure or annoy; and that it is 
 the formation of these creatures — the group of his own cen- 
 tre of creation — that is especially noticed in Genesis ii., 19, 
 et seq., where God is represented as forming them out of the 
 ground and exhibiting them to Adam ; a i^assage otherwise 
 superfluous, and indeed tending to confuse the meaning of 
 the document. 3. The difficulty attending the early exten- 
 sion of the human race is at once obviated by the geolog- 
 ical doctrine of the extinction of species. We know that in 
 past geological periods large and important groups of spe- 
 cies have become extinct, and have been replaced by new 
 groups extending from new centres j and we know that 
 this process has removed, in early geological periods, many 
 creatures that would have been highly injurious to human 
 interests had they remained. Now the group of species 
 created with man being the latest introduced, we may infer, 
 on geological grounds, that it would have extended itself 
 within the spheres of older zoological and botanical districts, 
 and would have replaced their species, which, in the ordinary 
 operation of natural laws, may have been verging toward ex- 
 tinction. Thus not only man, but the Eden in which he 
 dwelt, with all its animals and plants, would have gradually 
 encroached on the surrounding wilderness, until man's happy 
 and peaceful reign had replaced that of the ferocious beasts 
 that preceded him in dominion, and had extended at least 
 over all the temperate region of the earth. 4. The cursing of 
 the ground for man's sake, on his fall from innocence, would 
 
The Higher Animals and Man. 239 
 
 thus consist in the permission given to the predaceous an- 
 imals and the thorns and the briers of other centres of cre- 
 ation to invade his Eden ; or, in his own expulsion, to con- 
 tend with the animals and plants which were intended to 
 have given way and become extinct before him. Thus the 
 fall of man would produce an arrestment in the progress of 
 the earth in that last great revolution which would have con- 
 verted it into an Eden ; and the anomalies of its present 
 state consist, according to Scripture, in a mixture of the con- 
 ditions of the tertiary with those of the human period. 5. 
 Though there is good ground for believing that man was to 
 have been exempted from the general law of mortality, we 
 can not infer that any such exemption would have been en- 
 joyed by his companion animals ; we only know that he 
 himself would have been free from all annoyance and injury 
 and decay from external causes. We may also conclude 
 that, while Eden was sufficient for his habitation, the re- 
 mainder of the earth would continue, just as in the earlier 
 tertiary periods, under the dominion of the predaceous mam- 
 mals, reptiles, and birds. 6. The above views enable us on 
 the one hand to avoid the difficulties that attend the admis- 
 sion of predaceous animals into Eden, and on the other the 
 still more formidable difficulties that attend the attempt 
 to exclude them altogether from the Adamic world. They 
 also illustrate the geological fact that many animals, con- 
 temporaneous with man, extend far back into the Tertiary 
 period. These are creatures not belonging to the Edenic 
 centre of creation, but introduced in an earlier part of the 
 sixth day, and now permitted to exist along with man in his 
 fallen state. I have stated these supposed conditions of the 
 Adamic creation briefly, and with as little illustration as pos- 
 sible, that they may connectedly strike the mind of the reader. 
 
240 The Origin of the World. 
 
 Each of these statements is in harmony with the Scriptural 
 narrative on the one hand, and with geology on the other ; 
 and, taken together, they afford an intelligible history of 
 the introduction of man. If a geologist were to state, ct pri- 
 ori^ the conditions proper to the creation of any important 
 species, he could only say — the preparation or selection of 
 some region of the earth for it, and its production along 
 with a group of plants and animals suited to it. These are 
 precisely the conditions implied in the Scriptural account of 
 the creation of Adam.* The difficulties of the subject have 
 arisen from supposing, contrary to the narrative itself, that 
 the conditions necessary for Eden must in the first instance 
 have extended over the whole earth, and that the creatures 
 with which man is in his present dispersion brought into 
 contact must necessarily have been his companions there. 
 One would think that many persons derive their idea of the 
 first man in Eden from nursery picture-books ; for the Bible 
 gives no countenance to the idea that all the animals in the 
 world were in Eden. On the contrary, it asserts that a selec- 
 tion was made both in the case of animals and plants, and 
 that this Edenic assemblage of creatures constituted man's 
 associates in his state of primeval innocence. 
 
 The food of animals is specified at the close of the work 
 of this day. The grant to man is every herb bearing seed, 
 and everv fruit-tree. That to the lower animals is more ex- 
 tensive — every green herb. This can not mean that every 
 animal in the earth was herbivorous. It may refer to the 
 group of animals associated with man in Eden, and this is 
 most likely the intention of the writer ; but if it includes the 
 animals of the whole earth, we may be certain, from the ex- 
 
 * Sec Lycllj Principles of Geology, "Introduction of Species." 
 
TJie HigJicr Animals and Man. 241 
 
 press mention of carnivorous creatures in the work of the 
 fifth and sixth days, that it indicates merely the general fact 
 that the support of the whole animal kingdom is based on 
 vegetation. 
 
 A most important circumstance in connection with the 
 work of the sixth day is that it witnessed the creation both 
 of man and the mammalia. A fictitious writer would prob- 
 ably have exalted man by assigning to him a separate day, 
 and by placing the whole animal kingdom together in respect 
 to time. He would be all the more likely to do this, if unac- 
 quainted, as most ignorant persons as well as literary men 
 are, with the importance and teeming multitudes of the lower 
 tribes of animals, and with the typical identity of the human 
 frame with that of the higher animals. Moses has not done 
 so, we are at liberty to suppose, because the vision of creation 
 had it otherwise ; and modern geology has amply vindicated 
 him in this by its disclosure of the intimate connection 
 of the human with the tertiary period; and has shown in 
 this as in other instances that truth and not "accommoda- 
 tion" was the object of the sacred writer. While, as already 
 stated, many existing species extend far back into the tertiary 
 period, showing that the earth has been visited by no univer- 
 sal catastrophe since the first creation of mammals ; on the 
 other hand, we can not with certainty trace any existing 
 species back beyond the commencement of the tertiary era. 
 Geology and revelation, therefore, coincide in referring the 
 creation of man to the close of the period in which mammals 
 were introduced and became predominant, and in establish- 
 ing a marked separation between that period and the preced- 
 ing one in which the lower animals held undisputed sway. 
 This coincidence, while it strengthens the probability that the 
 creative days were long periods, opposes an almost insur- 
 
 L 
 
242 The Origin of the World. 
 
 mountable obstacle to every other hypothesis of reconcili- 
 ation with geological science. 
 
 At the close of this day the Creator again reviews his work, 
 and pronounces it good. Step by step the world had been 
 evolved from a primeval chaos, through many successive phys- 
 ical changes and long series of organized beings. It had now 
 reached its acme of perfection, and had received its most 
 illustrious tenant, possessing an organism excelling all others 
 in majesty and beauty, and an immaterial soul the shadow 
 of the glorious Creator himself Well might the angels sing, 
 when the long-protracted work was thus grandly completed : 
 
 "Thrice happy man, 
 And sons of men, \Yhom God hath thus advanced, 
 Created in his image, there to dwell 
 And worship him, and in reward to rule 
 Over his works in earth, or sea, or air, 
 And multiply a race of worshippers 
 Holy and just ; thrice happy, if they know 
 Their happiness and persevere upright." 
 
 The Hebrew idea of the golden age of Eden is pure and 
 exalted. It consists in the enjoyment of the favor of God, 
 and of all that is beautiful and excellent in his works. God 
 and nature are the whole. Nor is it merely a rude, unintel- 
 ligent, sensuous enjoyment. Man primeval is not a lazy 
 savage gathering acorns. He is made in the image of the 
 Creator; he is to keep and dress his garden, and it is fur- 
 nished with every plant good for food and pleasant to the 
 sight. In the midst of our material civilization we need to 
 disabuse ourselves of some prejudices before we can realize 
 the fact that man, without the arts of life or any need of them, 
 is not necessarily a barbarian or a savage. Yet even Adam 
 must have been an agriculturist with strong and willing 
 
Tlie HigJicr Animals and Man, 243 
 
 hands, and must have had some need of agricultural imple- 
 ments such as those with which the least civilized of his de- 
 scendants have been wont to till the soil. Still, without art 
 or with very little of it, he could enjoy all that is beautiful and 
 grand in nature, and could rise from the observation of nat- 
 ure to communion wdth God. We need the more to realize 
 this, inasmuch as there seems so strong a tendency to con- 
 found material civilization with higher culture, and to hold 
 that man primeval must have been low and debased sim- 
 ply because he may have had no temples and no machinery. 
 We must remember that he had nature, which is higher than. 
 fine art, and that when in harmony with his surroundings he 
 may have had no need either of exhausting labor or of me- 
 chanical contrivances. Farther, in the contemplation of nat- 
 ure and in seeking after God, he had higher teachers than 
 our boasted civilization can claim. 
 
 Alas for fallen man, with his poor civilization gathered 
 little by little from the dust of earth, and his paltry art that 
 halts immeasurably behind nature. Hov/ little is he able 
 even to appreciate the high estate of his great ancestor. 
 The world of fallen men has worshipped art too much, rev- 
 erenced and studied God and nature too little. The savage 
 displays the lowest taste when he admires the rude figures 
 which he paints on his face or his garments more than the 
 glorious painting that adorns nature ; yet even he acknowl- 
 edges the pre-eminent excellence of nature by imitating her 
 forms and colors, and by adapting her painted plumes and 
 flowers to his own use. There is a wide interval, including 
 many gradations, between this low position and that of the 
 cultivated amateur or artist. The art of the latter makes a 
 nearer approach to the truly beautiful, inasmuch as it more 
 accurately represents the geometric and organic forms and 
 
244 ^J^^ Origin of the World. 
 
 the coloring of nature; and inasmuch as it devises ideal com- 
 binations not found in the actual world; which ideal combi- 
 nations, however, are beautiful or monstrous just as they re- 
 alize or violate the harmonies of nature. It is only the high- 
 est culture that brings man back to his primitive refinement. 
 
 Art takes her true place when she sits at the feet of nature, 
 and brings her students to drink in its beauties, that they 
 may endeavor, however imperfectly, to reproduce them. On 
 the other hand, the student of nature must not content him- 
 self with "writing Latin names on white paper," wherewith 
 to label nature's productions, but must rise to the contempla- 
 tion of the order and beauty of the Cosmos as a revelation of 
 Divinity. Both will thus rise to that highest taste which will 
 enable them to appreciate not only the elegance of individu- 
 al forms, but their structure, their harmonies, their grouping 
 and their relations, their special adaptation, and their places 
 as parts of a great system. Thus art will attain that highest 
 point in which it displays original genius, without violating 
 natural truth and unity, and nature will be regarded as the 
 highest art. 
 
 Much is said and done in our time with reference to the 
 cultivation of popular taste for fine art as a means of civiliza- 
 tion ; and this, so far as it goes, is well ; but the only sure 
 path to the highest taste-education is the cultivation of the 
 study of nature. This is also an easier branch of education, 
 provided the instructors have sufficient knowledge. Good 
 works of art are rare and costly ; but good works of nature 
 are everywhere around us, waiting to be examined. Such 
 education, popularly diffused, would react on the efforts of 
 art. It would enable a widely extended public to appreci- 
 ate real excellence, and would cause works of art to be 
 valued just in proportion to the extent to which they realize 
 
TJie Higher Animals and Man, 245 
 
 or deviate from natural truth and unity. I do not profess to 
 speak authoritatively on such subjects, but I confess that the 
 strong impression on my mind is that neither the revered 
 antique models, nor the practice and principles of the gener- 
 ality of modern art reformers, would endure such criticism ; 
 and that if we could combine popular enthusiasm for art 
 with scientific appreciation of nature, a new and better art 
 might arise from the union. 
 
 I may appear to dwell too long upon this topic ; but my ex- 
 cuse must be that it leads to a true estimate both of natural 
 history and of the sacred Scriptures. The study of nature 
 guides to those large views of the unity and order of creation 
 which alone are worthy of a being of the rank of man, and 
 which lead him to adequate conceptions of the Creator ; but 
 the truly wise recognize three grades of beauty. First, that 
 of art, which, in its higher efforts, can raise ordinary minds 
 far above themselves. Secondly, that of nature, which, in its 
 most common objects, must transcend the former, since its 
 artist is that God of whose infinite mind the genius of the 
 artist is only a faint reflection. Thirdly, that pre-eminent 
 beauty of moral goodness revealed only in the spiritual nat- 
 ure of the Supreme. The first is one of the natural resources 
 of fallen man in his search for happiness. The second was 
 man's joy in his primeval innocence. The third is the inher- 
 itance of man redeemed. It is folly to place these on the 
 same level. It is greater folly to worship either or both of 
 the first without regard to the last. It is true wisdom to as- 
 pire to the last, and to regard nature as the handmaid of 
 piety, art as but the handmaid of nature. 
 
 Nature to the unobservant is merely a mass of things 
 more or less beautiful or interesting, but without any definite 
 order or significance. An observer soon arrives at the con- 
 
246 TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 elusion that it is a series of circling changes, ever returning 
 to the same points, ever renewing their courses, under the 
 action of invariable laws. But if he rests here, he falls infi- 
 nitely short of the idea of the Cosmos, and stands on the 
 brink of the profound error of eternal succession. A little 
 further progress conducts him to the inviting field of special 
 adaptation and mutual relation of things. He finds that 
 nothing is without its use ; that every structure is most nice- 
 ly adjusted to special ends ; that the supposed ceaseless cir- 
 cling of nature is merely the continuous action of great pow- 
 ers, by which an infinity of utilities are worked out — the 
 great fly-wlieel which, in its unceasing and at first sight ap- 
 parently aimless round, is giving motion to thousands of reels 
 and spindles and shuttles, that are spinning and weaving, in 
 all its varied patterns, the great web of life. 
 
 But the observer, as he looks on this web, is surprised to 
 find that it has in its whole extent a wondrous pattern. He 
 rises to the contemplation of type in nature, a great truth to 
 which science has only lately opened its eyes. He begins 
 dimly to perceive that the Creator has from the beginning 
 had a plan before his mind, that this plan embraced various 
 types or patterns of existence; that on these patterns he has 
 been working out the whole system of nature, adapting each 
 to all the variety of uses by an infinity of minor modifications. 
 That, in short, whether he study the eye of a gnat or the 
 structure of a mountain chain, he sees not only objects of 
 beauty and utility, but parts of far-reaching plans of infinite 
 wisdom, by which all objects, however separated in time or 
 space, are linked together. 
 
 How much of positive pleasure does that man lose who 
 passes through life absorbed with its wants and its artifici- 
 alities, and re^ardin" with a " brute, unconscious sraze " the 
 
The Higher Animals and Man. 247 
 
 grand revelation of a higher intelligence in the outer world. 
 It is only in an approximation through our Divine Redeemer 
 to the moral likeness of God that we can be truly happy; but 
 of the subsidiary pleasures which we are here permitted to 
 enjoy, the contemplation of nature is one of the best and 
 purest. It was the pleasure, the show, the spectacle prepared 
 for man in Eden, and how much true philosophy and taste 
 shine in the simple words that in paradise God planted 
 trees "pleasant to the sight," as well as "good for food." 
 Other things being equal, the nearer we can return to this 
 primitive taste, the greater will be our sensuous enjoyment,- 
 the better the influence of our pleasures on our moral nature, 
 because they will then depend on the cultivation of tastes at 
 once natural and harmless, and will not lead us to commun- 
 ion with and reverence for merely human genius, but will 
 conduct us into the presence of the infinite perfection of the 
 Creator. 
 
 The Bible knows but one species of man. It is not said 
 that men were created after their species, as we read of the 
 groups of animals. Man was made, "male and female;" and 
 in the fuller details afterwards given in the second chap- 
 ter — where the writer, having finished his general narrative, 
 commences his special history of man — but one primitive 
 pair is introduced to our notice. We scarcely need the de- 
 tailed tables of affiliation afterward given, or the declaration 
 of the apostle who preached to the supposed autochthones 
 of Athens, that " God has made of one blood all nations," to 
 assure us of the Scriptural unity of man. If, therefore, there 
 were any good reason to believe that man is not of one but 
 several origins, we must admit Moses to have been very im- 
 perfectly informed. Nor, on the other hand, does the Bible 
 any more than geology allow us to assign a very high antiq- 
 
248 The Origin of the World. 
 
 uity to the origin of man relatively to that of the earth on which 
 he dwells. The genealogical tables of the Bible may admit of 
 some limits of difference of opinion as to the age of the hu- 
 man world or aeon, and also of that of the deluge, from which 
 man took his second point of departure ; but they do not 
 allow us to put the origin of man farther back than that of 
 the present or modern condition of our continents and the 
 present races of animals. They therefore limit us to the 
 modern or quaternary period of geology. The question of 
 man's antiquity, so much agitated now, demands, however, a 
 separate and careful consideration ; but we must first devote 
 a few pages to the simple statements of the Bible respecting 
 the Sabbath of creation and its relation to human history. 
 
The Rest of the Creator, 249 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE REST OF THE CREATOR. 
 
 "And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 
 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made, and he 
 rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And 
 God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because that in it God rest- 
 ed from all his work which he had created to make." — Genesis ii., 1-3. 
 
 The end of the sixth day closed the work of creation prop- 
 erly so called, as well as that of forming and arranging the 
 things created. The beginning of the seventh introduced a 
 period which, according to the views already stated, was to 
 be occupied by the continued increase and diffusion of man 
 and the creatures under his dominion, and by the gradual 
 disappearance of tribes of creatures unconnected with his 
 well-being. 
 
 Science in this well accords with Scripture. No proof ex- 
 ists of the production of a new species since the creation of 
 man; and all geological and archaeological evidence points 
 to him and a few of the higher mammals as the newest of 
 the creatures. There is, on the other hand, good evidence 
 that several species have become extinct since his creation. 
 Those who believe in the continuous evolution of animals 
 and men, it is true, can see no actual termination of the 
 process with the introduction of man ; but even they see that 
 the appearance of a rational and moral being at least changes 
 the nature and order of the development. Nor can they doubt 
 
 L 2 
 
250 The Origin of the World. 
 
 that man is the last born of nature, and that the whole ani- 
 mal creation is crowned by him as its capital or topmost pin- 
 nacle. The later speculators on this subject have never 
 reached any truth beyond that long ago stated by the lament- 
 ed Edward Forbes — a most careful observer and accurate 
 reasoner on the more recent changes of the earth's surface. 
 He infers, from the distribution of species from their centres 
 of creation, that man is the latest product of creative power; 
 or, in other words, that none of those species or groups of 
 species which he had been able to trace to their centres, or 
 the spots at which they probably originated, appear to be of 
 later or as late origin as man. "This consideration," he says, 
 "induces me to believe that the last province in time w^as 
 completed by the coming of man, and to maintain an hypoth- 
 esis that man stands unique in space and time, himself equal 
 to the sum of any pre-existing centre of creation or of all — an 
 hypothesis consistent with man's moral and social position in 
 the world." 
 
 The seventh day, then, was to have been that in which all 
 the happiness, beauty, and perfection of the others were to 
 have been concentrated. But an element of instability was 
 present in the being who occupied the summit of the animal 
 scale. Not regulated by blind and unerring instincts, but a 
 free agent, with a high intellectual and moral nature, and lia- 
 ble to be acted on by temptation from without; under such 
 influence he lost his moral balance in stretching out his hand 
 to grasp the peculiar powers of Deity, and fell beyond the hope 
 of self-redemption — perpetuating, by one of those laws which 
 regulate the transmission of mixed corporeal and spiritual 
 natures, his degradation to every generation of his species. 
 And so God's great work was marred, and all his plans seem- 
 ed to be foiled, when they had just reached their completion. 
 
The Rest of the Creator. 251 
 
 Thus far science might carry us unaided; for there is not a 
 true naturalist, however skeptical as to revealed religion, who 
 does not feel in his inmost heart the disjointed state of the 
 present relations of man to nature ; the natural wreck that 
 results from his artificial modes of life, the long trains of vio- 
 lations of the symmetry of nature that follow in the wake of 
 his most boasted achievements. But here natural science 
 stops; and just as we have found that, in tracing back the 
 world's history, the Bible carries us much farther than geol- 
 ogy, so science, having led us to suspect the fallen state of 
 man, leaves us henceforth to the teaching of revelation. And 
 how glorious that teaching ! God did not find himself baffled 
 — his resources are i-nfinite — he had foreseen and prepared for 
 all this apparent evil ; and out of the moral wreck he proceeds 
 to work out the grand process of redemption, which is the es- 
 pecial object of the seventh day, and which will result in the 
 production of a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwell- 
 eth righteousness. In the seventh, as in the former days, the 
 evening precedes the morning. For four thousand years the 
 world groped in its darkness — a darkness tenanted by moral 
 monsters as powerful and destructive as the old pre- Adamite 
 reptiles. The Sun of Righteousness at length arose, and the 
 darkness began to pass away; but eighteen centuries have 
 elapsed, and we still see but the gray dawn of morning, which 
 we yet firmly believe will brighten into a glorious day that 
 shall know no succeeding night.* 
 
 The seventh day is the modern or human era in geology; 
 and, though it can not yet boast of any physical changes so 
 
 * For the exposition of the details of the fall, I beg to refer the reader 
 to McDonald's " Creation and the Fall," to Kitto's " Antediluvians and 
 Patriarchs," and to Kurtz's "History of the Old Covenant." 
 
252 The Origin of the World. 
 
 great as those of past periods, it is still of much interest, as 
 affording the facts on which we must depend for explanations 
 of past changes ; and as immediately connected in time with 
 those later tertiary periods which afford so many curious 
 problems to the geological student. The actual connection 
 of the human with preceding periods is still involved in some 
 obscurity ; and, as we shall see, there has recently been a 
 strong tendency to throw back the origin of man into pre- 
 historic ages of enormous length, on grounds which are, how- 
 ever, much less certain than is commonly imagined. This 
 question we have to examine ; but before entering upon it 
 may shortly sketch the actual import of the statements of the 
 Hebrew Scriptures respecting what may be called the prehis- 
 toric duration of the human species. This is the more neces- 
 sary, as the most crude notions seem very widely to prevail 
 on the subject. I shall, therefore, in this place notice some 
 general facts deducible from the Bible, and which may be 
 useful in appreciating the true relation of the human era to 
 those which preceded it. It will be understood that I shall 
 endeavor merely to present a picture of what the Bible 
 actually teaches, and which any one can verify by reading 
 the book of Genesis. 
 
 I. The local centre of creation of the human species, and 
 probably of a group of creatures coeval with it, w^as Eden ; a 
 country of which the Scriptures give a somewhat minute geo- 
 graphical description. It was evidently a district of Western 
 Asia j and, from its possession of several important rivers, 
 rather a region or large territory than a limited spot, such as 
 many, who have discussed the question of the site of Eden, 
 seem to suppose. In this view it is a matter of no moment 
 to fix its site more nearly than the indication of the Bible that 
 it included the sources and probably large portions of the val- 
 
The Rest of the Creator. 253 
 
 leys of the Tigris, the Euphrates, and perhaps the Oxus and 
 Jaxartes. Into the minor difficulties respecting the site of 
 Eden it would be unprofitable to enter, and it will matter little 
 if we accept that view, which, however, I think less probable, 
 that it was placed in the lower part of the valley of the Eu- 
 phrates. I may merely mention one particular of the Biblical 
 description, because it throws light on the great antiquity of 
 this geographical delineation, and has been strangely miscon- 
 ceived by expositors — the relation of those rivers to Cush or 
 Ethiopia and Havilah, a tribal name derived from that of a 
 grandson of Cush. On consulting the tenth chapter of Gen- 
 esis, it will be found that the Cushites under Nimrod, very 
 soon after the deluge, are stated to have pushed their migra- 
 tions and conquests along the Tigris to the northward, and 
 established there the first empire. It is probably this prim- 
 itive Cushite empire, called Ethiopia in our translation, which 
 in the epoch of the description of Eden occupied the Euphra- 
 tean valley, and being bounded on one side by the river call- 
 ed Gihon, was thus believed to extend over the old site of 
 Eden. Thus the Cush or Ethiopia of the description has no 
 direct connection with the African Ethiopia, and speculations 
 based on such a supposed connection are groundless. On 
 the other hand this feature furnishes an interesting coinci- 
 dence with other parts of Genesis, and throws light on many 
 obscure points in the early history of man ; and since this 
 Cushite empire had perished even before the time of Moses, 
 it indicates a still more ancient tradition respecting the pri- 
 meval abode of our species. 
 
 2. Before the deluo:e this reo:ion must have been the seat 
 of a dense population, which, according to the Biblical ac- 
 count, must have made considerable advances in the arts, 
 and at the same time sunk very low in moral debase- 
 
254 The Origiyi of the World. 
 
 ment.* Whether any remains of the central portions of this an- 
 cient population or its works exist will probably not be deter- 
 mined with absolute certainty till we have accurate geological 
 investigations of the whole country in the neighborhood of the 
 Caspian Sea and along the great rivers of Western Asia, though 
 there is nothing unreasonable in the belief that some of the 
 old prehistoric men whose remains are discovered in caves 
 and river gravels in Europe may belong to the antediluvian 
 race. Should such remains be found, we might infer, from 
 the extreme longevity and other characteristics assigned to 
 the antediluvians, that their skeletons would present peculiar- 
 ities entitlinsf them to be considered a well-marked varietv of 
 the human species, and this not of a low type of physical 
 organization. We may also infer that the family of man very 
 early divided into two races — one retaining in greater purity 
 the moral endowments of the species, the other excelling in 
 the mechanical and fine arts ; and that there were rude and 
 savage outlying communities of men then as at present. If 
 the so-called palaeolithic men of Europe are antediluvian, they 
 were probably of such outlying tribes, and possibly of the 
 mixed race which sprung up in the later antediluvian age, 
 and who are described as mighty men physically, and men of 
 violence. It would be quite natural that this intermixture 
 
 * The Bible specifies, perhaps only as the principal of these arts, music 
 and musical instruments by Jubal, metallurgy by Tubalcain, the domes- 
 tication of cattle and the nomade life by Jabal. It is highly probable that 
 these inventors are introduced into the Mosaic record for a theological 
 reason, to point out the folly of the worship rendered to Phtha, Hephses- 
 tos, Vulcan, Horus, Phoebus, and other inventors, either traditionary rep- 
 resentatives of the family of Lamech, or other heroes wrongly identified 
 with them. Very possibly their sister Naamah, " the beautiful," is intro- 
 duced for the same reason, as the true original of some of the female deities 
 of the heathen. 
 
The Rest of the Creator. 255 
 
 of the Sethite and Cainite races should produce a race excel- 
 ling both in energy and physical endowments — the "giants" 
 that were in those days.* If any remains of the two central 
 nations of the antediluvian period are ever discovered, we 
 may confidently anticipate that the distinctive characteristics 
 of these races may be detected in their osseous structures as 
 well as in their works of art. Farther, it is to be inferred 
 from notices in the fourth chapter of Genesis, that before the 
 deluge there was both a nomadic and a settled population, 
 and that the principal seat of the Cainite, or more debased 
 yet energetic branch of the human family, was to the eastward 
 of the site of Eden. No intimations are given by which the 
 works of art of antediluvian times could be distinguished from 
 those of later periods ; but that curious summary of the treas- 
 ures of antediluvian man contained in the notice that the 
 land of Havilah produced gold and agate and pearl (Gen. 
 ii., 12) would lead us to believe that the early antediluvian 
 age was on the whole an age of stone, in which flint for weap- 
 ons, and gold and shell wampum for ornaments, were the lead- 
 ing kinds of wealth. On the other hand, the notices of ante- 
 diluvian metallurgy, and the building and construction of the 
 ark, would lead us to infer that the later antediluvians had at- 
 tained to much perfection in some constructive arts — a conclu- 
 sion which harmonizes with the otherwise inexplicable perfec- 
 tion of such art soon after the deluge, as evidenced not only 
 by the story of Babel, but also by the early works of the As- 
 syrians and Egyptians. 
 
 3. When the antediluvian population had fully proved it- 
 
 * I can not for a moment entertain the monstrous supposition of many 
 expositors that the "sons of God" of these passages are angels, and the 
 *' Nephelim" hybrids between angels and men. 
 
256 TJie Origin of the World, 
 
 self unfit to enter into the divine scheme of moral renova- 
 tion, it was swept away by a fearful physical catastrophe. 
 The deluge might, in all its relations, furnish material for an 
 entire treatise. I may remark here, as its most important 
 geological peculiarity, that it was evidently a /<?r^/ convulsion. 
 The object, that of destroying the human race and the an- 
 imal population of its peculiar centre of creation, the preser- 
 vation of specimens of these creatures in the ark, and the 
 physical requirements of the case, necessitate this conclu- 
 sion, which is now accepted by the best Biblical expositors,"^ 
 and which inflicts no violence on the terms of the record. 
 Viewed in this light, the phenomena recorded in the Bible, 
 in connection with geological probabilities, lead us to infer 
 that the physical agencies evoked by the divine power to 
 destroy this ungodly race were a subsidence of the region 
 they inhabited, so as to admit the oceanic waters, and exten- 
 sive atmospherical disturbances connected with that subsid- 
 ence, and perhaps with the elevation of neighboring regions. 
 In this case it is possible that the Caspian Sea, which is now 
 more than eighty feet below the level of the ocean,t and 
 which was probably much more extensive then than at pres- 
 ent, received much of the drainage of the flood, and that the 
 mud and sand deposits of this sea and the adjoining desert 
 plains, once manifestly a part of its bottom, conceal any re- 
 mains that exist of the antediluvian population. In connec- 
 tion with this, it may be remarked that, in the book of Job, 
 Eliphaz speaks as if the locality of those wicked nations 
 
 * See Lange's " Commentary on Genesis." 
 
 t The Russian surveys of 1836 made it one hundred and eight En- 
 glish feet ; but later authorities reduce it to eighty-three feet six inches 
 below the Black Sea. 
 
The Rest of the Creator, 257 
 
 which existed before the deluge was known and accessible 
 in his time : 
 
 "Hast thou marked the ancient way 
 Which wicked men have trodden, 
 Who were seized [by the waters] in a moment, 
 And whose foundations a flood swept away ?" 
 
 — Job xxii., 15. 
 
 On comparing this statement with the answer of Job in the 
 26th chapter, verse 5th, it would seem that the ungodly ante- 
 diluvians were supposed to be still under the waters ; a be- 
 lief quite intelligible if the Caspian, which, on the latest and 
 most probable views of the locality of the events of this book, 
 was not very remote from the residence of Job,* was sup- 
 posed to mark the position of the pre-Noachic population, 
 as the Dead Sea afterward did that of the cities of the plain. 
 Some of the dates assigned to the book of Job would, how- 
 ever, render it possible that this last catastrophe is that to 
 which he refers : 
 
 "The Rephaim tremble from beneath 
 The waters and their inhabitants. 
 Sheol is naked before him, 
 And destruction hath no covering." 
 
 The word Rephaim here has been variously rendered 
 "shades of the dead" and "giants." It is properly the 
 family or national name of certain tribes of gigantic Ham- 
 ite men (the Anakim, Emim, etc.) inhabiting Western Asia 
 at a very remote period ; and it must here refer either to 
 them or to the still earlier antediluvian giants.f 
 
 * Kitto's "Bible Illustrations "—Book of Job. 
 
 t See article "Rephaim" in Kitto's "Journal of Sacred Literature." 
 But Gesenius and others regard it, not as an ethnic name, but as a term 
 for the " shades " or spirits of the dead. See Conant on Job. 
 
258 TJu Origin of the World. 
 
 It is also an important point to be noticed here that the 
 narrative of the deluge in Genesis is given as the testimony 
 or record of an eye-witness, and is to be so understood ; and 
 that the terms of the record imply, not as usually held that 
 all sorts of animals were taken into Noah's ark, but only a 
 selection, the character of which is clearly indicated by a 
 comparison of the five lists of animals given in the narrative. 
 Bearing this in mind, and noticing that the wTiter tells of his 
 own experience as to the rise of the water, the drifting of the 
 ark, the disappearance of all visible shore, and the sounding 
 fifteen cubits where a hill had before been, all the difficulties 
 of the narrative of the deluge will at once disappear. These 
 difficulties have in fact arisen from regarding the story as the 
 composition of a historian, not as what it manifestly is, the 
 log or journal of a contemporary, introduced with probably 
 little change by the compiler of the book. 
 
 After the deluge, we find the human race settled in the 
 plains of the Euphrates and Tigris, attracted thither by the 
 fertility of their alluvial soils. There we find them engaging 
 in a great political scheme, no doubt founded on recollec- 
 tions of the old antediluvian nationalities, and on a dread 
 of the evils which able and aspiring men would anticipate 
 from that wide dispersion of the human race that appears 
 to have been intended by the Creator in the new circum- 
 stances of the earth. They commenced accordingly the 
 erection of a city or tower at Babel, in the plain of Shinar, 
 to form a common bond of union, a great public work that 
 should be a rallying-point for the race, and around w-hich its 
 patriotism might concentrate itself. The attempt was coun- 
 teracted by an interposition of divine Providence ; and 
 thenceforth the diffusion of the human race proceeded un- 
 checked, carrying with it everywhere the memory of the 
 
The Rest of the Creator. 259 
 
 celebrated tower, which perpetuated itself not only in the 
 mounds of Assyria and Babylon and the pyramids of Egypt, 
 but in the teocallis and temple mounds of the New World. 
 The Babel enterprise is in fact the first recorded development 
 of that mound-building instinct which the earlier races every- 
 where evince, and which has been a distinguishing character- 
 istic more especially of the Cushite or Turanian race, and has 
 apparently made them the teachers of constructive arts to all 
 other peoples. Perhaps a dread of the total decay and loss 
 of the surviving antediluvian arts in construction and other 
 matters may have been one impelling motive to the building 
 of Babel. Perhaps it was connected with the communistic 
 ideas of the Turanian race, and their conflict with the patri- 
 archal habits of the Semites. Out of the enterprise at Babel, 
 however, arose a new type of evil, which, in the forms of mil- 
 itary despotism, the spirit of conquest, hero-worship, and the 
 alliance of these influences with literature and the arts, has 
 been handed down through every succeeding age to our own 
 time. The name of Nimrod, the son of Cush, has been pre- 
 served to us in the Bible, and also apparently in the tablets 
 and inscriptions of Assyria, as the founder of the first des- 
 potism. This bold and ambitious man, subsequently deified 
 under different names, established a Hamite or Turanian 
 empire, which appears to have extended its sway over the 
 tribes occupying Southwestern Asia and Northeastern Africa, 
 everywhere supporting its power by force of arms, and intro- 
 ducing a debasing polytheistic hero-worship, and certain 
 forms of art probably derived from antediluvian times. The 
 centre of this Cushite empire, however, gave way to the ris- 
 ing power of Assyria or the Ashurite branch of the sons of 
 Shem, at a period antecedent to the dawn of profane history, 
 except in its mythical form ; and when the light of secular 
 
26o The Origin of the World. 
 
 history first breaks upon us, we find Egypt standing forth as 
 the only stable representative of the arts, the systems, and 
 the superstitions of the old Cushite empire, of which it had 
 been the southern branch ; while other remnants of the 
 Hamite races, included in the empire of Nimrod, were scat- 
 tered over Western Asia, and, migrating into Europe, with or 
 after the ruder but less demoralized sons of Japheth, carried 
 with them their characteristic civilization and mythology, to 
 take root in new forms in Greece and Italy.* Meanwhile 
 the Assyrian and Persian (Elamite) races were growing in 
 Middle Asia, and probably driving the more eastern rem- 
 nants of the Nimrodic empire into India, borrowing at the 
 same- time their superstitions and their claims to universal 
 dominion. These views, which I believe to correspond with 
 the few notices in the Bible and in ancient history, and to be 
 daily receiving new confirmations from the investigations of 
 the ancient Assyrian monuments, enable us to understand 
 many mysterious problems in the early history of man. 
 They give us reason to suspect that the principle of the first 
 empire was an imitation of the antediluvian world, and that 
 its arts and customs were mainly derived from that source. 
 They show how it happens that Egypt, a country so far re- 
 moved from the starting-point of man after the deluge, 
 should appear to be the cradle of the arts, and they account 
 for the Hamite and perhaps antediluvian elements, mixed 
 
 * On the Biblical view of this subject, the so-called Aryan mythology, 
 common to India and Greece, is either a derivative from the Cushite 
 civilization, or a spontaneous growth of the Japetic stock scattered by the 
 Cushite empire. The Semitic and Hamitic mythologies are derived from 
 the primeval cherubic worship of Eden, corrupted and mixed with deifica- 
 tion of natural objects and stages of the creative work, and with adoration 
 of deified ancestors and heroes. 
 
The Rest of the Creator. 261 
 
 with primeval Biblical ideas, as the cherubim, etc., in the old 
 heathenism of India, Assyria, and Southern Europe, and 
 which the}^ share with Egypt, having derived them from the 
 same source. They also show how it is that in the most re- 
 mote antiquity we find two well- developed and opposite re- 
 ligious systems ; the pure theism of Noah, and those who re- 
 tained his faith, and the idolatry of those tribes which re- 
 garded with adoring veneration the objects and stages of the 
 creative work, the grander powers and objects of nature, the 
 mighty Cainites of the world before the flood, and the post- 
 diluvian leaders who followed them in their violence, their 
 cultivation of the arts, and their rebellion against God. 
 These heroes were identified with imaginative conceptions 
 of the heavenly bodies, animals, and other natural objects, 
 associated with the fortunes of cities and nations, with par- 
 ticular territories, and with war and the useful arts, trans- 
 mitted under different names to one country after another, 
 and localized in each ; and it is only in comparatively mod- 
 ern times that we have been able to recognize the full cer- 
 tainty of the view held long since by many ingenious writers, 
 that among the greater gods of Egypt and Assyria, and of 
 consequence among those also of Greece and Rome, were 
 Nimrod, Ham, Ashur, Noah, Mizraim, and other worthies and 
 tyrants of the old world ; and to suspect that Tubalcain and 
 Naamah, and other antediluvian names, were similarly hon- 
 ored, though subsequently overshadowed by more recent di- 
 vinities. The later Assyrian readings of Rawlinson, Hincks, 
 and the lamented George Smith, and the more recent works 
 on Eg}^ptian antiquities, are full of pregnant hints on these 
 subjects. It would, however, lead us too far from our im- 
 mediate subject to enter more fully into these questions. I 
 have referred to them merely to point out connecting-links 
 
262 TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 between the secular and sacred history of the earlier part of 
 the human period, as a useful sequel to our comparison of the 
 latter with the conclusions of science, and as furnishing hints 
 which may guide the geologist in connecting the human with 
 the tertiary period, and in distinguishing between the antedi- 
 luvian and postdiluvian portions of the former. 
 
 It may be said, however, that all this Biblical history, how- 
 ever it may accord with the little that remains to us of the 
 written annals of early Oriental nations, is entirely at vari- 
 ance with those modern archaeological discussions which 
 point to an immense antiquity of the human race, and to a 
 primitive barbarism out of which all human culture was little 
 by little evolved; and which results of archaeological investi- 
 gation, while contradictory to the Hebrew Scriptures, are en- 
 tirely in accord with the evolutionist philosophy. The prom- 
 inence now given to such views as these renders it necessary 
 that we should denote a special chapter to their discussion. 
 
Unity and Antiquity of Man. 263 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 UNITY AND ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 
 
 " These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in 
 their nations : and by these were the nations divided in the earth after 
 the flood." — Genesis x., 32. 
 
 The theologians and evangelical Christians of our time, 
 and with them the credibility of the Holy Scriptures, are sup- 
 posed by many to have been impaled on a zoological and 
 archaeological dilemma, in a manner which renders nugatory 
 all attempts to reconcile the Mosaic cosmogony with science. 
 The Bible, as we have seen, knows but one Adam, and that 
 Adam not a myth or an ethnic name, but a veritable man; 
 but some naturalists and ethnologists think that they have 
 found decisive evidence that man is not of one but of several 
 origins. The religious tendency of this doctrine no Christian 
 can fail to perceive. In whatever way put, or under whatever 
 disguise, it renders the Bible history worthless, reduces us to 
 that isolation of race from race cultivated in ancient times 
 by the various local idolatries, and destroys the brotherhood 
 of man and the universality of that Christian atonement which 
 proclaims that " as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be 
 made alive." 
 
 Fortunately, however, the greater weight of biological and 
 archaeological evidence is here on the side of the Bible, and 
 philology comes in with strong corroborative proof But just 
 as the orthodox theologian is beginning to congratulate him- 
 
264 The Origin of the World. 
 
 self on the aid he has thus received, some of his new friends 
 gravely tell him that, in order to maintain their view, it is 
 necessary to believe that man has resided on earth for count- 
 less ages, and that it is quite a mistake to suppose that his 
 starting-point is so recent as the Mosaic deluge. Nay, some 
 very rampant theorists of some ethnological schools try to 
 pierce Moses and his abettors with both horns of the di- 
 lemma at once, maintaining that men may be of different 
 species, and yet may have existed for an enormous length 
 of time as well. The recent prevalence of theories of evolu- 
 tion has, however, thrown quite into the background the dis- 
 cussions formerly active respecting the unity of man, but has, 
 along with geological and archaeological discovery, given in- 
 creased prominence to those relating to the date of the origin 
 of our species and the manner of its introduction. 
 
 The Bible gives us a definite epoch, that of the deluge, 
 about 2000 to 3000 B.C., for all existing races of men; but 
 this, according to it, was only the second starting-point of 
 humanity, and though no family but that of Noah survived the 
 terrible catastrophe, it would be a great error to suppose that 
 nothing antediluvian appears in the subsequent history of 
 man. Before the deluge there were arts and an old civiliza- 
 tion, extending over at least two thousand years, and after 
 the deluge men carried with them these heirlooms of the old 
 world to commence with them new nations. This has been 
 tacitly ignored by many of the writers who underrate the value 
 of the Hebrew history. It may be as well for this reason to 
 place, in a series of propositions, the principal points in Gen- 
 esis which relate to the questions now before us. 
 
 I. Adam and Isha, the woman, afterward called Eve (Life- 
 giver), in consequence of the promise of a Redeemer, com- 
 menced a life of husbandry on their expulsion from Eden, 
 
Unity and Antiquity of Man. 265 
 
 which, on the ordinary views of the Bible chronology, may be 
 supposed to have occurred from 4000 to 5000 years before 
 the Christian era; and during the lifetime of the primal pair, 
 the sheep, at least, was domesticated. The Bible, of course, 
 knows nothing of the imaginary continent of Lemuria, in 
 which, according to some hypotheses, men are supposed to 
 have had their birth from apes. A few generations after, in 
 the time of Lamech, cattle were domesticated; and the met- 
 als copper and iron were applied to use — the latter probably 
 meteoric iron ; and hence, it may be, the Hindoo and Hel- 
 lenic myths of Twachtrei and Hephasstos in connection with 
 the thunderbolt. We learn, however, incidentally, as already 
 mentioned, in the description of Eden in Genesis, chapter 
 2d, that there was a previous stone age, in which "flint, 
 pearls or shell beads, and stream-gold" were the chief treas- 
 ures of man, for this is implied in the "gold, bedolach, and 
 onyx" of the land of Havilah. It is certain also, from the 
 discoveries made in Assyria, on the site of Troy, and else- 
 where, that the use of stone implements continued in Western 
 Asia long after the deluge. In the time of Noah the distinc- 
 tion of clean and unclean beasts, and the taking of seven 
 pairs of certain beasts and birds into the ark, imply that 
 certain mammals and birds were domesticated.* 
 
 2. Before the flood, as already remarked, there was a divis- 
 ion of man into two nationalities or races ; and there was a 
 citizen, an agricultural, a pastoral, and a nomadic population. 
 Farther, the remarkable progress in the arts implied in the 
 building of such structures as the Tower of Babel, and other 
 temple and palace mounds in Assyria, and of the pyramids 
 
 * Genesis 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th chapters. See also our previous re- 
 marks on the deluge. 
 
 M 
 
266 The Origin of the World. 
 
 of Egypt, \Yithin a few generations after the deluge, proves 
 that a very advanced material civilization and great skill in 
 constructive arts had been reached in antediluvian times.* 
 
 3. After the deluge, the arts of the antediluvians and their 
 citizen life were almost immediately revived in the plain of 
 Shinar; but the plans of the Babel leaders, like those of 
 many others who have attempted to force distinct tribes 
 into one nationality, failed. The guilt attributed to them 
 probably relates to the attempt to break up the patriarchal 
 and tribal organization, which in these early times was the 
 outward form of true religion, in favor of some sort of national 
 organization, not compatible with the extension of man im- 
 mediately over the world, and tending to consolidation into 
 dense communities. It may be a question here whether the 
 tribal communism which has prevailed among the American 
 Indians and other rude races was the primitive form of soci- 
 ety which the Babel-builders essayed to change, or whether 
 the Semitic patriarchal system had at first prevailed, and the 
 Babel difficulties were connected with a conflict between this 
 and communism or despotism, both new Turanian or Aryan 
 introductions. In any case, Babel, and Babylon its successor, 
 remain in the subsequent Biblical literature as types of the 
 God-defying and antichristian systems that have succeeded 
 each other from the time of Nimrod to this day. 
 
 4. The human race was scattered over the earth in family 
 groups or tribes, each headed by a leading patriarch, who 
 gave it its name. First, the three sons of Noah formed three 
 main stems, and from these diverged several family branches. 
 The ethnological chart in the loth chapter of Genesis gives 
 the principal branches under patriarchal and ethnic names ; 
 
 * Genesis iv. 
 
Unity and Antiquity of Man. 267 
 
 but these, of course, continued to subdivide beyond the space 
 and time referred to by the sacred writer. It is simply absurd 
 to object, as some writers have done, to the universahty of 
 the statements in Genesis, that they do not mention in detail 
 the whole earth. They refer to a few generations only, and 
 beyond this restrict themselves to the one branch of the hu- 
 man family to which the Bible principally relates. We should 
 be thankful for so much of the leading lines of ethnological 
 divergence, without complaining that it is not followed out 
 into its minute ramifications and into all history. 
 
 5. The tripartite division in Genesis x. indicates a some- 
 what strict geographical separation of the three main trunks. 
 The regions marked out for Japheth include Europe and North- 
 western Asia. The name Japheth, as well as the statements 
 in the table, indicate a versatile, nomadic, and colonizing dis- 
 position as characteristic of these tribes.* The Median popula- 
 tion, the same with a portion of that now often called Aryan, t 
 was the only branch remaining near the original seats of the 
 species, and in a settled condition. The outlying portions 
 of the posterity of Japheth, on account of their wide dispersion, 
 must at a very early period have fallen into comparative bar- 
 
 * Japheth is "enlargement," his sons are Scythians and inhabitants of 
 the isles, varying in language and nationality; and Noah predicts, "God 
 shall enlarge Japheth, he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, Ham shall be 
 his servant." These are surely characteristic ethnological traits for a pe- 
 riod so early. On the rationalist view, it may be supposed that this pre- 
 diction was not written until the characters in question had developed 
 themselves; but since the greatest enlargement of Japheth has occurred 
 since the discovery of America, there would be quite as good ground for 
 maintaining that Noah's prophecy was interpolated after the time of Co- 
 lumbus. 
 
 t The language of this people, the stem of the Indo-European languages, 
 is, though in a later form, probably that of the Aryan or Persepolitan part 
 of the trilingual inscriptions at Behistun and elsewhere in Persia. 
 
268 The Origin of the World. 
 
 barism, such as we find in historic periods all over Western 
 and Northern Europe and Northern Asia. Owing to their 
 habitat, the Japhetites of the Bible include none of the black 
 races, unless certain Indian and Australian nations are out- 
 lying portions of this family. The Shemite nations showed 
 little tendency to migrate, being grouped about the Euphrates 
 and Tigris valleys and neighboring regions. For this reason, 
 with the exception of certain Arab tribes, they present no in- 
 stances of barbarism, and generally retained a high cerebral 
 organization, and respectable though stationary civilization, 
 and they possess the oldest alphabet and literature. The 
 posterity of Ham differs remarkably from the others. It spread 
 itself over Southern, Central, and Eastern Asia, Southern Eu- 
 rope, and Northern Africa, and constitutes the stock alike of 
 the Turanian and African races, as well as probably of the 
 American tribes. It has all along displayed a great capacity 
 for certain forms of art and semi-civilization, but has rarely 
 risen to the level of the Shemite and Japhetite races. It es- 
 tablished the earliest military and monarchical institutions, 
 and presents at the dawn of history — in Assyria, in Egypt, and 
 India — settled and arbitrary forms in politics and religion, of a 
 character so much resembling that of an old and corrupt civil- 
 ization that we can scarcely avoid supposing that Ham and his 
 family had preserved more than any of the other Noachian 
 races the arts and institutions of the old world before the 
 flood. It certainly presents itself in early postdiluvian times 
 as the first representative and teacher of art and material 
 civilization. The Hamite race is remarkable for the early 
 development of pantheism and hero-worship, and for the arti- 
 ficial character of its culture. It presents us with the dark- 
 est colors, and in the vast solitudes of Africa and Central 
 Asia its outlying tribes must have fallen into comparative 
 
Unity and Antiquity of Man. 269 
 
 barbarism a few centuries after the deluge. It is farther to 
 be observed that, according to the Bible, the Canaanites and 
 other Hamite nations spoke languages not essentially differ- 
 ent from those of the Shemites, while the Japhetite nations 
 were to them barbarians — '"'a nation whose tongue thou shalt 
 not understand." There was, too, at the date of the disper- 
 sion of Babel, already a distinction of tongues within each 
 of the great races of men. 
 
 6. All the divisions of the family of Noah had from the first 
 the domesticated animals and the principal arts of life, and 
 enjoyed these in a national capacity so soon as sufficiently 
 numerous. The more scattered tribes, wandering into fresh 
 regions, and adopting the life of hunters, lost the character- 
 istics of civilization, and diverged widely from the primitive 
 languages. We should thus have, according to the Hebrew 
 ethnology, a central area presenting the principal stems of all 
 the three races in a permanently civilized state. All around 
 this area should lie aberrant and often barbarous tribes, dif- 
 fering most widely from the original type in the more distant 
 regions, and in those least favorable to human health and 
 subsistence. In these outlying regions, secondary centres of 
 civilization might grow up, differing from that of the primitive 
 centre, except in so far as the common principles of human 
 nature and intercommunication might prevent this. All these 
 conclusions, fairly deducible at once from the Mosaic ethnol- 
 ogy and the theory of dispersion from a centre, are perfectly 
 in accordance with observed facts, though in absolute contra- 
 diction to prevalent ethnological conclusions, based on these 
 facts in connection with theories of development. 
 
 A multitude of Bible notices might easily be quoted illus- 
 trative of these points, and also of the consistency of the Mo- 
 saic narrative with itself. One of them may suffice here. 
 
2/0 The Origin of the World. 
 
 Abraham, who is said by the Jews to have been contempo- 
 rary with Shem, as Menes by the Egyptians witli Ham, at 
 least hved sufficiently near to the time of the rise of the 
 earliest nations to be taken as an illustration of this primi- 
 tive condition of society. He was not a patriarch of the first 
 or second rank, like Ham or Mizraim or Canaan, but a subor- 
 dinate family leader several removes from the survivors of the 
 deluge. Yet his tribe increases in comparatively few years 
 to a considerable number. He is treated as an equal by the 
 monarchs of Egypt and Philistia. He defeats, with a band 
 of three or four hundred retainers, a confederacy of four Eu- 
 phratean kings representing the embryo state of the Persian 
 and Assyrian empires, and already relatively so strong that 
 they have overrun much of Western Asia. All this bespeaks 
 in a most consistent manner the rapid rise of many small 
 nationalities, scattered over the better parts of wide regions, 
 and still in a feeble condition, tliough inheriting from their 
 ancestors an old civilization, and laying the foundations of 
 powerful states. If we attach any historical value what- 
 ever to the narrative, it obviously implies that at a date of 
 about two thousand years before Christ the regions after- 
 ward occupied by the oldest historic empires were still thin- 
 ly peopled, and their dominant races little more than feeble 
 tribes. This farther corresponds with the authentic history 
 of all the ancient nations, however these may have been ex- 
 tended by previous mythical periods. About or shortly be- 
 fore the time of Abraham, Menes was draining for the first 
 time the swamps of Egypt, Ninus or Nimrod was founding 
 the Assyrian empire, the Phoenicians were founding Sidon, 
 agriculture was being introduced into China, the Vedas were 
 being written in India, the Persian monarchy was being 
 founded ; and, in short, all the historical nations of the East 
 
Unity and Antiquity of Man. 271 
 
 were originating, and this apparently by springing into being 
 with an already formed civilization. 
 
 Such being the Hebrew account of the date and early his- 
 tory of man, it may be proper here to compare it with such 
 deductions from archaeological and geological investigation 
 as may seem to conflict with it, and at the same time to make 
 some comparisons with the Turanian and Aryan traditions 
 and speculations as to human origins. The special lines of 
 investigation important here are : i. Early historical records 
 other than the Bible; 2. The diversity of human languages; 
 3. The geological evidence afforded by remains of prehistoric 
 men found in caverns and other repositories. The last of 
 these is at present that which has attained the greatest de- 
 velopment. 
 
 I. Early Hmjia7i History. — Had the human race every- 
 where preserved historical records, we should have had some 
 certain evidence as to the places and times of origination of 
 its tribes and peoples. Unfortunately this has not been the 
 case. All savage and barbarous races, and many of those 
 now civilized, have lost all records of their early history. 
 Most of the so-called ancient nations are comparatively 
 modern, and their history after a very short course loses it- 
 self in uncertain tradition and mythical fancies. The only 
 really ancient nations that have given us in detail their own 
 written history are the Hebrews, the Assyrians, the Egyptians, 
 the Hindoos, and the Chinese. The last people, though pro- 
 fessedly very ancient, trace their history from a period of 
 barbarism — a view confirmed by their physical characters, 
 and the nature of their civilization ; and on this account, if 
 no other, their history can not be considered as of much 
 archaeological value. According to their own records, their 
 earliest authentic history goes back to about 2800 B.C., and 
 
272 The Origin of the World. 
 
 was preceded by a prehistoric period of uncertain duration. 
 The astronomical deductions of Schlegel, which would extend 
 their history to 17,000 years, are evidently altogether unre- 
 liable.* The early Hindoo history is palpably fabulous or 
 distorted, and has been variously modilied and changed in 
 comparatively modern times. There is one great and very 
 ancient people — the Egyptian — evidently civilized from the 
 beginning of all history, that have succeeded in transmitting 
 to us, though only in fragments, their primeval history ; and 
 of late years constant additions have been made from in- 
 scribed tablets and monuments to our knowledge of the an- 
 cient history of the Assyrians and Chaldeans. 
 
 The Egyptian history has been gathered first from sketches 
 by Greek travellers, and from fragments of the chronicles of 
 Manetho, one of the later Egyptian priests ; and, secondly, 
 from the inscriptions deciphered on Egyptian monuments 
 and papyri. It is still in a very fragmentary and uncertain 
 state, but has been used with considerable effect to prove 
 both the diversity of races of men and the pre-Noachic antiq- 
 uity of the species. The Egyptian, in features and physical 
 conformation, tended to the European form, just as the mod- 
 ern Fellahs and Berbers do ; but he had a dark complexion, 
 a somewhat elongated head and flattened lips, and certain 
 negroid peculiarities in his limbs. His language combined 
 many of the peculiarities of the Semitic, Aryan, and African 
 tongues, indicating thereby great antiquity or else great inter- 
 mixture, but not, as some ethnographers demand, both; most 
 probably the former — the Egyptians being really the oldest 
 civilized people that we certainly know, and therefore, if lan- 
 guages have one opigin, likely to be near its root-stock. 
 
 * Edkins, " China's Place in Philology." 
 
Unity and Antiquity of Man. 273 
 
 The actual history of Egypt beghis from Menes, the first 
 human king, a monarch, or rather tribal chief, who took up 
 his abode in the flats and fens of Lower Egypt, certainly not 
 very long after the deluge. His name has been translated 
 "one who walks with Khem," or Ham; one, therefore, who 
 was contemporary with this great patriarch and god of the 
 Egyptians, which will place his time within a few centuries 
 of the Biblical flood. The date of IMenes has been various- 
 ly placed. In correction of the ordinary Hebrew chronology, 
 we have the following attempts : 
 
 Josephus places his reign 2350 B.C. 
 
 Dr. Hales' calculation 2412 
 
 Manetho and the Monuments, as corrected by Syn- ( '^^^ 
 
 cellus and calculated by various archgeolocrists.. . ) 
 
 ^ 2782 
 
 Herodotus, astronomical reduction by Rennell 2890 
 
 Estimate by Gliddon in " Ancient Egypt " 2750 
 
 Bunsen, " Egypt's Place," etc 4000 
 
 The truth may be somewhere near the mean of the shorter 
 chronologies given in the list* That of Bunsen is liable to 
 very grave objections ; more especially as he adds to it other 
 views, altogether unsupported by historical evidence, which 
 would carry back the deluge to 10,000 years B.C. It rests 
 wholly on the chronology of Manetho, who lived 300 years 
 B.C. ; and who, even if the Egyptians then possessed authen- 
 tic documents extending 3700 years before his time, may 
 have erred in his rendering of them ; and is farther liable to 
 grave suspicions of having merely grouped the names on the 
 monuments of his country arbitrarily in Sothic cycles. Far- 
 
 * Reginald S. Poole has adduced very ingenious arguments, monumen- 
 tal, astronomical, and mythological, for the date B.C. 2717. 
 
 M 2 
 
2/4 ^^i^ Origin of the World, 
 
 tlier, they rest on an interpretation of Manetho, which sup- 
 poses his early dynasties to have been successive, while good 
 reasons have been found to prove that many of them consist 
 of contemporaneous petty sovereigns of parts of Egypt. The 
 early parts of Manetho's lists are purely mythical, and it is 
 impossible to fix the point where his authentic history com- 
 mences. He copied from monuments which have no consec- 
 utive dates, the precise age of which could only be vaguely 
 known even in his time, and w^iich are different in their state- 
 ments in different localities. It is only by making due allow- 
 ance for these uncertainties that any historical value can be 
 attached to these earlier dynasties of Manetho. Yet Bunsen 
 has built on an uncertain interpretation of this writer, as 
 handed down in a very fragmentary and evidently garbled con- 
 dition, and on the equally or more uncertain chronology of Era- 
 tosthenes, a system differing from all previous belief on the sub- 
 ject, from the Hebrew history, and from all former interpre- 
 tations of the monuments and Manetho.* Discarding, there- 
 
 * It is curious that almost simultaneously with the appearance of Bun- 
 sen's scheme a similiar view was attempted to be maintained on geolog- 
 ical grounds. In a series of borings in the delta of the Nile, undertaken 
 by Mr, Horner, there was found a piece of pottery at a depth which ap- 
 peared to indicate an antiquity of 13,371 years. But the basis of the cal- 
 culation is the rate of deposit (3!^ inches per century) calculated for the 
 ground around the statue of Rameses II. at Memphis, dated at 1361 B.C.; 
 and Mr.Sharpe has objected that no mud could have been deposited around 
 that statue from its erection until the destruction of Memphis, perhaps 8co 
 years B.C. Farther, we have to take into account the natural or artificial 
 changes of the river's bed, which in this very place is said to have been di- 
 verted from its course by Menes, and which near Cairo is now nearly a mile 
 from its former site. The liability to error and fraud in boring operations 
 is also very well known. It has farther been suggested that the deep 
 cracks which form in the soil of Egypt, and the sinking of wells in ancient 
 times, are other probable causes of error ; and it is stated that pieces of 
 burnt brick, which was not in use in Egypt until the Roman times, have 
 
Unity and Antiquity of Man. 275 
 
 fore, in the mean time, this date, and the still older one 
 claimed by Mariette,* we may roughly estimate the date of 
 Menes as 2000 to 2500 years B.C.,t and proceed to state 
 some of the facts developed by Egyptologists. 
 
 One of the most striking of these is the proof that Egypt 
 was a new country in the days of Menes and several genera- 
 tions of his successors. The monuments of this period show 
 little of the complicated idolatry, ritual, and caste system 
 of later times, and are deficient in evidence of the refinement 
 and variety of aft afterward attained. They also show that 
 these early monarchs were principally engaged in dyking, and 
 otherwise reclaiming the alluvial flats ; an evidence precisely 
 of the same character with that which every traveller sees in 
 the more recently settled districts of Canada, where the forest 
 is giving way to the exertions of the farmer. Farther, in this 
 primitive period, known as the "old monarchy," few domestic 
 animals appear, and experiments seem to have been in prog- 
 ress to tame others, natives of the country, as the hyena, the 
 antelope, the stork. Even the dog in the older dynasties is 
 represented by one or at most two varieties, and the prevalent 
 one is a wolfish-looking animal akin to the present wild or 
 
 been found at even greater depths than the pottery referred to by Mr. 
 Horner. This discovery, at first sight so startling, and vouched for by a 
 geologist of unquestioned honor and abilit}', is thus open to the same 
 doubts with the Guadaloupe skeletons, the human bones in ossiferous 
 caverns, and that found in the mud of the Mississippi ; all of which have, 
 on examination, proved of no value as proofs of the geological antiquity 
 of man. 
 
 * 5004 B.C. 
 
 t Perhaps the earliest certain date in Egyptian history is that of Thoth- 
 mes III. of the eighteenth dynasty, ascertained by Birch on astronomical 
 evidence as about 1445 ^-C. (about 1600, Manetho); and it seems nearly 
 certain that before the eighteenth dynasty, of which this king was the fifth 
 sovereign, there was no settled general government over all Egj'pt. 
 
2/6 TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 half-tamed dogs of the East* The Egyptians, too, of the ear- 
 lier dynasties, are more homogeneous in their appearance 
 than those of the later, after conquest and migration had in- 
 troduced new races \ and the earliest monumental notice re- 
 ferring to Negro tribes does not appear until the 12th dynasty, 
 about half-way between the epoch of Menes and the Christian 
 era, nor does any representation of the Negro features occur 
 until, at the earliest, the 17th dynasty. This allows ample 
 time — one thousand years at the least — for the development, 
 under abnormal circumstances and isolatiort, of all the most 
 strongly marked varieties of man. Still Egypt, even under the 
 old monarchy, presents evidence of the continuation of ante- 
 diluvian culture.f 
 
 It is obvious, in short, that the whole aspect of early Egyp- 
 tian history presents to us a people already civilized taking 
 possession of that country at a period corresponding with that 
 of the subsidence of the Noachian deluge, and not finding there 
 any remains of older populations. Nor have any remains of 
 such populations been found by modern investigation. % 
 
 In Assyria the results of the recent discoveries, so well 
 known through many learned and popular works, strikingly 
 confirm the Hebrew chronolog}'. They indicate no slow^ emer- 
 
 * The Egyptians seem, like our modern cattle-breeders, to have taken 
 pride in the initiation and preservation of varieties. Their sacred bull, 
 Apis, was required to represent one of the varieties of the ox ; and one 
 can scarcely avoid believing that some of their deified ancestors must 
 have earned their celebrity as tamers or breeders of animals. At a later 
 period, the experiments of Jacob with Laban's flock furnish a curious in- 
 stance of attempts to induce variation. 
 
 t See for evidence of these views early notices in Genesis, and Lenor- 
 mant and Osburne on Egyptian Monuments and History. 
 
 X There is no good reason to believe the flint implements mentioned by 
 Delanoiie and others, as found on the banks of the Nile, to be older than 
 the historic period. 
 
Unity and Antiquity of Man, 277 
 
 gence from barbarism, but show that in Assyria as in Egypt 
 implements of stone and metal were used together by a primi- 
 tive people, already far advanced in civilization ; and the oldest 
 historical names only carry us back to cities and sovereigns 
 of the Abrahamic age, while the story of the primitive empire 
 of Nimrod and the traditions of the deluge seem to have sur- 
 vived in more or less mythical legends. The earliest Assyr- 
 ian monuments would seem to belong to a Turanian race, of 
 which comparatively little is known, but which may correspond 
 with the primitive Cushites of Biblical story. To these, it is 
 true, Berosus attaches a fabulous antiquity; but this is not 
 confirmed by the monuments. These, according to the latest 
 facts disclosed by Smith, Rawlinson, and others, appear to fix 
 a date of about 1800 B.C. for the foundation of the Assyrian 
 monarchy proper, and the oldest previous date given by Assur- 
 bampal, who reigned about B.C. 668 to 626, gives 1635 years 
 before his time, or say 2280 B.C., as the date of an Elamite 
 king Kudarnankundi, who seems to be the leader of a prim- 
 itive tribe, one of the oldest in the region, and who has been 
 conjectured to have been the Chedorlaomer of Genesis, but 
 was probably one of his predecessors. 
 • We gather from the Assyrian annals that the early Turanian 
 kings, while mound-builders like their kindred elsewhere, and 
 acquainted with metals and with the cuneiform writing, yet 
 constituted comparatively small nations, and were much oc- 
 cupied with hunting and other rude sports, and with predatory 
 expeditions, so as to answer very nearly to the Biblical con- 
 ception of the early Cushite kingdom of the valley of the 
 Euphrates, which was probably in the same stage of culture 
 with the nations that in a later period inhabited the valley 
 of the Mississippi, and are known as the Alleghans. 
 
 In connection with the early history of man, much impor- 
 
2/8 The Origin of the World, 
 
 tance has been attached to the division of the early historic 
 and prehistoric ages into the periods of Stone, Bronze, and 
 Iron, and of the former into a Palaeolithic or ancient stone age, 
 and a more modern or Neolithic stone age. It is plain, how- 
 ever, that too great importance has been attached to these 
 distinctions, and that they express rather differences of cir- 
 cumstances and of culture than of age, so that they have 
 really no bearing on the Biblical chronology. 
 
 If palaeolithic or rudely chipped implements are the oldest 
 known, as they not improbably were the first tools used by 
 man, yet their use has extended in the case of rude nations 
 all the way up to the present time ; and in America and North- 
 ern Asia we know that their antiquity is but of yesterday, and 
 that they were used with highly finished implements of bone, 
 and of those softer stones that admit of being polished. No 
 certain line can therefore be drawn even locally between a 
 Neolithic and a Palaeolithic period, especially since in localities 
 where flint implements were extensively quarried and made, 
 as on the banks of rivers in Northern France and Southern 
 England, and in such places as "Grimes' Graves" and Cissbury 
 in the latter country, where mines were sunk in the chalk for 
 the extraction of flints, it necessarily happened that vast mul- 
 titudes of unfinished or spoiled implements and weapons were 
 left on the ground, while the better -formed specimens were 
 for the most part taken away. This conclusion is amply sup- 
 ported by similar localities in America, where people well ac- 
 quainted with many of the arts of life have left quantities of 
 strictly palceolithic material. Wilson, Southall, and other writ- 
 ers have accumulated so many examples of this that I think 
 the distinction of Palaeolithic and Neolithic ages must now be 
 given up by all investigators who possess ordinary judgment. 
 A remarkable instance is the celebrated "Flint ridge" of 
 
Unity and Antiquity of Man. 279 
 
 Ohio, \vhicli was a great quarry of flint for implements used 
 by the ancient mound-builders, a highly civilized race, as well 
 as by the modern Indians. Here are found countless multi- 
 tudes of palaeolithic flint implements of all the ordinary types, 
 but which are merely the unfinished material of workers ca- 
 pable of producing the most exquisite implements. There can 
 be scarcely a doubt that the palaeolithic implements of the Eu- 
 ropean gravels, in so far as they are the workmanship of man, 
 are in like manner merely the relics of old flint quarries.* 
 
 Possibly a more accurate measurement of time for particu- 
 lar regions of the world might be deduced from the introduc- 
 tion of bronze and iron. If the former was, as many antiqua- 
 rians suppose, a local discovery in Europe, and not introduced 
 from abroad, it can give no measurement of time whatever. 
 In America, as the facts detailed by Dr. Wilson show, while 
 a bronze age existed in Peru, it was the copper age in the 
 Mississippi Valley, and the stone age elsewhere; and these 
 conditions might have co-existed for any length of time, and 
 could give no indication of relative dates. On the other hand, 
 the iron introduced by European commerce spread at once 
 over the continent, and came into use in the most remote 
 tribes, and its introduction into America clearly marks an 
 historical epoch. With regard to bronze in Europe, we must 
 bear in mind that tin was to be procured only in England and 
 Spain, and in the latter in very small quantity; the mines of 
 Saxony do not seem to have been known till the Middle Ages. 
 We must further consider that tin ore is a substance not me- 
 tallic in appearance, and little likely to attract the attention 
 of savages; and that, as we gather from a hint of Plin}^, it was 
 probably first observed, in the West at least, as stream tin, in 
 
 * Wilson, " Prehistoric Man," 2d edition, p. 68. 
 
28o The Origin of the World. 
 
 the Spanish gold washings. Lastly, when we place in con- 
 nection with these considerations the fact that in the earliest 
 times of which we have certain knowledge, the tin trade of 
 Spain and England was monopolized by the Phoenicians, there 
 seems to be a strong probability that the extension of the trade 
 of this nation to the western Mediterranean really inaugurated 
 the bronze period. The only valid argument against this is the 
 fact that moulds and other indications of native bronze cast- 
 ing have been found in Switzerland, Denmark, and elsewhere ; 
 but these show nothing more than that the natives could re- 
 cast bronze articles, just as the American Indians can forge 
 fish-hooks and knives out of nails and iron hoops. Other 
 considerations might be adduced in proof of this view, but 
 our limits will not jDermit us to refer to them. The important 
 questions still remain : When was this trade commenced, and 
 how rapidly did it extend itself from the sea-coast across Eu- 
 rope ? The British tin trade must have been in existence in 
 the time of Herodotus, though his notion of the locality was 
 not more definite than that it was in the extremity of the 
 earth. The Phoenician settlements in the western Mediter- 
 ranean must have existed as early as the time of Solomon, 
 when "ships of Tarshish" was the general designation of sea- 
 going ships for long voyages. How long previously these col- 
 onies existed we do not know; but considering the great scar- 
 city and value of tin in those very ancient times, we may infer 
 that perhaps only the Spanish, and not the British deposits were 
 known thus early ; or that the Phoenicians had only indirect 
 access to the latter. Perhaps we may fix the time when these 
 traders were able to supply the nations of Europe with abun- 
 dance of bronze in exchange for their products, at, say looo to 
 I200 B.C., as the earliest probable period; and possibly from 
 one to two centuries would be a sufficient allowance for the 
 
Unity and Antiquity of Man. 281 
 
 complete penetration of the trade throughout Europe. But 
 of course wars or migrations might retard or accelerate the 
 process; and there may have been isolated spots in which a 
 partial stone period extended up to those comparatively re- 
 cent times in which first the Greek trade, and afterward the 
 entire overthrow of the Carthaginian power by the Romans, 
 terminated forever the age of bronze and substituted the age 
 of iron. This would leave, according to our ordinary chro- 
 nologies, at least ten or fifteen centuries for the postdiluvian 
 stone period in Europe and Western Asia, a time quite suf- 
 ficient in our view for all that part of it represented by such 
 monuments as the Danish shell-heaps or the platform habi- 
 tations of the Swiss lakes ; leaving the remains of the prehis- 
 toric caverns and river gravels for the antediluvian period. 
 A few facts in illustration of these points, and also of the 
 Biblical history, may be mentioned here. 
 
 We know perfectly that the early Chaldeans of the Euphra- 
 tean valley were acquainted with the use of metals — bronze 
 certainly, and at a very early date iron; yet flint knives and 
 other implements of stone are found under circumstances 
 which show that they were used in the palmy days of the 
 Assyrian empire. The inhabitants of Egypt were acquainted 
 with bronze and iron long before the date of the Exodus, yet 
 the Egyptians used stone knives for some purposes up to a 
 comparatively modern time. Joshua used stone knives for 
 the purpose of circumcision; and according to Herodotus 
 there were Ethiopians in the army of Xerxes who used stone- 
 tipped arrows. If any antiquarian were to stumble on the 
 "hill of the foreskins " — a mound under which were buried in 
 all probability the multitudinous flint flakes used in the cir- 
 cumcision of the thousands of Israel— or the grave in which 
 some of the Ethiopian auxiliaries of Xerxes were buried with 
 
282 The Origin of the World. 
 
 their flint arrow-heads and javelins of antelopes' horn, how 
 absurd would be the inference that these repositories were 
 of the palaeolithic age. Nay, so late as 1870 a traveller was 
 informed that the 'Bagos, a people of Abyssinia, still made 
 and used stone hatchets and flint knives.* 
 
 In Europe we find reason to believe that the Ligurians of 
 Northwestern Italy were flint-folk of very rude type until they 
 were conquered by the Gauls about 400 B.C.f Though the 
 Gauls, Britons, and Germans of the age of Julius Caesar had 
 iron weapons, yet it is evident that the metal was very scarce, 
 and that bronze was more common ; and in confirmation of 
 this it is found that in the trenches before Alize, the Alesia 
 of Cssar, where the final struggle of the Roman general with 
 Vercingetorix took place, weapons of stone, bronze, and iron 
 are intermixed. All over the more northern parts of Europe 
 there is the best reason to believe that the use of stone and 
 bronze continued to a much later period, and locally until 
 Ions: after the Christian era. It is clear that such facts as 
 these must greatly modify our ideas of the probable age 
 of the Swiss lake villages, and should induce the greatest 
 caution in claiming any special antiquity for particular classes 
 of implements. 
 
 One of the most remarkable discoveries of modern times 
 is that of the site of ancient Troy by Dr. Schliemann, and it 
 affords clear and decisive evidence as to the historic value 
 of the ages to which we have referred. 
 
 Troy was destroyed by the Greeks perhaps about 1300 
 B.C., and we know from Homer that this was in what for the 
 
 * Southall has accumulated a great number of these facts in his book 
 on the antiquity of man. 
 
 t Professor Issel, quoted in Popular Science l\Tonthly, 
 
Unity and Antiquity of Man. 283 
 
 Greeks and Trojans may properly be termed the copper age, 
 weapons and armor of that metal being in common use, and 
 also the mode of burial by cremation. We may well suppose 
 that at that early date the stone age was Still in full force in 
 Northern Europe and Asia, and in the mountains of Switzer- 
 land ; and as the tin mines of England had not yet been 
 reached, bronze was scarce and dear even in Eastern Europe 
 and Asia. Now Schliemann has disinterred the undoubted 
 Trojan Ilium on the hill of Hissarlik ; but he finds it to be 
 only one of several buried cities, and the succession of strata 
 will be most clearly seen in the section on the following 
 page, compiled from his clear and circumstantial descrip- 
 tions. It is needless to say that this presents a succession 
 of the stone age to one of comparatively high civilization. It 
 also forms an epitome of that of the whole East, and of primi-' 
 tive man in general, in some very important respects. We 
 have first, at a date probably coeval with that of the earliest 
 monarchies of Assyria and Egypt, a primitive people whose 
 arts and mode of life remind us stron2:lv of the American Tol- 
 tecans and Peruvians.* Schliemann supposes them to have 
 been Aryan, but they were more probably of Turanian race. 
 They must have occupied the site for a very long time. 
 They were succeeded by a more cultivated people of fine 
 physical organization, yet possibly still Turanians or primi- 
 tive Aryans, who by trade or plunder had accumulated large 
 stores of metallic wealth, and had made advances in the arts 
 of life placing them on a level with the early Phoenicians and 
 Egyptians, with whom they probably had intercourse. These 
 
 * Wilson has remarked the striking similarity of the pottery of these 
 people to American fictile wares. This similarity applies also to the early 
 Cyprian art. 
 
284 
 
 The Origin of the World. 
 
 Surface. 
 Fifth stratum to 6i feet - 
 
 The Greek Ilium, with buildings and 
 objects of art characteristic of the 
 Hellenic civilization of historic pe- 
 riods. 
 
 Fourth stratum to 13 feet - 
 
 A second barbarous people, but prob- 
 ably allied to the first. Very coarse 
 pottery. Implements and ^Yeapons 
 of copper or bronze — stone knives 
 and saws. 
 
 Third stratum to 23 feet - 
 
 Barbarous people occupying the site 
 of Troy. Rude stone implements 
 and rude pottery. Buildings of 
 small stones and clay. Some ob- 
 jects of pottery found here would 
 on American sites be regarded as 
 probably tobacco-pipes. 
 
 Second stratum to 33 feet - 
 
 Homeric Troy. Implements and 
 weapons of copper, bronze, and 
 stone. Potterv, some of it of Pe- 
 ruvian and ancient Cypriot types. 
 Fine gold jewelry, and gold and 
 silver vessels. Armor similar to 
 that described by Homer. Stone 
 buildings and walls. This city had 
 been sacked and burned. 
 
 • 
 
 First stratum to 46 or 53 feet . . . - 
 Rock. 
 
 Primitive or prehistoric Troy. Stone 
 implements, polished and chipped. 
 INIillstones, copper nails, pottery — 
 some with patterns curiously resem- 
 bling those of America — bone im- 
 plements, terra-cotta disks. Stone 
 buildings. 
 
 were the Trojans of the Homeric poems, and the destruction 
 of their city was probably in the first instance celebrated in 
 th'eir own native songs, which Homer at a date but little later* 
 wove into his magnificent poem, and idealized and exaggerated. 
 The Trojans worshipped an owl-headed goddess — the Athena 
 
 * I agree with Gladstone's conclusions as to the date and country of 
 Homer. 
 
Unity and Antiquity of Man, 285 
 
 of the Homeric poems ; and from symbols found are believed 
 also to have had the worship of a sacred tree, and of fire or 
 of the Sun. All of these are widespread superstitions over 
 both the Old and New World. But while Troy flourished 
 there were barbarous nations not far off still in the stone 
 age ; and when the city had fallen, these, possibly in succes- 
 sive hordes, took possession of the fertile plain and used the 
 old city as their stronghold, perhaps till the foundation of the 
 Greek city about 650 B.C. I have sketched in some detail 
 these interesting discoveries, as they so clearly illustrate an 
 actual succession of ages, and so conclusively show the un- 
 certainty of the classification into ages of stone and metal, 
 except when taken in connection with the precise circum- 
 stances of each locality. 
 
 I have referred above only to the question of historic or 
 postdiluvian man. We have still to consider what remains 
 exist of antediluvian man. These may be studied in connec- 
 tion with our third head of geological evidences of man's an- 
 tiquity ; for if the Mosaic narrative be true, the diluvial ca- 
 tastrophe must have constituted a physical separation be- 
 tween historic man and prehistoric; since, in so far as ante- 
 diluvian ages are concerned, all are prehistoric or mythical 
 everywhere except in the sacred history itself. Antediluvian 
 men may thus in geology be Pleistocene as distinguished 
 from modern, or Palceocosmic as distinguished from Neo- 
 cosmic* 
 
 2. Language in Relation to the Antiquity of Man. — In many 
 animals the voice has a distinctive character ; but in man it 
 has an importance altogether peculiar. The gift of speech is 
 
 * I suggested these terms in my lectures published under the title 
 "Nature and the Bible," 1875. 
 
286 The Origin of the World. 
 
 one of his sole prerogatives, and identity in its mode of exer- 
 cise is not only the strongest proof of similarity of psychical 
 constitution, but more than any other character marks iden- 
 tity of origin. The tongues of men are many and various ; 
 and at first sight this diversity may, as indeed it often does, 
 convey the impression of radical diversity of race. But mod- 
 ern philological investigations have shown many and unex- 
 pected links of connection in vocabulary or grammatical 
 structure, or both, between languages apparently the most 
 dissimilar. I do not here refer to the vague and fanciful 
 parallels with which our ancestors were often amused, but to 
 the results of sober and scientific inquiry. " Nothing," says 
 Professor Max Miiller, "necessitates the admission of differ- 
 ent independent beginnings for the material elements of the 
 Turanian, Semitic, and Aryan branches of speech; nay, it is 
 possible even now to point out radicals which, under various 
 changes and disguises, have been current in these three 
 branches ever since their first separation." Of the truth of 
 this I have convinced myself by some original investigation, 
 and also of the farther truth that of this radical unity of all hu- 
 man tongues there is more full evidence than many philologists 
 are disposed to admit, and that the results of future study 
 must be to connect more and more with each other the sev- 
 eral main stems of language. Whether this results merely 
 from the psychical unity of the human race, or from the his- 
 torical derivation of languages from one root, is not so mate- 
 rial as the fact of unity ; but that the latter is implied it 
 would not be difficult to show.* Let us examine for a little 
 
 * Since these words were written I have read the remarkable book 
 of Edkins on the Chinese language, which supplies much additional in- 
 formation. 
 
Unity and Antiquity of Man. 287 
 
 these results as they are presented to us by Latham, Miiller, 
 Bunsen, and other modern philologists. 
 
 A convenient starting-point is afforded by the great group 
 of languages known as the Indo-European, Japhetic, or Ary- 
 an. From the Ganges to the west coast of Ireland, through 
 Indian, Persian, Greek, Italian, German, Celt, runs one great 
 language — the Sanscrit and the dark Hindoo at one extreme, 
 the Erse and the xanthous Celt at the other. No one now 
 doubts the affinity of this great belt of languages. No one 
 can pretend that any one of these nations learned its lan- 
 guage from another. They are all decided branches of a 
 common stock. Lying in and near this area are other na- 
 tions — as the Arabs, the Syrians, the Jews — speaking lan- 
 guages differing in words and structure — the Semitic tongues. 
 Do these mark a different origin ? The philologists answer 
 in the negative, pointing to the features of resemblance 
 which still remain, and above all to certain intermediate 
 tongues of so high antiquity that they are rather to be re- 
 garded as root-stocks from which other languages diverged 
 than as mixtures. The principal of these is the ancient 
 Egyptian, represented by the inscriptions on the monuments 
 of that wonderful people, and by the more modern Coptic, 
 which, according to Bunsen and Latham, presents decided 
 affinities to both the great classes previously mentioned, and 
 may be regarded as strictly intermediate in its character. It 
 has accordingly been designated by the term Sub-Semitic* 
 But it shares this character with all or nearly all the other 
 African languages, which bear strong marks of affinity to the 
 
 * Donaldson has pointed out (British Association Proceedings, 1851) 
 links of connection between the Slavonian or Sarmatian tongues and the 
 Semitic languages, which in like manner indicate the primitive union of 
 the two great branches of languages. 
 
288 The Origin of the World. 
 
 Eg3^ptian and Semitic tongues. On this subject Dr. Latham 
 says, "That the uniformity of languages throughout Africa is 
 greater than it is either in Asia or in Europe, is a statement 
 to which I have not the least hesitation in committing my- 
 self."* To the north the Indo-European area is bounded by 
 a great group of semi-barbarous populations, mostly with 
 Mongolian features, and speaking languages which have been 
 grouped as Turanian. These Turanian languages, on the 
 one hand, graduate without any break into those of the Es- 
 quimaux and American Indians; on the other, according to 
 Miiller and Latham, they are united, though less distinctly, 
 with the Semitic and Japhetic tongues. They not improb- 
 ably represent in more or less altered forms the most prim- 
 itive stock of language from which both the Semitic and 
 Japhetic groups have branched. Another great area on the 
 coasts and in the islands of the Pacific is overspread by the 
 Malay, which, through the populations of Transgangetic In- 
 dia, connects itself with the great Indo-European line. Mr. 
 Edkins, in his remarkable book on " China's Place in Phi- 
 lolog}'"," has collected a large amount of fact tending to show 
 that the early Chinese in its monosyllabic radicals presents 
 root-forms traceable into all the stocks of human speech in 
 the Old World ; and the American languages would have fur- 
 nished him with similar lines of affinity. If we regard phys- 
 ical characters, manners, and customs, and mythologies, as 
 well as mere language, it is much easier thus to link togeth- 
 er nearly all the populations of the globe. In investigations 
 of this kind, it is true, the links of connection are often deli- 
 cate and evanescent; yet they have conveyed to the ablest 
 
 * " Man and his Migrations." See also " Descriptive Ethnology," 
 where the Semitic affinities are very strongly brought out. 
 
Unity and Antiquity of Man. 289 
 
 investigators the strong impression that the phenomena are 
 rather those of division of a radical language than of union 
 of several radically distinct. 
 
 This impression is farther strengthened when we regard 
 several results incidental to these researches. Latham has 
 shown that the languages of men may be regarded as ar- 
 ranged in lines of divergence, the extreme points of which 
 are Fuego, Tasmania, Easter Island ; and that from all these 
 points they converge to a common centre in Western Asia, 
 where we find a cluster of the most ancient and perfect lan- 
 guages; and even Haeckel is obliged to adopt in his map of 
 the affiliation of races of men a similar scheme, though he, 
 without any good historical or scientific evidence, extends it 
 back into the imaginary lost continent of Lemuria. Farther, 
 the languages of the various populations differ in proceeding 
 from these centres in a manner pointing to degeneracy such 
 as is likely to occur in small and rude tribes separating from 
 a parent stock. These lines of radiation follow the most 
 easy and probable lines of migration of the human race 
 spreading from one centre. It must also be observed that 
 in the primary migration of men, there must of necessity 
 have been at its extreme limits outlying and isolated tribes, 
 placed in circumstances in which language would very rapid- 
 ly change ; especially as these tribes, migrating or driven for- 
 ward, would be continually arriving at new- regions present- 
 ing new circumstances and objects. When at length the ut- 
 most limit in any direction was reached, the inroads of new 
 races of population would press into close contact these 
 various tribes with their different dialects. Where the dis- 
 tance was greatest before reaching this limit, we might ex- 
 pect, as in America, to find the greatest mutual variety and 
 amount of difference from the original stock. After the 
 
 N 
 
290 The Origin of the World. 
 
 primary migration had terminated, the displacements arising 
 from secondary migrations and conquests, would necessarily 
 complicate the matter by breaking up the original gradations 
 of difference, and thereby rendering lines of migration dif- 
 ficult to trace. 
 
 Taking all these points into the account, along with the 
 known tendencies of languages in all circumstances to vary, 
 it is really wonderful that philology is still able to give so de- 
 cided indications of unity. 
 
 There is, in the usual manner of speaking of these subjects, 
 a source of misapprehension, which deserves special mention 
 in this place. The Hebrew Scriptures derive all the nations 
 of the ancient world from three patriarchs, and the names of 
 these have often been attached to particular races of men 
 and their languages ; but it should never be supposed that 
 these classifications are likely to agree with the Bible affilia- 
 tion. They may to a certain extent do so, but not necessari- 
 ly or even probably. In the nature of the case, those por- 
 tions of these families which remained near the original cen- 
 tre, and in a civilized state, would retain the original language 
 and features comparatively unchanged. Those which wan- 
 dered far, fell into barbarism, or became subjected to extreme 
 climatic influences, would vary more in all respects. Hence 
 any general classification, whether on physical or philological 
 characters, will be likely to unite, as in the Caucasian group 
 of Cuvier, men of all the three primitive families, while it will 
 separate the outlying and aberrant portions from their main 
 stems of affiliation. Want of attention to this point has led to 
 much misconception ; and perhaps it would be well to aban- 
 don altogether terms founded on the names of the sons of 
 Noah, except where historical affiliation is the point in ques- 
 tion. It would be well if it were understood that v/hen the 
 
Unity and Antiquity of Man. 291 
 
 terms Semitic, Japhetic * and Hametic are used, direct ref- 
 erence is made to the Hebrew ethnology ; and that, where 
 other arrangements are adopted, other terms should be used. 
 It is obviously unfair to apply the terms of Moses in a dif- 
 ferent way from that in which he uses them. A very prev- 
 alent error of this kind has been to apply the term Japhetic 
 to a number of nations not of such origin according to the 
 Bible j and another of more modern date is to extend the 
 term Semitic to all the races descended from Ham, because 
 of resemblance of language. It should be borne in mind 
 that, assuming the truth of the Scriptural affiliation, there 
 should be a "central" group of races and languages where 
 the whole of the three families meet, and "sporadic"! groups 
 representing the changes of the outlying and barbarous 
 tribes. 
 
 While, however, all the more eminent philologists adhere 
 to the original unity of language, they are by no means agreed 
 as to the antiquity of man ; and some, as for instance Latham 
 and Dr. Max Midler, are disposed to claim an antiquity for 
 our species far beyond that usually admitted. In so far as 
 this affects the Bible history, it is important, inasmuch as this 
 would appear to limit the possible antiquity of all languages 
 to the time of the deluge. The date of this event has been 
 variously estimated, on Biblical grounds, at from 1650 B.C. 
 (Usher) to 3155 B.C. (Josephus and Hales); but the longest 
 of these dates does not appear to satisfy the demands of phi- 
 lology. The reason of this demand is the supposed length 
 
 * I can scarcely except such terms as "Japetic" and "Japetids," for 
 lapetus can hardly be any thing else than a traditional name borrowed 
 from Semitic ethnology, or handed down from the Japhetic progenitors 
 of the Greeks. 
 
 t See art. " Philology," Encyc. Brit. 
 
292 The Origin of the World. 
 
 of time required to effect the necessary changes. The subject 
 is one on which definite data can scarcely be obtained. Lan- 
 guages change now, even when reduced to a comparatively 
 stable form by writing. They change more rapidly when 
 men migrate into new climates, and are placed in contact 
 with new objects. The English, the Dutch, and the German 
 were perhaps all at the dawn of the mediaeval era Maeso- 
 Gothic. At the same rate of change, allowing for greater bar- 
 barism and greater migrations, they may very well have been 
 something not far from Egyptian or Sanscrit 2000 years be- 
 fore Christ. The truth is that present rates of variation afford 
 no criterion for the changes that must occur in the languages 
 of small and isolated tribes lapsing into or rising from bar- 
 barism, possessing few words, and constantly requiring to 
 name new objects ; and until some ratio shall have been es- 
 tablished between these conditions and those of modern lan- 
 guages, fixed by literature and by a comparatively stationary 
 state of society, it is useless to make any demands for longer 
 time on this ground.* 
 
 Even in the present day, Moftat informs us that in South 
 Africa the separation of parts of a tribe, for even a few months, 
 may produce a notable difference of dialect. If we take 
 the existing languages of civilized men whose history is known, 
 we shall find that it is impossible to trace many of them 
 back as far as the Christian era, and when we have passed 
 over even half that interval, they become so different as to 
 be unintelligible to those who now speak them. Where there 
 
 * Grammatical structure is no doubt more permanent than vocabulary, 
 yet we find great changes in the latter, both in tracing cognate languages 
 from one region to another, and from period to period. The Indo-Ger- 
 manic languages in Europe furnish enough of familiar instances. 
 
Unity and Antiquity of Man. 293 
 
 are exceptions to this, they arise entirely from the effects 
 of literature and artificial culture. While, therefore, there is 
 good ground in philology for the belief in one primitive lan- 
 guage, there seems no absolute necessity to have recourse 
 even to the confusion of tongues at Babel to explain the di- 
 versities of language.* Farther, the Bible carries back the 
 Semitic group of languages at least to the time of the Deluge, 
 but it does not seem necessary on the mere ground of ante- 
 diluvian names, to carry it any farther back, and the Assyrian 
 inscriptions show the co-existence of Turanian and Semitic 
 tongues at the dawn of history in the region of the Euphrates 
 and Tigris. One or other of these — or a monosyllabic lan- 
 guage underlying it — was probably an antediluvian tongue, 
 and the other a very early derivative ; and both history and 
 philology would assign the precedence to the Turanian lan- 
 guage, which was probably most akin to that which had de- 
 scended from antediluvian times, and which at that early 
 period of dispersion indicated in the Bible story of Babel, had 
 begun to throw off its two great branches of the Aryan and 
 Semitic languages. These, proceeding in two dissimilar lines 
 of development, continue to exist to this day along with the 
 surviving portions of the uncultivated Turanian speech. To 
 this point, however, we may return under another head. 
 
 * It is fair, however, to observe that the Bible refers the first great di- 
 vergence of language to a divine intervention at the Tower of Babel. The 
 precise nature of this we do not know ; but it would tend to diminish the 
 time required. 
 
294 -The Origin of the World. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 UNITY AND ANTIQUITY OF MAN— (C^«^/««^^.) 
 
 " By the word of God the heavens were from of old, and the earth, form- 
 ed out of water, and by means of water, by which waters the world that 
 then was, being overflowed with water, perished." — 2 Peter iii,, 5, 6. 
 
 3. Geological Evidence as to the Antiquity of Man. — No geo- 
 logical fact can now be more firmly established than the as- 
 cending progression of animal life, whereby from the early in- 
 vertebrates of the Eozoic and Primordial series we pass upward 
 through the dynasties of fishes and reptiles and brute mam- 
 mals to the reign of man. In this great series man is ob- 
 viously the last term ; and when we inquire at what point he 
 was introduced, the answer must be in the later part of the 
 great Cainozoic or Tertiary period, which is the latest of the 
 whole. Not only have we the negative fact of the absence 
 of his remains from all the earlier Tertiary formations, but 
 the positive fact that all the mammalia of these earlier ages 
 are now extinct, and that man could not have survived the 
 changes of condition which destroyed them and introduced 
 the species now our contemporaries. This fact is altogether 
 independent of any question as to the introduction of species 
 by derivation or by creation. The oldest geological period 
 in which any animals nearly related in structure to man 
 occur is that named the Miocene, and no traces of man 
 have as yet been found in any deposits of this age. All human 
 remains known belong either to the Pleistocene or Modern. 
 
Unity and Antiquity of Man, 295 
 
 Now the Pleistocene was characterized by one of those pe- 
 riods of glacial cold which have swept over the earth — by one 
 of those great winters which have so chilled the continents 
 that few forms of life could survive them — and man comes in 
 at the close of this cold period, in what is called the Post-gla- 
 cial age. Some geologists, it is true, hold to an interglacial 
 warm period, in which man is supposed to have existed, but 
 the evidence of this is extremely slender and doubtful, and it 
 carries back in any case human antiquity but a very little 
 way. I have, in my " Story of the Earth and Man," shown 
 reason for the belief, in which I find Professor Hughes, of 
 Cambridge, coincides with me,* that the interglacial periods 
 are merely an ingenious expedient to get rid of the difficul- 
 ties attending the hypothesis of the universal glaciation of 
 the northern hemisphere. 
 
 But, though man is thus geologically modern, it is held 
 that historically his existence on earth may have been very 
 ancient, extending perhaps ten or twenty, or even a hundred 
 times longer than the period of six or seven thousand years 
 supposed to be proved by sacred history. Let us first, as 
 plainly and simply as possible, present the facts supposed 
 thus to extend the antiquity of man, and then inquire as to 
 their validity and force as arguments in this direction. 
 
 The arguments from geology in favor of a great antiquity 
 for man may be summarized thus: (i) Human remains are 
 found in caverns under very thick stalagmitic crusts, and in 
 deposits of earth which must have accumulated before these 
 stalagmites began to form, and when the caverns were differ- 
 ently situated with reference to the local drainages. (2) Re- 
 mains of man are found under peat-bogs which have grown 
 
 * Lecture in the Roval Institution, March 24, 1876. 
 
296 TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 so little in modern times that their antiquity on the whole 
 must be very great. (3) Implements, presumably made by 
 men, are found in river-gravels so high above existing river- 
 beds that great physical changes must have occurred since 
 they were accumulated. (4) One case is on record where a 
 human bone is believed to have been found under a deposit 
 of glacial age. (5) Human remains have been found under 
 circumstances which indicate that very important changes of 
 level have taken place since their accumulation. (6) Human 
 remains have been found under circumstances which indicate 
 great changes of climate as intervening between their date 
 and that of the modern period. (7) Man is known to have 
 existed, in Europe at least, at the same time with some quad- 
 rupeds formerly supposed to have been extinct before his in- 
 troduction. (8) The implements, weapons, etc., found in the 
 oldest of these repositories are different from those known to 
 have been used in historic times. 
 
 These several heads include, I think, all the really material 
 evidence of a geological character. It is evidence of a kind 
 not easily reducible into definite dates, but there can be no 
 doubt that its nature, and the rapid accumulation of facts 
 within a small number of years, have created a deep and 
 widespread conviction among geologists and archaeologists 
 that we must relegate the origin of man to a much more re- 
 mote antiquity than that sanctioned by history or by the Bib- 
 lical chronology. I shall first review the character of this 
 evidence, and then state a number of geological facts which 
 bear in the other direction, and have been somewhat lost 
 sight of in recent discussions. Of the facts above referred to, 
 the most important are those which relate to caverns, peat- 
 bogs, and river-gravels. We may, therefore, first consider the 
 nature and amount of this evidence. 
 
Unity and Antiquity of Man. 297 
 
 That the reader may more distinctly understand the geo- 
 logical history of these more recent periods of the earth's 
 history which are supposed to have witnessed the advent of 
 man, in AVestern Europe at least, I quote the following sum- 
 mary from Sir Charles Lyell of the more modern changes in 
 that portion of the world. These are : 
 
 "First, a continental period, toward the close of which the 
 forest of Cromer flourished : when the land was at least 500 
 feet above its present level, perhaps much higher. * * * The 
 remains oi Hippopotamus major and Rhinoceros etrusais, found 
 in beds of this period, seem to indicate a climate somewhat 
 milder than that now prevailing in Great Britain. [This was 
 a Frcglacial era, and may be regarded as belonging to the 
 close of the Pliocene tertiary.] 
 
 " Secondly, a period of submergence, by which the land 
 north of the Thames and Bristol Channel, and that of Ire- 
 land, was generally reduced to * * * an archipelago. * * * 
 This was the period of great submergence and of floating 
 ice, when the Scandinavian flora, which occupied the lower 
 grounds during the first continental period, may have obtain- 
 ed exclusive possession of the only lands not covered with 
 perpetual snow. [This represents the Glacial period ; but 
 according to the more extreme glacialists only a portion of 
 that period.] 
 
 " Thirdly, a second continental period, when the bed of the 
 glacial sea, with its marine shells and erratic blocks, was laid 
 dry, and when the quantity of land equalled that of the first 
 period. * =* * During this period there were glaciers in the 
 higher mountains of Scotland and Wales, and the Welsh 
 glaciers * * * pushed before them and cleared out the 
 marine drift with which some valleys had been filled during 
 the period of submergence. * * * During this last period 
 
 N 2 
 
298 The Origin of the World. 
 
 the passage of the Germanic flora into the British area took 
 place, and the Scandinavian plants, together with northern 
 insects, birds, and quadrupeds, retreated into the higher 
 grounds. =* * * 
 
 " Fourthly, the next and last change comprised the break- 
 ing up of the land of the British area once more into numer- 
 ous islands, ending in the present geographical condition of 
 things. There were probably many oscillations of level dur- 
 ing this last conversion of continuous land into islands, and 
 such movements in opposite directions would account for the 
 occurrence of marine shells at moderate heights above the 
 level of the sea, notwithstanding a general lowering of the 
 land. * * * During this period a gradual amelioration of 
 temperature took place, from the cold of the glacial period 
 to the climate of historical times.''* 
 
 The second continental period above referred to is that 
 which appears on the best evidence to have been the time of 
 the introduction of man ; but such facts as that of the Settle 
 Cave, and the implements of the breccia in Kent's Cave, if 
 rightly interpreted, would make man preglacial or " inter- 
 glacial." 
 
 The deposits found in caverns in France, Switzerland, 
 Germany, Belgium, and England have afforded a large pro- 
 portion of the remains from which we derive our notions of 
 the most ancient prehistoric men of Europe. From the Bel- 
 gian caves, as explored by M. Dupont, we learn that there 
 were two successive prehistoric races, both rude or com- 
 paratively uncivilized. The first were men of Turanian type, 
 but of great bodily stature and high cerebral organization, 
 and showing remarkable skill in the manufacture of imple- 
 
 * " Antiquity of Man," 4th ed. 
 
Unity and Antiquity of Man. 299 
 
 merits and ornaments of bone and ivoiy. These men are be- 
 lieved to have been contemporary with the earlier postglacial 
 mammals, as the mammoth and hairy rhinoceros, and to 
 have lived at a time when the European land was more ex- 
 tensive than at present, stretching far to the west of Ireland, 
 and connectins: Great Britain with the Continent. The skele- 
 tons found at Cro-Magnon, Mentone, and elsewhere in France 
 fully confirm the deductions of Dupont as to this earliest race 
 of Palaeocosmic, Palaeolithic, or antediluvian man. This grand 
 race seems to have perished or been driven from Europe by 
 the great depression of the level of the land which inaugu- 
 rated the modern era, and which was probably accompanied 
 by many oscillations of level as well as by considerable 
 changes of climate. They were succeeded by a second 
 race, equally Turanian in type, but of small stature, and re- 
 sembling the modern Lapps. These were the "allophylian" 
 peoples displaced by the historical Celts, and up to their 
 time the reindeer seems to have existed abundantly in France 
 and Germany. These two successive prehistoric populations 
 have been termed respectively men of the " mammoth " age 
 and men of the " reindeer " age. The Bible record would 
 lead us to regard the earlier and gigantic men as antediluvian, 
 and the smaller or Lappish race as postdiluvian. We may 
 therefore, having already at some length considered the post- 
 diluvian age, take up the mode of occurrence of the remains 
 of the earlier of the two races — that of the mammoth age. 
 
 The caverns themselves may be divided into those of resi- 
 dence, of sepulture, and of driftage, though one cavern has 
 often successively assumed two at least of these characters. 
 In the caverns of residence large accumulations have been 
 formed of ashes, charcoal, bones, and other debris of cookery,- 
 amons which are found flint and bone implements, the gen- 
 
300 The Origin of the World. 
 
 eral character of which, as well as that of the needles, stone 
 hammers, mortars for paint, and other domestic appliances, 
 are not more dissimilar from those of the Red Indian and 
 Esquimau races in North America than these are from one 
 another, and in many things, as in the bone harpoons, the re- 
 semblance is very striking indeed. In tendency to imitative 
 art, and in the skill of their delineations of animals, the pre- 
 historic men seem to have surpassed all the American races 
 except the semi-civilized mound-builders and the more cul- 
 tivated Mexican and Peruvian nations. With regard to the 
 residence of these men of the mammoth age in caverns, sev- 
 eral things are indicated by American analogies to which 
 some attention should be paid. 
 
 It is not likely that caverns were the usual places of resi- 
 dence of the whole population. They may have been winter 
 houses for small tribes and detached families of fugitives or 
 outlaws, or they may have been places of resort for hunting 
 parties at certain seasons of the year. The large quantities 
 of broken and uncooked bones of particular species, as of the 
 horse and reindeer, in some of the caverns, would farther in- 
 dicate a habit of making great battues, like those of the 
 American hunting tribes, at certain seasons, and of preparing 
 quantities of pemmican or dried meat preserved with marrow 
 and fat for future use. The number of bone needles found 
 in some of the caves would seem to hint that, like the Amer- 
 icans, they sewed up their pemmican in skin bags. The mul- 
 titude of flint flakes and of rude stone implements applicable 
 to breaking bones certainly indicates a wholesale cutting of 
 flesh and preparation of marrow. In the " Story of the 
 Earth," I have suggested in connection with this that there 
 may have been towns or villages of these people unknown 
 to us, and w-hich would afford higher conceptions of their 
 
Unity and Antiquity of Man, 301 
 
 progress in the arts. This anticipation appears recently to 
 have been realized in the discovery of such a town or forti- 
 fied village of the mammoth age at Soloutre, in France, and 
 which seems to afford evidence that these ancient people had 
 already domesticated the horse, using it as food as well as a 
 beast of burden, in the manner of the Khirgis and certain other 
 Tartar tribes of Central Asia.* This, with the undoubtedly 
 high cerebral organization indicated by the skulls of the mam- 
 moth age, notably raises our estimate of the position of man 
 at this early date. 
 
 With regard to caves of sepulture, the same remark may be 
 made as with regard to the caves of residence. They do not 
 seem to have been the burial-places of large populations, but 
 only occasional places of interment, few bodies being found 
 in them, and these often interred in the midst of culinary de- 
 bris, evidencing previous or contemporary residence. With 
 regard to the latter, it seems to have been no uncommon prac- 
 tice with some North American tribes to bury the dead either 
 in the floors of their huts or in their immediate proximity. 
 It is probable, however, that the few examples known of caves 
 of sepulture of this period indicate not tribal or national 
 places of burial, but occasional and accidental cases, happen- 
 ing to hunting or war parties, perhaps remote from their or- 
 dinary places of residence. In so far as method of burial is 
 concerned, the men of the Palaeocosmic or Mammoth age 
 seem to have buried the dead extended at full length, and 
 not in the crouching posture usual with some later races. 
 Like the Americans, they painted the dead man, and buried 
 him with his robes and ornaments, and probably with his 
 weapons, thus intimating their belief in happy hunting- 
 
 * Southall, Op. cit. 
 
302 The Origin of the World. 
 
 grounds beyond the grave.* I may remark here that all the 
 known interments of the mammoth age indicate a race of 
 men of great cerebral capacity, with long heads and coarsely 
 marked features, of large stature and muscular vigor, surpass- 
 ing indeed much in all these respects the average man of 
 modern Europe. These characteristics befit men who had 
 to contend with the mammoth and his contemporaries, and 
 to subdue the then vast wildernesses of the eastern continent, 
 and they correspond with the Biblical characteristics of ante- 
 diluvian man. 
 
 Among caves of driftage may be classed some of those 
 near Liege, in Belgium, and, partially at least, those of Kent's 
 Hole and Brixham, in England. In these only disarticu- 
 lated remnants of human skeletons, or more frequently only 
 flint implements, some of them of doubtful character, have 
 been found. In my "Story of the Earth," I have taken the 
 carefully explored Kent's Cavern of Torquay as a typical ex- 
 ample, and have condensed its phenomena as described by 
 Mr. Pengelly. I now repeat this description, wdth some im- 
 portant emendations suggested by that gentleman in more 
 recent reports and in private correspondence. 
 
 The somewhat extensive and ramifying cavern of Kent's 
 Hole is an irregular excavation, evidently due partly to fis- 
 sures or joints in limestone rock, and partly to the erosive 
 action of water enlarging such fissures into chambers and 
 galleries. At what time it was originally cut we do not 
 know, but it must have existed as a cavern at the close of 
 the Pliocene or beginning of the Post-pliocene period, since 
 which time it has been receiving a series of deposits which 
 have quite filled up some of its smaller branches. 
 
 * The Mentone skeleton described by Dr. Riviere gives evidence of 
 these facts. 
 
Unity and Antiquity of Man, 303 
 
 First and lowest, according to Mr. Pengelly, of the deposits 
 as yet known, is a " breccia," or mass of broken and rounded 
 stones, with hardened red clay filling the interstices. Some 
 of the stones are of the rock which forms the roof and walls 
 of the cave, but the greater number, especially the rounded 
 ones, are from more distant parts of the surrounding country. 
 Many are fragments of grit from the Devonian beds of adja- 
 cent hills. There are also fragments of stalagmite from an 
 old crust broken up when the breccia was deposited, and 
 possibly belonging to Pliocene times. In this mass, the 
 depth of which is unknown, are numerous bones, nearly all of 
 one kind of animal, the cave bear or bears, for there may be 
 more than one species — creatures which seem to have lived in 
 Western Europe from the close of the Pliocene down to the 
 modern period. They must have been among the earliest 
 and most permanent tenants of Kent's Hole at a time when 
 its lower chambers were still filled with water. Teeth of a 
 lion and of the common fox also occur in this deposit, but 
 rarely. Next above the breccia is a floor of " stalagmite," or 
 stony carbonate of lime, deposited from the drippings of the 
 roof, and in some places more than twelve feet thick. This 
 also contains bones of the cave bear, deposited when there 
 was less access of water to the cavern. Mr. Pengelly infers 
 the existence of man at this time from the occurrence of 
 chipped flints supposed to be artificial ; but which, in so far 
 as I can judge from the specimens described and figured, 
 must still be regarded as of doubtful origin. 
 
 After the old stalagmite floor above mentioned was formed, 
 the cave again received deposits of muddy water and stones ; 
 but now a change occurs in the remains embedded. This 
 stony clay, or " cave earth," has yielded an immense quantity 
 of teeth and bones, including those of the elephant, rhinoce- 
 
304 TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 ros, horse, hyena, cave bear, reindeer, and Irish elk. With 
 these were found weapons of chipped flint, and harpoons, 
 needles, and bodkins of bone, precisely similar to those of 
 the North American Indians and other rude races. The 
 "cave earth" is four feet or more in thickness. It is not 
 stratified, and contains many fallen fragments of rock, round- 
 ed stones, and broken pieces of stalagmite. It also has 
 patches of the excrement of hyenas, which the explorers sup- 
 pose to indicate the temporary residence of these animals; 
 and besides fragments of charcoal scattered in the mass, 
 there is in one spot, near the top, a limited layer of burned 
 wood, with remains which indicate the cooking and eating of 
 repasts of animal food by man. It is clear that when this 
 bed was formed the cavern was liable to be inundated with 
 muddy water, carrying stones and perhaps some of the 
 bones and implements, and breaking up in places the old 
 stalagmite floor.* One of the most puzzling features, es- 
 pecially to those who take an exclusively uniformitarian 
 view, is that the entrance of water-borne mud and stones 
 implies a level of the bottom of the water in the neighboring 
 valleys of nearly one hundred feet above its present height. 
 The cave earth is covered by a second crust of stalagmite, 
 less dense and thick than that below, and containing only 
 a few bones, which are of the same general character with 
 those beneath, but include a fragment of a human jaw with 
 teeth. Evidently when this stalagmite was formed the in- 
 flux of water-borne materials had ceased, or nearly so ; and 
 Mr. Pengelly appears to affirm, though without assigning any 
 
 * Mr. Pengelly declines to admit this ; but assigns no cause for the 
 breaking up of portions of the old floor, which he merely refers in general 
 terms to "natural causes." 
 
Unity and Antiquity of Man. 305 
 
 reason, that none of these bones could, like the masses of 
 stalagmite, have been lifted from lower beds, or washed into 
 the cave from without. 
 
 The next bed marks a new change. It is a layer of black 
 mould from three to ten inches thick. Its microscopic 
 structure does not seem to have been examined ; but it is 
 probably a forest soil, introduced by growth, by water, by 
 wind, and by ingress of animals, all of them modern, and 
 contains works of art from the old British times before the 
 Roman invasion up to the porter bottles and dropped half- 
 pence of modern visitors. Lastly, in and upon the black 
 mould are many fallen blocks from the roof of the cave. 
 
 There can be no doubt that this cave and the neighboring 
 one of Brixham have done very much to impress the minds 
 of British geologists with ideas of the great antiquity of man ; 
 and they have, more than any other post-glacial monuments, 
 shown the existence of some animals now extinct up to the 
 human age. Of precise data for determining time, they 
 have, however, given nothing. The only measures which 
 seem to have been applied, namely, the rate of growth of 
 stalagmite and the rate of erosion of neighboring valleys, 
 are, from the very sequence of the deposits, obviously worth- 
 less ; and the only apparently constant measure, namely, the 
 fall of blocks from the roof, seems not to have been applied, 
 and ]\Ir. Pengelly declares that it can not be practically 
 used. We are therefore quite uncertain as to the number of 
 centuries involved in the filling of this cave, and must re- 
 main so until some surer system of calculation can be de- 
 vised. We may, however, attempt to sketch the series of 
 events which it indicates. 
 
 The animals found in Kent's Hole are all "post-glacial," 
 some of them of course survivors from "pre-glacial" times, 
 
3o6 The Origin of the World. 
 
 and some of them still surviving. They therefore inhabited 
 the country after it rose from the great glacial submergence. 
 Perhaps the first colonists of the coast of Devonshire in this 
 period were the cave bears, migrating on floating ice, and 
 subsisting like the arctic bear and the black bear of Anti- 
 costi, on fish, and on the garbage cast up by the sea. They 
 may have found Kent's Hole a sea-side cavern, with perhaps 
 some of its galleries still full of water and filling with breccia, 
 with which the bones of dead bears became mixed. In the 
 case of such a deposit as this breccia, however, the precise 
 time when its materials were finally laid down in their pres- 
 ent form, or the length of time necessary for its accumula- 
 tion, can not be definitely settled. It may be a result of con- 
 tinued torrential action or of some sudden cataclysm. As 
 the land rose, these creatures for the most part betook them- 
 selves to lower levels, and in process of time the cavern 
 stood upon a hill - side, perhaps several hundreds of feet 
 above the sea ; and the mountain streams, their beds not yet 
 emptied of glacial detritus, washed into it stones and mud, 
 and probably bones also, while it appears that hyenas occu- 
 pied the cave at intervals, and dragged in remains of mam- 
 mals of many species which had now swarmed across the 
 plains elevated out of the sea, and multiplied in the land. 
 This was the time of the cave earth ; and before its deposit 
 w^as completed, though how long before an unstratified and 
 therefore probably often-disturbed bed of this kind can not 
 tell, man himself seems to have been added to the inhabit- 
 ants of the British land. In pursuit of game he sometimes 
 ascended the valleys beyond the cavern, or even penetrated 
 into its outer chambers ; or perhaps there were even in those 
 days rude and savage hill-men, inhabiting the forests and war- 
 ring with the more cultivated denizens of plains below, which 
 
Unity and Antiquity of Man. 307 
 
 are now deep under the waters. Their weapons, and other im- 
 plements dropped in the cavern or lost in hunting, or buried 
 in the flesh of wounded animals which crept to the streams 
 to assuage their thirst, are those found in the cave earth. 
 The absence of the human bones may merely show that the 
 mighty hunters of those days were too hardy, athletic, and 
 intelligent often to perish from accidental causes, and that 
 they did not use this cavern for a place of burial. The frag- 
 ments of charcoal show that they were acquainted with fire, 
 and possibly that they sometimes took shelter in the cave. 
 But the land again subsided. The valley of that now name- 
 less river, of which the Rhine and the Thames may have 
 alike been tributaries, disappeared under the sea ; and per- 
 haps some tribe, driven from the lower lands, took up its 
 abode in this cave, now again near the encroaching waves, 
 and left there the remains of their last repasts ere they were 
 driven farther inland or engulfed in the waters. For a time 
 the cavern may have been wholly submerged, and the char- 
 coal of the extinguished fires became covered with its thin 
 coating of clay. But ere long it re-emerged to form part of 
 an island, long barren and desolate ; and the valleys having 
 been cut deeper by the receding waters, it no longer received 
 muddy deposits, and the crust formed by drippings from its 
 roof contained only bones and pebbles washed by rains and 
 occasional land floods from its own clay deposits. Finally, 
 the modern forests overspread the land, and were tenanted 
 by the modern animals. Man returned to use the cavern 
 again as a place of refuge or habitation, and to leave there 
 the relics contained in the black earth. This seems at pres- 
 ent the only intelligible history of this curious cave and oth- 
 ers resembling it ; though, when we consider the imperfection 
 of the results obtained even by a large amount of labor, and 
 
3o8 The Origin of the World. 
 
 the difficult and confused character of the deposits in this 
 and similar caves, too much value should not be attached 
 to such histories, which may at any time be contradicted or 
 modified by new facts or different explanations of those al- 
 ready known. The time involved depends very much on the 
 answer to the question whether we should regard the post- 
 glacial subsidence and re-elevation as somewhat sudden, or 
 as occupying long ages at the slow rate at which some parts 
 of our continents are now rising or sinking. 
 
 Mr. Pengelly thinks it possible, but not proved, that the 
 lower breccia of Kent's Cavern may be interglacial or pre- 
 glacial in age. One case only is known where a human 
 bone has been found in a cavern under deposits supposed 
 to be of the nature of the glacial drift. It is that of the Vic- 
 toria Cave, at Settle, in Yorkshire. At this place a human 
 fibula was found under a layer of boulder clay. But there 
 are too many chances of this bone having come into this po- 
 sition by some purely local accident to allow us to attach 
 much importance to it until future discoveries shall have 
 supplied other instances of the kind.* 
 
 I may close this survey of the cave deposits with a sum- 
 mary of the results of M. Dupont, as obtained from two of 
 the caves explored by him, that of Margite and that of Fron- 
 tal. In the first of these caverns, resting on rolled pebbles 
 which covered the floor, were four distinct lavers of river 
 mud deposited by inundations, and amounting to two yards 
 and a half in thickness. In all of these layers were bones. 
 The lowest contained rude flint implements, and bones of 
 the mammoth, rhinoceros, bear, horse, chamois, reindeer, 
 
 * This whole subject of supposed preglacial or interglacial men is still 
 in great confusion and uncertainty, and is complicated with questions, still 
 debated, as to the ages of the supposed glacial and post-glacial deposits. 
 
Unity and Antiquity of Man. 309 
 
 stag, and hyena. In the overlying deposits are some flint 
 implements of more artistic form and a greater prevalence 
 of the bones of the reindeer. In the second cave, that of 
 Frontal, over a similar deposit of alluvial mud of the mam- 
 moth age, was found a sepulchre containing the remains of 
 sixteen individuals, of the second or diminutive Lappish race 
 before referred to. The door of the cave had been closed 
 by these people with a slab of stone, and in front was a 
 hearth for funeral feasts, built on the deposits of the mam- 
 moth age, and containing bones of animals all recent or now 
 living in Belgium, and without any traces of the bones of the 
 extinct quadrupeds. This burial-place belonged to the Neo- 
 cosmic yet prehistoric race which replaced the Palasocosmic 
 men of the mammoth age. 
 
 What is the absolute antiquity of the Palaeocosmic age in 
 Europe .'' We have no monumental or historical chronology 
 to answer this question, but only the measures of time fur- 
 nished by the accumulation of deposits, by the deposition of 
 stalagmite, by the gradual extinction of animals, and by the 
 erosion of valleys and other physical changes. These some- 
 what loose measures have been applied in various ways, but 
 the tendency of geologists, from the prevalence of uniformi- 
 tarian views, and the prejudice created by familiarity with 
 the long times of previous geologic periods, has been to as- 
 sign to them too great rather than too little value, both as 
 measures of time and as indicating a remote antiquity. 
 
 With reference to the accumulation of deposits, whether 
 derived from disintegration of the roof and walls of the cave, 
 introduced by land floods or river inundations or by the 
 residence of man, their rate is of very difficult estimation. 
 Loose stones fallen from the roof, as in the case of Kent's 
 Cave, would give a fair measure of time if we could be sure 
 
o 
 
 lo The Origin of the World. 
 
 that the climate had continued uniform, and that there had 
 been no violent earthquakes. Mr. Pengelly has, however, 
 hopelessly given up this kind of evidence. Where, as in the 
 case of many of these caves, land floods and river inundations 
 have entered, these may have been frequent or separated by 
 long intervals of time, and they may have been of great or 
 small amount. Where, for instance, as in one of the Belgian 
 caves, there are six beds of ossiferous mud, but for the fact 
 that five layers of stalagmite separate them we might not 
 have known whether they represent six annual inundations, 
 or floods separated by many centuries from each other. 
 
 In the case of the Victoria Cave at Settle, Dawkins, reason- 
 ing from the accumulation of two feet of detritus over British 
 remains that may be supposed to be 1200 years old, gives a 
 basis which would at the same rate of deposit allow about 
 5000 years for the date of palaeolithic men; but Prestwich 
 and others, on the basis of stalagmite deposits, claim a vastly 
 higher antiquity for the men who made the implements found 
 in Kent's Hole and Brixham. 
 
 If we now turn to these stalagmite fioors, when we consider 
 that they have been formed by the slow solution of limestone 
 by rain-water charged with carbonic acid, and the dropping of 
 this water on the floor, and when we are told that in Kent's 
 Cavern a marked date shows that the stalagmite has grown at 
 the rate of only one twentieth of an inch since 1688, and that 
 there are two beds of stalagmite, one of which is in some 
 places twelve feet thick, we are impressed with the conviction 
 of a vast antiquity. But when we are told by Dawkins that 
 the rate of deposit in Ingleborough Cave may be estimated 
 at a quarter of an inch per annum, and when we consider 
 that the present rate of deposit in Kent's Hole is probably 
 very different from what it was in the former condition of the 
 
Unity and Antiquity of Man. 311 
 
 country, stalagmite becomes a very unsafe measure of time. 
 Witli respect again to tlie accumulation of kitchen -midden 
 stuff in the course of the occupancy of caverns, this proceeds 
 with great rapidity, when caves are steadily occupied and it 
 is not the practice to cleanse out the debris of fires, food, and 
 bedding. Even when the occupation is temporary, a tribe of 
 savages engaged with the preparation of dried meat and pem- 
 mican in a very short time produce a considerable heap of 
 bones and other rejectamenta. 
 
 Looking next to the extinction of animals, we find that the 
 species found in the oldest deposits containing human re- 
 mains are in part still extant. Others which are locally ex- 
 tinct we know existed in Europe until historical times, that 
 is, within the last two thousand years. How long previously 
 to this the others became extinct we have no certain means 
 of knowing, though it seems probable that they disappeared 
 gradually and successively. We have, however, farther to 
 bear in mind the possibility of cataclysms or climatal changes 
 which may have proved speedily fatal to many species over 
 large areas. In any case we have this certain fact that, 
 though the time elapsed has been sufficient for the extinction 
 of many species, it does not seem to have sufficed to effect 
 any noteworthy change on those that survived. Farther, we 
 may consider that time is only one factor in this matter, and 
 not the one which is the efficient cause of change, since we 
 know no reason why one species of animal should not con- 
 tinue to be reproduced as long as another, but for the occur- 
 rence of physical changes of a prejudicial character. 
 
 We have still remaining the changes which have taken 
 place in the erosion of valleys since the caverns were occu- 
 pied. Dupont informs us that the openings of some of the 
 caverns once flooded by rivers are now in limestone cliffs two 
 
312 The Origin of the World. 
 
 hundred feet above the water, while no appreciable lowering 
 of the bottoms of the ravines is taking place now. This would 
 in some contingencies put back the period of filling of the 
 caves to an indefinite antiquity. But then the questions 
 occur — Was there once more water in the rivers or more ob- 
 struction at their outlets, or was the erosive power greater at 
 one time than now, or were the river valleys excavated in still 
 more ancient time, and partly filled with mud when the water 
 entered the caves, and may this mud have been since swept 
 away .? So, in like manner, the waters flowing in the channels 
 near Brixham Cave and Kent's Hole were apparently about 
 seventy feet higher in times of flood than at present, but the 
 time involved is subject to the same doubts as in the case of 
 the Belgian caves. Hughes has well remarked that elevations 
 of the land, by causing rivers to form waterfalls and cascades, 
 which they cut back, may greatly accelerate the rate of ero- 
 sion. Farther, there is the best reason to believe that in the 
 glacial period many old valleys were filled with clay, and that 
 the modern cutting consisted merely in the removal of this 
 clay. Belt has shown in a recent paper* good reason to be- 
 lieve that this is the case with the Falls of Niagara, and that 
 the cutting actually effected through rock within the later Ple- 
 istocene and modern period has been that only of the new 
 gorge from the whirlpool to Queenstown, the main part of the 
 ravine being of older date and merely re-excavated. This 
 would greatly reduce the ordinary estimate of time based on 
 the cutting of the Niagara gorge. 
 
 This leads us next to consider the occurrence of human re- 
 mains and objects of art in the river-gravels themselves, and 
 the amount of excavation and deposit involved in the deposi- 
 
 * Quarterly Journal of Science^ April, 1875. 
 
Unity and Antiquity of Man. 313 
 
 lion of these gravels. In the river-gravels of the Somme, and 
 of many other rivers in France and Southern England, chip- 
 ped flints and rude flint implements are found in so great 
 quantity as to imply that the beds and banks of these streams 
 were resorted to for flint material, and that the unfinished and 
 rejected implements left in the holes and trenches, or on the 
 heaps where the work was carried on, were afterward sorted by 
 running water, perhaps in abnormal floods and debacles, such 
 as occur in all river valleys occasionally, perhaps in that great 
 diluvial catastrophe which seems to have terminated the resi- 
 dence of Palasocosmic man in Europe. Wilson has well shown 
 how the heaps left by American tribes in and near their flint 
 quarries would furnish the material for such accumulations. 
 The time required for the erosion of the valleys and the de- 
 posit of the gravels has been very variously estimated. In 
 the case of the Somme, which river is not appreciably deepen- 
 ing its bed, if we suppose it to have cut its wide valley to the 
 depth of one hundred and fifty feet out of solid chalk since 
 the so-called "high level" gravels of France and the South of 
 England were deposited, the time required shades off into in- 
 finity. So Evans, in his work on " The Ancient Stone Imple- 
 ments of Great Britain," looking upon the amount of excava- 
 tion of wide and deep valleys since the stone implements of 
 Bournemouth are supposed to have been deposited in gravel, 
 says, " Who can fully comprehend how immensely remote was 
 the epoch when that vast bay was high and dry land?" and 
 he becomes poetical in delineating the view that must have 
 met the eyes of "palaeolithic" man. And undoubtedly, if 
 one is to be limited to the precise nature and amount of 
 causes now at work in the district, the time must not only be 
 "immensely remote," but inimitably so. The difliculty lies 
 with the exaggerated uniformitarianism of the supposition that 
 
 O 
 
314 T^h^ Origin of the World. 
 
 such causes could have produced the results. But, for rea- 
 sons to be immediately stated, the time required is liable to 
 numerous deductions; and recently Tylor, Pattison, Collard, 
 and others have insisted ably on these deductions, as has also 
 Professor Hughes, of Cambridge. I have myself urged them 
 strongly in the work already referred to. 
 
 In the first place, when we see a deep river valley in which 
 the present stream is doing an almost infinitesimal amount 
 of deepening, we are not to infer that this represents all its 
 work past and present. In times of unusual flood it may do 
 in one week more than in many previous years. Farther, if 
 there have been elevations or depressions of the land, when 
 the land has been raised the cutting power has at once been 
 enormously increased, and when depressed it has been dimin- 
 ished, or filling has taken the place of cutting. Again, if the 
 climate in time past has been more extreme, or the amount 
 of rainfall greater, the cutting action has then been propor- 
 tionally rapid. Perhaps no influence is greater in this re- 
 spect than that which is known to the colonists in Northeast- 
 ern America as " ice-freshets," when in spring, before the ice 
 has had time to disappear from the rivers, sudden thaws and 
 rains produce great floods, which rushing down over the icy 
 crust, or breaking and hurling its masses before them, work ter- 
 rible havoc on the banks and alluvial flats, depositing great 
 beds of gravel, and sweeping away immense masses that had 
 lain undisturbed for centuries. Now we know that in Europe 
 the human period was preceded by what has been termed the 
 glacial age, and as it was passing away there must have been 
 unexampled floods and ice-freshets, and a temporary "pluvial 
 period," as it has been called, in which the volume of the 
 rivers was immensely increased. Farther, it is an established 
 fact that the period of the appearance of man was a time when 
 
h 
 
 Unity and Antiquity of Man. 315 
 
 the continents in the northern hemisphere were more elevated 
 than at present, and when consequently the cutting action of 
 rivers was at a maximum. This was again followed by a 
 period of depression, accompanied probably by many local 
 cataclysms, if not by a general deluge ; and there are strong 
 geological reasons to believe that this convulsion was con- 
 nected with the disappearance from Europe of Palaeocosmic 
 man, and many of the animals his contemporaries. This 
 view I advocated some time ago in my " Story of the Earth ;" 
 and more recently Mr. Pattison, in an able paper read be- r 
 fore the Victoria Institute, has developed it in greater detail, 
 and supported it by a great mass of geological authority. 
 If the Palaeocosmic period was one of continental elevation, 
 when the greater seats of population were in the valleys of 
 great rivers now covered by the German Ocean and the En- 
 glish Channel, and when the valleys of the Thames and the 
 Somme were those of upland streams frequented by straggling 
 parties and small tribes, and the seats of extensive flint facto- 
 ries for the supply of the plains below, and if this state of 
 things was terminated by a diluvial debacle, we can account 
 for all the phenomena of the drift implements without any 
 extravagant estimate of time. 
 
 I quote with much pleasure on this subject the following 
 from the report of a lecture on " Geological Measures of 
 Time," by Professor Hughes, before the Royal Institution 
 of London. Hughes was, like myself, a companion of Sir 
 Charles Lyell in some of his journeys, though belonging to 
 a younger generation of geologists, and is an accurate ob- 
 server and reasoner. 
 
 " Another method of estimating the lapse of time is found- 
 ed upon the supposed rate at which rivers scoojd out their 
 channels. Although no very exact estimates have been at- 
 
3i6 TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 tempted, still the immense quantity of work that has been 
 done, as compared with the slow rate at which a river is now 
 excavating that same part of the valley, is often appealed to 
 as a proof of a great lapse of time. 
 
 " The fact of such an enormous lapse of time is not ques- 
 tioned, but this part of the evidence is challenged. 
 
 " The previous considerations of the rate of accumulation 
 of silt on the low lands prepares us to inquire whether there 
 is any waste at all along the alluvial plains. Several examples 
 were given to show that the lowering of valleys was brought 
 about by receding rapids and waterfalls ; for instance, follow- 
 ing up the Rhine, its terraces could often be traced back to 
 where the waterfall was seen to produce at once almost all 
 the difference of level between the river reaches above and 
 below it. At Schaffhausen the river terrace below the hotel 
 could be traced back and found to be continuous with the 
 river margin above the fall. The wide plains occurring here 
 and there, such as the Mayence basin, were due to the river 
 being arrested by the hard rocks of the gorges below Bingen 
 so long that it had time to wind from side to side through the 
 soft rocks above the gorges. When waterfalls cut back to 
 such basins or to lakes they would recede rapidly, tapping 
 the waters of the lake, eating back the soft beds of the alluvial 
 plains, and probably in both cases leaving terraces as evidence, 
 not of upheavals or of convulsions, but of the arrival of a wa- 
 terfall which had been gradually travelling up the valley. So 
 when the Rhone cuts back from the falls at Belgarde we shall 
 have terraces where now is the shore of Geneva; so also when 
 the Falls of Schaffhausen, and ages afterward when the Falls 
 of Laufenburg have tapped the Lake of Constance, there will 
 be terraces marking its previous levels. And so we may ex- 
 plain the former greater extent of the Lake of Zurich, which 
 
Unity and Antiquity of Man. 317 
 
 stood higher and spread wider by Utznach and Wetzikon before 
 it was tapped by the arrival of waterfalls, which cut back into it 
 and let its waters run off until they fell to their present level. 
 
 " A small upheaval near the mouth of a river would have a 
 similar effect. The Thames below London and the Somme 
 below St. Acheul can now only just hand on the mud brought 
 down from higher ground; but suppose an elevation of a 
 hundred feet over those parts of England and France (quite 
 imperceptible if extended over 10,000, 1000, or even 100 
 years), and the rivers would tumble over soft mud and clay 
 and chalk, and soon eat their way back from Sheppey to 
 London, and from St. Valery to Amiens. 
 
 " So when we want to estimate the age of the gravels on 
 the top of the cliff at the Reculvers, or on the edge of the 
 plateau of St. Acheul, we have to ask, not how long would it 
 take the rivers to cut down to their present level from the 
 height of those gravels at the rate at which that part of their 
 channel is being lowered now, but how long would it take the 
 Somme or Thames, which once ran at the level of those grav- 
 els, to cut back from where its mouth or next waterfall was 
 then to where it runs over rapids now. We ought to know 
 what movements of upheaval and depression there have been ; 
 what long alluvial flats or lakes which may have checked 
 floods, but also arrested the rock-protecting gravel ; how much 
 the wash of the estuarine waves has helped. In fact, it is 
 clear that observations made on the action of the rivers at 
 those points now have nothing to do with the calculation of 
 the age of the terraces above, and that the circumstances 
 upon which the rate of recession of the waterfalls and rapids 
 depends are so numerous and changeable that it is at present 
 unsafe to attempt any estimate of the time required to pro- 
 duce the results observed." 
 
3 1 8 The Origin of the World. 
 
 I may close this discussion by quoting from the paper of 
 my friend Mr. Pattison, already referred to, the following 
 summing up of his conclusions, in which I fully concur : 
 
 "We may assume it as established that there was a time 
 when England was connected with the Continent, when big 
 animals roamed in summer up the watercourses and across 
 the uplands, and man, armed only with rude stones, followed 
 them into the marshes and woods, hunted them for sustenance, 
 and consumed them in shelter of caves, then accessible from 
 the river levels. This state of things was continued until dis- 
 turbed by oscillations of surface, accompanied by excessive 
 rainfalls and rushes of water from the water-sheds of the riv- 
 ers, until the great animals were driven out or destroyed, and 
 man ceased to visit these parts. The disturbances continued, 
 the Strait of Dover was formed, the configuration of the soft 
 parts of the islands and continents was fixed, action subsided, 
 and the present state of things obtained. Man resumed his 
 residence, but with loss of the mammoth and its comjDanions. 
 The reindeer now constituted the type of a state of things 
 which lasted down to the historic period, without any other 
 from that time to this. * * * 
 
 "Chronologists are agreed that about 2000 years B.C. Abra- 
 ham migrated from Mesopotamia to Canaan, and that at this 
 time Egypt at least was old in civilization. Beyond this w^e 
 have no positive scale of time in Scripture ; for it is evident, 
 from the narrative itself, that the latter does not cover the 
 whole time. * * -^ 
 
 " Ussher estimates from Scripture the creation of man as 
 about 2000 years before this. During the latter portion of 
 this time civilization was proceeding under settled govern- 
 ments in the East, interrupted, says the record and tradition, 
 by a flood. ^ * * 
 
Unity and Antiquity of Man, 319 
 
 " So Lucretius : 
 
 ' Thus, too, the insurgent waters once o'erpowered, 
 As fables tell, and deluged many a state 5 
 Till, in its turn, the congregated waves 
 By cause more potent conquered, heaven restrain'd 
 Its ceaseless torrents, and the flood decreased.' 
 
 Barbarism covered the whole Western world; neither in the 
 2000 years before Abraham, nor in the 2000 years afterward, 
 have we any light reflected from these regions to the East. 
 In this 4000 years, or in the somewhat longer period which 
 probably will be ultimately settled as warranted by the rec- 
 ord, we place hypothetically all the phenomena of the later 
 mammalian age, including the introduction of man as a hunt- 
 er, the first occupation of the caves by him also, the diluvial 
 phenomena of the wide valleys, the oscillations and disturb- 
 ances of the earth's crust, alterations in the coast-line, and 
 ph3^sical settlement of the country; after this comes the sec- 
 ond occupation of the caves. In short, if we say that, hypo- 
 thetically, the whole first known human age occurred within 
 4000 years of the Christian era, no one can say that it is 
 geologically impossible. Who can say that 1643 years is in- 
 sufficient to comprise all the phenomena that occurred dur- 
 ing a period confessedly characterized by more rapid and ex- 
 tensive action than at present — a period during which rup- 
 tures in the earth's crust, oscillations, and permanent uprising 
 took place, and the intermittent action of violent floods caused 
 the deposit, and disturbance and resettlement of the gravels 
 and brick-earth ? There is nothing to interfere with the prev- 
 alent opinion that man was introduced here while the glacial 
 period was dying out, and while it was still furnishing flood- 
 waters sufficient to scour and re-sort the gravels of the valleys 
 down which they flowed. This supposition may be extended 
 to both the great continents." 
 
-1 
 
 20 The Origin of the World. 
 
 To conclude : Our mode of reconciling the Mosaic history 
 of antediluvian man with the disclosures of the gravels and 
 caves would be to identify Palaiocosmic man, or man of the 
 mammoth age, with antediluvian man; to suppose that the 
 changes which closed his existence in Europe as well as 
 Western Asia were those recorded in the Noachian deluge; 
 and that the second colonization of the diminished and 
 shrunken Europe of the modern period was effected by the 
 descendants of Noah. It may be asked — Must we suppose 
 that the Adam of the Bible was of the type of the coarsely 
 featured and gigantic men of the European caverns ? I 
 would answer — Not precisely so ; but it is quite possible that 
 Adam may have been Turanian in feature. We should cer- 
 tainly suppose him to have been a man well developed in 
 brain and muscle. Such men as those found in the caves 
 would rather represent the ruder " Nephelim," the " giants 
 that were in those days," than Adam in Eden. Farther, the 
 new colonists of Europe after the deluge would no doubt be 
 a very rude and somewhat degenerate branch of Noachidae, 
 probably driven before more powerful tribes in the course of 
 the dispersion. The higher races of both periods are prob- 
 ably to be looked for in Western Asia ; but even there we 
 must expect to find cave men like those whose remains were 
 found by Tristram in the caves near Tyre, and like the Horim 
 of Moses; and we must also expect to find the antediluvian 
 age in the main an age of stone everywhere, and its arts, ex- 
 cept in certain great centres of population, perhaps not more 
 advanced than those of the Polynesians, or those of the agri- 
 cultural American tribes before the discovery of America by 
 Columbus. 
 
 As a geologist, and as one who has been in the main of 
 the school of Lyell, and after having observed with much 
 
Unity and Antiquity of Man. 321 
 
 care the deposits of the more modern periods on both sides 
 of the Atlantic, I have from the first dissented from those of 
 my scientific brethren who have unhesitatingly given their 
 adhesion to the long periods claimed for human history, and 
 have maintained that their hasty conclusions on this subject 
 must bring geological reasoning into disrepute, and react inju- 
 riously on our noble science. We require to make great 
 demands on time for the pre-human periods of the earth's 
 history, but not more than sacred history is willing to allow 
 for the modern or human age. 
 
 O 2 
 
322 The Origin of the World. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 COMPARISONS AND CONCLUSIONS. 
 
 " Lo, these are but the outlines of his ways, and how faint the whisper 
 which we hear of him — the thunder of his power who could understand ?" 
 — Job xxvi., 14. 
 
 In the preceding pages I have, as far as possible, avoided 
 that mode of treating my subject which was wont to be ex- 
 pressed as the "reconciliation" of Scripture and Natural Sci- 
 ence, and have followed the direct guidance of the IMosaic 
 record, only turning aside where some apt illustration or co- 
 incidence could be perceived. In the present chapter I pro- 
 pose to inquire what the science of the earth teaches on these 
 same subjects, and to point out certain manifest and remark- 
 able correspondences between these teachings and those of 
 revelation. Here I know that I enter on dangerous ground, 
 and that if I have been so fortunate as to carry the intelligent 
 reader with me thus far, I may chance to lose him now. The 
 Hebrew Scriptures are common property; no one can fairly 
 deny me the right to study them, even though I do so in no 
 clerical or theological capacity; and even if I should appear 
 extreme in some of my views, or venture to be almost as enthu- 
 siastic as the commentators of Homer, Shakespeare, or Dante, 
 I can not be very severely blamed. But the direct compari- 
 son of these ancient records with results of modern science 
 is obnoxious to many minds on different grounds; and all the 
 more so that so few men are at once students both of nature 
 
CojJiparisojis and Conclusions. 323 
 
 and revelation. There are, as yet, but few even of educated 
 men whose range of study has included any thing that is prac- 
 tical or useful either in Hebrew literature or geological sci- 
 ence. That slipshod Christianity which contents itself with 
 supposing that conclusions which are false in nature may be 
 true in theology is mere superstition or professional priest- 
 craft, and has nothing in common with the Bible ; but there 
 are still multitudes of good men, trained in the verbal and 
 abstract learning which at one time constituted nearly the 
 whole of education, who regard geology as a mass of crude 
 hypotheses destitute of coherence, a perpetual battle-ground 
 of conflicting opinions, all destined in time to be swept away. 
 It must be admitted, too, that from the nature of geological 
 evidence, and from the liability to error in details, the solidity 
 of its conclusions is not likely soon to be appreciated as fully 
 as is desirable by the common mind ; while it is unfortunately 
 true that the outskirts of science are infested with hosts of 
 half-informed and superficial writers, who state these conclu- 
 sions incorrectly, or apply them in an unreasonable manner 
 to matters on which they have no bearing. On the other 
 hand, the geologist, fully aware of the substantial nature of 
 the foundations of the science of the earth, regards it as little 
 less than absurd to find parallels to its principles in an an- 
 cient theological work. Still there are possible meeting-points 
 of things so dissimilar as Bible lore and geological exploration. 
 If man is a being connected on the one hand with material 
 nature, and on the other with the spiritual essence of the 
 Creator; if that Creator has given to man powers of exploring 
 and comprehending his plans in the universe, and at the same 
 time has condescended to reveal to him directly his will on 
 certain points, there is nothing unphilosophical or improbable 
 in the supposition that the same truths may be struck out on 
 
324 The Origin of the World. 
 
 the one hand by the action of the human mind on nature, and 
 on the other by the action of the Divine mind on that of man. 
 The highest and most nobly constituted minds have ever been 
 striving to scale heaven above and dive into the earth below, 
 that they may extort from them the secret of their origin, and 
 may find what are the privileges and destinies of man himself. 
 They have learned much ; and if through other gifted minds, 
 and through his heaven-descended Word and Spirit, God has 
 condescended to reveal himself, there must surely be much 
 in common in that which God's works teach to earnest in- 
 quirers and that which he directly makes known. But few of 
 our greatest thinkers, whether on nature or theology, have 
 reached the firm ground of this higher probability; or if they 
 have reached it, have dreaded the scorn of the half-learned 
 too much to utter their convictions. Still this is a position 
 which the enlightened Christian and student of nature must 
 be prepared to occup}'', humbly and with admission of much 
 ignorance and incapacity, but with bold assertion of the truth 
 that there are meeting-points of nature and revelation which 
 afford legitimate subjects of study. 
 
 In entering on these subjects, we may receive certain great 
 truths in reference to the history of the earth as established 
 by geological evidence. In the present rapidly progressive 
 state of the science, however, it is by no means easy to sepa- 
 rate its assured and settled results from those that have been 
 founded on too hasty generalization, or are yet immature ; 
 and at the same time to avoid overlooking new and impor- 
 tant truths, sufficiently established, yet not known in all their 
 dimensions. In the following summary I shall endeavor to 
 present to the reader only well -ascertained general truths, 
 without indulging in those deviations from accuracy for effect 
 too often met with in popular. books. On the other hand, we 
 
Comparisons and Conclusions, 325 
 
 have already found that the Scriptures enunciate distinct doc- 
 trines on many points relating to the earth's early history, to 
 which it will here be necessary merely to refer in general 
 terms. Let us in the first place shortly consider the conclu- 
 sions of geology as to the origin and progress of creation. 
 
 I. The widest and most important generalization of mod- 
 ern geology is that all the materials of the earth's crust, to 
 the greatest depth that man can reach, either by actual exca- 
 vation or inference from superficial arrangements, are of such 
 a nature as to prove that they are not, in their present state, 
 original portions of the earth's structure ; but that they are 
 the results of the operation, during long periods, of the causes 
 of change — whether mechanical, chemical, or vital — now in 
 operation, on the land, in the seas, and in the interior of the 
 earth. For example, the most common rocks of our conti- 
 nents are conglomerates, sandstones, shales, and slates ; all 
 of which are made up of the debris of older rocks broken 
 down into gravel, sand, or mud, and then re-cemented. To 
 these we may add limestones, which have been made up by 
 the accumulation of corals and shells, or by deposits from 
 calcareous springs ; coal, composed of vegetable matter ; 
 and granite, syenite, greenstone, and trap, which are molten 
 rocks formed in the manner of modern lavas. So general 
 has been this sorting, altering, and disturbance of the sub- 
 stance of the earth's crust, that, though we know its structure 
 over large portions of our continents to the depth of several 
 miles, the geologist can point to no instance of a truly primi- 
 tive rock which can be affirmed to have remained unchanged 
 and in situ since the beginning. 
 
 " All are aware that the solid parts of the earth consist of 
 distinct substances, such as clay, chalk, sand, limestone, coal, 
 slate, granite, and the like; but, previously to observation, it 
 
326 The Origin of the World, 
 
 is commonly imagined that all had remained from the first in 
 the state in which we now see them — that they were created 
 in their present forms and in their present position. The 
 geologist now comes to a different conclusion ; discovering 
 proofs that the external parts of the earth were not all pro- 
 duced in the beginning of things in the state in which we 
 now behold them, nor in an instant of time. On the contrary, 
 he can show that they have acquired their actual condition 
 and configuration gradually and at successive periods, dur- 
 ing each of which distinct races of living beings have flour- 
 ished on the land and in the waters ; the remains of these 
 creatures lying buried in the crust of the earth.'"^ 
 
 2. Having ascertained that the rocks of the earth have 
 thus been produced by secondary causes, we next affirm, on 
 the evidence of geology, that a distinct order of succession 
 of these deposits can be ascertained ; and though there are 
 innumerable local variations in. the nature of the rocks form- 
 ed at the same period, yet there is, on the great scale, a reg- 
 ular sequence of formations over the whole earth. This suc- 
 cession is of the greatest importance in the case of aqueous 
 rocks, or those formed in water ; and it is evident that in the 
 case of beds of sand, clay, etc., deposited in this way, the up- 
 per must be the more recent of any two layers. This simple 
 principle, complicated in various ways by the fractures and 
 disturbances to which the beds have been subjected, forms 
 the basis of the succession of " formations " in geology as 
 deduced from stratigraphical evidence. 
 
 3. This regular series of formations would be of little value 
 as a history of the earth were it not that nearly all the aque- 
 ous rocks contain remains of the contemporary animals and 
 
 * Lyell's "Manual of Elementary Geology." 
 
Comparisons and Conclusions. 327 
 
 plants. Ever since the earth began to be tenanted by organ- 
 ized beings, the various accumulations formed in the bottoms 
 of seas and at the mouths of rivers have entombed remains 
 of marine animals, more especially their harder parts, as 
 shells, corals, and bones, and also fragments or entire speci- 
 mens of land animals and plants. Hence, in any rock of 
 aqueous formation, we may find fossil remains of the living 
 creatures that existed in the waters in which that rock was 
 accumulated or on the neighboring land. If in the process 
 of building up the continents, the same locality constituted 
 in succession a part of the bottom of the ocean, of an inland 
 sea, of an estuary, and a lake, we should find in the fossil 
 remains entombed in the deposits of that place evidences of 
 these various conditions; and thus a somewhat curious history 
 of local changes might be obtained. Geology affords more 
 extensive disclosures of this nature. It shows that as we de- 
 scend into the older formations we gradually lose sight of the 
 existing animals and plants, and find the remains of others 
 not now existing ; and these, in turn, themselves disappear, 
 and were preceded by others ; so that the whole living popu- 
 lation of the earth appears to have been several times re- 
 newed prior to the beginning of the present order of things. 
 This seems farther to have occurred in a slow and gradual 
 manner, not by successive great cataclysms or clearances 
 of the surface of the earth, followed by wholesale renewal. 
 This doctrine of geological uniformity is, however, to be un- 
 derstood as limited by the equally certain fact that there has 
 been progress and advance, both in the inorganic arrange- 
 ments of the earth's surface and in its organized inhabitants, 
 and that there have, in geological as in historical times, been 
 local cataclysms and convulsions, as those of earthquakes 
 and volcanoes, often on a very extensive scale. Farther, there 
 
328 The Origin of the World. 
 
 are good reasons to believe that there have been alternations 
 of cold or glacial periods and of warm periods, of periods of 
 subsidence and re-elevation, and of periods of greater and less 
 activity of certain of the leading agents of geological change. 
 But as to the extent of these differences and their bearing on 
 the geological history, there is still much uncertainty and dif- 
 ference of opinion.* 
 
 In the sediment 7iow accumulating in the bottom of the 
 waters are being buried remains of the existing animals and 
 plants. A geological formation is being produced, and it 
 contains the skeletons and other solid parts of a vast variety 
 of creatures belonging to all climates, and which have lived 
 on land as well as in fresh and salt water. Let us now sup- 
 pose that by a series of changes, sudden or gradual, all the 
 present organized beings were swept away, and that, when 
 the earth was renewed by the power of the Creator, a new 
 race of intelligent beings could explore those parts of the 
 former sea basins that had been elevated into land. They 
 would find the remains of multitudes of creatures not exist- 
 ing in their time ; and by the presence of these they could 
 distinguish the deposits of the former period from those that 
 belonged to their own. They could also compare these re- 
 mains with the corresponding parts of creatures which were 
 their own contemporaries, and could thus infer the circum- 
 stances in which they had lived, the modes of subsistence for 
 which they had been adapted, and the changes in the distri- 
 bution of land and water and other physical conditions which 
 had occurred. This, then, is precisely the place which fossil 
 organic remains occupy in modern geology, except that our 
 
 * For a full discussion of this subject, see the *' Story of the Earth 
 and Man." 
 
Comparisons and Conclusions. 329 
 
 present system of nature rests on the ruins, not of one pre- 
 vious system, but of several. 
 
 4. By the aid of the superposition of deposits and their 
 organic remains, geology can divide the history of the earth 
 into distinct periods. These periods are not separated by 
 merely arbitrary boundaries, but to some extent mark impor- 
 tant eras in the progress of our earth; though they usually 
 pass into each other at their confines, and the nature of the 
 evidence prevents us from ascertaining the precise length of 
 the periods themselves, or the intervals in time which may 
 separate the several monuments by which they are distin- 
 guished. The following table will serve to give an idea of 
 the arrangement at present generally received, with some of 
 the more important facts in the succession of animal and 
 vegetable life, as connected with our present subject. It 
 commences with the oldest periods known to geology, and 
 gives in the animal and vegetable kingdoms iheji/s^ appear- 
 ance of each class, with a few notes of the subsequent history 
 of the principal forms. It must, however, be borne in mind 
 that farther discoveries may extend some classes farther 
 back than we at present know them, and that a more de- 
 tailed table, descending to orders and families, would give a 
 more precise view of the succession of life. Farther, the sev- 
 eral geological formations would admit of much subdivision, 
 and are represented locally by various kinds and different 
 thicknesses of sediment.* 
 
 The oldest fossil remains known are the Protozoa of the 
 Laurentian rocks. In the succeeding Cambrian or Primor- 
 
 * Such a table, with an admirable exposition of the entire succession, as 
 at present known, is given in the Appendix to Lyell's " Students' Manual 
 of Geology." 
 
330 
 
 The Origin of the World, 
 
 TABULAR VIEW OF THE SUCCESSION OF GEOLOGICAL FORMA- 
 TIONS AND ORGANIC REMAINS. 
 
 PERIODS. 
 
 I. 
 
 Eozoic 
 Period. 
 
 II. 
 
 Primary 
 
 OR 
 
 Paleozoic 
 Period. 
 
 SYSTEMS OF 
 FORMATIONS. 
 
 CLASSES OF ANIMALS. 
 
 Ancient Metamor- 
 phic rocks of 
 Scandinavia, 
 Canada, etc. 
 
 Cambrian 
 
 Lower Silurian. 
 
 Upper Silurian. 
 
 Erian or Devo- 
 nian 
 
 Eozoon and probably oth- 
 er Protozoa. 
 
 Radiata — Hydrozoa, Ech- 
 inodermata (Cystide- 
 ans). 
 
 Molhisca — Brachiopoda, 
 Lamellibranchiata, Gas- 
 teropoda, Cephalopoda 
 (Bivalve and Univalve 
 Shell-fishes). 
 
 Artiadata — Annelida, 
 Crustacea (Worms and 
 Soft Shell-fishes of the 
 lower grades). 
 
 Radiata — Anthozoa (coral 
 animals), Echinoderma- 
 ta (sea stars, etc.). 
 
 Molhisca — Polyzoa, Tuni- 
 cata. 
 
 Other Mollusks and Ar- 
 ticulates as before. 
 
 Radiates, Mollusks, and 
 Articulates as before. 
 
 Vertebrata — First Ganoid 
 and Placoid Fishes. 
 
 Artiadata — Insects and 
 higher Crustaceans. 
 
 Vertebrata — Fishes, Ga- 
 noid and Placoid. 
 
 PLANTS. 
 
 Graphite and 
 Iron Ores 
 
 representing 
 
 Vegetable 
 
 Matter. 
 
 Algae. 
 
 Algae. 
 
 Acrogenous 
 Land plants. 
 
 Acrogens 
 
 and Gymno- 
 
 sperms. 
 
Comparisons and Conclusions, 
 
 331 
 
 PERIODS. 
 
 IL 
 
 Primary 
 
 OR 
 
 Paleozoic 
 
 Period 
 
 continued. 
 
 III. 
 Secondary 
 
 OR 
 
 Mesozoic 
 Period. 
 
 SYSTEMS OF 
 FORMATIONS. 
 
 CLASSES OF ANIMALS. 
 
 Carboniferous.. 
 
 Permian. 
 
 Triassic. 
 
 Jurassic. 
 
 Cretaceous 
 
 IV. 
 
 Tertiary 
 
 or 
 
 Cainozoic 
 
 Period. 
 
 V. 
 
 Post-Terti- 
 ary OR 
 Modern 
 Period. 
 
 Eocene. 
 
 Miocene. 
 
 Molhisca — P u 1 m o n a t a 
 (Land Snails). 
 
 Articulata — Myriapods, 
 Arachnidans (Gally- 
 worms, Spiders and 
 Scorpions). 
 
 Vertebrata — Batrachians 
 or Amphibians preva- 
 lent. 
 
 Vertebrata — Lacertian or 
 Lizard-like Reptiles. 
 
 1 
 
 Vertebrata — Higher Rep- 
 tiles prevalent; Marsu- 
 pial Mammals. 
 
 Vertebrata — Great preva- 
 lence of higher Reptiles ; 
 Fishes, homocerque ; 
 Earliest Birds. 
 
 Vei-tebrata — Decadence of 
 reign of Reptiles ; Or- 
 dinary Bony fishes. 
 
 PLANTS. 
 
 Acrogens, 
 
 Gymno- 
 
 sperms, En- 
 
 dogens ? 
 
 Endogenous 
 trees. 
 
 Angiosperm- 
 ous Exogens. 
 
 Vertebrata — Mammals 
 prevalent, especially 
 Pachyderms ; Cycloid 
 and Ctenoid Fishes 
 prevalent. 
 
 First living Invertebrates. 
 
 Living Invertebrates more 
 numerous. 
 
 p,. ( Living Invertebrates still 
 
 ^ °^^"^ \ more numerous. 
 
 Post-Pliocene. 
 
 Post-Glacial and 
 Recent 
 
 First living Mammals. 
 Living Invertebrates 
 prevalent. 
 
 Man and living Mammals, 
 
 Exogens 
 prevalent. 
 
 Some Mod- 
 ern Species 
 appear. 
 
 Existing 
 vegetation. 
 
332 The Origin of the World. 
 
 dial rocks we find many extinct species of zoophytes, shell- 
 fish, and crustaceans, and the algae or sea-weeds. In the Pa- 
 laeozoic period as a whole, though numerous Batrachian or Am- 
 phibian reptiles existed toward its close, the higher orders of 
 fishes seem to have been the dominant tribe of animals ; and 
 vegetation was nearly limited to cryptogams and gymnosperms. 
 In the Mesozoic period, though small mammalia had been 
 created, large terrestrial and marine reptiles were the ruling 
 race, and fishes occupied a subordinate position ; while, at 
 the close, the higher orders of plants took a prominent 
 place. In the Tertiary and Modern eras, the mammalia, 
 with man, have assumed the highest or dominant position 
 in nature. 
 
 On this series of groups, and the succession of living beings, 
 Sir. C. Lyell remarks: "It is not pretended that the principal 
 sections called Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary are of equiv- 
 alent importance, or that the subordinate groups comprise 
 monuments relating to equal portions of time or of the earth's 
 history. But we can assert that they each relate to succes- 
 sive periods, during which certain animals and plants, for the 
 most part peculiar to their respective eras, flourished, and 
 during which different kinds of sediment were deposited." 
 
 We have already, in previous chapters, noticed the parallel- 
 ism of the succession of life in the earth as revealed in Gen- 
 esis with that disclosed by geology; but this subject must be 
 farther referred to in the sequel, and in the mean time the 
 reader may compare for himself the succession of life in the 
 table with that in the later creative days. 
 
 5. The lapse of time embraced in the geological history of 
 the earth is enormous. Fully to appreciate this it is neces- 
 sary to study the science in detail, and to explore its phenom- 
 ena as disclosed in actual nature. A few facts, however, out 
 
Comparisons and Cojiclusiojis. 333 
 
 of hundreds which might have been selected, will suffice to 
 indicate the state of the case. The delta and alluvial plain 
 of the Mississippi have an area of more than 12,000 square 
 miles, and must have an average depth of about 800 feet. 
 At the present rate of conveyance of sediment by the river, it 
 has been calculated that a period of about 33,000 years is im- 
 plied in the deposition of- this comparatively modern forma- 
 tion.* To be quite safe, let us take 30,000 years, and add 
 50,000 more for the remainder of the Post-pliocene or Qua- 
 ternary. We may then safely multiply this number by forty, 
 for the length of the Tertiary period. We may add three times 
 as much for the Mesozoic period, and this will be far under 
 the truth. It will then be quite safe to assume that the Pa- 
 losozoic period was three times as long as the Mesozoic and 
 Tertiary together. This would give altogether, sa}^, 5 1,280,000 
 years for the whole of geological time from the beginning of 
 the Palaeozoic, leaving the duration of the Eozoic and previ- 
 ous periods undetermined, but requiring perhaps nearly as 
 much time. Great though these demands may seem, they 
 would be probably far below the rigid requirements of the 
 case were it not for the probability that the present rate of 
 transference of material by the great river is less than it was 
 in Post-pliocene and early modern times. This might en- 
 able us to reduce our estimate considerably within the scope 
 of a hundred millions of years.f Take another illustration 
 from an older formation. An excellent coast section at 
 
 * Lyell, basing his calculations on the surveys of Messrs. Humphreys 
 and Abbott, but others give very different estimates. 
 
 t A perfectly parallel example is that of the growth of the peninsula of 
 Florida in the modern period, by the same processes now adding to its 
 shores ; and this has afforded to Professor Agassiz a still more extended 
 measure of the Post-tertiary period. 
 
334 '^^^^ Origm of the World. 
 
 the Joggins, in Nova Scotia, exhibits in the coal formation 
 proper a series of beds with erect trunks and roots of trees 
 iti situ, amounting to nearly loo. About loo forests have 
 successively grown, partially decayed, and been entombed in 
 muddy and sandy sediment. In the same section, including 
 in all about 14,000 feet of beds, there are 76 seams of coal, 
 each of which can be proved to haye taken more time for its 
 accumulation than that required for the growth of a forest. 
 Supposing all these separate fossil soils and coals to have 
 been formed with the greatest possible rapidity, forty thousand 
 years would be a very moderate calculation for this portion 
 of the Carboniferous system ; and for aught that we know 
 thousands of years may be represented by a single fossil soil. 
 But this is the age of only one member of the Carboniferous 
 system, itself only a member of the great Palaeozoic group, 
 and we have made no allowance for the abrasion from pre- 
 vious rocks and deposition of the immense mass of sandy 
 and muddy sediment in which the coals and forests are im- 
 bedded, and which is vastly greater than the deltas of the 
 largest modern rivers. 
 
 Considerations of a physical rather than of a geological nat- 
 ure also give us long periods for the probable existence of the 
 earth, though they serve to correct somewhat the extravagant 
 estimates of some theorists. Croll has based an interesting 
 calcuration on the amount of erosion of the land by rivers. 
 That of the Mississippi amounts to one foot in 6000 years. 
 That of the Ganges gives one foot in 2358 years, the average 
 being, say, one foot in 4179 years. Some smaller rivers give 
 a much shorter time ; but the average of two great rivers, one 
 draining a very large area of the western and another of the 
 eastern hemisphere, and in very different climates and geo- 
 graphical conditions, will probably be the most reliable datum. 
 
Comparisons and Conclusions. 335 
 
 Croll, however, prefers the Mississippi rate.* If we estimate 
 the proportion of land to water as 576 to 1390, this will give 
 for the entire area of the ocean a rate of deposition of one 
 foot in 14,400 years. Now the entire thickness of all the 
 stratified rocks is estimated at 72,000 feet; and at this rate 
 the enormous time of 1,036,800,000 years would be necessary. 
 But we have no right to assume that deposition has been go- 
 ing on uniformly over the entire sea-bottom. On the contrary, 
 the greater part of it takes place within a belt of about one 
 hundred miles from the coasts, and the deposit of calcareous 
 and other matters over the remainder will scarcely make up 
 for the portions of this belt on which no deposit is taking 
 place. This will give an area of deposit of about 11,650,000 
 square miles, consequently only one twelfth of the above time, 
 or about 86,400,000 years, would be required. This can be 
 but a very rough calculation ; but it has the merit of squar- 
 ing very nearly with the calculations derived from physical 
 considerations, more especially by Sir William Thomson, 
 which limit the possible existence of the earth's solid crust 
 to one hundred millions of years. Similar conclusions have 
 also been deduced from what is known of the physical con- 
 stitution of the sun. CroU's own ingenious theory of glacial 
 periods produced by the varying eccentricity of the earth's 
 orbit, along with the precession of the equinoxes, would give, 
 according to him, about 80,000 years ago for the date of the 
 Glacial period, and for the beginning of the Tertiary period 
 about 3,000,000 3'ears ago. 
 
 It would thus appear that physical and geological science 
 
 * Reade, of Liverpool, has recently given a much slower rate — one foot 
 in 13,000 years — as a result of recent English surveys ; but I have not seen 
 his precise data, and the result certainly differs from those of all other 
 observations. 
 
33^ The Origin of the World. 
 
 conspire in assigning a great antiquity to the eartli, but not 
 an unlimited' antiquity. They agree in restricting the ages 
 that have elapsed since the introduction of life within one 
 hundred millions of years. I confess, however, that a con- 
 sideration of the fact that all our geological measures of ero- 
 sion and deposition seem to be based on cases which refer 
 to what may be termed minimum action leads me to believe 
 that the actual time will fall very far within this limit. For 
 example, if we were to suppose an elevation of the land 
 drained by the Mississippi even to a small amount, its cutting 
 power would be vastly increased for a long time. The same 
 effect would result from a subsidence and re-elevation, or 
 from any cause increasing the amount of rainfall or deposi- 
 tion of snows in winter. Now we know that such things 
 have occurred in the past, while we have no reason to be- 
 lieve that the amount of action was ever much less than at 
 present. Similar considerations apply to nearly all our geo- 
 logical measures of time ; and there has been a tendency 
 to exaggerate these, as if geologists were entitled to demand 
 unlimited time, and to stretch the doctrine of uniformity to 
 the utmost. 
 
 6. During the whole time referred to by geology, the great 
 laws both of inorganic and organic nature have been the same 
 as at present. The evidence of light and darkness, of sun- 
 shine and shower, of summer and winter, and of all tfie known 
 igneous and aqueous causes of change, extends back almost, 
 and in some of these cases altogether, to the beginning of the 
 Paleozoic period. In like manner the animals and plants 
 of the oldest rocks are constructed on the same physiological 
 and anatomical principles with existing tribes, and they can 
 be arranged in the same genera, orders, or classes, though 
 specifically distinct. The revolutions of the globe have in- 
 
Coviparisoiis and Conclusions. 337 
 
 volved no change of the general laws of matter ; and though 
 it is possible that geology has carried us back to the time 
 when the laws that regulate life began to operate, it does not 
 show that they were less perfect than now, and it indicates no 
 trace of the beginning of the inorganic laws. Geological 
 changes have resulted not from the institution of new laws, 
 but from new dispositions, under existing laws and general 
 arrangements. There is every reason to believe that in the 
 inorganic world these dispositions have required no new crea- 
 tive interpositions during the time to which geology refers, 
 but merely the continued action of the properties bestowed 
 on matter when first produced. In the organic world the case 
 is different. 
 
 7. In the succession of animal and vegetable life we find 
 a constant improvement and advance by the introduction of 
 new types of being. We have already given a general outline 
 of this advancement of organized nature. It has consisted 
 in the introduction, from time to time, of new and more highly 
 organized beings, so as at once to increase the variety of nat- 
 ure, and to provide for the elevation of the summit of the 
 graduated scale of life to higher and higher points. At the 
 same time, in each successive period, it has been the law of 
 creation that the forms of life then dominant should attain 
 their highest development, and should then be succeeded by 
 more advanced types. For instance, in the earlier Palaeozoic 
 period we have molluscous animals and fishes, then apparent- 
 ly the highest forms of life, appearing with a very advanced 
 organization, not surpassed, if even equalled, in modern times. 
 In the latter part of the same period, some lower forms of veg- 
 etable life, now restricted to a comparatively humble place, 
 were employed to constitute magnificent forests. In the Me- 
 sozoic period, again, reptiles attained to their highest point 
 
 P 
 
338 The Origin of the World, 
 
 in organization and variety of form and employment, while 
 mammalia had as yet scarcely appeared.* 
 
 8. If now we ask in what manner the succession of life on 
 the earth has been produced, two apparently opposite hypoth- 
 eses rise before us. The one is that of introduction of new 
 species by creative acts, the other that of development of new 
 species by changes of those previously existing. In one re- 
 spect the difference of these views is little more than one of 
 expression, for the meaning of the statements depends on 
 what we understand by a species and what by a mere varietal 
 form, and also on what we understand by creation and what we 
 mean by development. Twenty years ago nearly all geologists 
 were believers in creation, though it must be admitted with- 
 out precisely understanding what they meant by the term. 
 Now, the great impression produced by Darwin's speculations 
 and the prevalence of the evolutionist philosojDhy have pro- 
 duced a leaning in the other direction. More recently, how- 
 ever, the absurdities into which the extreme evolutionists find 
 themselves driven have produced a reaction ; and we hope 
 that views consistent with revelation, or at least with Theism, 
 will again be in the ascendant, and that present controversies 
 will serve to give more precise and definite views than here- 
 tofore of the relation of nature to God. As illustrations of 
 
 * I am quite aware that it may be objected to all this that it is based on 
 merely negative evidence ; but this is not strictly the case. There are 
 positive indications of these truths. For example, in the Mesozoic epoch 
 the lacertian reptiles presented huge elephantine carnivorous and herbiv- 
 orous species — the Megalosaurus, Iguanodon, etc.; flying species, with hol- 
 low bones and ample wings — the Pterodactyles ; and aquatic whale-like 
 species — Pliosaurus, Ichthyosaurus, etc. These creatures actually filled 
 the offices now occupied by the mammals ; and, though lacertian in their 
 affinities, they must have had circulatory, respiratory, and nervous sys- 
 tems far in advance of any modern reptiles even of the order of Loricates. 
 
Comparisons and Conclusions. 339 
 
 the opinions prevalent before the rise of the development 
 theory, I may quote from Pictet and Bronn, two of the most 
 eminent palceontologists. 
 
 Pictet says, in the introduction to his " Traite de Paleon- 
 tologie :" " It seems to me impossible that we should admit, 
 as an explanation of the phenomena of successive faunas, the 
 passage of species into one another ; the limits of such tran- 
 sitions of species, even supposing that the lapse of a vast pe- 
 riod of time may have given them a character of reality much 
 greater than that which the study ofexisting nature leads us 
 to suppose, are still infinitely within those differences which 
 distinguish two successive faunas. Lastly, we can least of all 
 account by this theory for the appearance of new types^ to ex- 
 plain the introduction of which we must necessarily, in the 
 present state of science, recur to the idea of distinct creations 
 posterior to the first." 
 
 The following are the general conclusions of Bronn, in his 
 elaborate and most valuable essay, presented to the French 
 Academy in 1856, as summarized in a notice of the work in 
 the Journal of the Geological Society : 
 
 " I. The first productions of this power in the oldest Neptu- 
 nian strata of the earth consisted of Plants, Zoophytes, Mol- 
 lusks, Crustaceans, and perhaps even Fish ; the simultaneous 
 appearance of which, therefore, contradicts the assumption 
 that the more perfect organic forms arose out of the gradual 
 transformation in time of the more imperfect forms. 
 
 " 2. The same power which produced the first organic 
 forms has continued to operate in intensively as well as ex- 
 tensively increasing activity during the whole subsequent 
 geological period, up to the final appearance of man ; but 
 here also can no traces be found of a gradual transformation 
 of old species and genera into newj but the new have every- 
 
340 TJie Origin of the World, 
 
 where appeared as new without the co-operation of the for- 
 mer. 
 
 "3. In the succession of the different forms of plants and 
 animals, a certain regular course and plan is perceptible, 
 which is quite independent of chance. While all species 
 possess only a limited duration, and must sooner or later dis- 
 appear, they make way for subsequent new ones, which not 
 only almost always offer an equivalent, in number, organiza- 
 tion, and duties to be performed, for those which have disap- 
 peared, but which are also generally more varied, and there- 
 fore more perfect, and always maintain an equilibrium with 
 each other in their stage of organization, their mode of life, 
 and functions. There alwa3^s exists, therefore, a certain fixed 
 relation between the newly arising and the disap^Dearing forms 
 of organic life. 
 
 "4. -A similar relation necessarily exists between the new- 
 ly arising organic forms and the outward conditions of life 
 which prevailed at their first appearance on the earth's sur- 
 face, or at the place of their appearance. 
 
 " 5. A fixed plan appears to be the basis of the whole 
 series of development of organic forms, in so far as man 
 makes his first appearance at its close, when he finds every 
 thing prepared that is necessary to his own existence and to 
 his progressive development and improvement — which would 
 not have been possible had he appeared at a former period. 
 
 "6. Such a regular progress in carrying out the same plan 
 from the beginning to the end of a period of millions of years 
 can only be accounted for in one of two ways. Either this 
 course of successive development during millions of years has 
 been the regular immediate result of the systematic action of 
 a conscious Creator, who on every occasion settled and car- 
 ried out not only the order of appearance, formation, organi- 
 
Comparisons and Conclusions. 341 
 
 zation, and terrestrial object of each of the countless numbers 
 of species of plants and animals, but also the number of the 
 first individuals, the place of their settlement in every in- 
 stance, although it was in his power to create every thing at 
 once — or there existed some natural power hitherto entirely 
 unknown to us, which by means of its own laws formed the 
 species of plants and animals, and arranged and regulated 
 all those countless individual conditions ; which power, how- 
 ever, must in this case have stood in the most immediate con- 
 nection with, and in perfect subordination to, those powers 
 which caused the gradually progressing perfection of the 
 crust of the earth, and the gradual development of the out- 
 ward conditions of life for the constantly increasing numbers 
 and higher classes of organic forms in consequence of this 
 perfection. Only in this way can we explain how the devel- 
 opment of the organic world could have regularly kept pace 
 with that of the inorganic. Such a power, although we know 
 it not, would not only be in perfect accordance with all the 
 other functions of nature, but the Creator, who regulated the 
 development of organic nature by means of such a force so 
 implanted in it, as he guides that of the inorganic world by 
 the mere co-operation of attraction and affinity, must appear 
 to us more exalted and imposing than if we assumed that he 
 must always be giving the same care to the introduction and 
 cha^nge of the vegetable and animal world on the surface of 
 the earth as a gardener daily bestows on each individual 
 plant in the arrangement of his garden. 
 
 " 7. We therefore believe that all species of plants and ani- 
 mals were originally produced by some natural power un- 
 known to us, and not by transformation from a few original 
 forms, and that that power was in the closest and most nec- 
 essary connection with those powers and circumstances which 
 effected the perfection of the earth's surface." 
 
342 TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 Barrande also, probably the greatest living palaeontologist 
 of Europe, adheres substantially to these views ; as Agassiz 
 did, and I believe Hall and Dana still do, in America. 
 
 I have, for my own part, seen no reason to dissent from 
 these views, though in the sequel I shall endeavor to present 
 some considerations which may tend to reconcile with them 
 some of the hypotheses of a contrary nature now held. It 
 must be admitted, however, that the majority of geologists 
 and biologists have abandoned these views of Pictet and 
 Bronn, and have gone over to the evolutionist philosoph}^, 
 with how little reason I have endeavored to show elsewhere,* 
 and shall farther illustrate in the Appendix. Let it be ob- 
 served, however, that even evolution does not affect the grand 
 idea of the unity of nature, or the fact that the plan of the 
 Creator in the organic world was so vast that it required the 
 whole duration of our planet, in all its stages of physical ex- 
 istence, to embrace the whole. There is but one system of 
 organic nature ; but, to exhibit the whole of it, not only all 
 the climates and conditions now existing are required, but 
 those also of all past geological periods. Further, the prog- 
 ress of nature being mainly in the direction of differentia- 
 tion of functions once combined, it has a limit backward in 
 the most general forms and conditions, and forward in the 
 most specialized. This is the history of the individual and 
 probably also of the type, of the world itself and of the uni- 
 verse ; and for this reason material nature necessarily lacks 
 the eternity of its author. 
 
 It appears, from the above facts and reasonings, that geol- 
 ogy informs us — i. That the materials of our existing conti- 
 nents are of secondary origin, as distinguished from primitive 
 
 * " Story of the Earth" — concluding chapters. 
 
Comparisons and Conclusions. 343 
 
 or coeval with the beguining. 2. That a chronological order 
 of formation of these rocks can be made out. 3. That the 
 fossil remains contained in the rocks constitute a chronology 
 of animal and vegetable existence. 4. That the history of 
 the earth may be divided in this way into distinct periods, 
 all pre-Adamite. 5. That the pre-Adamite periods were of 
 enormous duration. 6. That during these periods the exist- 
 ing general laws of nature were in force, though the disposi- 
 tions of inorganic nature were different in different periods, 
 and the animals and plants of successive periods were also 
 different from each other. 7. The introduction of new species 
 of animals and of plants, while indicating advance in the per- 
 fection of nature, does not prove spontaneous development, 
 but rather a definite plan and law of creation. 
 
 The parallelism of these conclusions of careful induct- 
 ive inquiry into the structure of the earth's crust, with the 
 results which we have already obtained from revelation, may 
 be summed up under the following heads : 
 
 I. Scripture and Science both testify to the great fact that 
 there was a beginning — a time when none of all the parts of 
 the fabric of the universe existed ; when the Self- Existent 
 was the sole occupant of space. The Scriptures announce 
 in plain terms this great truth, and thereby rise at once high 
 above atheism, pantheism, and materialism, and lay a broad 
 and sure foundation for a pure and spiritual theology. Had 
 the pen of inspiration written but the words, " In the begin- 
 ning God created the heavens and the earth," and added no 
 more, these words alone would have borne the impress of 
 their heavenly birth, and would, if received in faith, have 
 done much for the progress of the human mind. These 
 words contain a negation of hero-worship, star- worship, ani- 
 mal-worship, and every other form of idolatry. They still 
 
344 ^^^^ Origin of the World, 
 
 more emphatically deny atheism and materialism, and point 
 upward from nature to its spiritual Creator — the One, the 
 Triune, the Eternal, the Self-Existent, the All-Pervading, the 
 Almighty. They call upon us, as with a voice of thunder, to 
 bow down before that Awful Being of whom it can be said 
 that he created the heavens and the earth. They thus em- 
 body the whole essence of natural theology, and most appro- 
 priately stand at the entrance of Holy Scripture, referring us 
 to the works which men behold, as the visible manifestation 
 of the attributes of the Being whose spiritual nature is un- 
 veiled in revelation. Scripture thus begins with the an- 
 nouncement of a great ultimate fact, to which science con- 
 ducts us with but slow and timid steps. Yet science, and 
 especially geological science, can bear witness to this great 
 truth. The materialist, reasoning on the fancied stability of 
 natural things, and their inscription within invariable laws, 
 concludes that matter must be eternal. No, replies the ge- 
 ologist, certainly not in its present form. This is but of 
 recent origin, and was preceded by other arrangements. 
 Every existing species can be traced back to a time when it 
 was not ; so can the existing continents, mountains, and seas. 
 Under our processes of investigation the present melts away 
 like a dream, and we are landed on the shores of past and 
 unknown worlds. But I read, says the objector, that you can 
 see "no evidence of a beginning, no prospect of an end." 
 It is true, answers geology \ but, in so saying, it is not in- 
 tended that the present state of things had not an ascer- 
 tained beginning, but that there has been a great and, so far 
 as we know, unlimited series of changes carried on under the 
 guidance of intelligence. These changes we have traced 
 back very far, without being able to say that we have reached 
 the first. We can trace back man and his contemporaries to 
 
Comparisons and Conclusions. 345 
 
 their origin, and we can reach the points at which still older 
 dynamics of life began to exist. Knowing, then, that all 
 these had a beginning, we infer that if others preceded them 
 they also had a beginning. But, says another objector, is not 
 the present the child of the past ? Are not all the creatures 
 that inhabit the earth the lineal descendants of creatures of 
 past periods, or may not the whole be parts of one continual 
 succession, under the operation of an eternal law of develop- 
 ment ? No, answers geology, species are immutable, except 
 within narrow limits, and do not pass into each other, in trac- 
 ing them toward their origin. On the contrary, they appear 
 at once in their most perfect state, and continue unchanged 
 till they are forced off the stage of existence to give place to 
 other creatures. The origin of species is a mystery, and be- 
 longs to no natural law that has yet been established. Thus, 
 then, stands the case at present. Scripture asserts a begin- 
 ning and a creation. Science admits these, as far as the ob- 
 jects with which it is conversant extend, and the notions of 
 eternal succession and spontaneous development, discounte- 
 nanced both by theology and science, are obliged to take 
 refuge in those misty regions where modern philosophical 
 skepticism consorts with the shades of departed heathen- 
 ism.* 
 
 2. Both records exhibit the progressive character of crea- 
 tion, and in much the same aspect. The Almighty might 
 have called into existence, by one single momentary act, a 
 world complete in all its parts. From both Scripture and 
 geology we know that he has not done so— why we need not 
 
 * This was written in iS6o for the first edition of *' Archaia." I see no 
 reason to change it now, and its vindication will be found in the Appen- 
 dix. 
 
 P 2 
 
346 The Origin of the World. 
 
 inquire, though we can see that the process employed was 
 that best adapted to show forth the variety of his resources 
 and the infinitely varied elements that enter into the perfect 
 whole. 
 
 The Scripture history may be viewed as dividing the prog- 
 ress of the creation into two great periods, the later of which 
 only is embraced in the geological record. The first com- 
 mences with the original chaos, and reaches to the comple- 
 tion of inorganic nature on the fourth day. Had we any 
 geological records of the first of these periods, we should 
 perceive the evidences of slow mutations, tending to the sort- 
 ing and arrangement of the materials of the earth, and to 
 produce distinct light and darkness, sea and land, atmos- 
 phere and cloud, out of what was originally a mixture of the 
 whole. We should also, according to the Scriptural record, 
 find this period interlocking with the next, by the interven- 
 tion of a great vegetable creation, before the final adjustment 
 of the earth's relations to the other bodies of our system. 
 The second period is that of the creative development of 
 animal life. From both records we learn that various ranks 
 or gradations existed from the first introduction of animals; 
 but that on the earlier stages only certain of the lower forms 
 of animals were present ; that these soon attained their 
 highest point, and then gradually, on each succeeding plat- 
 form, the variety of nature in its higher — the vertebrate — 
 form increased, and the upper margin of animal life attained 
 a more and more elevated point, culminating at length in 
 man ; while certain of the older forms were dropped, as no 
 longer required. 
 
 In the oldest fossiliferous rocks next to the Eozoic, which 
 so far have afforded only Protozoa — e. g., the Cambrian and 
 Lower Silurian — we find the moUusca represented mainly by 
 
Comparisons and Conclusions. 347 
 
 their highest and lowest classes, by allies of the cuttle-fish 
 and nautilus, and by the lowest bivalve shell -fishes. The 
 Articulata are represented by the highest marine class — the 
 crustaceans — and by the lowest — the worms, which have left 
 their marks on some of the lowest fossiliferous beds. The 
 Radiata, in like manner, are represented by species of their 
 highest class — the star-fishes, etc. — and by some of their sim- 
 pler polyp forms. At the very beginning, then, of the fossil- 
 iferous series, the three lower sub-kingdoms exhibit species 
 of their most elevated aquatic classes, though not of the very 
 highest orders in those classes. The vertebrated sub-king- 
 dom has, as far as yet known, no representative in these low- 
 est beds. In the Upper Silurian series, however, we find re- 
 mains of fishes j and in the succeeding Devonian and car- 
 boniferous rocks the fishes rise to the highest structures of 
 their class ; and we find several species of reptiles, repre- 
 senting the next of the vertebrated classes in ascending or- 
 der. Here a very remarkable fact meets us. Before the 
 close of the Palaeozoic period the three lower sub-kingdoms 
 and the fishes had already attained the highest perfection of 
 which their types are capable. Multitudes of new species and 
 genera were added subsequently, but none of them rising high- 
 er in the scale of organization than those which occur in the 
 Palaeozoic rocks. Thenceforth the progressive improvement 
 of the animal kingdom consisted in the addition, first of the 
 reptile, which attained its highest perfection and importance 
 in the Mesozoic period, and then of the bird and mammal, 
 which did not attain their highest forms till the Modern pe- 
 riod. This geological order of animal life, it is scarcely nec- 
 essary to add, agrees perfectly with that sketched by Moses, 
 in which the lower types are completed at once, and the prog- 
 ress is wholly in the higher. 
 
348 The Origin of the World. 
 
 In the inspired narrative we have already noticed some 
 peculiarities, as, for instance, the early appearance of a highly 
 developed flora, and the sjDecial mention of great reptiles in 
 the work of the fifth day, which correspond with the signif- 
 icant fact that high types of structure appeared at the very 
 introduction of each new group of organized beings — a fact 
 which, more than any other in geology, shows that, in the or- 
 ganic department, elevation has always been a strictly creative 
 work, and that there is in the constitution of animal species 
 no innate tendency to elevation, but that on the contrary we 
 should rather suspect a tendency to degeneracy and ultimate 
 disappearance, requiring that the fiat of the Creator should 
 after a time go out again to " renew the face of the earth." 
 In the natural as in the moral world, the only law of prog- 
 ress is the will and the power of God. In one sense, how- 
 ever, progress in the organic world has been dependent on, 
 though not caused by, progress in the inorganic. We see in 
 geology many grounds for believing that each new tribe of 
 animals or plants was introduced just as the earth became 
 fitted for it ; and even in the present world we see that re- 
 gions composed of the more ancient rocks, and not modified 
 by subsequent disturbances, present few of the means of sup- 
 port for man and the higher animals ; while those districts in 
 which various revolutions of the earth have accumulated fer- 
 tile soils or deposited useful minerals are the chief seats of 
 civilization and population. In like manner we know that 
 those regions which the Bible informs us were the cradle of 
 the human race and the seats of the oldest nations are geo- 
 logically among the most recent parts of the existing conti- 
 nents, and were no doubt selected by the Creator partly on 
 that account for the birthplace of man. We thus find that 
 the Bible and the geologists are agreed not only as to the 
 
Comparisons and Conclusions, 349 
 
 fact and order of progress, but also as to its manner and 
 use. 
 
 3. Both records agree in affirming tliat since the beginning 
 there has been but one great system of nature. We can im- 
 agine it to have been otherwise. Our existing nature might 
 have been preceded by a state of things having no Connection 
 with it. The arrangements of the earth's surface might have 
 been altogether different ; races of creatures might have ex- 
 isted having no affinity with or resemblance to those of the 
 present w'orld, and we might have been able to trace no pres- 
 ent beneficial consequences as flowing from these past states 
 of our planet. Had geology made such revelations as these, 
 the consequences in relation to natural theology and the cred- 
 ibility of Scripture would have been momentous. The Mosaic 
 narrative could scarcely, in that case, have been interpreted 
 in such a manner as to accord with geological conclusions. 
 The questions would have arisen — Are there more creative 
 Powers than one ? If one, is He an imperfect or capricious 
 being who changes his plans of operation? The divine au- 
 thority of the Scriptures, as well as the unity and perfections 
 of God, might thus have been involved in serious doubts. 
 Happily for us, there is nothing of this kind in the geological 
 history of the earth ; as there is manifestly nothing of it in 
 that which is revealed in Scripture. 
 
 In the Scripture narrative each act of creation prepares 
 for the others, and in its consequences extends to them all. 
 The inspired writer announces the introduction of each new 
 part of creation, and then leaves it without any reference to 
 the various phases which it assumed as the work advanced. 
 In the ^rand general view which he takes, the land and seas 
 first made represent those of all the following periods. So 
 do the first plants, the first invertebrate animals, the first 
 
3 so The Origin of the World. 
 
 fishes, reptiles, birds, and mammals. He thus assures us that, 
 however long the periods represented by days of creation, 
 the system of nature was one from the beginning. In like 
 manner in the geological record each of the successive con- 
 ditions of the earth is related to those which precede and 
 those which follow, as part of a series. So also a uniform 
 plan of construction pervades organic nature, and uniform 
 laws the inorganic world in all periods. We can thus include 
 in one system of natural history all animals and plants, fossil 
 as well as recent, and can resolve all inorganic changes into 
 the operation of existing laws. The former of these facts is 
 in its nature so remarkable as almost to warrant the belief 
 of special design. Naturalists had arranged the existing 
 animals and plants, without any reference to fossil species, 
 in kingdoms, sub -kingdoms, classes, orders, families, and 
 genera. Geological research has added a vast number of 
 species not now existing in a living state; yet all these fos- 
 sils can be inserted within the limits of recognized groups. 
 We do not require to add a new kingdom, sub-kingdom, or 
 class; but, on the contrar}^, all the fossil genera and species 
 go into the existing divisions, in such a manner as to fill 
 them up precisely where they are most deficient, thus oc- 
 cupying what would otherwise be gaps in the existing sys- 
 tem of nature. The principal difficulty which they occasion 
 to the zoologist and botanist is that, by filling the intervals 
 between genera previously widely separated, they give to the 
 whole a degree of continuity which renders it more difficult 
 to decide where the boundaries separating the groups should 
 be placed. 
 
 We also find that the animals and plants of the earlier 
 periods often combined in one form powers and properties 
 afterward separated in distinct groups; thus in the earlier 
 
Comparisons and Conclusions, 351 
 
 formations the sauroid fishes unite peculiarities afterward di- 
 vided between the fish and reptiles, constituting what Agassiz 
 has called a synthetic type. Again, the series of creatures in 
 time accords with the ranks which a study of their types of 
 structure induces the naturalist to assign them in his system; 
 and also within each of the great sub -kingdoms presents 
 many points of accordance with the progress of the embry- 
 onic development of the individual animal. Nor is this con- 
 tradictory to the statement that the earlier representatives of 
 types are often of high and perfect organization, for the prog- 
 ress both in geological time and in the life of the individual 
 is so much one of specialization that an immature animal 
 often presents points of affinity to higher forms that disappear 
 in the adult. In connection with tliis, earlier organic forms 
 often appear to foreshadow and predict others that are to 
 succeed them in time, as the winged and marine reptiles of 
 the Mesozoic foreshadow the birds and cetaceans. Agassiz 
 has admirably illustrated these links of connection between 
 the past and the present in the essay on classification pre- 
 fixed to his " Contributions to the Natural History of Amer- 
 ica." In reference to "prophetic" types, he says: "They 
 appear now like a prophecy in those earlier times of an order 
 of things not possible with the earlier combinations then pre- 
 vailing in the animal kingdom, but exhibiting in a later pe- 
 riod in a striking manner the antecedent consideration of 
 every step in the gradation of animals." 
 
 4. The periods into which geology divides the history of 
 the earth are different from those of Scripture, yet when prop- 
 erly understood there is a marked correspondence. Geology 
 refers only to the fifth and sixth days of creation, or, at most, 
 to these with parts of the fourth and seventh, and it divides 
 this portion of the work into several eras, founded on alter- 
 
352 TJie Origin of the World. 
 
 nations of rock formations and changes in organic remains. 
 The nature of geological evidence renders it probable that 
 many apparently well-marked breaks in the chain may result 
 merely from deficiency in the preserved remains; and conse- 
 quently that what appear to the geologist to be very distinct 
 periods may in reality run together. The only natural di- 
 visions that Scripture teaches us to look for are those be- 
 tween the fifth and sixth days, and those which within these 
 days mark the introduction of new animal forms, as, for in- 
 stance, the great reptiles of the fifth day. We have already 
 seen that the beginning of the fifth day can be referred almost 
 with certainty to the Palaeozoic period. The beginning of the 
 sixth day may with nearly equal certainty be referred to that 
 of the Tertiary era. The introduction of great reptiles and 
 birds in the fifth day synchronizes and corresponds with the 
 beginning of the Mesozoic period ; and that of man at the 
 close of the sixth day with the commencement of the Modern 
 era in geology. These four great coincidences are so much 
 more than we could have expected, in records so very different 
 in their nature and origin, that we need not pause to search 
 for others of a more obscure character. It may be w^ell to 
 introduce here a tabular view of this correspondence between 
 the geological and Biblical periods, extending it as far as 
 either record can carry us, and thus giving a complete general 
 view of the origin and history of the world as deduced from 
 revelation and science. In comparing this table with that on 
 page 330, it will be observed that the latter refers to the last 
 half of the creative week only, the earlier half being occupied 
 with physical changes which, however probable inferentiallv, 
 are not within the scope of geological observation. 
 
 5. In both records the ocean gives birth to the first dry 
 land, and it is the sea that is first inhabited, yet both lead at 
 
Comparisons and Conclusions. 
 
 353 
 
 PARALLELISM OF THE SCRIPTURAL COSMOGONY WITH THE AS- 
 TRONOMICAL AND GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE EARTH. 
 
 BIBLICAL ^ONS. 
 
 The Beginning. 
 
 First Day. — Earth mantled by the 
 Vaporous Deep — Production of 
 Light. 
 
 Second Day. — Earth covered by the 
 Waters — Formation of the At- 
 mosphere. 
 
 Third Day. — Emergence of Dry 
 Land — Introduction of Vegeta- 
 tion. 
 
 Fcnirth Day. — Completion of the 
 arrangements of the Solar Sys- 
 tem. 
 
 Fifth Day. — Invertebrates and Fish- 
 es, and afterward great Reptiles 
 and Birds created. 
 
 Sixth Day. — Introduction of Mam- 
 mals — Creation of Man and Eden- 
 ic Group of Animals. 
 
 Seventh Day. — Cessation of Work 
 of Creation — Fall and Refdemp- 
 tion of Man. 
 
 Eighth Day. — New Heavens and 
 Earth to succeed the Human 
 Epoch — "The Rest (Sabbath) 
 that remains to the People of 
 God."* 
 
 PERIODS DEDUCED FROM SCIENTIFIC 
 CONSIDERATIONS. 
 
 Creation of Matter. 
 
 Condensation of Planetary Bodies 
 from a nebulous mass — Hypothe- 
 sis of original incandescence. 
 
 Primitive Universal Ocean, and es- 
 tablishment of Atmospheric equi- 
 librium. 
 
 Elevation of the land which furnished 
 the materials of the oldest rocks 
 — Eozoic Period of Geology ? 
 
 Metamorphism of Eozoic rocks and 
 disturbances preceding the Cam- 
 brian epoch — Present arrange- 
 ment of Seasons — Dominion of 
 "Existing Causes" begins. 
 
 Palaeozoic Period — Reign of Inver- 
 tebrates and Fishes. 
 
 Mesozoic Period — Reign of Rep- 
 tiles. 
 
 Tertiary Period — Reign of Mam- 
 mals. 
 
 Post - Tertiary — Existing Mammals 
 and Man. 
 
 Period of Human History. 
 
 * Heb. iv., 9 ; 2 Peter iii., 13. 
 
 7V7-^/^._The above table is identical with that published in " Archaia " 
 in i860, and which the author sees no reason now to change. 
 
354 The Origin of the World. 
 
 least to the suspicion that a state of igneous fluidity preceded 
 the primitive universal ocean. In Scripture the original 
 prevalence of the ocean is distinctly stated, and all geologists 
 are agreed that in the early fossiliferous periods the sea 
 must have prevailed much more extensively than at present. 
 Scripture also expressly states that the waters were the birth- 
 place of the earliest animals, and geology has as yet discov- 
 ered in the whole Silurian series no terrestrial animal, though 
 marine creatures are extremely abundant ; and though air- 
 breathing creatures are found in the later Palaeozoic, they are, 
 with the exception of insects, of that semi-amphibious charac- 
 ter which is proper to alluvial flats and the deltas of rivers. 
 It is true that the negative evidence collected by geology 
 does not render it altogether impossible that terrestrial ani- 
 mals, even mammals, may have existed in the earliest pe- 
 riods ; yet there are, as already pointed out, some positive 
 indications opposed to this. The Scripture, however, com- 
 mits itself to the statement that the higher land animals did 
 not exist so early, though it must be observed that there is 
 nothing in the Mosaic narrative adverse to the existence of 
 birds, insects, and reptiles in the earlier Palaeozoic periods. 
 I have said that the Bible, which informs us of a universal 
 ocean preceding the existence of land, also gives indications of 
 a still earlier period of igneous fluidity or gaseous expansion. 
 Geology also and astronomy have their reasonings and spec- 
 ulations as to the prevalence of such conditions. Here, how- 
 ever, both records become dim and obscure, though it is ev- 
 ident that both point in the same direction, and combine 
 those aqueous and igneous origins which in the last century 
 afforded so fertile ground of one-sided dispute. 
 
 6. Both records concur in maintaining what is usually term- 
 ed the doctrine of existing causes in geology. Scripture and 
 
Comparisons and Conclusions. 355 
 
 geology alike show that since the beginning of the fifth day, 
 or Palaeozoic period, the inorganic world has continued un- 
 der the dominion of the same causes that now regulate its 
 changes and processes. The sacred narrative gives no hint 
 of any creative interposition in this department after the 
 fourth day ; and geology assures us that all the rocks with 
 which it is acquainted have been produced by the same 
 causes that are now throwing down detritus in the bottom of 
 the waters, or bringing up volcanic products from the interior 
 of the earth. This grand generalization, therefore, first work- 
 ed out in modern times by Sir Charles Lyell, from a laborious 
 collection of the changes occurring in the present state of the 
 world, was, as a doctrine of divine revelation, announced 
 more than three thousand years ago by the Hebrew law- 
 giver ; not for scientific purposes, but as a part of the theol- 
 ogy of the Hebrew monotheism. 
 
 7. Both records agree in assuring us that death prevailed 
 in the world ever since animals were introduced. The pun- 
 ishment threatened to Adam, and considerations connected 
 with man's state of innocence, have led to the belief that the 
 Bible teaches that the lower animals, as well as man, were ex- 
 empt from death before the fall. When, however, we find 
 the great tannitwn, or crocodilian reptiles, created in the fifth 
 day, and beasts of prey on the sixth, we need entertain no 
 doubt on the subject, in so far as Scripture is concerned. 
 The geological record is equally explicit. Carnivorous creat- 
 ures, with the most formidable powers of destruction, have 
 left their remains in all parts of the geological series; and 
 indeed, up to the introduction of man, the carnivorous fishes, 
 reptiles, and quadrupeds were the lords and tyrants of the 
 earth. There can be little doubt, however, that the introduc- 
 tion of man was the beginning of a change in this respect. 
 
35^ The Origin of the World. 
 
 A creature destitute of offensive weapons, and subsisting on 
 fruits, was to rule by the power of intellect. As already hint- 
 ed, it is probable that in Eden he was surrounded by a group 
 of inoffensive animals, and that those creatures which he had 
 cause to dread would have disappeared as he extended his 
 dominion. In this way the law of violent death and destruc- 
 tion which prevailed under the dynasties of the fish, the rep- 
 tile, and the carnivorous mammifer would ultimately have been 
 abrogated ; and under the milder sway of man life and peace 
 would have reigned in a manner to which our knowledge of 
 pre-Adamite and present nature may afford no adequate key. 
 Be this as it may, on the important point of the original prev- 
 alence of death among the lower animals both records are at 
 one. 
 
 8. In the department of "final causes," as they have been 
 termed. Scripture and geology unite in affording large and 
 interesting views. They illustrate the procedure of the All- 
 wise Creator during a long succession of ages, and thus en- 
 able us to see the effects of any of his laws, not only at one 
 time, but in far distant periods. To reject the consideration 
 of this peculiarity of geological science would be the extrem- 
 est folly, and would involve at once a misinterpretation of the 
 geologic record and a denial of the agency of an intelligent 
 Designer as revealed in Scripture, and indicated by the suc- 
 cession of beings. Many of the past changes of the earth 
 acquire their full significance only when taken in connection 
 with the present wants of the earth's inhabitants; and along 
 the whole course of the geological history the creatures that 
 we meet with are equally rich in the evidences of nice adap- 
 tation to circumstances and wonderful contrivances for spe- 
 cial ends, with their modern representatives. As an example 
 of the former, how wonderful is the connection of the great 
 
Comparisons and Conclusio7is. 357 
 
 vegetable accumulations of the ancient coal swamps, and the 
 bands and nodules of iron-stone which were separated from 
 the ferruginous sands or clays in their vicinity by the action 
 of this very vegetable matter, with the whole fabric of mod- 
 ern civilization, and especially with the prosperity of that 
 race which, in our time, stands in the front of the world's 
 progress. In a very ancient period, wide swamps and deltas, 
 teeming with vegetable life, and which, if they now existed, 
 would be but pestilent breeders of miasmata, spread over 
 large tracts of the northern hemisphere, on which marine 
 animals had previously accumulated thick sheets of lime- 
 stone. Vast beds of vegetable matter were collected by 
 growth in these swamps, and the waste particles that passed 
 off in the form of organic acids were employed in concentrat- 
 ing the oxide of iron in underlying clays and sands. In the 
 lapse of ages the whole of these accumulations were buried 
 deep in the crust of the earth ; and long periods succeeded, 
 when the earth was tenanted by reptilian and other creatures, 
 unconscious of the treasures beneath them. The modern 
 period arrived. The equable climate of the coal era had 
 passed away. Continents were prepared for the residence 
 of man, and the edges of the old carboniferous beds were 
 exposed by subterranean movements, and laid bare by de- 
 nudation. Man was introduced, fell from his state of inno- 
 cence, and was condemned to earn his subsistence by the 
 sweat of his brow ; and now for the first time appears the 
 use of these buried coal swamps. They now afford at once 
 the materials of improvement in the arts and of comfortable 
 subsistence in extreme climates, and subjects of surpassing 
 interest to the naturalist. Similar instances may be gleaned 
 by the natural theologian from nearly every part of the geo- 
 logical history. 
 
358 The Origin of the World. 
 
 Lastly. Both records represent man as the last of God's 
 works, and the culminating-point of the whole creation. We 
 have already had occasion to refer to this as a result of zool- 
 ogy, geology, and Scriptural exegesis, and may here confine 
 ourselves to the moral consequences of this great truth. Man 
 is the capital of the column ; and, if marred and defaced by 
 moral evil, the symmetry of the whole is to be restored, not 
 by rejecting him altogether, like the extinct species of the an- 
 cient world, and replacing him by another, but by re-casting 
 him in the image of his Divine Redeemer. Man, though re- 
 cently introduced, is to exist eternally. He is, in one or an- 
 other state of being, to be witness of all future changes of the 
 earth. He has before him the option of being one with his 
 Maker, and sharing in a future glorious and finally renovated 
 condition of our planet, or of sinking into endless degradation. 
 Such is the great spiritual drama of man's fate to be acted 
 out on the theatre of the world. Every human being must 
 play his part in it, and the present must decide what that part 
 shall be. The Bible bases these great foreshadowings of the 
 future on its own peculiar evidence ; yet I may venture hum- 
 bly to maintain that its harmony with natural science, as far 
 as the latter can ascend, gives to the Word of God a pre-em- 
 inent claim on the attention of the naturalist. The Bible, un- 
 like every other system of religious doctrine, fears no investi- 
 gation or discussion. It courts these. " While science," says 
 a modern divine,* '' is fatal to superstition, it is fortification 
 to a Scriptural faith. The Bible is the bravest of books. 
 Coming from God, and conscious of nothing but God's truth, 
 it awaits the progress of knowledge with calm security. It 
 watches the antiquary ransacking among classic ruins, and 
 
 * Hamilton. 
 
Comparisons and Conclusions. 359 
 
 rejoices in every medal he discovers and every inscription he 
 deciphers ; for from that rusty coin or corroded marble it 
 expects nothing but confirmations of its own veracity. In 
 the unlocking of an Egyptian hieroglyphic or the unearthing 
 of some implement it hails the resurrection of so many wit- 
 nesses ; and with sparkling elation it follows the botanist as 
 he scales Mount Lebanon, or the zoologist as he makes ac- 
 quaintance with the beasts of the Syrian desert ; or the trav- 
 eller as he stumbles on a long-lost Petra or Nineveh or Baby- 
 lon. And from the march of time it fears no evil, but calmly 
 abides the fulfilment of those prophecies and the forthcoming 
 of those events with whose predicted story inspiration has 
 already inscribed its page. It is not light but darkness which 
 the Bible deprecates ; and if men of piety were also men of 
 science, and if men of science were to search the Scriptures, 
 there would be more faith in the earth, and also more philos- 
 ophy." 
 
 The reader has, I trust, found in the preceding pages suf- 
 ficient evidence that the Bible has nothing to dread from the 
 revelations of geology, but much to hope in the way of eluci- 
 dation of its meaning and confirmation of its truth. If con- 
 vinced of this, I trust that he will allow me now to ask for 
 the warnings, promises, and predictions of the Book of God 
 his entire confidence ; and, in conclusion, to direct his atten- 
 tion to the glorious prospects which it holds forth to the hu- 
 man race, and to -every individual of it who, in humility and 
 self-renunciation, casts himself in faith on that Divine Re- 
 deemer who is at once the creator of the heavens and the 
 earth, and the brother and the friend of the penitent and the 
 contrite. That same old book, which carries back our view 
 to those ancient conditions of our planet which preceded not 
 only the creation of man, but the earliest periods of which 
 
360 TJic O right of the World. 
 
 science has cognizance, likewise carries our minds forward 
 into the farthest depths of futurity, and shows that all present 
 things must pass away. It reveals to us a new heaven and 
 a new eartli, which are to replace those now existing ; when 
 the Eternal Son of God, the manifestation of the Father 
 equally in creation and redemption, shall come forth con- 
 quering and to conquer, and shall sweep away into utter ex- 
 tinction all the blood-stained tyrannies of the present earth, 
 even as he has swept away the brute dynasties of the pre- 
 Adamite world, and shall establish a reign of peace, of love, 
 and of holiness that shall never pass away : when the purified 
 sons of Adam, rejoicing in immortal youth and happiness, 
 shall be able to look back with enlarged understandings and 
 grateful hearts on the whole history of creation and redemp- 
 tion, and shall join their angelic brethren in the final and 
 more ecstatic repetition of that hymn of praise with which 
 the heavenly hosts greeted the birth of our planet. ]\Iay God 
 in his mercy grant that he who writes and they who read 
 may "stand in their lot at the end of the days" and enjoy 
 the full fruition of these glorious prospects. 
 
 fRonnr ubkary 
 
 N. C. State College 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Q 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 A.— TRUE AND FALSE EVOLUTION. 
 
 The term " evolution " need not in itself be a bugbear on 
 theological grounds. The Bible writers would, I presume, 
 have no objection to it if understood to mean the develop- 
 ment of the plans of the Creator in nature. That kind of 
 evolution to which they would object, and to which enlight- 
 ened reason also objects, is the spontaneous evolution of 
 nothiifg into atoms and force, and of these into all the won- 
 derful and complicated plan of nature, without any guiding 
 mind. Farther, biological and palsontological science, as 
 well as the Bible, object to the derivation of living things 
 from dead matter by merely natural means, because this can 
 not be proved to be possible, and to the production of the 
 series of organic forms found as fossils in the rocks of the 
 earth by the process of struggle for existence and survival of 
 the jfittest, because this does not suffice to account for the 
 complex phenomena presented by this succession. With ref- 
 erence to the testimony of palaeontology, I have in other pub- 
 lications developed this very fully ; and would here merely 
 quote the summing up of the argument, as given in my Ad- 
 dress of 1875 before the American Association for the Ad- 
 vancement of Science : 
 
 " I have thus far said nothing of the bearing of the prev- 
 alent ideas of descent with modification on this wonderful 
 procession of life. None of these of course can be expected 
 to take us back to the origin of living beings ; but they also 
 
364 Appendix. 
 
 fail to explain why so vast numbers of highly organized spe- 
 cies struggle into existence simultaneously in one age and 
 disappear in another; why no continuous chain of succession 
 in time can be found gradually blending species into each 
 other; and why in the natural succession of things degrada- 
 tion under the influence of external conditions and final ex- 
 tinction seem to be laws of organic existence. It is useless 
 here to appeal to the imperfection of the record or to the 
 movements or migrations of species. The record is now in 
 many important parts too complete, and the simultaneousness 
 of the entrance of the faunas and floras too certainly estab- 
 lished, and moving species from place to place only evades 
 the difficulty. The truth is that such hypotheses are at pres- 
 ent premature, and that we require to have larger collections 
 of facts. Independently of this, however, it appears to me 
 that from a philosophical point of view it is extremely prob- 
 able that all theories of evolution as at preseiit applied to 
 life are fundamentally defective in being too partial in their 
 character ; and perhaps I can not better group the remainder 
 of the facts to which I wish to refer than by using them to il- 
 lustrate this feature of most of the later attempts at general- 
 ization on this subject. 
 
 " First, then, these hypotheses are too partial in their tend- 
 ency to refer numerous and complex phenomena to one 
 cause, or to a few causes only, when all trustworthy analogy 
 would indicate that they must result from many concurrent 
 forces and determinations of force. We have all no doubt 
 read those ingenious, not to say amusing, speculations in 
 which some entomologists and botanists have indulged with 
 reference to the mutual relations of flowers and haustellate 
 insects. Geologically the facts oblige us to begin with cryp- 
 togamous plants and mandibulate insects, and out of the de- 
 sire of insects for non-existent honey, and the adaptations of 
 plants to the requirements of non-existent suctorial apparatus, 
 we have to evolve the marvellous complexity of floral form 
 
True and False Evolution, 365 
 
 and coloring, and the exquisitely delicate apparatus of the 
 mouths of haustellate insects. Now when it is borne in mind 
 that this theory implies a mental confusion on our part pre- 
 cisely similar to that which in the department of mechan- 
 ics actuates the seekers for perpetual motion, that we have 
 not the smallest tittle of evidence that the changes required 
 have actually occurred in any one case, and that the thou- 
 sands of other structures and relations of the plant and the in- 
 sect have to be worked out by a series of concurrent evolu- 
 tions so complex and absolutely incalculable in the aggregate 
 that the cycles and epicycles of the Ptolemaic astronomy were 
 child's play in comparison, we need not wonder that the com- 
 mon-sense of mankind -revolts against such fancies, and that 
 we are accused of attempting to construct the universe by 
 methods that would baffle Omnipotence itself, because they 
 are simply absurd. In this aspect of them indeed such spec- 
 ulations are necessarily futile, because no mind can grasp all 
 the complexities of even any one case, and it is useless to fol- 
 low out an imaginary line of development which unexplained 
 facts must contradict at every step. This is also no doubt 
 the reason why all recent attempts at constructing ' Phylog- 
 enies ' are so changeable, and why no two experts can agree 
 about the details of any of them. 
 
 "A second aspect in which such speculations are too partial 
 is in the unwarranted use which they make of analogy. It is 
 not unusual to find such analogies as that between the em- 
 bryonic development of the individual animal and the succes- 
 sion of animals in geological time placed on a level with that 
 reasoning from analogy by which geologists apply modern 
 causes to explain geological formations. No claim could be 
 more unfounded. When the geologist studies ancient lime- 
 stones built up of the remains of corals, and then applies the 
 phenomena of modern coral reefs to explain their origin, he 
 brings the latter to bear on the former by an analogy which 
 includes not merely the apparent results, but the causes at 
 
366 Appendix. 
 
 work, and the conditions of their action, and it is on this that 
 the vahdity of his comparison depends, in so far as it relates 
 to similarity of mode of formation. But when we compare 
 the development of an animal from an embryo cell with the 
 progress of animals in time, though we have a curious anal- 
 ogy as to the steps of the process, the conditions and causes 
 at work are known to be altogether dissimilar, and therefore 
 we have no evidence whatever as to identity of cause, and our 
 reasoning becomes at once the most transparent of fallacies. 
 Farther, we have no right here to overlook the fact that the 
 conditions of the embryo are determined by those of a previ- 
 ous adult, and that no sooner does this hereditary potentiality 
 produce a new adult animal than the terrible external agen- 
 cies of the physical world, in presence of which all life exists, 
 begin to tell on the organism, and after a struggle of longer 
 or shorter duration it succumbs to death, and its substance re- 
 turns into inorganic nature — a law from which even the longer 
 life of the species does not seem to exempt it. All this is so 
 plain and manifest that it is extraordinary that evolutionists 
 will continue to use such partial and imperfect arguments. 
 Another example may be taken from that application of the 
 doctrine of natural selection to explain the introduction of 
 species in geological time, which is so elaborately discussed 
 by Sir C. Lyell in the last edition of his ' Principles of Ge- 
 ology.' The great geologist evidently leans strongly to the 
 theory, and claims for it the ' highest degree of probability ;' 
 yet he perceives that there is a serious gap in it, since no 
 modern fact has ever proved the origin of a new species by 
 modification. Such a gap, if it existed in those grand analo- 
 gies by which we explain geological formations through mod- 
 ern causes, would be admitted to be fatal. 
 
 " A third illustration of the partial character of these hypoth- 
 eses may be taken from the use made of the theory deduced 
 from modern physical discoveries, that life must be merely a 
 product of the continuous operation of physical laws. The 
 
True and False Evolution. ^Gy 
 
 assumption, for it is nothing more, that the phenomena of life 
 are produced merely by some arrangement of physical forces, 
 even if it be admitted to be true, gives only a partial explana- 
 tion of the possible origin of life. It does not account for the 
 fact that life as a force or combination of forces is set in an- 
 tagonism to all other forces. It does not account for the 
 marvellous connection of life with organization. It does not 
 account for the determination and arrangement of forces im- 
 plied in life. A very simple illustration may make this plain. 
 If the problem to be solved were the origin of the mariner's 
 compass, one might assert that it is wholly a physical arrange- 
 ment both as to matter and force. Another might assert that 
 it involves mind and intelligence in addition. In some sense 
 both would be right. The properties of magnetic force and 
 of iron or steel are purely physical, and it might even be with- 
 in the bounds of possibility that somewhere in the universe a 
 mass of natural loadstone may have been so balanced as to 
 swing in harmony with the earth's magnetism. Yet we would 
 surely be regarded as very credulous if we could be induced 
 to believe that the mariner's compass has originated in that 
 way. This argument applies with a thousandfold greater 
 force to the origin of life, which involves even in its simplest 
 forms so many more adjustments offeree and so much more 
 complex machinery. 
 
 " Fourthly, these hypotheses are partial, inasmuch as they 
 fail to account for the vastly varied and correlated interde- 
 pendencies of natural things and forces, and for the unity of 
 plan which pervades the whole. These can be explained 
 only by taking into the account another element from without. 
 Even when it professes to admit the existence of a God, the 
 evolutionist reasoning of our day contents itself altogether 
 with the physical or visible universe, and leaves entirely out 
 of sight the power of the unseen and spiritual, as if this were 
 something with which science has nothing to do, but which 
 belongs only to imagination or sentiment. So much has this 
 
368 Appendix. 
 
 been the case, that when recently a few physicists and nat- 
 uralists have turned to this aspect of the case, they have 
 seemed to be teaching new and startling truths, though only 
 reviving some of the oldest and most permanent ideas of our 
 race. From the dawn of human thought it has been the con- 
 clusion alike of philosophers, theologians, and the common- 
 sense of mankind that the seen can be explained only by ref- 
 erence to the unseen, and that any merely physical theory of the 
 world is necessarily partial. This, too, is the position of our 
 sacred Scriptures, and is broadly stated in their opening verse; 
 and indeed it lies alike at the basis of all true religion and all 
 sound philosophy, for it must necessarily be that ' the things 
 that are seen are temporal, the things that are unseen eter- 
 nal.' With reference to the primal aggregation of energy in 
 the visible universe, with reference to the introduction of life, 
 with reference to the soul of man, with reference to the heav- 
 enly gifts of genius and prophec}^, with reference to the intro- 
 duction of the Saviour himself into the world, and with refer- 
 ence to the spiritual gifts and graces of God's people — all 
 these spring not from sporadic acts of intervention, but from 
 the continuous action of God and the unseen world, and this 
 we must never forget is the true ideal of creation in Scripture 
 and in sound theology. Only in such exceptional and little in- 
 fluential philosophies as that of Democritus, and in the specu- 
 lations of a few men carried off their balance by the brilliant 
 physical discoveries of our age, has this necessarily partial 
 and imperfect view been adopted. Never, indeed, was its im- 
 perfection more clear than in the light of modern science. 
 
 " Geology, by tracing back all present things to their origin, 
 was the first science to establish on a basis of observed facts 
 the necessity of a beginning and end of the world. But even 
 physical science now teaches us that the visible world is a 
 vast machine for the dissipation of energy; that the processes 
 going on in it must have had a beginning in time, and that all 
 things tend to a final and helpless equilibrium. This neces- 
 
True and False EvoliLtion. 369 
 
 sity implies an unseen power, an invisible universe, in which 
 the visible universe must have originated, and to which its 
 energy is ever returning. The hiatus between the seen and 
 the unseen may be bridged over by the conceptions of atomic 
 vortices of force, and by the universal and continuous ether; 
 but whether or not, it has become clear that the conception 
 of the unseen as existing has become necessary to our belief 
 in the possible existence of the physical universe itself, even 
 without taking life into the account. 
 
 "It. is in the domain of life, however, that this necessity 
 becomes most apparent; and it is in the plant that we first 
 clearly perceive a visible testimony to that unseen which is 
 the counterpart of the seen. Life in the plant opposes the 
 outward rush of force in our system, arrests a part of it on its 
 way, fixes it as potential energy, and thus, forming a mere 
 eddy, so to speak, in the process of dissipation of energy, it 
 accumulates that on which animal life and man himself may 
 subsist, and asserts for a time supremacy over the seen and 
 temporal on behalf of the unseen and eternal. I say for a 
 time, because life is, in the visible universe, as at present con- 
 stituted, but a temporary exception, introduced from that un- 
 seen world where it is no longer the exception, but the eternal 
 rule. In a still higher sense, then, than that in which matter 
 and force testify to a Creator, organization and life, whether 
 in the plant, the animal, or man, bear the same testimony, and 
 exist as outposts put forth in the succession of ages from that 
 higher heaven that surrounds the visible universe. In them, 
 too, Almighty power is no doubt conditioned or limited by 
 law, yet they bear more distinctly upon them the impress of 
 their Maker; and, while all explanations of the physical uni- 
 verse which refuse to recognize its spiritual and unseen origin 
 must necessarily be partial and in the end incomprehensible, 
 this destiny falls more quickly and surely on the attempt to 
 account for life and its succession on merely m.aterialistic 
 principles. 
 
 Q2 
 
3/0 Appendix. 
 
 " Here again, however, I must remind you that creation, as 
 maintained against such materiahstic evolution, whether by 
 theology, philosophy, or Holy Scripture, is necessarily a con- 
 tinuous, nay, an eternal influence, not an intervention of dis- 
 connected acts. It is the true continuity, which includes and 
 binds together all other continuity. 
 
 " It is here that natural science meets with theology, not as 
 an antagonist, but as a friend and ally in its time of greatest 
 need ; and I must here record my belief that neither men of 
 science nor theologians have a right to separate what God in 
 Holy Scripture has joined together, or to build up a wall be- 
 tween nature and religion, and write upon it * no thorough- 
 fare.' The science that does this must be impotent to ex- 
 plain nature, and without hold on the higher sentiments of 
 man. The theology that does this must sink into mere super- 
 stition. 
 
 "In conclusion, can we formulate a few of the general laws, 
 or perhaps I had better call them general conclusions, re- 
 specting life, in which all palaeontologists may agree ? Per- 
 haps it is not possible to do this at present satisfactorily, but 
 the attempt may do no harm. We may, then, I think, make 
 the following affirmations : 
 
 " I. The existence of life and organization on the earth is 
 not eternal, nor even coeval with the beginning of the physic- 
 al universe, but may possibly date from Laurentian or imme- 
 diately pre-Laurentian times. 
 
 "2. The introduction of new species of animals and plants 
 has been a continuous process, not necessarily in the sense of 
 derivation of one species from another, but in the higher sense 
 of the continued operation of the cause or causes which intro- 
 duced life at first. This, as already stated, I take to be the 
 true theological or Scriptural as well as scientific idea of what 
 we ordinarily and somewhat loosely term creation. 
 
 "3. Though thus continuous, the process has not been uni- 
 form ; but periods of rapid production of species have alter- 
 
True and False Evolution. 371 
 
 nated with others in which many disappeared and few were 
 introduced. This may have been an effect of physical cycles 
 reacting on the progress of life. 
 
 "4. Species, like individuals, have greater energy and vital- 
 ity in their younger stages, and rapidly assume all their varie- 
 tal forms, and extend themselves as widely as external circum- 
 stances will permit. Like individuals also, they have their 
 periods of old age and decay, though the life of some species 
 has been of enormous duration in comparison with that of 
 others ; the difference appearing to be connected with degrees 
 of adaptation to different conditions of life. 
 
 " 5. Many allied species, constituting groups of animals and 
 plants, have made their appearance at once in various parts 
 of the earth, and these groups have obeyed the same laws 
 with the individual and the species in culminating rapidly, 
 and then slowly diminishing, though a large group once intro- 
 duced has rarely disappeared altogether. 
 
 " 6. Groups of species, as genera and orders, do not usu- 
 ally begin with their highest or lowest forms, but with in- 
 termediate and generalized types, and they show a capacity 
 for both elevation and degradation in their subsequent his- 
 tory. 
 
 " 7. The history of life p'resents a progress from the lower 
 to the higher, and from the simpler to the more complex, and 
 from the more generalized to the more specialized. In this 
 progress new types are introduced and take the place of the 
 older ones, which sink to a relatively subordinate place and 
 become thus degraded. But the physical and organic changes 
 have been so correlated and adjusted that life has not only 
 always maintained its existence, but has been enabled to as- 
 sume more complex forms, and that older forms have been 
 made to prepare the way for newer, so that there has been on 
 the whole a steady elevation culminating in man himself 
 Elevation and specialization have, however, been secured at 
 the expense of vital energy and range of adaptation, until the 
 
3/2 App£7idix. 
 
 new element of a rational and inventive nature was introduced 
 in the case of man. 
 
 " 8. In regard to the larger and more distinct types, we can 
 not find evidence that they have, in their introduction, been 
 preceded by similar forms connecting them with previous 
 groups; but there is reason to believe that many supposed 
 representative species in successive formations are really only 
 races or varieties. 
 
 " 9. In so far as we can trace their history, specific types 
 are permanent in their characters from their introduction to 
 their extinction, and their earlier varietal forms are similar to 
 their later ones. 
 
 " 10. Palaeontology furnishes no direct evidence, perhaps 
 never can furnish any, as to the actual transformation of one 
 species into another, or as to the actual circumstances of cre- 
 ation of a species, but the drift of its testimony is to show that 
 species come \xv per saltum, rather than by any slow and grad- 
 ual process. 
 
 " II. The origin and history of life can not, any more than 
 the origin and determination of matter and force, be explained 
 on purely material grounds, but involve the consideration of 
 power referable to the unseen and spiritual world. 
 
 " Different minds may state these principles in different 
 ways, but I believe that, in so far as palaeontology is concern- 
 ed, in substance they must hold good, at least as steps to 
 higher truths." 
 
Evolution and Creation by Law. 373 
 
 B.— EVOLUTION AND CREATION BY LAW. 
 
 Evolutionist writers have a great horror of what they term 
 "intervention." But they should be informed that the idea 
 of a planning Creator does not involve intervention in an ex- 
 traordinary or miraculous sense, any more than what we call 
 the ordinary operations of nature. It is a common but child- 
 ish prejudice that every discovery of a secondary cause di- 
 minishes so much of what is to be referred to the agency of 
 God. On the contrary, such discoveries merely aid us in 
 comprehending the manner of his action. But when evolu- 
 tionists, in their zeal to get rid of creative intervention, trace 
 all things to the interaction of insensate causes, they fall into 
 the absurdity of believing in absolute unmitigated chance as 
 the cause of perfect order. Evidences of this may be found 
 by the score in Darwin's works on the origin of species. I 
 quote, however, from another and usually clear thinker, Wal- 
 lace, in a review of the Duke of Argyll's " Reign of Law," 
 which appeared some years ago, but represents very well this 
 phase of thought : 
 
 " ' It is curious,' says the Duke of Argyll, ' to observe the 
 language which this most advanced disciple of pure natural- 
 ism [Mr. Darwin] instinctively uses, when he has to describe 
 the complicated structure of this curious order of plants [the 
 Orchids]. Caution in ascribing intentions to nature does 
 not seem to occur to him as possible. Intention is the one 
 thing which he does see, and which, when he does not see, 
 he seeks for diligently until he finds it. He exhausts every 
 form of words and of illustration by which intention or mental 
 purpose can be described. 'Contrivance' — 'curious contriv- 
 
374 Appendix. 
 
 ance' — 'beautiful contrivance' — these are expressions which 
 occur over and over again. Here is one sentence describing 
 the parts of a particular species : 'the labellum is developed 
 into a long nectary, in order to attract lepidoptera, and we 
 shall presently give reason for suspecting that the nectar is 
 purposely so lodged that it can be sucked only slowly, in order 
 to give time for the curious chemical quality of this viscid 
 matter setting hard and dry.' " Many other examples of simi- 
 lar expressions are quoted by the duke, who maintains that 
 no explanation of these " contrivances " has been or can be 
 given, except on the supposition of a personal contriver, spe- 
 cially arranging the details of each case, although causing 
 them to be produced by the ordinary processes of growth and 
 reproduction. 
 
 " Now there is a difficulty in this view of the origin of the 
 structure of orchids which the duke does not allude to. The 
 majority of flowering plants are fertilized, either without the 
 agency of insects, or, when insects are required, without any 
 very important modification of the structure of the flower. It 
 is evident, therefore, that flowers might have been formed 
 as varied, fantastic, and beautiful as the orchids, and yet have 
 been fertilized by insects in the same manner as violets 
 or clover or primroses, or a thousand other flowers. The 
 strange springs and traps and pitfalls found in the flowers of 
 orchids can not be necessary /(?r se, since exactly the same 
 end is gained in ten thousand other flowers which do not pos- 
 sess them. Is it not, then, an extraordinary idea to imagine 
 the Creator of the universe contriving the various complicated 
 parts of these flowers as a mechanic might contrive an ingen- 
 ious toy or a difficult puzzle? Is it not a more worthy con- 
 ception that they are some of the results of those general laws 
 which were so co-ordinated at the first introduction of life 
 upon the earth as to result necessarily in the utmost possible 
 development of varied forms?" 
 
 A moment's thought is sufficient to show that there is no 
 
Evolution and Creation by Law. 375 
 
 essential difference between the Creator contriving every detail 
 of the structure of an orchid and his producins: it throuf^li 
 some intermediate cause, or his commanding it into existence 
 by his almighty word. The same mental process, so to speak, 
 of the contriver is implied in either case. But there is an 
 immeasurable difference between any of those ideas and that 
 of the orchid producing its parts spontaneously under the 
 operation of insensate physical law, whatever that may be, 
 alone. Again, in the same review, Wallace writes : 
 
 " The uncertainty of opinion among naturalists as to which 
 are species and which varieties is one of Mr. Darwin's very 
 strong arguments that these two names can not belong to 
 things quite distinct in nature and origin. The reviewer says 
 that this argument is of no weight, because the works of man 
 present exactly the same phenomena, and he instances patent 
 inventions, and the excessive difficulty of determining whether 
 they are new or old. I accept the analogy, and maintain that 
 it is all in favor of Mr. Darwin's views ; for are not all inven- 
 tions of the same kind directly affiliated to a common ancestor. 
 Are not improved steam-engines or clocks the lineal descend- 
 ants of some existing steam-engine or clock ? Is there ever a 
 new creation in art or science any more than in nature ? Did 
 ever patentee absolutely originate any complete and entire in- 
 vention no portion of which was derived from any thing that 
 had been made or described before ? It is, therefore, clear that 
 the difficulty of distinguishing the various classes of inventions 
 which claim to be new is of the same nature as the difficulty 
 of distinguishing varieties and species, because neither are 
 absolute new creations, but both are alike descendants of pre- 
 existing forms, from which and from each other they differ by 
 varying and often imperceptible degrees. It appears, then, 
 that however plausible this writer's objections may seem, 
 whenever he descends from generalities to any specific state- 
 ment his supposed difficulties turn out to be in reality stron 
 ly confirmatory of Mr. Darwin's view." 
 
 
376 Appendix. 
 
 Now that improved steam-engines are lineal descendants 
 of other steam-engines is absolute nonsense, in any other as- 
 pect than that the structure of one suggested the structure of 
 another to a contriving mind. We need not affirm this of God ; 
 but we may affirm that the plans of the creative mind consti- 
 tute the true link of connection between the different states 
 and developments of inorganic and organic objects. This is 
 the real meaning of creation by law, as distinguished from 
 mere chance on the one hand, and arbitrary and capricious 
 intervention on the other. Both of these extremes are equally 
 illogical ; and it can not be too frequently repeated that di- 
 vine revelation avoids both by maintaining with equal firm- 
 ness the agency of the Creator, and that agency not capri- 
 cious, but according to plan and purpose ; embracing not 
 merely the action of the divine mind itself, but under it of 
 all the forces and material things created. 
 
Modes of Creation. 377 
 
 C— MODES OF CREATION. 
 
 A QUESTION often asked, but not easily answered, with refer- 
 ence to the creation of animals and plants, is — What was its 
 precise method, and to what extent is such intervention con- 
 ceivable. This is, it is true, not a properly scientific question, 
 since science can not inform us of the act of creation. Nor 
 is it properly a theological one, since revelation appeals to 
 our faith in the facts, without giving us much information as 
 to the mode. It can, therefore, be answered only conjectural- 
 ly, except in so far as the law or plan of creation can be in- 
 ferred from what is known, either from science or revelation, 
 as to the history of life. 
 
 We may, in the first place, assume that law or plan must 
 characterize creation. The Scriptural idea of it is not rec- 
 oncilable with the supposition of a series of arbitrary acts any 
 more than the scientific idea. The nature of these laws, as 
 disclosed by Palaeontology, has been already considered in 
 a preceding part of this Appendix. What we may conject- 
 ure as to the nature of the creative act itself, from a compari- 
 son of nature and revelation, may be summed up as follows : 
 
 I. If we reduce organized beings to their ultimate organ- 
 isms — cells or plastids — and with Spencer and Haeckel sup- 
 pose these to be farther divisible into still smaller particles 
 or plastidules, each composed of several complex particles 
 of albumen or protoplasm, we may suppose the primary act 
 of creation to consist in the aggregation of molecules of albu- 
 minous matter into such plastidules bearing the same relations, 
 as " manufactured articles," to the future cell that inorganic 
 molecules bear to crystals, and possessing within themselves 
 
378 Appendix. 
 
 the potencies of organic forms. This is the nearest approach 
 that we can make to the primary creative act, and its scien- 
 tific basis is merely hypothetical, while revelation gives us no 
 intimation as to any such constitution of organized matter. 
 
 2. The formulae in Genesis, "Let the land produce," and 
 "Let the waters produce," imply some sort of mediate crea- 
 tion through the agency of the land and the waters, but of 
 what sort we have no means of knowing. They include, how- 
 ever, the idea of the origin of the lower and humbler forms 
 of life from material pre-existing in inorganic nature, and also 
 the idea of the previous preparation of the land and the wa- 
 ters for the sustenance of the creatures produced. 
 
 3. The expression in the case of man — "out of the dust" — 
 would seem to intimate that the human body was constituted 
 of merely elementary matter, without any previous preparation 
 in organic forms. It may, however, be intended merely to 
 inform us that, while the spirit is in the image of God, the 
 bodily frame is " of the earth earthy," and in no respect dif- 
 ferent in general nature from that of the inferior animals. 
 
 4. The Bible indicates some ways in which creatures may 
 be modified or changed into new species, or may give rise to 
 new forms of life. The human body is, we are told, capable 
 of transformation into a new or spiritual bod}^, different in 
 many important respects, and the future general prevalence 
 of this change is an article of religious faith. The Bible rep- 
 resents the woman as produced from the man by a species 
 of fission, not known to us as a natural possibility, except in 
 some of the lower forms of life. The birth of the Saviour is 
 represented as having been by parthenogenesis, and if it had 
 pleased God that Jesus was to remain on earth as the pro- 
 genitor of a new and higher type of man to replace that now 
 existing, this might be regarded as the introduction of a new 
 species. To what extent the Creator may have so acted on the 
 constitution of organized beings as to produce changes of this 
 kind we have no means of knowing; but if he have done so, we 
 
Modes of Creation. 379 
 
 may be sure that it has been in accordance with some definite 
 plan or law. 
 
 5. We have a right to infer from Scripture that there must 
 be some creative law which provides for the introduction of 
 species, de novo, from unorganized matter, and which has been 
 or is called into action by conditions as yet altogether un- 
 known to us, and as yet inimitable, and therefore in some 
 sense miraculous. Whether we shall ever by scientific inves- 
 tigation discover the law of this kind of divine intervention it 
 is impossible to say. That all the theories of spontaneous 
 generation and derivation hitherto promulgated are but wild 
 guesses at it is but too evident. 
 
 6. Since in inorganic nature we meet with such ultimate 
 facts as atoms of different kinds and with different properties, 
 and ether of non-atomic constitution, all of which seem to be 
 necessary to the existence of the world as it is, we may expect 
 in like manner to find at the basis of organic structures and 
 phenomena varied kinds of ultimate organisms and forces, 
 probably much more complicated than those of inorganic nat- 
 ure. The broad simplicity of existing theories of derivation 
 and evolution is thus in itself a presumption against their 
 truth, except as very partial explanations. 
 
 7. We have no right to consider the species " after their 
 kinds" of revelation as coincident with the species recognized 
 by science. Many of these may be merely races, the produc- 
 tion of which in the course of time and in special circumstan- 
 ces may fall within the powers of created species, and which 
 may merely be the phases of such species in time and place. 
 Only the accumulation of vast additional stores of facts can 
 enable us to have any certain opinion on this point, and till 
 it is settled the doctrine of derivation must remain purely 
 h3'pothetical. 
 
 8. The inference of evolutionists that because certain forms 
 of life succeed each other in geological time, they must have 
 been derived from each other, has an aspect of truth and sim- 
 
380 Appaidix. 
 
 plicity ; but the idea of law or plan in creation suggests that 
 the link of connection may be of a less direct nature than 
 mere descent with modification. This has been referred to 
 under a previous head. 
 
 9. In the scheme of revelation all the successions and 
 changes of organized beings, just as much as their introduc- 
 tion at first, belong to the will and plan of God. Revelation 
 opposes no obstacle to any scientific investigation of the nat- 
 ure and method of this plan, nor does it contemplate the 
 idea that any discoveries of this kind in any way isolate the 
 Creator from his works. Farther, inasmuch as God is always 
 present in all his works, one part of his procedure can scarce- 
 ly be considered an "intervention" any more than another. 
 
 10. As an illustration of the hypothetical condition of this 
 subject, and of the views which may be taken as to its details, 
 I quote from a memoir of my own certain conclusions with 
 reference to the origin of the species of land plants which are 
 found in the older geological formations. The conclusions 
 stated are at the end of a detailed consideration of these plants 
 and the circumstances of their occurrence : 
 
 "(i.) Some of the forms reckoned as specific in the Devo- 
 nian and Carboniferous formations may be really derivative 
 races. There are indications that such races may have orig- 
 inated in one or more of the following ways : {a) By a nat- 
 ural tendency in synthetic types to become specialized in the 
 direction of one or other of their constituent elements. In 
 this way such plants as Art/irosiigma and Psilophytoii may 
 have assumed new varietal forms, {b) By embryonic retar- 
 dation or acceleration,* whereby certain species may have 
 had their maturity advanced or postponed, thus giving them 
 various grades of perfection in reproduction and complexity 
 of structure. The fact that so many Erian and Carboniferous 
 plants seem to be on the confines of the groups of Acrogens 
 
 * In the manner illustrated by Hyatt and Cope. 
 
Modes of Creation. 381 
 
 and Gymnosperms may be supposed favorable to such ex- 
 changes, {c) The contraction and breaking up of floras which 
 occurred in the Middle Erian and Lower Carboniferous may 
 have been eminently favorable to the production of such va- 
 rietal forms as would result from what has been called the 
 'struggle for existence.' {d) The elevation of a great ex- 
 panse of new land at the close of the Middle Erian and the 
 beginning of the Coal period would, by permitting the exten- 
 sion of series over wide areas and fertile soils, and by remov- 
 ing the pressure previously existing, be eminently favorable 
 to the production of new, and especially of improved, varie- 
 ties. 
 
 "(2.) Whatever importance we may attach to the above 
 supposed causes of change, w^e still require to account for the 
 origin of our specific types. This may forever elude our ob- 
 servation, but we may at least hope to ascertain the external 
 conditions favorable to their production. In order to attain 
 even to this it will be necessary to inquire critically, with ref- 
 erence to every acknowledged species, what its claims to dis- 
 tinctness are, so that we may be enabled to distinguish spe- 
 cific types from mere varieties. Having attained to some 
 certainty in this, we may be prepared to inquire whether the 
 conditions favorable to the appearance of new varieties w^ere 
 also those favorable to the creation of new types, or the re- 
 verse — whether these conditions were those of compression 
 or expansion, or to what extent the appearance of new types 
 may be independent of any external conditions, other than 
 those absolutely necessary for their existence. I am not with- 
 out hope that the further study of fossil plants may enable us 
 thus to approach to a comprehension of the laws of the crea- 
 tion, as distinguished from those of the continued existence 
 of species. 
 
 " In the present state of our knowledge we have no good 
 ground either to limit the number of specific types beyond 
 what a fair study of our material may warrant, or to infer that 
 
382 Appendix. 
 
 such primitive types must necessarily have been of low grade, 
 or that progress in varietal forms has always been upward. 
 The occurrence of such an advanced and specialized type as 
 that of Syriiigoxylon in the Middle Devonian should guard 
 us against these errors. The creative process may have been 
 applicable to the highest as well as to the lowest forms, and 
 subsequent deviations must have included degradation as 
 well as elevation. I can conceive nothing more unreason- 
 able than the statement sometimes made that it is illogical or 
 even absurd to suppose that highly organized beings could 
 have been produced except by derivation from previously ex- 
 isting organisms. This is begging the whole question at is- 
 sue, depriving science of a noble department of inquiry on 
 which it has as yet barely entered, and anticipating by unwar- 
 ranted assertions conclusions which may perhaps suddenly 
 dawn upon us through the inspiration of some great intellect, 
 or may for generations to come baftle the united exertions of 
 all the earnest promoters of natural science. Our present at- 
 titude should not be that of dogmatists, but that of patient 
 workers content to labor for a harvest of grand generaliza- 
 tions which may not come till we have passed away, but 
 which, if we are earnest and true to nature and its Creator, 
 may reward even some of us." * 
 
 * Report on Fossil Plants of the Upper Silurian and Devonian, 1S71. 
 
Present Condition of Theories of Life. 383 
 
 D.— PRESENT CONDITION OF THEORIES OF LIFE. 
 
 One of the most learned and ingenious essays on this sub- 
 ject recently published* states on its first page that all the 
 varieties of opinion may be summed up under two heads : 
 
 " I. Those which require the addition to ordinary matter of 
 an immaterial or spiritual essence, substance, or power, gen- 
 eral or local, whose presence is the efficient cause of life ; and, 
 
 " 2. Those which attribute the phenomena of life solely to the 
 mode of combination of the ordinary material elements of 
 which the organism is composed, without the addition of any 
 such immaterial essence, power, or force." 
 
 It is quite true that physiologists have up to this time 
 argued out these two alternatives, and that at present the 
 second is probably the more prevalent. It is however also 
 true that neither includes or can possibly include the whole 
 truth, and that enlightened theism may enable us to hold 
 both, or all that is true in either. Undoubtedly we must 
 hold that a higher spiritual power or Creator is necessary to 
 the existence of life ; but then this is necessary also to the 
 existence of dead matter and force. So that if physiologists 
 think proper to trace the whole phenomena of life to materi- 
 al causes, they do not on that account in any way invalidate 
 the evidence for a spiritual Creator, nor for a spiritual ele- 
 ment in the higher nature of man. Yet so inconceivably shal- 
 low is much of the biological reasoning of the day, that it is 
 quite common to find physiologists referring all life to spon- 
 taneous and uncaused material agencies, because they have 
 
 * Drysdale's "Protoplasmic Theories of Life." 
 
384 Appendix. 
 
 concluded that the arrangements of matter and force are suf- 
 ficient to explain it ; and, on the other hand, to find theistic 
 writers accusing physiology of materialism, if it finds the 
 causes of vital phenomena in material forces, as if God could 
 be present only in those processes which we can not under- 
 stand. 
 
 What we really know as to the material basis of life may 
 be summed up in a few words. Chemically, life is based on 
 compounds of the albuminous group. These are highly com- 
 plex in a molecular point of view, and seem to be formed in 
 nature only where certain structures, those of the vegetable 
 cell, exist under certain conditions. These albuminous sub- 
 stances do not necessarily possess vital properties. They 
 may exist in a dead state just as other substances. Under 
 certain conditions, however, those of forming part of a so- 
 called living organism, they present phenomena of mechanical 
 movement and molecular change, and of transformation or 
 transmission of force, which enable them to transform them- 
 selves into various kinds of tissues, to nourish these when 
 formed, and to establish a consensus of action between differ- 
 ent parts of the organism; and these properties are vastly 
 varied in detail according to the kind of organism in which 
 they take place, and the conditions under which the organism 
 exists. The actually living matter presents no distinct struct- 
 ure recognizable by the microscope, and can not be distin- 
 guished chemically from ordinary albumen or protoplasm; 
 but when living it must either exist in some peculiar and 
 complex molecular arrangement unknown as yet to chemistry 
 and physics, or must be actuated by some force or form of 
 force called vital, and not as yet isolated or reduced to known 
 laws or correlation. It does not concern theism or theology 
 which of these may eventually prove to be the true view, or if 
 it should be found, which is quite possible, that there is no 
 real difference between them. In any case it is certain that 
 in the lower animals, and in the merely physiological proper- 
 
Present Condition of Theories of Life. 385 
 
 ties of man himself, living matter may act independently of 
 any higher spiritual nature in the individual, though of course 
 not independently of the higher power of God, which gave 
 matter its properties and sustains them in their action. It is 
 farther certain that in man the spiritual nature dominates and 
 controls the vital, except when under abnormal conditions the 
 latter unduly gains the mastery, and quenches altogether the 
 spirit. In the language of the Bible, the merely vital en- 
 dowments of the man belong to the flesh (<to|0^), and to the 
 rational mind or soul {-^vyj]). The higher nature which man 
 derives directly from God is the spirit (Trrevfia). Either of 
 these parts of the complex humanity is capable of life {^cj})) 
 and of immortality. Either of them is capable of being in a 
 state of death, though the import of this differs in its applica- 
 tion to each. In Genesis, the body is composed of the ordi- 
 nary earth-materials — the " dust of the ground." The higher 
 nature is seen in the " shadow and likeness of God," and in 
 the inbreathing of the Divine Spirit whereby man became a 
 " living soul" in a higher sense than that in which the animals 
 possess the ordinary " breath of life." With these views agree 
 the later doctrines of the Bible as to the " trichotomy " of 
 "body, soul, and spirit" in man, and of the added influence 
 of the Spirit of God as acting on humanity. 
 
 R 
 
386 Appendix. 
 
 E.— RECENT FACTS AS TO THE ORIGIN AND 
 
 ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 
 
 Several recent statements as to new facts supposed to prove 
 a pre-glacial antiquity for our species have been promulgated 
 in scientific journals; but so great doubt rests upon them that 
 they do not invalidate the statement that the earliest human 
 remains belong to the post-glacial age. I may refer to the 
 following : 
 
 A very remarkable discovery was made in 1875 by Professor 
 Rutimeyer, of Basle. In a brown coal deposit of Tertiary, or 
 at least of "inter-glacial" age — whatever that may mean in 
 Switzerland — he found some fragments of wood so interlaced 
 as to resemble wattle or basket-work. Steenstrup has, how- 
 ever, re-examined the evidence, and adduces strong reasons 
 for the conclusion that the alleged human workmanship is 
 really that of beavers. 
 
 The Swedish geologists have shown that there is no prop- 
 erly Palaeolithic age in Scandinavia, and that even the rein- 
 deer had probably disappeared from Denmark and Sweden 
 before their occupation by man. Some facts, however, seem- 
 ed to indicate a residence of man in Sweden before the great 
 post-pliocene subsidence. One of the most important of these 
 is the celebrated hut of Sodertelge, referred to in this connec- 
 tion by Lyell. Recent observations have, however, shown 
 that this hut was really covered by a landslip, and that its age 
 may not be greater than eight centuries. Torel has recently 
 explained this in the Proceedings of the Archaeological Con- 
 gress of Stockholm. 
 
 The human bone found in the Victoria Cave at Settle, ap- 
 
Recent Facts as to Mans Origin and Antiquity. 387 
 
 parently under a patch of boulder-clay, has been regarded as 
 a good evidence of the pre-glacial origin of man. It has, 
 however, always appeared to readers of the description as a 
 very doubtful case ; and Professor Hughes, of Cambridge, 
 has recently expressed the opinion that the drift covering 
 the bone may be merely a " pocket " of that material dis- 
 engaged from a cavity in the limestone by the wearing of the 
 cliff. 
 
 The same geologist has also shown reason to believe that 
 the supposed case of the occurrence of palaeolithic imple- 
 ments under boulder-clay near Brandon, discovered by ]\Ir. 
 Skertchley, and paraded by Geikie as a demonstration of the 
 " inter-glacial " antiquity of man, in accordance with his sys- 
 tem of successive glacial periods, is really an error, and has 
 no foundation in the facts of the case. 
 
 Mr. Pengelly has endeavored to maintain the value of the 
 deposit of stalagmite as a means of establishing dates, in his 
 " Notes of Recent Notices of the Geology of Devonshire," Part 
 I., 1874; but, I confess, with little success. He urges, in op- 
 position to the Ingleborough Cave, that at Cheddar, where, 
 according to him, no appreciable deposit whatever is taking 
 place on the existing stalagmite. But this, of course, is evi- 
 dence not applicable to the case in hand, as in the Cheddar 
 case no stalagmite crust whatever would be produced. There 
 are, no doubt, crevices and caves in which old stalagmite is 
 even being removed or diminished in thickness. He farther 
 asserts that in Kent's Cave teeth of the cave bear and other 
 extinct animals are found covered by not more than an mch 
 and a half of stalagmite, and consequently that if this were 
 deposited at the rate of a quarter of an inch per annum— the 
 supposed rate on the " Jockey Cap " at Ingleborough-these 
 animals must have lived in Devonshire only six years ago, 
 which is, of course, absurd. But he fails to perceive that this 
 mode of occurrence is quite intelligible on the supposition of 
 a rapid decrease in the amount of deposition in the later part 
 
388 Appendix. 
 
 of the stalagmite period. He farther refers to the fact that 
 the thicker masses of stalagmite, which correspond to the 
 places of more active drip of water, are in the same position 
 in both crusts of stalagmite. This shows that the sources of 
 water containing bicarbonate of lime have been the same from 
 the first; but it proves nothing as to the rate of deposit. 
 
 Mr. Pengelly's own estimate of the rate of deposit gives, 
 hi:)wever, a length of time which is sufficient to show that there 
 must be error somewhere in his calculations. He states the 
 aggregate thickness of the two crusts at twelve feet, and then, 
 assuming a rate of deposit of 0.05 inch in 250 years, or one 
 inch in 5000 years, he arrives at the conclusion that the whole 
 deposit required 720,000 years for its formation. He is " will- 
 ing to suppose" the mechanical deposits to have accumulated 
 more rapidly; but allowing one fourth of the time for them, 
 we have nearly a million of years claimed for the residence 
 of man in Devonshire, which, independently of other consid- 
 erations, would push back the Palaeozoic trilobites and corals 
 of that county into the primitive reign of fire, and which in 
 point of fact amounts to a rediictio ad absurdum of the whole 
 argument. 
 
 Professor Hughes* refers, as a case of rapid deposition of 
 matter akin to stalagmite, to the deposit of travertine in the 
 old Roman aqueduct of the Pont du Gard, near Avignon, 
 where a thickness of fourteen inches seems to have accumu- 
 lated in about 800 years. Mr. J. Carey has given in Nature, 
 December 18, 1873, another instance where a deposit 0.75 
 inch thick was formed in fifteen years in a lead mine in 
 Durham. Mr. W. B. Clarke in the same journal gives a case 
 where in a cave at Brixton, known as Poole's Hole, a deposit 
 one eighth of an inch in thickness was formed in six months. 
 Such examples show how unsafe it is to reason as to the rate 
 of deposit in by-gone times, and when climatal and local con- 
 
 * Lecture before the Royal Institution of London. 
 
Recent Facts as to Maiis Origin and Antiquity. 389 
 
 ditions may have been very different from those at present 
 subsisting. 
 
 In an able address before the biological section of the Brit- 
 ish Association in 1876, Wallace adduces the following con- 
 siderations as bearing on these questions; and these are well 
 worthy of attention as showing that it is the necessities of 
 evolution rather than of geological facts that demand the as- 
 sumption of a great antiquity for man, and induce so many 
 writers to accept any evidence for this, however doubtful : (i) 
 The great cerebral development of the so-called Palaeolithic 
 men, which shows no indications of graduating into inferior 
 races. (2) The great variety of the implements of these an- 
 cient men, and the excellence of their carvings on bone and 
 ivory, point to a similar conclusion. (3) Man is not related 
 to any existing species of ape, but in various ways to several 
 different species. (4) There is an accumulation of evidence 
 to show that the earliest historical races excelled in many 
 processes in the arts and in many kinds of culture. He in- 
 stances the wonderful mechanical and engineering skill evi- 
 denced in the pyramids of Egypt in proof of this. His con- 
 clusion is either that the origin of man by development from 
 apes must be pushed much farther back than any geologists 
 at present hold, and I may add far beyond any probable 
 date, or that he must have originated by some "distinct and 
 higher agency" — which last is no doubt the true conclu- 
 sion. 
 
 Haeckel, in his recent work, the "History of Creation," 
 sketches the development of man from a monad, in twenty- 
 two stages ; but he has to admit that stage twenty-first, or 
 that of the " Ape-like man," nowhere exists, either recent or 
 fossil. He has to assume that this missing link has perished 
 in the submergence of an imaginary continent of Lemuria, in 
 the Indian Ocean ; and it is instructive to observe that, after 
 deducting this, his affiliation of the races of men, as indicated 
 in a map of the distribution of the species, is in the main very 
 
390 Appendix. 
 
 similar to that with which we are familiar in ordinary collec- 
 tions of maps illustrative of the Bible. 
 
 The Post-glacial, Palseocosmic, or Palaeolithic men of Eu- 
 rope are not improbably antediluvian ; and as to their precise 
 date we know little. As to postdiluvian man, Canon Rawlin- 
 son has recently pointed out"* the remarkable convergence of 
 all historic dates toward a time between 2000 to 3000 years 
 B.C., or about the date of the Biblical deluge, which may 
 reasonably be inferred' to have occurred about 3200 B.C. 
 He gives the following summary of historical origins as as- 
 certained from the best data, and which accord wdth the 
 representation of the Bible that in the time of Abraham the 
 great monarchies of Egypt and the East were scarcely 
 more powerful than the nomad tribe led by that patriarch : 
 
 Oldest date of Babylon 2300 B.C. 
 
 " " Assyria 1500 
 
 " " Iran 1500 
 
 " " India 1200 
 
 « " China 1154 
 
 " " Phoenicia 1700 
 
 « " Troad 2000 
 
 " " Egypt 2760 
 
 Sept. date of Deluge 3200 
 
 He rejects, of course, the fabulous chronologies of Egypt, 
 China, and India as mythical, or referring to pre-human and 
 antediluvian periods. It is to be observed that while these 
 dates place the origins of the oldest civilized nations at pe- 
 riods considerably subsequent to the deluge, they do not pre- 
 vent us from supposing that these nations commenced their 
 existence with an advanced civilization borrowed from ante- 
 diluvian times, which is indeed a fair conclusion from the 
 Biblical history, independently of the monumental evidence 
 referred to by Wallace in a previous paragraph. 
 
 * Leisure Hour, 1876. 
 
Recent Facts as to the A^itiqiiity of Man. 391 
 
 The Duke of Argyll, in his excellent little work " Primeval 
 Man," in which he discusses the arguments in favor of primi- 
 tive savagery advanced by Sir J. Lubbock in opposition to 
 the views of Archbishop Whately in his lecture on the " Origin 
 of Civilization," shows that there is no necessity to suppose 
 a slow progress of mankind in the arts extending over indef- 
 inite ages ; and his argument in this respect connects itself 
 with the facts as to the high cerebral organization of Paloeo- 
 cosmic men referred to above by Wallace. In summing up 
 one division of his argument, he truly remarks : " If we assume 
 with the supporters of the savage-theory that man has himself 
 invented all that he now knows, then the very earliest inven- 
 tions of our race must have been the most wonderful of all, 
 and the richest in the fruits they bore. The man who first 
 discovered the use of fire, and the use of those grasses which 
 we now know under the name of corn, were discoverers com- 
 pared with whom, as regards the value of their ideas to the 
 world, Faraday and Wheatstone are but the inventors of ingen- 
 ious toys. It may possibly be true, as Whately argues, that 
 man never could have discovered these things without divine 
 instruction. If so, it is fatal to the savage theory. But it is 
 equally fatal to that theory if we assume the opposite position, 
 and suppose that the noblest discoveries ever made by man 
 were made by him in primeval times." 
 
 I may add that this is true, however far into antiquity we 
 may stretch back these primeval times. 
 
 Professor E. S. Morse, in his address to the American As- 
 sociation, in 1876, as vice-president, takes as a theme the 
 contributions of American zoologists to theories of evolution, 
 and closes with those which refer to what he modestly terms 
 " man's lowly origin." These contributions he sums up un- 
 der three heads, as bearing on the following points: "i. That 
 in his earlier stages he reveals certain persistent characters 
 of the ape ; 2. That the more ancient men reveal more ape- 
 like features than the present existing men ; and, 3. That cer- 
 
392 Appendix. 
 
 tain characteristics pertaining to early men still persist in the 
 inferior races of men." Under the first head he gives contri- 
 butions to the well-known fact that embryonic stages of the 
 human being, like those of other high t3'pes, approximate to 
 forms permanent in lower types. This is a fact inseparable 
 from the law of reproduction ; and as has been already shown 
 in the text, absolutely without logical significance as even an 
 analogical argument in favor of evolution. Under the sec- 
 ' ond and third heads, he refers to cases of exceptional skulls 
 and bones belonging to idiots and degraded races of men, as 
 showing tendencies to lower forms, which as a matter of 
 course they do, though with essential differences still mark- 
 ing them as human ; and he assumes without any proof that 
 these were relatively more common in primitive times, and 
 that they are cases of reversion to a previous simian stage, 
 instead of beings results of abnormal conditions in the indi- 
 vidual or variety. He sums up these arguments in the fol- 
 lowing paragraph : 
 
 " If we take into account the rapidly accumulating data of 
 European naturalists concerning primitive man, with the mass 
 of evidence presented in these notes, we find an array of facts 
 which irresistibly point to a common origin with animals di- 
 rectly below us, and these evidences are found in the massive 
 skulls with coarse ridges for muscular attachments, the round- 
 ing of the base of the nostrils, the early ossification of the 
 nasal bones, the small cranial capacity in certain forms, the 
 prominence of the frontal crest, the posterior position of the 
 foramen magnum, the approximation of the temporal ridges, 
 the lateral flattening of the tibia, the perforation of the hu- 
 merus, the tendency of the pelvis to depart from its usual pro- 
 portions; and, associated with all these, a rudeness of culture 
 and the evidence of the manifestation of the coarsest instincts. 
 He must be blind, indeed, who can not recognize the bearing 
 of such grave and suggestive modifications." 
 
 Yet Professor Alorse knows that there is no true specific or 
 
Recent Facts as to the A7itiquity of Matt. 393 
 
 even generic kinship between man and any species of ape; 
 that the phenomena of idiocy and degeneracy have no real 
 resemblance to those of distinct specific types ; that the re- 
 semblances of man to apes, such as they are, point not in a 
 direct manner to any stock of apes, but in a desultory way 
 to several ; and consequently that, if derived from any such 
 animals, it must be from some stock altogether unknown to us 
 as yet, either among recent or fossil animals. Farther, as 
 Cope, himself an evolutionist, admits, while we can trace the 
 skeletons of Eocene mammals through several directions of 
 specialization in succeeding Tertiary times, man presents the 
 phenomenon of an unspecialized skeleton which can not fair- 
 ly be connected with any of these lines. Lastly, his quotation 
 from Fiske, with reference to the supposed effect of a pro- 
 tracted infancy to develop the moral characteristics of man, 
 though accompanied with the usual unfair and unreasonable 
 sneer (which a naturalist like Morse should have been 
 ashamed to quote) against men " still capable of believing 
 that the human race was created by miracle in a single 
 day," is the feeblest possible attempt to bridge over the gap 
 between the spiritual nature of man and the merely psychi- 
 cal nature of brutes. 
 
 It is plain that if American naturalists have done nothing 
 more in favor of the lowly origin of man than that which Pro- 
 fessor Morse has been able, evidently with much industry and 
 pains, to gather, we need not for the present abandon our 
 claims to a higher origin. It is farther significant in con- 
 nection with this that Professor Huxley, in his lectures in 
 New York, while resting his case as to the lower animals 
 mainly on the supposed genealogy of the horse, which has 
 often been shown to amount to no certain evidence,* avoided 
 altogether the discussion of the origin of man from apes, 
 now obviously complicated with so many difficulties that both 
 
 * See critique in International Reviezv, January, 1877. 
 
 R2 
 
394 Appendix. 
 
 Wallace and Mivart are staggered by them. Professor 
 Thomas, in his recent lectures,* admits that there is no lower 
 man known than the Australian, and that there is no known 
 link of connection with the monkeys ; and Haeckel t has to 
 admit that the penultimate link in his phylogeny, the ape-like 
 man, is absolutely unknown. 
 
 In Chapter XIII. I have not touched on the question of 
 the absolute origin of language — this not being necessary to 
 my argument. On this interesting subject, however, we have, 
 in the naming of the animals by the first man, recorded in the 
 second chapter of Genesis, not only the primary truth of his 
 superiority to them, but a farther indication that the roots of 
 human speech, other than interjectional, lie in onomatopoeia, 
 and especially in the voices of animals, and that the gift of 
 speech was not the slow growth of ages, but an endowment of 
 man from the first, just as much as any of his other powers or 
 properties. An interesting discussion of this subject will be 
 found in the concluding chapters of Wilson's " Pre-historic 
 Man," second edition. Farther, the so-called " tallies " found 
 with the bones of Palaeocosmic men in European caves, and 
 illustrated in the admirable work of Christy and Lartet, show 
 that the rudiments even of writing were already in possession 
 of the oldest race of men known to archaeology or geology. 
 (See Wilson, op. cit., vol. ii., p. 54.) 
 
 I have not noticed, except incidentally, the alleged discov- 
 eries of very ancient human remains in America, as they all 
 appear very problematical. There is, however, some evidence 
 of the coexistence of man with the mastodon and other post- 
 glacial animals in Illinois and elsewhere. 
 
 * Reported in Nature, 1876. f ** History of Creation." 
 
Glacial Periods and the hit erpr elation of Genesis. 395 
 
 F.— BEARING OF GLACIAL PERIODS UPON THE 
 INTERPRETATION OF GENESIS. 
 
 Whatever views may be taken as to that period of cold 
 which occurs at the close of the Tertiary and beginning of the 
 Modern period, it can not be held to have constituted any 
 such break as to be considered, as it was at one time, an 
 equivalent for the Biblical chaos. This is proved by the sur- 
 vival through this period of a very large proportion of the an- 
 imals and plants still existing in the northern hemisphere. 
 The chronological system of animals and plants has been 
 continuous, as the Bible represents it, since their first ap- 
 pearance on earth. 
 
 It is further remarkable that while there is geological evi- 
 dence of climates colder than the present in the temperate re- 
 gions, there is equally good proof of warmer climates even 
 within the arctic circle than those of the told temperate re- 
 gions at present. It is difficult to account for these vicissi- 
 tudes of climate, and much controversy exists on the subject; 
 but it seems certain that in the earlier Tertiary and Cretaceous 
 periods, for example, the supplies of heat and light were so 
 diffused over the earth as to permit the growth of a temperate 
 vegetation in Greenland, and even in Spitzbergen. Geolo- 
 gists, however unwillingly, have been obliged to admit this as 
 one of those great possibilities, altogether unexpected before- 
 hand, which have been developed in the history of our planet. 
 Various modes of explaining this succession of cold and 
 warm periods have been adopted, all more or less hypothet- 
 ical. Lyell has argued that it may be explained by a differ- 
 ent distribution of land and water and of the ocean currents. 
 
39^ ■ Appendix. 
 
 Croll accounts for it by the varying eccentricity of the earth's 
 orbit, in connection with the precession of the equinoxes. 
 Evans by a shifting of the axis of rotation of the earth. 
 Drayson, Bell, Warring, and others, by a change in the inclina- 
 tion of the earth's axis. Others by the secular diminution of 
 the internal heat of the earth, and of that of the sun. Others 
 by the supposed recurrence of periods in which the sun gives 
 more or less heat, or in which the earth is passing through 
 colder or w^armer regions of space. As the subject is of in- 
 terest with reference to possible correspondences of these 
 great summers and winters of the earth with the stages of 
 the creative work, it may be well to notice shortly the rela- 
 tive merits of these theories. 
 
 (i.) The hypothesis of Croll is one of the most ingenious 
 and elaborate of the whole; but it has two great defects. 
 One is that the causes alleged are so uncertain and so com- 
 plicated that it is difficult to estimate their real value. An- 
 other is that it proves too much, namely, a regular succes- 
 sion of cold and warm periods throughout geological time, 
 of which we have no good evidence, and which is on many 
 grounds improbable. 
 
 (2.) That the earth's axis of rotation has continued un- 
 changed throughout the whole of the geological ages seems 
 proved by the fact that the principal lines of crumpling and 
 upheaval from the Laurentian period downward are arranged 
 in great circles of the earth tangent to the polar circle; and 
 that the lines of deposit of sediment in the Palaeozoic age 
 are coincident with the present direction of the arctic cur- 
 rents. 
 
 (3.) Astronomers consider it improbable that the obliquity 
 of the ecliptic has materially changed, and serious differences 
 of opinion exist as to the effects which a greater or less obliq- 
 uity would produce on climate. It seems certain, however, 
 that a less obliquity would occasion a more uniform distribu- 
 tion of heat and light throughout the year ; and this, co-oper- 
 
Glacial Periods and the Interpretation of Genesis. 397 
 
 ating with other causes leading to a warm climate, might en- 
 able a temperate vegetation to approach the pole more close- 
 ly than at present. 
 
 (4.) That the energy of the sun's radiation and the internal 
 heat of the earth have been slowly decreasing seems certain ; 
 but it is now generally admitted that these changes are so 
 gradual that little effect can have been produced by them, ex- 
 cept in the older geological periods, and that they can have 
 no connection with the great glacial period of the Post-plio- 
 cene. 
 
 (5.) It is otherwise with the hypothesis that the sun's heat 
 may, like that of some variable stars, have increased and di- 
 minished. There is, of course, no direct evidence of this, ex- 
 cept the small differences observed in cycles of eleven and 
 fifty-five years from the greater or less development of sun- 
 spots, and the analogy of observed variable stars. Still it is 
 a possible cause of variations of climate. It 'might also aid 
 in accounting for the extraordinary evidences of desert con- 
 ditions and desiccation presented by the salt deposits of differ- 
 ent geological periods in temperate latitudes. 
 
 (6.) The theory of the passage of the earth through zones 
 of space of variable temperature is now generally abandoned, 
 as there seems no reason to believe that such differences 
 exist. 
 
 (7.) The theory of Lyell that changes in the distribution of 
 land and water may, with the possible co-operation of other 
 causes, have produced the observed diversities of climate, is 
 that which seems best to meet the conditions presented. It 
 is based on the known properties of land and water as to the 
 absorption, radiation, and convection of heat, and on the re- 
 markable diversities of climate in similar latitudes arising 
 from this cause at present. Farther, it accords with the 
 known fact that very great changes of level have occurred in 
 connection with the glacial period. This theory undoubtedly 
 embraces a true cause, admitted by all geologists, and it dis- 
 
39^ Appendix. 
 
 penses with the necessity of believing in the recurrence of 
 glacial periods at regular intervals. It farther accords best 
 with the evidence afforded by fossils, and especially by fossil 
 plants. It has also the merit of directing due attention to 
 the diversities of geographical conditions at different periods, 
 and of dealing with causes of change operating within the 
 earth itself The only doubt with respect to it is its suffi- 
 ciency to explain the changes which have occurred, and the 
 view entertained of this will depend very much on the inter- 
 pretation of the facts as to the intensity of the last glacial pe- 
 riod. If moderate views can be taken of this, and if means 
 can be found, by a less obliquity of the ecliptic or otherwise, 
 to furnish a continuous supply of light in the arctic regions, 
 the difficulties which have been alleged against it would dis- 
 appear. 
 
 (8.) In connection with former periods of cold and warmth, 
 and with the existence of temperate and tropical vegetation 
 in polar latitudes, we should not forget that view which takes 
 into account the probable effects of different conditions of 
 the atmosphere, and the greater quantity of carbonic acid 
 present in it, in early geological periods. This would, of 
 course, best apply to the palaeozoic floras, in so far as our 
 present knowledge extends ; but there may have been simi- 
 lar conditions in later periods. Dr. Sterry Hunt thus states 
 this hypothesis : 
 
 " The agency of plants in purifying the primitive atmos- 
 phere was long since pointed out by Brongniart, and our 
 great stores of fossil fuel have been derived from the decom- 
 position, by the ancient vegetation, of the excess of carbonic 
 acid of the early atmosphere, which through this agency was 
 exchanged for oxygen gas. In this connection the vegetation 
 of former periods presents the curious phenomenon of plants 
 allied to those now growing beneath the tropics flourishing 
 within the polar circles. Many ingenious hypotheses have 
 been proposed to account for the warmer climate of earlier 
 
Glacial Periods and the Interpretation of Genesis. 399 
 
 times, but are at best unsatisfactory, and it appears to me that 
 the true solution of the problem may be found in the constitu- 
 tion of the early atmosphere, when considered in the light of 
 Dr. Tyndall's beautiful researches on radiant heat. He has 
 found that the presence of a few hundredths of carbonic-acid 
 gas in the atmosphere, while offering almost no obstacle to 
 the passage of the solar rays, would suffice to prevent almost 
 entirely the loss by radiation of obscure heat, so that the sur- 
 face of the land beneath such an atmosphere would become 
 like a vast orchard-house, in which the conditions of climate 
 necessary to a luxuriant vegetation would be extended even 
 to the polar regions." 
 
 It is obvious that, in the production of complex effects of 
 this kind, various causes, whether astronomical or connected 
 with the mutations of the earth's crust, may have co-operated, 
 and probably in all extreme cases did co-operate. 
 
 In any case it is evident that the vicissitudes of climate 
 and the great pulsations of the crust, which have raised and 
 depressed portions of the surface and changed the position 
 of its covering of waters, have been potent agents in the 
 .hands of the Creator in effecting the changes and succession 
 of living beings, which are thus, as Genesis intimates, children 
 of the waters and of the land, and of the influences of the 
 heavens. It is also interesting in this connection to observe 
 that the occurrence of such periods of general warm climate 
 as that in the Miocene shows that it would have been possi- 
 ble for man, under certain conditions, to have extended him- 
 self far more widely in his Edenic state than we can conceive 
 of in the present condition of the earth. The modern world 
 is perhaps even in this way " cursed " for man's sake. 
 
400 Appendix. 
 
 g.~dr. sterry hunt on the chemistry of 
 the primeval earth. 
 
 On looking back to the reference to this subject in Chap- 
 ter v., I think it may be desirable to present to the reader 
 in some more definite manner the conditions of a forming 
 world; and I can not do this in any other way so well as 
 by quoting the words of Dr. Sterry Hunt, as given in the 
 abstract of his lecture on this subject delivered before the 
 Roya4 Institution of London in 1867: 
 
 " This hypothesis of the nature of the sun and of the lu- 
 minous process going on at its surface is the one lately put 
 forward by Faye, and, although it has met with opposition, ap- 
 pears to be that which accords best with our present knowl- 
 edge of the chemical and physical conditions of matter, such 
 as we must suppose it to exist in the condensing gaseous 
 mass which, according to the nebular hypothesis, should form 
 the centre of our solar system. Taking this, as we have al- 
 ready done, for granted, it matters little whether we imagine 
 the different planets to have been successively detached as 
 rings during the rotation of the primal mass, as is generally 
 conceived, or whether we admit with Chacornac a process of 
 aggregation or concretion, operating within the primal nebu- 
 lar mass, resulting in the production of sun and planets. In 
 either case we come to the conclusion that our earth must at 
 one time have been in an intensely heated gaseous condition, 
 such as the sun now presents, self-luminous, and with a proc- 
 ess of condensation going on at first at the surface only, un- 
 til by cooling it must have reached the point where the gase- 
 
The Chemistry of the Primeval Earth. 401 
 
 ous centre was exchanged for one of combined and liquefied 
 matter. 
 
 " Here commences the chemistry of the earth, to the dis- 
 cussion of which the foregoing considerations have been only 
 preliminary. So long as the gaseous condition of the earth 
 lasted, we may suppose the whole mass to have been homo- 
 geneous ; but when the temperature became so reduced that 
 the existence of chemical compounds at the centre became 
 possible, those which were most stable at the elevated tem- 
 perature then prevailing would be first formed. Thus, for 
 example, while compounds of oxygen with mercury or even 
 with hydrogen could not exist, oxides of silicon, aluminium, 
 calcium, magnesium, and iron might be formed and condense 
 in a liquid form at the centre of the globe. By progressive 
 cooling, still other elements would be removed from the gase- 
 ous mass, which would form the atmosphere of the non-gase- 
 ous nucleus. We may suppose an arrangement of the con- 
 densed matters at the centre according to their respective 
 specific gravities, and thus the fact that the density of the 
 earth as a whole is about twice the mean density of the 
 matters which form its solid surface may be explained. Me- 
 tallic or metalloidal compounds of elements, grouped differ- 
 ently from any compounds known to us, and far more dense, 
 may exist in the centre of the earth. 
 
 " The process of combination and cooling having gone on 
 until those elements which are not volatile in the heat of our 
 ordinary furnaces were condensed into a liquid form, we may 
 here inquire what would be the result, upon the mass, of a 
 further reduction of temperature. It is generally assumed 
 that in the cooling of a liquid globe of mineral matter, con- 
 gelation would commence at the surface, as in the case of wa- 
 ter ; but water offers an exception to most other liquids, in- 
 asmuch as it is denser in the liquid than in the solid form. 
 Hence ice floats on water, and freezing water becomes cov- 
 ered with a layer of ice, which protects the liquid below. 
 
402 Appendix. 
 
 With most other matters, however, and notably with the vari- 
 ous mineral and earthy compounds analogous to those which 
 may be supposed to have formed the fiery-fluid earth, numer- 
 ous and careful experiments show that the products of solidi- 
 fication are much denser than the liquid mass ; so that solidi- 
 fication would have commenced at the centre, whose temper- 
 ature would thus be the congealing point of these liquid com- 
 pounds. The important researches of Hopkins and Fairbairn 
 on the influence of pressure in augmenting the melting-point 
 of such compounds as contract in solidifying are to be con- 
 sidered in this connection. 
 
 " It is with the superficial portions of the fused mineral 
 mass of the globe that we have now to do ; since there is no 
 good reason for supposing that the deeply seated portions 
 have intervened in any direct manner in the production of 
 the rocks which form the superficial crust. This, at the time 
 of its first solidification, presented probably an irregular, di- 
 versified surface from the result of contraction of the congeal- 
 ing mass, which at last formed a liquid bath of no great depth 
 surrounding the solid nucleus. It is to the composition of 
 this crust that we must direct our attention, since therein 
 would be found all the elements (with the exception of such 
 as were still in the gaseous form) now met with in the known 
 rocks of the earth. This crust is now everywhere buried be- 
 neath its own ruins, and we can only from chemical consider- 
 ations attempt to reconstruct it. If we consider the condi- 
 tions through which it has passed, and the chemical affinities 
 which must have come into play, we shall see that these are 
 just what would now result if the solid land, sea, and air were 
 made to react upon each other under the influence of intense 
 heat. To the chemist it is at once evident that from this 
 would result the conversion of all carbonates, chlorides, and 
 sulphates into silicates, and the separation of the carbon, 
 chlorine, and sulphur in the form of acid gases, which, with 
 nitrogen, watery vapor, and a probable excess of oxygen, would 
 
The Chemistry of the Primeval Earth. 403 
 
 form the dense primeval atmosphere. The resulting fused 
 mass would contain all the bases as silicates, and must have 
 much resembled in composition certain furnace-slags or vol- 
 canic glasses. The atmosphere, charged with acid gases, 
 which surrounded this primitive rock must have been of im- 
 mense density. Under the pressure of such a high baromet- 
 ric column, condensation would take place at a temperature 
 much above the present boiling-point of water, and the de- 
 pressed portions of the half-cooled crust would be flooded 
 with a highly heated solution of hydrochloric acid, whose 
 action in decomposing the silicates is easily intelligible to 
 the chemist. The formation of chlorides of the various 
 bases, and the separation of silica, would go on until the af- 
 finities of the acid were satisfied, and there would be a sepa- 
 ration of silica, taking the form of quartz, and the production 
 of a sea-water holding in solution, besides the chlorides of so- 
 dium, calcium, and magnesium, salts of aluminium and other 
 metallic bases. The atmosphere, being thus deprived of its 
 volatile chlorine and sulphur compounds, would approximate 
 to that of our own time, but differ in its greater amount of 
 carbonic acid. 
 
 " We next enter into the second phase in the action of the 
 atmosphere upon the earth's crust. This, unlike the first, 
 which was subaqueous, or operative only on the portion cov- 
 ered with the precipitated water, is sub-aerial, and consists in 
 the decomposition of the exposed parts of the primitive crust 
 under the influence of the carbonic acid and moisture of the 
 air, which convert the complex silicates of the crust into a 
 silicate of alumina, or clay, while the separated lime, mag- 
 nesia, and alkalies, being converted into carbonates, are car- 
 ried down into the sea in a state of solution. 
 
 " The first effect of these dissolved carbonates would be to 
 precipitate the dissolved alumina and the heavy metals, after 
 which would result a decomposition of the chloride of calcium 
 of the sea-water, resulting in the production of carbonate of 
 
404 Appendix, 
 
 lime or limestone, and chloride of sodium or common salt. 
 This process is one still going on at the earth's surface, slow- 
 ly breaking down and destroying the hardest rocks, and, aid- 
 ed by mechanical processes, transforming them into clays ; 
 although the action, from the comparative rarity of carbonic 
 acid in the atmosphere, is less energetic than in earlier times, 
 when the abundance of this gas, and a higher temperature, fa- 
 vored the chemical decomposition of the rocks. But now, as 
 then, every clod of clay formed from the decay of a crystalline 
 rock corresponded to an equivalent of carbonic acid abstract- 
 ed from the atmosphere, and equivalents of carbonate of lime 
 and common salt formed from the chloride of calcium of the 
 sea-water."* 
 
 * See also Hunt, " Chemical and Geological Essays," p. 35. 
 
Tannin and BJicmah. 
 
 405 
 
 H.— TANNIN AND BHEMAH. 
 
 The following synopsis of the instances of the occurrence 
 of the words tannin and tan will serve to show the propriety 
 of the meaning, "great reptiles," assigned in the text to the 
 former, as well as to illustrate the utility in such cases of 
 " comparing Scripture with Scripture :" 
 
 I. Tannic. 
 
 Exod. vii., 9. — Take thy rod and 
 cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall 
 become a serpent. 
 
 Deut. xxxii., 33. — Their vine is 
 the poison of dragons. 
 
 Job vii., 12. — Am I a sea, or a 
 whale, that thou settest a watch 
 over me. 
 
 Psa. Ixxiv,, 14. — Thou didst di- 
 vide the sea by thy strength. Thou 
 breakest the heads of the dragons 
 in the waters. 
 
 Psa. xci., 13. — The young lion 
 and the drago7t thou shalt tram- 
 ple under foot. 
 
 Psa. cxlviii., 7. — Praise the Lord, 
 ye dragons and all deeps. 
 
 Isa. xxvii., i. — He shall slay the 
 dragon in the midst of the sea 
 [river]. 
 
 Isa. li., 9. — Plath cut Rahab and 
 wounded the dragon. 
 
 Probably a serpent, though per- 
 haps a crocodile. (Septuagint, " \pa.- 
 
 Probably a species of serpent. 
 (Septuagint, "tipa/cwv.") 
 
 Michaelis and others think, prob- 
 ably correctly, that the Nile and 
 the crocodile, both objects of vig- 
 ilance to the Egyptians, are intend- 
 ed. (Septuagint, "cpck-wK") 
 
 Evidently refers to the destruc- 
 tion of the Egyptians in the Red. 
 Sea, under emblem of the croco- 
 dile. (Septuagint, "^pa/cwj'.") 
 
 The association shows that a pow- 
 erful carnivorous animal is meant. 
 (Septuagint, " cpciKiav.'''') 
 
 Evidently an aquatic creature. 
 (Septuagint, "^paKwr.") 
 
 A large predaceous aquatic ani- 
 mal (the crocodile), used here as 
 an emblem of Egypt. (Septuagint, 
 ** ^pa/cwj/.") 
 
 Same as above. 
 
4o6 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 Jer. li., 34. — [Nebuchadnezzar] A large predaceous animal. (Sep- 
 hath swallowed nie up as a dragon. tuagint, "^/^a/cwv.") 
 
 Ezek. xxix., 3. — Pharaoh, king of In the Hebrew tanini appears 
 Egypt, the great dragon that lieth by mistake for ta7inin. This is 
 in the rivers. clearly the crocodile of the Nile. 
 
 Verses 4 and 5 show that it is a 
 large aquatic animal with scales. 
 (Septuagint, '* dpaKojv.") 
 
 2. Tan. 
 
 Psa. xliv., 19. — Thou hast sore 
 broken us in the place of dragons. 
 
 Isa. xxxiv., 13. — [Bozrah in Idu- 
 mea] shall be a habitation of drag- 
 ons and a court of owls [or ostrich- 
 es]. 
 
 Isa. xliii., 20. — The wild beasts 
 shall honor me, the dragons and 
 the ostriches, because I give water 
 in the wilderness. 
 
 Isa. xiii,, 22. — Dragons in their 
 
 pleasant palaces. 
 
 Isa. XXXV., 7. — And the parched 
 ground shall become a pool, and 
 the thirsty land springs of water; 
 in the habitation of dragons, where 
 each lay, shall be grass with reeds 
 and rushes. 
 
 Job XXX., 29. — I am a brother of 
 dragons and a companion of os- 
 triches. 
 
 Jer. ix., II ; x., 22. — I will make 
 Jerusalem heaps, a den oi dragons. 
 
 Some understand this of ship- 
 wreck ; but, more probably, the 
 place of dragons is the desert. 
 (Septuagint, " Ka/cwdj^.") 
 
 An animal inhabiting ruins, and 
 associated with the ostrich. (Sep- 
 tuagint, " (Tlip)]^.") 
 
 Evidently an animal of the dry 
 deserts. (Septuagint, ^^anprjv.^') 
 
 Represented as inhabiting the 
 ruins of Babylon, and associated 
 with wild beasts of the desert. (Sep- 
 tuagint, "i^'^of.") 
 
 An animal making its lair or nest 
 in dry, parched places. (Septua- 
 gint, '^upvig.'^) 
 
 The association indicates an ani- 
 mal of the desert, and the context 
 that its cry is mournful. (Septua- 
 gint, "<Tap)7i/.") 
 
 Same as above. See also Jere- 
 miah xlix., 33 ; li., 37 ; and Mai. 
 i., 3, where the word is in the fe- 
 male form {tanoth). (Septuagint, 
 ^^ IpcLKijiv''' and *'<T-poi'6oc.") 
 
Tannin and Bhemah. 407 
 
 Lam. iv., 3.— Even the sea-mon- In the Hebrew text the word is 
 
 sters draw out the breast, they give taiinin, evidently an error for ta- 
 
 suck to their young ones. The nim. The suckling of young, and 
 
 daughter of my people is become association of ostriches, agree with 
 
 cruel, like the ostriches in the wil- this. (Septuagint, "^pa/cwv.") 
 derness. 
 
 Micah i., 8.— I will make a wail- The wailing cry accords with the 
 
 ing like the dragons, and mourning view, of Gesenius that the jackal is 
 
 like the owls [ostriches]. meant. (Septuagint, "^pajcwv.") 
 
 We learn from the above comparative view that the tminin 
 is an aquatic animal of large size, and predaceous, clothed 
 with scales, and a fit emblem of the monarchies of Egypt and 
 Assyria. In two places it is possible that some species of 
 serpent is denoted by it. We must suppose, therefore, that 
 in Genesis i. it denotes large crocodilian and perhaps ser- 
 pentiform reptiles. The ta7t is evidently a small mammal 
 of the desert. 
 
 I omitted to notice in the text a criticism of my explanation 
 of the word bhemah in "Archaia," made in Archdeacon Pratt's 
 "Scripture and Science not at Variance" (edition of 1872). 
 He opposes to the meaning of "herbivorous animals" which 
 I have sought to establish, two exceptional passages. In one 
 of these, Deut. xxviii., 26, the word is used in its most general 
 sense for all beasts, which the context shows can not be its 
 meaning in Gen. i. In the other, Prov. xxx., 30, he says it is 
 applied to the lion. The actual expression used, however, 
 merely implies that the lion is "mighty among hhemah^^ the 
 comparison being probably between the strength of the lion 
 and that of oxen, antelopes, and other strong and active creat- 
 ures. It does not affirm that the lion is one of the bhemah. 
 While I have every respect for the erudition of Archdeacon 
 Pratt, and highly value his book, I must regard this objection 
 as an example of a style of biblical exposition much to be 
 deprecated, though too often employed. 
 
4o8 Appendix. 
 
 I.— ANCIENT MYTHOLOGIES. 
 
 The current views respecting the relations of ancient my- 
 thologies with each other and with the Bible have been con- 
 tinually shifting and oscillating between extremes. The 
 latest and at present most popular of these extreme views is 
 that so well expounded by Dr. Max Miiller in his various es- 
 says on these subjects, and which traces at least the Indo-Eu- 
 ropean theogony to a mere personification of natural objects. 
 The views given in the text are those which to the author ap- 
 pear alone compatible with the Bible, and with the relations 
 of Semitic and Aryan theology ; but, as the subject is gener- 
 ally regarded from a quite different point of view, a little fur- 
 ther explanation may be necessary. 
 
 1. According to the Bible, spiritual monotheism is the prim- 
 itive faith of man, and with this it ranks the doctrine of a ma- 
 lignant spirit or being opposed to God, and of a primitive 
 state of perfection and happiness. It is scarcely necessary to 
 say that these doctrines may be found as sub-strata in all the 
 ancient theologies. 
 
 2. In the Hebrew theology the fall introduces the new doc- 
 trine of a mediator or deliverer, human and divine, and an ex- 
 ternal symbolism, that of the cherubic forms, composite figures 
 made up of parts of the man, the lion, the ox, and the eagle. 
 These forms are referred back to Eden, where they are mani- 
 festly the emblems of the perfections of the Deity, lost to man 
 by the fall, and now opposed to his entrance into Eden and 
 access to the tree of life, the symbol of his immortal happi- 
 ness. Subsequently the cherubim are the visible indications 
 of the presence of God in the tabernacle and temple; and in. 
 
Ancient Mythologies. 409 
 
 the Apocalypse they reappear as emblems of the Divine per- 
 fections, as reflected in the character of man redeemed. The 
 cherubim, as guardians of the sacred tree, and of sacred 
 places in general, appear in the worship of the Assyrians and 
 Egyptians, as the winged lions and bulls of the former, and 
 the sphinx of the latter. They can also be recognized in the 
 sepulchral monuments of Greek Asia and of Etruria. Far- 
 ther, it was evidently an easy step to proceed from these 
 cherubic figures to the adoration of sacred animals. But the 
 cherubic emblems were connected with the idea of a comins: 
 Redeemer, and this was with equal ease perverted into hero- 
 worship. Every great conqueror, inventor, or reformer was 
 thus recognized as in some sense the " coming man," just as 
 Eve supposed she saw him in her first-born. In addition to 
 this, the sacredness of the first mother as the mother of the 
 promised seed of the woman, led to the introduction of female 
 deities. 
 
 3. The earliest ecclesiastical system was the patriarchal, 
 and this also admitted of corruption into idolatry. The great 
 patriarch, venerable by age and wisdom, when he left this 
 earth for the spirit world, was supposed there, in the presence 
 of God, to be the special guardian of his children on earth. 
 Some of the gods of Egypt and of Greece were obviously of 
 this character, and in China and Polynesia we see at this day 
 this kind of idolatry in a condition of active vitality. 
 
 4. As stated in the text, the mythology of Egypt and Greece 
 bears evident marks of having personified certain cosmolog- 
 ical facts akin to those of the Hebrew narrative of creation. 
 In this way ancient idolators disposed of the prehistoric and 
 pre-Adamite world, changing it into a period of gods and 
 demigods. This is very apparent in the remarkable Assyrian 
 Genesis recovered by the late George Smith from the clay 
 tablets found in the ruined palace of Assurbanipal. 
 
 5. In all rude and imaginative nations, which have lost the 
 distinct idea of the one God, the Creator, nature becomes 
 
 S 
 
410 Appendix, 
 
 more or less a source of superstitions. Its grand and more 
 rare phenomena of volcanoes, earthquakes, thunder-storms, 
 eclipses, become supernatural portents ; and as the idea of 
 power associates itself with them, they are personified as 
 actual agents and become gods. In like manner, the more 
 constant and useful objects and processes of nature become 
 personified as beneficent deities. This may be, to a great ex- 
 tent, the character of the Aryan theology; but, except where all 
 ideas of primitive religion and traditions of early history have 
 been lost, it can not be the whole of the religion of any people. 
 The Bible negatively recognizes this source of idolatry, in so 
 constantly referring all natural phenomena to the divine de- 
 cree. In connection with this, it is worthy of remark that rude 
 man tends to venerate the new animal forms of strange lands. 
 Something of this kind has probably led some of the Ameri- 
 can Indians to give a sort of divine honor to the bear. It 
 was in Egypt that man first became familiar with the strange 
 and gigantic fauna of Africa, whose effect on his mind in 
 primitive times we may gather from the book of Job. In 
 Egypt, consequently, there must have been a strong natural 
 tendency to the adoration of animals. 
 
 The above origins of idolatry and mythology, as stated or 
 implied in the Bible, of course assume that the Semitic mon- 
 otheistic religion is the primitive one. The first deviations 
 from it probably originated in the family of Ham. A city of 
 the Rephaim of Bashan was in the days of Abraham named 
 after Ashtoreth Karnaim — the two-horned Astarte, a female 
 divinity and prototype of Diana, and perhaps an historic per- 
 sonage, in whom both the moon and the domestic ox were 
 rendered objects of worship. This is the earliest Bible notice 
 of idolatry.* In Egypt a mythology of complex diversity ex- 
 isted at least as far back. We must remember, however, that 
 Egypt is Cush as well as Mizraim, and its idolatry is probably 
 
 * Except, perhaps, Job xxxi., 27. 
 
Ancient Mythologies. 411 
 
 to be traced, in the first instance, to the Nimrodic empire, 
 from which, as from a common centre, certain new and irre- 
 ligious ideas seem to have been propagated among all the 
 branches of the human family. It is quite probable that the 
 correspondences between Egyptian, Greek, and Hindoo myths 
 go back as far as to the time when the first despotism was 
 erected on the plain of Shinar, and when able but ungodly 
 men set themselves to erect new political and social institu- 
 tions on the ruins of all that their fathers had held sacred. 
 In addition to this, the mythology and language of the Ary- 
 ans alike bear the impress of the innovating and restless 
 spirit of the sons of Japhet. 
 
 I have stated the above propositions to show that the Bible 
 affords a rational and connected theory of the origin of the 
 false religions of antiquity ; and to suggest as inquiries in re- 
 lation to every form of mythology — how much of it is primi- 
 tive monotheism, how much cherub-worship, how much hero- 
 worship, how much ancestor-worship, how much distorted cos- 
 mogony, how much pure idealism and superstition, since all 
 these are usually present. I may be allowed further to re- 
 mind the reader how much evidence we have, even in modern 
 times, of the strong tendency of the human mind to fall into 
 one or another of these forms of idolatry ; and to ask him to 
 reflect that really the only effectual conservative element is 
 that of revelation. How strong an argument is this for the 
 necessity to man of an inspired rule of religious faith. 
 
 [The above note was in substance contained in the Ap- 
 pendix to "Archaia" in i860, and its correctness has, I think, 
 been confirmed by subsequent discoveries.] 
 
412 Appendix, 
 
 K.— ASSYRIAN AND EGYPTIAN TEXTS. 
 
 Progress is continually being made in the decipherment 
 and publication of these, and new facts are coming to light 
 in consequence as to the religions of the early postdiluvian 
 period. 
 
 According to the late George Smith and to Mr. Sayce, in 
 their contributions to Bagster's " Records of the Past," the 
 earliest monumental history of Babylonia reveals two races, 
 the Akkadian or Urdu, a Turanian race, with an agglutinate 
 language of the Finnish or Tartar type, and the Sumir or 
 Keen-gi, believed to be Shemitic. The race of Akkad seems 
 to have invented the cuneiform writing at a very early period, 
 and it no doubt represents the primitive Cushites of the Bible, 
 to whom is attributed the empire of Nimrod, whose first cities 
 were Babel and Erech and Akkad and Calneh. Verv ancient 
 inscriptions of this early Chaldean or Cushite race exist, prob- 
 ably earlier than the time of Abraham. That of king Urukh, 
 who is called "a very ancient king," on an inscription of Na- 
 bonadius, 555 B.C., represents himself as building temples to 
 several gods and goddesses, so that in his time there was al- 
 ready a developed polytheism, unless, indeed, he was himself 
 the inventor or introducer of much of it. Yet one can gather 
 from the probably contemporary Creation and Deluge tablets 
 translated by Mr. Smith, that a Supreme God was still recog- 
 nized, and that the subordinate deities, though their worship 
 was probably gaining in importance, were still only local and 
 created beings. Yet it was undoubtedly from this embryo 
 idolatry that Abraham dissented, and was thus led to leave 
 his native land. 
 
Assyrian and Egyptian Texts. 413 
 
 In like manner, in the early Egyptian Hymn to Amen Ra, 
 translated by Mr. Goodwin, though we have the gods men- 
 tioned, they are inferior beings, and not higher in position than 
 the angels of the Old Testament, while Ra himself is "Lord 
 of Eternity, Maker Everlasting," and is praised as 
 
 "Chief creator of the whole earth, 
 Supporter of affairs above every god, 
 In whose goodness the gods rejoice." 
 
 Thus, although there can be little doubt that Ra was a sun- 
 god, there can be as little that he is the II or El of the Shem- 
 itic peoples, and that his worship represents that of the one 
 God, the Creator. It seems probable also that there was an 
 esoteric doctrine of this kind among the priests and the edu- 
 cated, however gross the polytheism of the vulgar. In short, 
 the state of things in Assyria and Egypt was not dissimilar 
 from that prevailing at this day in India, where learned men 
 may fall back upon the ancient Vedas, and maintain that their 
 religion is monotheistic, while the common people worship in- 
 numerable gods. All this points to a primitive monotheism, 
 just as the peculiar forms of adoration given to saints and 
 the Virgin Mary in the Greek and Roman churches histori- 
 cally imply a primitive Christianity on which these newer 
 beliefs and rites have been engrafted. 
 
414 Appendix. 
 
 L. — SPECIES AND VARIETAL FORMS WITH REF- 
 ERENCE TO THE UNITY OF MAN. 
 
 In the concluding chapters of " Archaia " the nature of spe- 
 cies, as distinguished from varieties, was discussed, and special- 
 ly applied to the varieties and races of man. This discussion 
 has been omitted from the text of ^he present work ; but, in 
 an abridged form, is introduced here, with especial reference 
 to those more recent views of this subject now prevalent in 
 consequence of the growth of the philosophy of evolution; 
 but which I feel convinced must, with the progress of science, 
 return nearer to the opinions held by me in i860, and sum- 
 marized below. 
 
 We can determine species only by the comparison of indi- 
 viduals. If all these agree in all their characters except those 
 appertaining to sex, age, and other conditions of the individual 
 merely, we say that they belong to the same species. If all 
 species were invariable to this extent, there could be no prac- 
 tical difficulty, except that of obtaining specimens for compar- 
 ison. But in the case of very many species there are minor 
 differences, not sufficient to establish specific diversity, but to 
 suggest its possibility; and in such cases there is often great 
 liability to error. In cases of this kind we have principally 
 two criteria: first, the nature and amount of the differences; 
 secondly, their shading gradually into each other, or the con- 
 trary. Under the first of these we inquire — Are they no 
 greater in amount than those which may be observed in indi- 
 viduals of the same parentage ? Are they no greater than 
 those which occur in other species of similar structure or hab- 
 
species and Varietal Forms. 415 
 
 its? Do they occur in points known in other species to be 
 readily variable, or in points that usually remain unchanged? 
 Are none of them constant in the one supposed species, and 
 constantly absent in the other ? Under the second we ask — 
 Are the individuals presenting these differences connected 
 together by others showing a series of gradations uniting 
 the extremes by minute degrees of difference ? If we can 
 answer these questions — or such of them as we have the 
 means of answering — in the affirmative, we have no hesita- 
 tion in referring all to the same species. If obliged to answer 
 all or many in the negative, we must at least hesitate in the 
 identification; and if the material is abundant, and the distin- 
 guishing characters clear and well defined, we conclude that 
 there is a specific difference. 
 
 Species determined in this way must possess certain general 
 properties in common : 
 
 1. Their individuals must fall within a certain range of uni- 
 form characters, wider or narrower in the case of different 
 species. 
 
 2. The intervals between species must be distinctly marked, 
 and not slurred over by intermediate gradations. 
 
 3. The specific characters must be invariably transmitted 
 from generation to generation, so that they remain equally dis- 
 tinct in their limits if traced backward or forward in time, in 
 so far as our observation may extend. 
 
 4. Within the limits of the species there is more or less li- 
 ability to variation; and this, though perhaps developed by 
 external circumstances, is really inherent in the species, and 
 must necessarily form a part of its proper description. 
 
 5. There is also a physiological distinction between species, 
 namely, that the individuals are sterile with one another, where- 
 as this does not apply to varieties ; and though Darwin has 
 labored to break down this distinction by insisting on rare ex- 
 ceptional cases, and suggesting many supposed ways by which 
 varieties of the same species might possibly attain to this 
 
41 6 Appendix. 
 
 kind of distinctness, the difference still remains as a fact in 
 nature; though one not readily available in practically dis- 
 tinguishing species. 
 
 These general properties of species will, I think, be ad- 
 mitted by all naturalists as based on nature, and absolutely 
 necessary to the existence of natural history as a science, 
 independently of any hypotheses as to the possible changes 
 of specific forms in the lapse of time. I now proceed to 
 give a similar summary of the laws of the varieties which 
 may exist — always, be it observed, within the limits of the 
 species. 
 
 I. The limits of variation are very different in different 
 species. There are many in which no well-marked variations 
 have been observed. There are others in which the variations 
 are so marked that they have been divided, even by skilful nat- 
 uralists, into distinct species or even genera. I do not here 
 refer to differences of age and sex. These in many animals 
 are so great that nothing but actual knowledge of the relation 
 that subsists would prevent the individuals from being entire- 
 ly separated from one another. I refer merely to the varie- 
 ties that exist in adults of the same sex, including, however, 
 those that depend on arrest of development, and thus make 
 the adult of one variety resemble in some respects the young 
 of another; as, for instance, in the hornless oxen, and beard- 
 less individuals among men. If we inquire as to the causes on 
 which the greater or less disposition to vary depends, we must, 
 in the first place, confess our ignorance, by saying that it ap- 
 pears to be in a great measure constitutional, or dependent 
 on minute and as yet not distinctly appreciable structural, 
 physiological, and psychical characters. Darwin states that 
 Pallas long ago suggested, from the known facts that the 
 seeds of hybrid plants and grafted trees are very variable, the 
 theory that mixture of breeds tends to produce variability ; 
 but Darwin does not seem to attach much importance to this, 
 and admits our inability to explain the origin of these differ- 
 
species and Varietal Forms. 417 
 
 ences * We know, however, certain properties of species tliat 
 are always or usually connected with great liability to varia- 
 tion. The principal of these are the following: i. The lia- 
 bility to vary is, in many cases, not merely a specific peculiari- 
 ty; it is often general in the members of a genus or family. 
 Thus the cats, as a family, are little prone to vary; the wolves 
 and foxes very much so. 2. Species that are very widely dis- 
 tributed over the earth's surface are usually very variable. 
 In this case the capacity to vary probably adapts the creature 
 to a great variety of circumstances, and so enables it to be 
 widely distributed. It must be observed here that hardiness 
 and variability of constitution are more important to extensive 
 distribution than mere locomotive powers, for matters have 
 evidently been so arranged in nature that, where the habitat is 
 suitable, colonists will find their way to it, even in the face -of 
 difficulties almost insurmountable. 3. Constitutional liability 
 to vary is sometimes connected with or dependent on extreme 
 simplicity of structure, in other cases on a high degree of in- 
 telligence and consequent adaptation to various modes of sub- 
 sistence. Those minute, simply organized, and very variable 
 creatures, the Foraminifera, exemplify the first of these ap- 
 parent causes ; the crafty wolves furnish examples of the 
 second. 4. Susceptibility to variation is farther modified by 
 the greater or less adaptability of the digestive and locomo- 
 tive organs to varied kinds of food and habitat. The monkeys, 
 intelligent, imitative, and active, are nevertheless very limited 
 in range and variability, because they can comfortably subsist 
 only in forests, and in the warmer regions of the earth. The 
 hog, more sluggish and less intelligent, has an omnivorous ap- 
 petite, and no very special requirements of habitat, and so can 
 vary greatly and extend over a large portion of the earth. 
 Farther, in connection with this subject it may be observed 
 that the conditions favorable to variation are also in the case 
 
 * "Animals and Plants under Domestication," p. 406. 
 
 S 2 
 
41 8 Appendix. 
 
 of the higher animals favorable to domestication, while it may 
 also be affirmed that, other things being equal, animals in a 
 domesticated state are much more liable to vary than those 
 in a wild state, and this independent of intentional selection. 
 Darwin admits this, and gives many examples of it. 
 
 2. Varieties may originate in two different ways. In the 
 case of wild animals it is generally supposed that they are 
 gradually induced by the slow operation of external influences; 
 but it is certain that in domesticated animals they often ap- 
 pear suddenly and unexpectedly, and are not on that account 
 at all less permanent. A large proportion of our breeds of 
 domestic animals appear to originate in this way. A very re- 
 markable instance is that of the "Niata" cattle of the Banda 
 Orientale, described by Darwin in his " Voyage of a Naturalist." 
 These cattle are believed to have originated about a century 
 ago among the Indians to the south of the La Plata, and the 
 breed propagates itself with great constancy. " They appear," 
 says Darwin, "externally to hold nearly the same relation to 
 other cattle which bull-dogs hold to other dogs. Their fore- 
 head is very short and broad, with the nasal end turned up, 
 and the upper lip much drawn back; their lower jaws project 
 outw^ard; when walking they carry their heads low on a short 
 neck, and their hinder legs are rather longer compared with 
 the front legs than is usual." It is farther remarkable in re- 
 spect to this breed that it is, from its conformation of head, 
 less adapted to the severe droughts of those regions than the 
 ordinary cattle, and can not, therefore, be regarded as an 
 adaptation to circumstances. In his later work on animals 
 under domestication, Darwin gives many other instances of 
 the origination of breeds of cattle and other animals in this 
 abrupt and mysterious manner, and without any selection, 
 though he strongly leans to the conclusion that slow and 
 gradual changes are the most frequent causes of variation. 
 It is to be observed, however, that very slow changes are in 
 more danger of being accidentally diverted or obliterated by 
 
species and Varietal Forms, 41c; 
 
 crossing, and that the first stages of an incipient change may 
 be too unimportant to be permanent. 
 
 Many writers on the subject of the Unity of Man assume 
 that any marked variety must require a long time for its pro- 
 duction. Our experience in the case of the domestic animals 
 teaches the reverse of this view; a very important point too 
 often overlooked. 
 
 3. The duration or permanence of varieties is very differ- 
 ent. Some return at once to the normal type when the 
 causes of change are removed. Others perpetuate them- 
 selves nearly as invariably as species, and are named races. 
 It is these races only that we are likely to mistake for true 
 species, since here we have that permanent reproduction 
 wdiich is one of the characteristics of the species. The race, 
 however, wants the other characteristics of species as above 
 stated ; and it differs essentially in having branched from a 
 primitive species, and in not having an independent origin. 
 It is quite evident that in the absence of historical evidence 
 we must be very likely to err by supposing races to have 
 really originated in distinct " primordial forms." Such error 
 is especially likely to arise if we overlook the fact of the sud- 
 den origination of such races, and their great permanency if 
 kept distinct. There are two facts which deserve especial 
 notice, as removing some of the difficulty in such cases. 
 One is that well-marked races usually originate only in do- 
 mesticated animals, or in wild animals which, owing to ac- 
 cidental circumstances, are placed in abnormal circum- 
 stances. Another is, that there always remains a tendency 
 to return, in favorable circumstances, to the original type. 
 This tendency to reversion is much underrated by Darwin 
 and his followers ; yet they constantly recur to it as a means 
 of proving possible derivation, and their writings abound in 
 examples of it. Perhaps the most remarkable of these re- 
 versions are those which occur when varieties destitute of 
 all the markings of the original stock are crossed and re- 
 
420 Appendix. 
 
 produce those markings, which Darwin shows to occur in 
 pigeons and domestic fowls. The domesticated races usual- 
 ly require a certain amount of care to preserve them in a 
 state of purity, both on this account and on account of the 
 readiness with which they intermix with other varieties of the 
 same species. Many very interesting facts in illustration of 
 these points might be adduced. The domesticated hog dif- 
 fers in many important characters from the wild boar. In 
 South America and the West Indies it has returned, in three 
 centuries or less, to its original form.^ The horse is proba- 
 bly not known in a state originally wild, but it has run wild in 
 America and in Siberia. In the prairies of North America, 
 according to Catlin,t they still show great varieties of color. 
 The same is the case in Sable Island, off the coast of Nova 
 Scotia,! where herds of wild horses have existed since an 
 early period in the settlement of America. In South Amer- 
 ica and Siberia they have assumed a uniform chestnut or bay 
 color. In the plains of Western America they retain the di- 
 mensions and vigor of the better breeds of domesticated 
 horses. In Sable Island they have already degenerated to 
 the level of Highland ponies ; but in all countries where 
 they have run wild, the elongated and arched head, high 
 shoulders, straight back, and other structural characters prob- 
 ably of the original wild horse, have appeared. We also 
 learn from such instances that, while races among domesti- 
 cated animals may appear suddenly, they revert to the origi- 
 nal type, when unmixed, comparatively slowly; and this espe- 
 cially when the variation is in the nature of degeneracy. 
 
 4. Some characters are more subject to variation than oth- 
 ers. In the higher animals variation takes place very readily 
 
 * Prichard. This is admitted by Darwin, who gives other examples, 
 though he insists much on the climatal variations which still remain in 
 feral pigs, 
 
 t " North American Indians." 
 
 X Haliburton's "Nova Scotia;" Gilpin's Lecture on Sable Island. 
 
species and Varietal Forms. 421 
 
 in the color and texture of the skin and its appendages. 
 This, from its direct relation to the external world, and ready 
 sympathy with the condition of the digestive organs, might be 
 expected to take the lead. In those domesticated animals 
 which are little liable to vary in other repects, as the cat and 
 duck, the color very readily changes. Next may be placed 
 the stature and external proportions, and the form of such ap- 
 pendages as the external ear and tail. All these characters 
 are very variable in domestic animals. Next we may place 
 the form of the skull, which, though little variable in the wild 
 state, is nearly always changed by domestication. Psycho- 
 logical functions, as the so-called instincts of animals, are also 
 very liable to change, and to have these changes perpetuated 
 in races. Very remarkable instances of this have been col- 
 lected by Sir C. Lyell * and Dr. Prichard. Lastly, impor- 
 tant physiological characters, as the period of gestation, etc., 
 and the structure of the internal organs connected with the 
 functions of nutrition, respiration, etc., are little liable to 
 change, and remain unaffected by the most extreme varia- 
 tions in other points ; and it is, no doubt, in these more essen- 
 tial and internal parts that the tendency survives to return 
 under favorable circumstances to the original type. 
 
 5. Varieties or races of the same species are fully repro- 
 ductive with each other, which is not the case with true spe- 
 cies. Mutual sterility of varieties of the same species is an 
 exceptional peculiarity, if it ever truly exist; and, on the 
 other hand, the cross-fertilization of varieties of the same 
 species, whether in animals or plants, tends to vigorous life, 
 and also to return to the primitive or average type. On the 
 other hand, intermixture of distinct species rarely, if ever, oc- 
 curs freely in nature. It is generally a result of artificial 
 
 * « Principles of Geology ;" " Natural History of Man." See also a 
 very able article on the "Varieties of Man," by Dr. Carpenter, in Todd's 
 Cyclopaedia. 
 
422 Appendix, 
 
 contrivance. Again, hybrids produced from species known 
 to be distinct are either wholly barren, or barren inter se, re- 
 producing only with one of the original stocks, and rapidly 
 returning to it ; or if ever fertile inter se, which is somewhat 
 doubtful, rapidly run out. It has been maintained by Pallas 
 and others, and Darwin leans to this idea, that there is still 
 another possibility, namely, that of the perfect and continued 
 fertility of such mixed races, especially after long domestica- 
 tion ; but their proofs . are derived principally from the in- 
 termixture of the races of dogs and of poultry, which are 
 cases actually in dispute at present, as to the original unity 
 or diversity of the so-called species. 
 
 If we apply these considerations to man, our conclusion 
 must be that, even in his bodily frame, he is not merely spe- 
 cifically but ordinally distinct from other animals, and that 
 the differences between races of men are varietal rather than 
 specific. This view is confirmed by the following facts : 
 
 I. The case of man is not that of a wild animal ; and it 
 presents many points of difference even from the case of the 
 domesticated lower animals. According to the Bible history, 
 man was originally fitted to subsist on fruits, to inhabit a tem- 
 perate climate, and to be exempt from the necessity of de- 
 stroying or contending with other animals. This view un- 
 questionably accords very well with his organization. He 
 still subsists principally on vegetable food, is most numerous 
 in the warmer regions of the earth ; and, when so subsisting 
 in these regions, is naturally peaceful and timid. On the 
 whole, however, his habits of life are artificial — more so than 
 those of any domesticated animal. He is, therefore, in the 
 conditions most favorable to variation. Again, man pos- 
 sesses more than merely animal instincts. His mental 
 powers permit him to devise means of locomotion, of pro- 
 tection, of subsistence, far superior to those of any mere ani- 
 mal ; and his dominant will, insatiable in its desires, bends 
 the bodily frame to uses and exposes it to external influences 
 
species and Varietal Forms. 423 
 
 more various than any inferior animal can dream of. Man is 
 also more educable and plastic in his constitution than other 
 animals, owing both to his being less hemmed in by unchang- 
 ing instincts, and to his physical frame being less restricted 
 in its adaptations. If a single species, he is also more wide- 
 ly distributed than any other; and there are even single races 
 which exceed in their extent of distribution nearly all the in- 
 ferior animals. Nor is there anything in his structure spe- 
 cially to limit him to plains, or hills, or forests, or coasts, or 
 inland regions. All the causes which we can suppose likely 
 to produce variation thus meet in man, who is himself the 
 producer of most of the distinct races that we observe in the 
 lower animals. If, therefore, we condescend to compare man 
 with these creatures, it must be under protest that what we 
 learn from them must be understood with reference to his 
 greater capabilities. 
 
 2. The races of men are deficient in some of the essential 
 characters of species. It is true that they are reproduced 
 with considerable permanency ; though a great many cases 
 of spontaneous change, of atavism, or return to the character 
 of progenitors, and of slow variation under changed condi- 
 tions, have been recorded. But the most manifest deficiency 
 in true specific characters is in the invariable shading-off of 
 one race into another, and in the entire failure of those who 
 maintain the distinction of species in the attempt accurately 
 to define their number and limits. The characters run into 
 each other in such a manner that no natural arrangement 
 based on the whole can apparently be arrived at ; and when 
 one particular ground is taken, as color, or shape of skull, the 
 so-called species have still no distinct limits ; and all the ar- 
 rangements formed differ from each other, and from the de- 
 ductions of philology and history. Thus, from the division 
 of Virey into two species, on the entirely arbitrary ground of 
 facial angle, to that of Bory de St. Vincent into fifteen, we 
 have a great number and variety of distinctions, all incapable 
 
424 Appendix,- 
 
 of zoological definition; or, if capable of definition, eminently 
 unnatural. There are, in short, no missing links between the 
 varieties of men corresponding to that which obtains between 
 man and lower animals. 
 
 3. The races of men differ in those points in which the 
 higher animals usually vary with the greatest facility. The 
 physical characters chiefly relied on have been color, charac- 
 ter of hair, and form of skull, together with diversities in stat- 
 ure and general proportion. These are precisely the points 
 in which our domestic races are most prone to vary. The 
 manner in which these characters differ in the races of men 
 may be aptly illustrated by a few examples of the arrange- 
 ments to which they lead. 
 
 Dr. Pickering, of the U. S. Exploring Expedition* — who 
 does not, however, commit himself to any specific distinctions 
 — has arranged the various races of men on the very simple 
 and obvious ground of color. He obtains in this way four 
 races — the White, the Brown, the Blackish-brown, the Black. 
 The distinction is easy ; but it divides races historically, philo- 
 logically, and structurally alike ; and unites those which, on 
 other grounds, would be separated. The white race includes the 
 Hamite Abyssinian, the Semitic Arabian, the Japhetic Greek. 
 The Ethiopian or Berber is separated from the cognate Abys- 
 sinian, and the dark Hindoo from the paler races speaking 
 like him tongues allied to the Sanscrit. The Papuan, on the 
 other hand, takes his place with the Hindoo; \vhile the allied 
 Australian must be content to rank with the Negro; and the 
 Hottentot is promoted to a place beside the Malay. It is un- 
 necessary to pursue any farther the arrangement of this pains- 
 taking and conscientious inquirer. It conclusively demon- 
 strates that the color of the varieties of the human race must 
 be arbitrary and accidental, and altogether independent of 
 unity or diversity of origin. 
 
 * "The Races of Men," etc. Boston, 1848. 
 
species and Varietal Forms. 425 
 
 Some use has been made, by the advocates of diversity of 
 species, of the quahty of the hair in the different races. That 
 of the Negro is said to be flat in its cross section — in this re- 
 spect approaching to wool ; that of the European is oval ; 
 and that of the Mongolian and American round.* The sub- 
 ject has as yet been very imperfectly investigated; but its in- 
 dications point to no greater variety than that which occurs 
 in many domesticated animals — as, for instance, the hog and 
 sheep. Nay, Dr. Carpenter statesj — and the writer has sat- 
 isfied himself of the fact by his own observation — that it does 
 not exceed the differences in the hair from different parts of 
 the body of the same individual. The human hair, like that 
 of mammals in general, consists of three tissues : an outer 
 cortical layer, marked by transverse striae, having in man the 
 aspect of delicate lines, but in many other animals assuming 
 the character of distinct joints or prominent serrations; a layer 
 of elongated, fibrous cells, to which the hair owes most of its 
 tenacity; and an inner cylinder of rounded cells. In the pro- 
 portionate development of these several parts, in the quantity 
 of coloring matter present, and in the transverse section, the 
 human hair differs very considerably in different parts of the 
 body. It also differs very markedly in individuals of different 
 complexions. Similar but not greater differences obtain in 
 the hair of the scalp in different races ; but the flatness of the 
 Negro's hair connects itself inseparably with the oval of the 
 hair of the ordinary European, and this with the round ob- 
 served in some other races. It generally holds that curled 
 and frizzled hair is flatter than that which is lank and straight; 
 but this is not constant, for I have found that the waved or 
 frizzled hair of the New Hebrideans, intermediate apparently 
 between the Polynesians and Papuans, is nearly circular in 
 outline, and differs from European hair mainly in the greater 
 
 * Browne, of Philadelphia, quoted by Kneeland and others, 
 t Todd's Cyclopedia, art. " Varieties of Man." 
 
426 Appendix. 
 
 development of the fibrous structure and the intensity of the 
 color. Large series of comparisons are required; but those 
 already made point to variation rather than specific difference. 
 Some facts also appear to indicate very marked differences as 
 occurring in the same race from constant exposure or habitual 
 covering; and also the occasional appearance of the most ab- 
 normal forms, without apparent cause, in individuals. The 
 differences depending on greater or less abundance or vigor 
 of growth of the hair are obviously altogether trivial, when 
 compared with such examples as the hairless dogs of Chili 
 and hairless cattle of Brazil, or even with the differences 
 in this respect observed in individuals of the same race of 
 men. 
 
 Confessedly the most important differences of the races of 
 men are those of the skeleton, in all parts of which variations 
 of proportion occur, and are of course more or lessx:ommu- 
 nicated to the muscular investments. Of these, as they exist 
 in the pelvis, limbs, etc., I need say nothing; for, manifest 
 though they are, they all fall far within the limits of varia- 
 tion in familiar domestic animals, and also of hereditary mal- 
 formation or defect of development occurring in the European 
 nations, and only requiring isolation for its perpetuation as a 
 race. The differences in the skull merit more attention, for 
 it is in this and in its enclosed brain that man most marked- 
 ly differs from the lower animals, as well as race from race. 
 It is in the form rather than in the mere dimensions of the 
 skull that we should look for specific differences; and here, 
 adopting the vertical method of Blumenbach as the most 
 characteristic and valuable, we find a greater or less antero- 
 posterior diameter — a greater or less development of the 
 jaws and bones of the face. The skull of the normal Euro- 
 pean, or Caucasian of Cuvier, is round oval; and the jaws 
 and cheek-bones project little beyond its anterior margin, 
 when viewed from above. The skull of the Mongolian of 
 Cuvier is nearly round, and the cheek-bones and jaws pro- 
 
species and Varietal Forms. 427 
 
 ject much more strongly in front and at the sides. The Negro 
 skull is lengthened from back to front; the jaws project strong- 
 ly, or are prognathous; but the cheek-bones are little promi- 
 nent. For the extremes of these varieties, Retzius proposed 
 the names of brachy-kephalic or short-headed, and dolicho- 
 kephalic or long-headed, which have come into general use. 
 The differences indicated by these terms are of great interest, 
 as distinctive marks of many of the unmixed races of men ; 
 but, when pushed to extremes, lead to very incorrect generali- 
 zations—as Professor D. Wilson has well shown in his paper 
 on the supposed uniformity of type in the American races — 
 a doctrine which he fully refutes by showing that within a very 
 narrow geographical range this primitive and unmixed race 
 presents very great differences of cranial form.* Exclusive 
 of idiots, artificially compressed heads, and deformities, the 
 differertces between the brachy-kephalic and dolicho-kephalic 
 heads range from equality in the parietal and longitudinal 
 diameter to the proportion of about 14 to 24. As stated by 
 some ethnologists, these differences appear quite characteris- 
 tic and distinct; but, so soon as we attempt any minute dis- 
 crimination, all confidence in them as specific characters dis- 
 appears. In our ordinary European races similar differences, 
 and nearly as extensive, occur. The dolicho-kephalic head 
 is really only an immature form perpetuated; and appears 
 not only in the Negro, but in the Esquimau, and in certain an- 
 cient and modern Celtic races. The brachy-kephalic head, 
 in like manner, is characteristic of certain tribes and portions 
 of tribes of Americans, but not of all ; of many northern Asi- 
 atic nations; of certain Celtic and Scandinavian tribes; and 
 often appears in the modern European races as an occasional 
 character. Farther, as Retzius has well shown, the long heads 
 and prominent jaws are not always associated with each other; 
 and his classification is really the testimony of an able observer 
 
 * '« rrehistoric Man." 
 
428 Appendix. 
 
 against the value of these characters. He shows that the 
 Celtic and Germanic races (in part) have long heads and 
 straight jaws ; while the Negroes, Australians, Oceanians, Ca- 
 ribs, Greenlanders, etc., have long heads and prominent jaws. 
 The Laplanders, Finns, Turks, Sclaves, Persians, etc., have 
 short heads and straight jaws; while the Tartars, Mongo- 
 lians, Incas, Malays, Papuans, etc., have short heads and prom- 
 inent jaws. 
 
 Another defect in the argument often based on the diverse 
 forms of heads is its want of acknowledgment of the ascer- 
 tained and popularly known fact that these forms in different 
 tribes or individuals of the same race are markedly influenced 
 by culture and habits of life. In all races ignprance and de- 
 basement tend to induce a prognathous form, while culture 
 tends to the elevation of the nasal bones, to an orthognathous 
 condition of the jaws, and to an elevation and expansion of 
 the cranium. "* 
 
 Again, no adequate allowance has been made in the case 
 of these forms of skull for the influence of modes of nurture 
 in infancy. Dr. Morton, observing that the brachy-kephalic 
 American skull was often unequal sided, and the occiput 
 much flattened, suggests that this is " an exaggeration of the 
 natural form produced by the pressure of the cradle-board in 
 common use among the American natives." Dr. Wilson has 
 noticed the same unsymmetrical character in brachy-kephalic 
 skulls in British barrows, and has suspected some artificial 
 agency in infancy; and says, in reference to the American in- 
 stances, " I think it extremely probable that further investi- 
 gation will tend to the conclusion that the vertical or flattened 
 occiput, instead of being a typical characteristic, pertains en- 
 tirely to the class of artificial modifications of the natural 
 cranium familiar to the American ethnologist." 
 
 While the points in which the races of men vary are those 
 
 * Carpenter in Todd's Cyclopcedia. 
 
species and Varietal Forms. 429 
 
 in which lower animals are most liable to undergo change, 
 the several races display a remarkable constancy in those 
 which are usually less variable. Prichard and Carpenter 
 have well shown this in relation to physiological points, as, for 
 instance, the age of arriving at maturity, the average and ex- 
 treme duration of life, and the several periods connected with 
 reproduction. The coincidence in these points alone is by 
 many eminent physiologists justly regarded as sufficient evi- 
 dence of the unity of the species. 
 
 4. It may also be affirmed, in relation to the varieties of 
 man, that they do not exceed in amount or extent those ob- 
 served in the lower animals. If with Frederick Cuvier, Dr. 
 Carpenter, and many other naturalists, we regard the dog as 
 a single species, descended in all probability from the wolf, 
 we can have no hesitation in concluding that this animal far 
 exceeds man in variability.* But this is denied by many, not 
 without some show of reason ; and we may, therefore, select 
 some animal respecting which little doubt can be entertained. 
 Perhaps the best example is the common hog {Sus scrofa), an 
 undoubted descendant of the wild boar, and a creature espe- 
 cially suitable for comparison with man, inasmuch as its pos- 
 sible range of food is very much the same with his, which is 
 not the case with any other of our domesticated animals ; 
 and as its headquarters as a species are in the same regions 
 which have supported the greatest and oldest known com- 
 munities of men. We may exclude from our comparison the 
 Chinese hog, by some regarded as a distinct species {Sus In- 
 dicus), though no wild original is known, and it breeds freely 
 with the common hog. The color of the domestic hog varies, 
 like that of man, from white to black ; and in the black hog 
 the skin as well as the hair partakes of the dark color. The 
 
 * For an interesting inquiry into the origin of the dog, see the article in 
 Todd's Cyclopsedia already referred to ; and the subject is fully discussed 
 by Darwin, who leans to the theory of the diversity of origin in dogs. 
 
430 Appendix. 
 
 abundance and quality of the hair vary extremely ; the stat- 
 ure and form are equally variable, much more so than in 
 man. Blumenbach long ago remarked that the difference 
 between the skull of the ordinary domestic hog and that of 
 the wild boar is quite equal to that observed between the 
 Negro and European skulls. Darwin shows that it is much 
 greater, and illustrates this by an amusing pair of portraits. 
 The breeds of swine even differ in directions altogether un- 
 paralleled in man. For instance, both in America and Eu- 
 rope solid-hoofed swine have originated and become a per- 
 manent variety ; and there is said to be another variety with 
 live toes.* These are the more remarkable, because, in the 
 American instances, there can be no doubt that it is the com- 
 mon hog which has assumed these abnormal forms. 
 
 5. All varieties or races of men intermix freely, in a man- 
 ner which strongly indicates specific unity. We hold here, as 
 already stated, that no good case of a permanent race arising 
 from intermixture of distinct species of the lower animals has 
 been adduced \ but there is another fact in relation to this 
 subject which the advocates of specific diversity would do 
 well to study. Even in varieties of those domestic animals 
 which are certainly specifically identical, as the hog, the sheep, 
 the ox — although crosses between the varieties may easily be 
 produced — they are not readily maintained, and sometimes 
 tend to die out. What are called good crosses lead to im- 
 proved energy, and continual breeding in and in of the same 
 variety leads to degeneracy and decay ; but, on the other 
 hand, crosses of certain varieties are proved by experience 
 to be of weakly and unproductive quality ; and every practi- 
 cal book on cattle contains remarks on the difficulty of keep- 
 ing up crosses without intermixture with one of the pure 
 breeds. It would thus appear that very unlike varieties of 
 the same species display in this respect, in an imperfect man- 
 
 * Prichard, Bachman, Cabell, 
 
species and Varietal Forms. 431 
 
 ner, the peculiarities of distinct species. It is on this princi- 
 ple that I would in part account for some of the exceptional 
 facts which occur in mixed races of men. 
 
 What, then, are the facts in the case of man ? In produc- 
 ing crosses of distinct species, as in the case of the horse and 
 ass, breeders are obliged to resort to expedients to overcome 
 the natural repugnance to such intermixture. In the case of 
 even the most extreme varieties of man, if such repugnance 
 exists, it is voluntarily overcome, as the slave population of 
 America testifies abundantly. By far the greater part of the 
 intermixtures of races of men tend to increase of vital energy 
 and vigor, as in the case of judicious crosses of some domes- 
 tic animals. Where a different result occurs, we usually find 
 sufficient secondary causes to account for it. I shall refer to 
 but one such case — that of the half-breed American Indian. 
 In so far as I have had opportunities of observation or in- 
 quiry, these people are prolific, much more so than the un- 
 mixed Indian. They are also energetic, and often highly 
 intellectual ; but they are of delicate constitution, especially 
 liable to scrofulous diseases, and therefore not long-lived. 
 Now this is precisely the result which often occurs in domes- 
 tic animals, where a highly cultivated race is bred with one 
 that is of ruder character and training; and it very probably 
 results from the circumstance that the progeny may inherit 
 too much of the delicacy of the one parent to endure the 
 hardships congenial to the other ; or, on the other hand, too 
 much of the wild nature of the ruder parent to subsist under 
 the more delicate nurture of the more cultivated. This diffi- 
 culty does not apply to the intermixture of the Negro and 
 the European, though between the pure races this is a cross 
 too abrupt to be likely to be in the first instance success- 
 ful. 
 
 6. The races of man may have originated in the same man- 
 ner whh the breeds of our domesticated animals. There are 
 many facts which render it probable that they did originate 
 
432 Appendix. 
 
 in this way. Take color, for instance. The fair varieties of 
 man occur only in the northern temperate zone, and chiefly 
 in the equable climates of that zone. In extreme climates, 
 even when cold, dusky and yellow colors appear. The 
 black and blackish-brown colors are confined to the inter- 
 tropical regions, and appear in such portions of all the 
 great races of mankind as have been long domiciled there. 
 Diet and degree of exposure have also evidently very much 
 to do with form, stature, and color. The deer-eating Chippe- 
 wayan of certain districts of North America is a better devel- 
 oped man than his compatriots who subsist principally on 
 rabbits and such meaner fare ; and excess of carbonaceous 
 food, and deficiency of perspiration or of combustion in the 
 lungs, appear everywhere to darken the skin.* The Negro 
 type in its extreme form is peculiar to low and humid river 
 valleys of tropical Africa. In Australasia similar characters 
 appear in men of a very different race in similar circum- 
 stances. The Mongolian type reappears in South Africa. 
 The Esquimau is like the Fuegian. The American Indian, 
 both of South and North America, resembles the Mongol ; 
 but in several of the middle regions of the American con- 
 tinent men appear who approximate to the IMalay. Every- 
 where and in all races coarse features and deviations from 
 the oval form of skull are observed in rude populations. 
 Where men have sunk into a child-like simplicity, the elon- 
 gated forms prevail. Where they have become carnivorous, 
 aggressive, and actively barbarous, the brachy-kephalic forms 
 abound. These and many other considerations tend to the 
 conclusion that these varieties are inseparably connected with 
 external conditions. It may still be asked — Were not the 
 races created as they are, with especial reference to these 
 
 * A curious note, by Dr. John Rae, on the change of complexion in the 
 Sandwich Islanders, consequent on the introduction of clothing, may be 
 found in the "Montreal Medical Chronicle," 1856, and the "Canadian 
 Journal " for the same year. 
 
species and Varietal Forms. 433 
 
 conditions ? I answer no— because the differences are of a 
 character in every respect like those that appear in other true 
 species as the results of influences from without. 
 
 Farther, not only have we varieties of man resulting from 
 the slow operation of climatal and other conditions, but we 
 have the sudden development of races. One remarkable in- 
 stance may illustrate my meaning. It is the hairy family of 
 Siam, described by Mr. Crawford and Mr. Yule.^ The pe- 
 culiarities here consisted of a fine silky coat of hair covering 
 the face and less thickly the whole body, with at the same 
 time the entire absence of the canine and molar teeth. The 
 person in whom these characters originated was sent to Ava 
 as a curiosity when five years old. He married at twenty- 
 two, his wife being an ordinary Burmese woman. One of two 
 children who survived infancy had all the characters of the 
 father. This was a girl ; and on her marriage the same char- 
 acters reappeared in one of two boys constituting her family 
 when seen by Mr. Yule. Here was a variety of a most ex- 
 treme character, originating without apparent cause, and ca- 
 pable of propagation for three generations, even when crossed 
 with the ordinary type. Had it originated in circumstances 
 favorable to the preservation of its purity, it might have pro- 
 duced a tribe or nation of hairy men, with no teeth except in- 
 cisors. Such a tribe would, with some ethnologists, have con- 
 stituted a new and very distinct species ; and any one who 
 had suggested the possibility of its having originated within a 
 few generations as a variety would have been laughed at for 
 his credulity. It is unnecessary to cite any further instances. 
 I merely wish to insist on the necessity of a rigid compari- 
 son of the variations which appear in man, either suddenly 
 or in a slow or secular manner, with the characters of the 
 so-called races or species. 
 
 7. If we turn from the merely physical constitution of man, 
 
 * Latham's " Descriptive Ethnology." 
 T 
 
434 Appendix. 
 
 and inquire. as to his psychical and spiritual endowments, it 
 would be easy to show, as Dr. Carpenter and others have 
 done, in opposition to Darwin, that on the one hand an im- 
 passable barrier separates man from the lower animals, and 
 that on the other there is an essential unity among the races 
 of men. But this subject I have discussed fully in the con- 
 cluding chapters of my " Story of the Earth." 
 
 If man is thus so very variable, and if many of his leading 
 varieties have existed for a very long time, does not the fact 
 that we have but one species afford very strong evidence that 
 species change only within fixed limits, and do not pass over 
 into new specific types. Viewed in this way, variability with- 
 in the specific limits becomes in itself one of the strongest ar- 
 guments against the doctrine of descent with modification as 
 a mode of origination of new species. 
 
 Let us now add to all this the farther consideration, so well 
 illustrated in the " Reliquiae Aquitanicae " of Christy and Lar- 
 tet, that the oldest-known men of the caves and gravels may 
 be placed in one of the varieties, and this the most widely 
 distributed, of modern man, and we have a further argument 
 which tells most strongly against the assumption either of 
 the extreme antiquity or of the unlimited variability of the 
 human species. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abraham, 25, 270. 
 
 Abiahamic Genesis, 18. 
 
 Abyss, 104. 
 
 "Accommodation," theory of, 61. 
 
 Adaptation in nature, 78. 
 
 ^ons of creation, 132. 
 
 Agassiz on prophetic types, 350. 
 
 on species, 342. 
 
 Animals, higher, creation of the, 230. 
 
 lower, creation of the, 211. 
 
 Antediluvians, 253. 
 
 Antiquity of man, 263, 386. 
 
 of man, geological evidence 
 
 of the, 294. 
 of man, history in relation to 
 
 the, 271. 
 of man, language in relation 
 
 to the, 285. 
 
 of the earth, 154, 331. 
 
 Aretz (earth), 94, 175, 
 
 Argyll, Duke of, on creation by law, 
 
 373- 
 
 Duke of, on the origin of civ- 
 ilization, 391. 
 
 Aryan race, 16, 267. 
 
 Assyrian Genesis, 19, loS. 
 
 Texts, 412. 
 
 Astronomy of the Bible, 207. 
 
 Atmosphere, constitution of the, 157- 
 
 creation of the, 160. 
 
 Augustine on creative days, 134. 
 
 Aur (light), 115. 
 
 Babel, 258, 266. 
 
 Bara (create), 90. 
 
 Beaumont, De, on continents, 184. 
 
 Bede on creative days, 133. 
 
 Beginning, the, 87, 95. 
 
 Behemoth, 2^^. 
 
 Bhemah (herbivores), 231, 406. 
 
 Birds, creation of, 216, 219. 
 Bronn on the origin of species, 339, 
 Bronze, age of, 279. 
 Bunsen's chronology, 273. 
 
 Cainozoic period, 331. 
 Carnivora, creation of, 232. 
 Caverns, human remains in, 29S. 
 Centres of creation, 238, 
 Chaos, 100, 107. 
 
 chemistry of, 112. 
 
 Chinese language, 2S8. 
 Comparisons and conclusions, 322. 
 " Conflict of the Bible with science," 
 
 44. 
 Continents, their origin, 182. 
 Cosmogony, Assyrian, 108. 
 
 Egyptian, 106, 198. 
 
 Greek, 109. 
 
 Hebrew, its character, 70. 
 
 Hebrew, its objects, 35. 
 
 Hebrew, its origin, 46. 
 
 Indian, 110, 148. 
 
 Persian, 147. 
 
 r Phoenician, 107. 
 
 Cranial characters of primitive men, 
 
 298. 
 Creation, 90. 
 bylaw, 373. 
 
 centres of, 238. 
 
 days of, 115. 
 
 modes of, 375, 377. 
 
 of birds, 216, 219. 
 
 of carnivora, 232. 
 
 of great reptiles, 213. 
 
 of herbivora, 231. 
 
 of higher animals, 230. 
 
 of lower animals, 2 1 1. 
 
 of man, 235. 
 
 of plants, 186. 
 
43^ 
 
 Index. 
 
 Crol], calculations of erosion, 334. 
 
 glacial theory of, 396. 
 
 Dana on creation of plants, 196. 
 
 on creative daj^s, 144. 
 
 on tertiary fauna, 234. 
 
 Darwin on species, 338. 
 Day of creation, first, 115. 
 
 of creation, second, 157. 
 
 of creation, third, 174. 
 
 of creation, fourth, 199. 
 
 of creation, fifth, 211. 
 
 of creation, sixth, 230. 
 
 of creation, seventh, 249. 
 
 Days of creation, 115. 
 of creation compared with ge- 
 ological periods, 155. 
 
 prophetic, 65. 
 
 Death before the fall, 355. 
 
 "Deep," the, 104. 
 
 Deluge, the, 256. 
 
 Deshe (herbage), 186. 
 
 Design in nature, 78. 
 
 Desolate void, 100. 
 
 Drysdale on theories of life, 383. 
 
 Dupont on Belgian caves, 308. 
 
 Earth, the, 94, 102, 175. 
 
 its foundations, 177. 
 
 Ecclesiastes, chap, i., 74. 
 Eden, conditions of, 237, 252. 
 
 site of, 237-252. 
 
 Edkins on the Chinese language, 
 
 286, 288. 
 Egypt, early history of, 272. 
 Egyptian Cosmogony, 106, 198. 
 
 Texts, 412. 
 
 Elohiffi, 89, 97. 
 
 Evans on the erosion of valleys, 
 
 313- 
 Evening of creative days, 138. 
 
 Evolution as applied to animals, 226, 
 
 363. 
 Excavation of valleys, 315. 
 
 Exodus xxiv., 10, 163. 
 
 Fall of man, 250. 
 
 Final causes, 355. 
 
 Firmament, the, 162. 
 
 Fluidity, original, of the earth, no. 
 
 Forbes on creation of man, 250. 
 
 Foundations of the earth, 177. . 
 Frontal, cave of, 308. 
 
 Genesis, chap, i., translated, 66. 
 
 chap, i., I, 87. 
 
 chap, i., 2, 100. 
 
 chap, i., 3 to 5, 115. 
 
 chap, i., 6 to 8, 157. 
 
 chap, i., 10 to II, 174. 
 
 chap, i., 14 to 19, 199. 
 
 chap, i., 20 to 23, 211. 
 
 chap, i., 24 to 31, 230. 
 
 chap, ii., I to 3, 299. 
 
 chap, iv., 23, 46. 
 
 chap. X., 22, 263. 
 
 the Abrahamic, 18. 
 
 the Assyrian, 20. 
 
 the Mosaic, 27. 
 
 the Quiche, 22. 
 
 Geolog}', principles of, 325, 
 
 Glacial periods, theories of, 395. 
 
 God, personality of, 11. 
 
 "Grass" in Genesis i., 186. 
 
 Greek myths, 109. 
 
 Green on the forms of continents, 184. 
 
 ITaeckel on the affiliation of races, 
 289. 
 
 on man and apes, 389. 
 
 Hamite races, 268. 
 
 Harmony of revelation and science, 
 
 342. 
 Havilah, productions of, 255. 
 Hay'th-eretz (wild beast), 232. 
 Heavens, the, 92, 165. 
 Herbivora, creation of, 231. 
 Hindoos, cosmogony of the, 149. 
 Hitchcock on creative days, 141. 
 Horner on the alluvium of the Nile, 
 
 274. 
 Hughes on the excavation of valleys, 
 
 315- 
 on interglacial periods, 295. 
 
 on stalagmite, 388. 
 
 on the Victoria Cave, 387. 
 
 Humboldt on Hebrew poetry, 39. 
 Hunt on the chemistry of the prime- 
 val earth, 400. 
 Hurakon, 107. 
 Hut of Sodertelge, 386. 
 
Index. 
 
 All 
 
 Ice-freshets in America, 314- 
 Incandescence of the earth, no, 
 
 119. 
 India, cosmogony of, 149. 
 
 Japhetic races, 267, 268. 
 Jehovah, 96. 
 Jobix.,5, 176. 
 
 ix., 9, 206. 
 
 xxii., 15, 257. 
 
 xxviii., 179. 
 
 xxviii., 26, 73. 
 
 xxxvi., 166. 
 
 xxxvii., 14, 161. 
 
 xxxviii., 166, 177, 206. 
 
 Jones, Sir W., on Indian cosmogo- 
 ny, 149. 
 
 Kent's Cavern, 302. 
 Kurtz on days of vision, 49. 
 
 Lamech, his poem, 46. 
 
 Land, its creation, 174. 
 
 geological history of, 182. 
 
 Languages, unity of, 285, 291. 
 
 La Place, nebular hypothesis of, 1 19. 
 
 Latham on African languages, 288. 
 
 on the radiation of langua- 
 ges, 289. 
 
 Laws of nature, in the Bible, 73. 
 
 Lemuria, 289. 
 
 Leviticus xi., 212. 
 
 Life, succession of, 331, 337. 
 
 theories of, 383. 
 
 Light, 115, 121. 
 
 Logos, 96. 
 
 Luminaries, 199. 
 
 Lyell on the cause of the glacial pe- 
 riod, 397. ^ ^ 
 
 on the delta of the Missis- 
 sippi, 333. 
 
 on the pleistocene period, 
 
 297. 
 
 Mammals, creation of, 231. 
 Mammoth age, 299. 
 Man, antiquity of, 386. 
 
 creation of, 235. 
 
 neocosmic, 285. 
 
 palseocosmic, 285, 319. 
 
 Man, unity of, 263, 414. 
 
 Manetho, chronology of, 273. 
 
 Margite, cave of, 308. 
 
 Menes, his epoch, 273. 
 
 Mesozoic period, 218, 331. 
 
 Miller on creative days, 135, 
 
 Mining noticed in the Bible, 179. 
 
 Mississippi, delta of the, 333. 
 
 Mist watering the ground, 189, 
 
 Modern period of geology, 251. 
 
 Modes of creation, 377. 
 
 Moffatt on African languages, 292. 
 
 Morse on the evolution of man, 391. 
 
 Mosaic Genesis, 27. 
 
 Miiller's classification of religions, 
 
 14. 
 Mythology, ancient, its origin, 408. 
 
 of the atmosphere, 171. 
 
 as related to the Bible, 109, 
 
 261. 
 
 Nature, study of, 244. 
 Negro races, 276. 
 Neocosmic man, 285. 
 " Neolithic " men, 278. 
 Niagara, excavation of, 312. 
 Nimrod, 259, 
 Noah, sons of, 266. 
 
 Palaeocosmic men, 285, 319. 
 
 " Palaeolithic " men, 278. 
 
 Palaeozoic animals, 217. 
 
 period, 231. 
 
 Parallelism of Scripture and geolo- 
 gy, 343. 
 
 Pattison on the antiquity of man, 3 18. 
 
 Pengelly on Kent's Cavern, 302. 
 
 on stalagmite, 387. 
 
 I'eriods, creative, 126. 
 
 geological, 330. 
 
 Persians, cosmogony of the, 147. 
 
 Philological evidence of the antiqui- 
 ty of man, 285. 
 
 Pictet on the origin of species, 339. 
 
 Pierce on the forms of continents, 
 184. 
 
 Pillars of the earth, 177. 
 
 Plants, creation of, 186. 
 
 Plastids and plastidules, 377. 
 
 Pratt, Archdeacon, on bheviah, 406. 
 
438 
 
 Index, 
 
 Prayer and law, 171. 
 Progress in nature, 75, 337. 
 Proverbs, viii., 74,96, 176. 
 Psalm viii, 208. 
 
 viii., I, 94. 
 
 xviii., 178. 
 
 xix., 208. 
 
 xc, 108. 
 
 civ., 164, 175, 178, 224. 
 
 cxix., 90, 74- 
 
 cxix., 20, 176. 
 
 cxxxix., 84. 
 
 cxlvii., 208. 
 
 cxlviii., 6, 12^. 
 
 Purpose in nature, 78. 
 
 Quiche Genesis, 22, 107. 
 
 Rakiah (the expanse), 162. 
 Rawlinson on historical dates, 390. 
 Reconciliation of the Bible and ge-" 
 
 ology, 342. 
 Reindeer age, 299. 
 Religion, Aryan, 16. 
 
 Turanian, 15. 
 
 Semitic, 16. 
 
 Remcs (creeping things), 215. 
 
 Rephainiy 257. 
 
 Reptiles, 213, 215. 
 
 Revelation, idea of, 12. 
 
 River valleys, excavation of, 314. 
 
 Ruach Elohim, 106. 
 
 Rutimeyer on inter-glacial men, 386. 
 
 Sabbath, the, as related to ages of 
 creation, 130. 
 
 of the Creator, 249. 
 
 Schliemann on Troy, 282. 
 Shamayim (heavens), 92. 
 Shemite races, 16. 
 Sheretz (swarming creature), 211. 
 Somme, gravels of the, 313. 
 Song of creation, 66. 
 
 Species, Agassiz on, 61. 
 
 Bronn on, 339. 
 
 distinct from varieties, 414. 
 
 in Genesis i., 215. 
 
 — ^ origin of, 368, 378. 
 
 Spirit of God in creation, 106. 
 Stalagmite, deposition of, 310, 385. 
 St ere 0771 a, 162. 
 Stone, ages of, 281. 
 
 Table of Biblical periods, 352. 
 
 of geological periods, 330. 
 
 Tait, Prof., on the age of the earth, 
 
 154- 
 Tamnii (great reptile), 213, 405. 
 
 Tennyson on types in nature, 222. 
 Theories of the origin of genesis, 51. 
 Thomson, Sir Wm., on the age of 
 
 the earth, 154. 
 Time, geological, 321, 332. 
 Torel on the Sodertelge hut, 386. 
 Troy, as described by Schliemann, 
 
 282. 
 Type in nature, 82, 222. 
 
 Unity of man, 263, 414. 
 
 of nature, 36. 
 
 Universe, the unseen, 11. 
 
 Variation, laws of, 414. 
 Veda, its cosmogony, 1 10. 
 Vegetation, its creation, 186. 
 
 of Eozoic period, 192. 
 
 Victoria Cave, 386. 
 Vision of creation, 65. 
 Void, the, 100. 
 
 Wallace on evolution, 373. 
 
 on primitive man, 389. 
 
 Waters above the heavens, 159. 
 " Whales, great," 213. 
 Wilson on American skulls, 427. 
 on ancient pottery, 283. 
 
 THE END. 
 
B| Pm UCIPAL DJ IWSOU, 
 
 EARTH AND MAN. The Story of the Earth and 
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 Principal and Vice-Chancellor of McGill Univer- 
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 elaborate and professional books upon the same subject. It is vigorously 
 written, and with a certain picturesqueness that is exceedingly attractive. 
 The chapters upon primitive man are peculiarly interesting. — Saturday 
 Evening Gazette, Boston. 
 
 The pleasantly written volume before us tells the story of the paleon- 
 tology and physical geography of the earth in prehuman ages, and closes 
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 we feel sure, be found interesting by all readers. — Athenccum, London. 
 
 Since Hugh Miller's time no scientific geologist has done more than 
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