NHW CHAP TUBS ZxV THU WARFARE OF SCIENCE. 5 



naming " every living creature " ; or to reconcile the dimensions 

 of Noah's ark with the space required for preserving all of them, 

 and the food of all sorts necessary for their sustenance, whether 

 they were admitted by twos, as stated in one scriptural account, 

 or by sevens, as stated in the other. 



This latter subject gave especial trouble. Origen had dealt 

 with it by suggesting that the cubit was six times greater than 

 had been supposed. Bede explained Noah's ability to complete 

 so large a vessel as the ark by supposing that he worked upon it 

 during a hundred years ; and, as to the provision of food taken 

 into it, he declared that there was no need of a supply for more 

 than one day, since God could throw the animals into a deep 

 sleep or otherwise miraculously make one day's supply sufficient ; 

 he also lessened the strain on faith still more by diminishing the 

 number of animals taken into the ark, supporting his view upon 

 Augustine's theory of the later development of insects out of 

 carrion. 



Doubtless this theological necessity was among the main 

 reasons which caused the theory supported by St. Basil and St. 

 Augustine to be incorporated in the seventh century by St. Isi- 

 dore of Seville into his great encyclopedic work which gave 

 materials for thought on God and Nature to so many generations. 

 He familiarized the theological world still further with the doc- 

 trine of secondary creation, giving such examples of it as that 

 " bees are generated from decomposed veal, beetles from horse- 

 flesh, grasshoppers from mules, scorpions from crabs," and, in 

 order to give still stronger force to the idea of such transforma- 

 tions, he dwells on the biblical account of Nebuchadnezzar, which 

 appears to have taken strong hold upon mediaeval thought in 

 science, and declares that other human beings had been changed 

 into animals, especially into swine, wolves, and owls. 



This doctrine of after-creations went on gathering strength 

 until, in the twelfth century, Peter Lombard, in his theological 

 summary " The Sentences," so powerful in molding the thought 

 of the Church, emphasizes the distinction between animals which 

 spring from carrion and those which are created from earth and 

 water ; the former he holds to have been created " potentially," 

 the latter " actually.'^ 



In the century following, this idea was taken up by St. Thomas 

 Aquinas and virtually received from him its final form. In the 

 " Summa," which remains the greatest work of mediaeval thought, 

 he accepts the idea that certain animals spring from the decaying 

 bodies of plants and animals, and declares that they are produced 

 by the creative word of God either actually or virtually. He 

 develops this view by saying, " Nothing was made by God, after 

 the six days of creation, absolutely new, but it was in some sense 



