124 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



which Moses wrote ns " living creatures." 

 But still later, in the Quaternary, there were 

 fishes, amphibians or reptiles, mammals 

 and birds, whales and seals. Most of the 

 birds are still represented. Some, however, 

 have died out very recently, say within a 

 century or less. Of the others, save the 

 mammals, all kinds, so far as known, are 

 still in existence. The mammals are nearly 

 all extinct.* 



At this time, therefore, the marine life 

 and the " fowl " of to-day came into exist- 

 ence. I note here a circumstance that is in 

 remarkable harmony with the well-known 

 fact that many species of invertebrates, and 

 perhaps some others, have come down from 

 the Tertiary. There is the fiat that the 

 waters were to swarm with living creatures, 

 and then, in the next verse, an assertion of 

 crcatorship so broad as to include every 

 living creature as if it said God " created, " 

 through his way of doing such things, all 

 that appeared for the first at that time, as 

 well as all else then living. 



Coming still further down in the world's 

 history, we reach the horizon of to-day, with 

 its living species of land-animals, including 

 cattle, beasts, and creeping things. The 

 remark about the previous horizon applies 

 here also. 



I submit, therefore, as the result of an 

 examination of the Mosaic record, that Pro- 

 fessor Huxley's " central idea " has no ex- 

 istence in Genesis if taken without " flexi- 

 bility " or additions ; and, it appears to me 

 that, according to geology, the story as told 

 in Genesis is true as to its order. A flora 

 containing fruit-trees did come before the 

 living air and water population ; and these 

 came before living cattle and beasts. 



As to all other matters pertaining to 

 life the account is silent, but silence is not 

 falsehood. 



In the limited space of a letter I have 

 been able to give but scant justice to my 

 theme. 



Other important questions press upon 

 me. What about man ? What is the true 

 " central idea " ? What about the rest of 

 the chapter ; will it bear this intensely liter- 

 al treatment ? And the " days," are they 

 days or periods ? 



I can but hint at answers, and that only 

 to two of the questions. Paleontology tells 

 very little about man. Genesis says only 

 that God made a pair whom he called 

 Adam.f There may have been older races. 

 Such seem to be referred to when Cain says 

 he is afraid that whoever meets him will 

 kill him ; and so where the account speaks 



Page 345. Nicholson's M Ancient Life Historv" : 

 tt No extinct forms of fishes, amphibians, or reptiles 

 are known to occur." Also Dana. " Manual of Geol- 

 ogy ." third edition, p. 503: "The mammals are 

 nearly all extinct." 



t Or man, according to the margin of the Re- 

 vised Version. 



of. the sons of God and the daughters of 

 men. 



The true " central idea " is God's cre- 

 atorship. This might have been given in 

 one sentence, or have been extended into 

 particulars, and these particulars might 

 have been given in any order, or, if the au- 

 thor was wise enough to be able to do it, 

 the particular acts of creatorship might 

 have been named in the order of their oc- 

 currence. As there are, on a close analysis, 

 some forty matters of order or fact in this 

 story, it is impossible that by any chance or 

 guess they should fall into the true order. 

 But what if they are there ? As to the 

 " days," I suppose that they were twenty- 

 four hours long, and that creation was mill- 

 ions of years in being accomplished. The 

 paradox is, as it seems to me, easily explained, 

 but to attempt it noAv, or to give my reasons 

 for believing the order identical with that 

 revealed by science, would extend this letter 

 beyond its due limits. Yours truly, 



C. B. Warring. 

 Poughkeepsie, N. T., March 21, 18S6. 



ANTIDOTES FOR SNAKE-POISON. 



Messrs. Editors : 



In " The Popular Science Monthly " for 

 May, 1S85, I read with great interest an 

 address by Professor William W. Keen, 

 M. D., in the course of which he mentioned 

 Drs. Weir Mitchell and Reichert, of Phila- 

 delphia, as being engaged in experiments 

 on the venom of the cobra and rattlesnake. 

 At that time I decided to send you the ac- 

 count of an incident which might furnish a 

 clew to a proper antidote for this venom ; 

 but a protracted illness in my family has 

 hitherto prevented the carrying out of this 

 intention. I am now in a position to do 

 so, and shall therefore proceed at once to 

 the narrative of the incident in ques- 

 tion. 



In the summer of 18S3, while engaged 

 in some field-work in Polonio Pass, San 

 Luis Obispo County, California, a young 

 "setter" dog, belonging to a comrade, was 

 bitten on the nose by a rattlesnake. The 

 dog suffered for a few days, but did not die. 

 However, from a sprightly and intelligent 

 animal, he became transformed into a sickly 

 and stupid one. He became emaciated and 

 miserable, and his vision was greatly im- 

 paired in fact, all of his faculties seemed 

 to be benumbed. 



Shortly afterward we went up into the 

 Sacramento River Canon, and took this dog, 

 together with a host of others (the usual 

 concomitants of an engineer's camp), with 

 us to our new field of labor. Now, in the late 

 autumn the banks of the upper Sacramento 

 River become annually lined with the decay- 

 ing bodies of large numbers of " dog " sal- 



