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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



words from one of the most learned 

 and religiously earnest divines of our 

 time. "What do they imply? Two 

 things inevitably: first, the abandon- 

 ment to Science of those cosniological 

 problems over which Theology has 

 hitherto claimed a divine right ; and, 

 second, the surrender to critical inves- 

 tigation of the nature and source of 

 those narratives which have been hith- 

 erto so implicitly trusted. Dean Stanley 

 is far from being alone in his views ; 

 they are shared by many other eminent 

 clergymen who recognize that the Mo- 

 saic account of the Creation is without 

 authority ; and yet no part of Dr. Dra- 

 per's celebrated book on the " Conflict 

 between Religion and Science" has 

 been so bitterly denounced by theolo- 

 gians as his remarks on the authenticity 

 of the Pentateuch. He ventured a bold 

 prophecy that the originals of the le- 

 gends of the creation, the garden of 

 Eden, the development of Eve from one 

 of the ribs of Adam, the fall of man, 

 the Tower of Babel, and the confusion 

 of tongues, would be discovered in the 

 clay libraries of the revived Mesopota- 

 mian palaces, as that of the Deluge had 

 been ; and, already, though only a few 

 weeks have elapsed, it appears that they 

 have been so found. How are they to 

 be interpreted? When the legend of 

 the Deluge was discovered by Mr. 

 Smith, the agent of the London Tele- 

 graph newspaper, in these cuneiform 

 tablets, it was hailed with triumph by 

 biblical scholars, who looked upon it as 

 a wonderful and unexpected testimony 

 vouchsafed to these later days in be- 

 half of the story of Genesis and the 

 authenticity of the Pentateuch. It was 

 supposed that the universal deluge had 

 now been proved to have taken place. 

 But another and very different view of 

 the case has emerged, which is, that 

 these legends, instead of being corrobo- 

 rative testimonials of the Pentateuch 

 narration, are rather the originals from 

 which it was derived. Into the ques- 

 tion thus opened, although of great in- 



terest, we do not enter, but may say 

 that, if this view proves the correct one, 

 Assyrian explorers will hereafter be at 

 a discount. Their discoveries will be 

 classed with those of astronomers, ge- 

 ologists, and anthropologists. The the- 

 ologians will find in them matter for 

 merriment; and the digger into the 

 mounds of the Tigris must get ready to 

 be denounced as an atheist. 



And yet Dean Stanley's sermon in- 

 spires us with hope that a better day is 

 dawning. In the highest ecclesiastical 

 ranks and remembering the flowers 

 that were laid on the coffin in the 

 highest political ranks, there is arising 

 a spirit of liberality which more than 

 sympathizes with the life of those great 

 and good men, who, like Sir Charles 

 Lyell, do not hesitate to encounter the 

 prejudices and ignorance of their con- 

 temporaries for the sake of the truth, 

 who invest its pursuit with the sanctity 

 of a religious duty, and consider prac- 

 tical piety to consist, not in the noisy 

 clamor for dogmas about which the hu- 

 man race will never agree, but in a sub- 

 missive study of the revelation of Na- 

 ture, and a courageous declaration of 

 what thev find in its records. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Nature and Life. Facts and Doctrines 

 relating to the Constitution of Matter, 

 the New Dynamics, and the Philosophy 

 of Nature. By Fernand Papillon. 

 Translated from the second French edi- 

 tion, by A. R. Macdonotjgh, Esq. New 

 York : D. Appleton & Co. 363 pages. 

 Price, $2.00. 



The readers of The Popular Science 

 Monthly cannot fail to learn with pleasure 

 that the complete essays of this gifted 

 young author are now accessible in a single 

 compact volume to the American public. 

 Several of Papillon's masterly articles have 

 appeared in our pages, and they awakened 

 so deep an interest in the subjects consid- 

 ered, and were read with so much admira- 

 tion, that it was felt to be important that 

 all his principal papers should be repro- 

 duced in a separate issue. Of the charac- 



