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BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 



Archaia ; or, Studies of the Cosmogony and Natural History of the 

 Hebrew Scriptures. By J. W. Dawson, LL.D., F.G.S. &c. 



Montreal, 1860. 



Amongst the numerous cosmogonists, and quasi-cosmogonists, who 

 have attempted to reconcile the supposed " inconsistencies " of the 

 Mosaic and geological records, there are not many who have possessed 

 that accuracy of judgment and thought, or who have combined a 

 sufficient amount of scientific with theological acumen, to make any 

 permanent impression on the minds of either philosophers or biblical 

 critics. The consequence is, that, practically, each particular in- 

 quirer has taken up, more or less, an independent position, — often- 

 times caring but little, or even almost unconscious, whether or not 

 the investigators of truth by different, but converging, lines of argu- 

 ment have arrived at conclusions in harmony with his own ! And 

 thus it is that, in some departments, much valuable information 

 which might have been found explanatory of facts obscurely hinted 

 at in others, has been either entirely lost sight of or else regarded as 

 worthless, — and all through the want of that " happy balance " of 

 unbiassed discernment which can detect the golden thread of truth 

 throughout its countless ramifications, not merely in Nature, but 

 equally also in the immaterial and moral worlds. 



Whatever may be the results arrived at by the author of the clever 

 and ingenious volume now before us, it will at least be admitted that 

 he has executed his task with a greater amount of ability and judg- 

 ment than perhaps any writer on the same subject who has preceded 

 him. At once an accomplished geologist, a scholar, and a sound 

 biblical critic, and possessing (which is more important still) a tho- 

 rough knowledge of Hebrew and a power of unprejudiced perception 

 rarely to be met with, it is not surprising that he should have thrown 

 some new light on many points which have been hitherto but imper- 

 fectly discussed : and we feel sure that all who are interested in the 

 study of a subject which yields to none other in importance (though 

 it has lost much by the injudicious handling of shallow sceptics and 

 the rampant speculation of literary dabblers) will thank Dr. Dawson 

 for so able an exposition of his views. 



There is a class of reasoners on the Continent (happily not very 

 numerous in this country) who believe the Mosaic narrative of crea- 

 tion to be simply a well-composed myth. They think that the mind 

 of England is not yet sufficiently advanced to accept so bold a doctrine, 

 but that, nevertheless, "for some beautiful moral purpose, Moses 

 tried to palm oif upon his credulous countrymen a poetic fiction 

 drawn from what he had learnt in Egypt," — forgetting that he 

 inserted in the selfsame book which contains this M fiction " the Ten 

 Commandments, and the heaviest denunciations against forgery and 

 deceit! To "philosophers" of that school Dr. Dawson's work does 

 not appeal ; but those who, on other and more substantial grounds 

 than that which their own hasty and imperfect judgment may sup- 

 ply, already believe in the integrity of Holy Scripture, and who can 



