ix.] av A PIECE OF CHALK. 195 



greater antiquity than even the oldest physical traces of 

 mankind. But we may go further and demonstrate, by 

 evidence of the same authority as that which testifies to 

 the existence of the father of men, that the chalk is 

 vastly older than Adam himself. 



The Book of Genesis informs us that Adam, immediate!) 

 upon his creation, and before the appearance of Eve, was 

 placed in the Garden of Eden. The problem of the 

 geographical position of Eden lias greatly vexed the 

 spirits of the learned in such matters, but there is one 

 point respecting which, so far as I know, no commentator 

 has ever raised a doubt. This is, that of the four rivers 

 w 7 hich are said to run out of it, Euphrates and Hiddekel 

 are identical with the rivers now known by the names of 

 Euphrates and Tigris. 



But the whole country in which these mighty rivers 

 take their origin, and through which they run, is 

 composed of rocks which are either of the same age as 

 the chalk, or of later date. So that the chalk must not 

 only have been formed, but, after its formation, the time 

 required for the deposit of these later rocks, and for their 

 upheaval into dry land, must have elapsed, before the 

 smallest brook which feeds the swift stream of "the 

 great river, the river of Babylon/' began to flow. 



Thus, evidence which cannot be rebutted, and which 

 need not be strengthened, though if time permitted 

 I might indefinitely increase its quantity, compels you 

 to believe that the earth, from the time of the chalk 

 to the present day, has been the theatre of a series of 

 changes as vast in their amount, as they w r ere slow in 

 their progress. The area on which w T e stand has been 

 first sea and then land, for at least four alternations ; 

 and has remained in each of these conditions for a 

 period of great length. 



