MEMORIAL OF ALEXANDER WINCHELL. 5 



fessorship in the same institution. It was during his residence at 

 Syracuse that were laid the first lines of an episode in his professional 

 career which was to become the most distinctive event of his life. He 

 gave by invitation a series of papers in the Northern Christian Advocate 

 on " Adamites and pre- Adamites," which were published in pamphlet 

 form. This had been preceded by a lecture on the same subject before 

 the Bible class of the Methodist church at Syracuse, and was followed 

 by an article on " Pre- Adamites " in McCTintock and Strong's encyclo- 

 pedia. In this he singled out the Noachian descendants as of later 

 origin than several other branches of the human family, and, without 

 contravening any of the statements of divine scriptures, attempted to 

 show wherein some of their current interpretations ought to be corrected. 

 The whole effort was one of those far-reaching expositions of scriptural 

 and scientific harmony for which he was becoming famous, and which 

 only required for their universal acceptance the abandonment or modi- 

 fication of some dogmas of human origin. He had been lecturing on 

 geology four years, at Vanderbilt university, at first dividing his time 

 between that institution and Syracuse university ; but these views were 

 supposed by the authorities of Vanderbilt to be heretical, and when he 

 refused to decline a re-appointment in May, 1878, the lectureship which 

 he held there was unceremoniously abolished. This act, which flavored 

 of the proscriptions of the middle ages, created a profound sensation in 

 educational circles. He received such a spontaneous and instant sym- 

 pathy and support that, smarting under the injustice of trial and con- 

 viction and punishment without the opportunity of defense, he elabo- 

 rated the work of the pamphlet on " Adamites and pre-Adamites " into 

 an attractive volume of five hundred pages, which was published in 

 1880. This volume may be taken as the type of a large number of 

 publications, partly theological and scriptural and partly scientific. 

 which won for him the respect and confidence not only of numerous 

 scientific students but also of many churchmen, and which have 

 served to allay the fears of many as to the attitude of scientific men 

 generally toward Christianity. 



On his return to the university of Michigan in 187!>, he resumed 

 more strictly scientific work ; but the multiplied demands made upon 

 him for scientific contributions of a more popular character interfered 

 seriously with his plans. Within the first three years appeared not 

 only his " Pre- Adamites," but "Sparks from a Geologist's Hammer" 

 and " World Life." On the Last he spent more time than on any of his 

 former publications. It is an amplified reproduction of principles and 

 discussions which he had presented in more or less fragmentary form 

 in public lectures during several years, and tills the place in the realm 



