1888. | NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 141 
mittee, reported the publication of numbers 3 and 4, of Volume 
IV., of the Annals. 
Upon motion of the Secretary, item IV. of the Council Re- 
port, presented March 5th, 1888, was adopted. 
It was moved and voted that the Secretary be authorized to 
issue a call for a meeting of the members of the Academy, who 
are interested in mineralogy, for the purpose of organizing the 
Mineralogical Section. 
Dr. CHARLES B. WARRING read a paper on 
GENESIS I. AND ITS CRITICS. 
The last word from the standpoint of scientific criticism was 
spoken by Prof. Huxley in his paper in reply to Mr. Glad- 
stone, entitled ‘‘'The Interpreters of Genesis and Science,” pub- 
lished a short time ago in the Mineteenth Century. He 
there declares that, after making all possible allowance for the 
figurative use of language, one fact stands out clearly—the 
story of creation, in the light of geology, is all wrong as to the 
order of life upon our globe. He says in the most emphatic 
manner, as if it admitted of neither doubt nor dispute, that 
Moses, or whoever wrote the account, teaches that ‘‘ the animal 
species which compose the water population, the air population, 
and the land population, respectively, originated during four 
distinct and successive periods of time, and only during those 
periods.” 
Prof. Huxley says nothing about vegetation in his paper, be- 
‘cause Mr. Gladstone did not speak of it; but as it is logically 
included, and indeed is necessary to make the statement com- 
plete, I shall include this also. Putting it all into slightly dif- 
ferent words, to bring out more forcibly what appears to be the 
Professor’s meaning, he charges Moses with teaching that there 
was no vegetation before fruit trees, no animals before 
‘‘whales,” no flying creatures before birds, no land animals be- 
fore cattle. 
And this, Prof. Huxley declares, is the “‘ central idea” of the 
creation narrative “‘by which it must stand or fall.” The 
thought arises: If an error in the order is so fatal, will he admit 
the opposite, if the order is free from error? 
We admit that it is not true that there was no vegetation be- 
fore fruit trees. There were plants long before that, animals 
long before whales, flying creatures long before birds, and land 
animals long before cattle. But does Genesis teach what Prof. 
Huxley charges? This is the vital question, and Prof. Huxley 
