compared with the Discoveries of the Modern Sciences. 261 
before animals, which they were destined to supply with 
nourishment. But let us consider whether Scripture has had 
equal reason for proclaiming the recent appearance of the 
human species as compared with other living species. 
What we have already observed, is in some measure a proof 
that the arrival of man on the earth must have been posterior 
to that of the greater part of animals, whether vertebrate 
or invertebrate. Not many serious difficulties can be formed 
on this point. The examination of fossiliferous strata proves 
that the remains of our species do not begin to shew them- 
selves till we come amongst diluvial deposits, which are the 
most recent of those belonging to geological eras. Man has, 
therefore, formed part of the new generations which have 
appeared on the surface of the earth; also the greater part 
of those with which he has been cotemporary have still 
their representatives among the living races. 
But man may be recent, even the newest of beings, and 
yet the date of his appearance may go so far back as the 
7500 years which Scripture assigns to him. Is it necessary 
to suppose with Scripture, that the last arrangement on the 
surface of the globe is more recent than the last and terrible 
catastrophe which laid it waste, a catastrophe followed by 
the renewal of the human race? Would it be reasonable 
for all ages, all people, and, in particular, our modern schools, 
to set themselves in opposition to a date which assigns so 
youthful an age to our haughty race? Assuredly not; geo- 
logical investigations, the researches of history, and the study 
of monuments, all concur in demonstrating not only the re- 
cent date of man’s appearance, but particularly that of his 
renovation. 
Here, therefore, Scripture is exact and within the limits 
of truth. The term it assigns to the cradle of humanity, al- 
though not very remote from that in which civilization has 
arrived at a degree of remarkable splendour, is still sufficient 
to explain and comprehend the various phases of it. We 
may include in these 7500 years all that authentic historical 
- traditions have told us respecting the progress of man in the 
path of civilization. 
The Bible has, in like manner, acknowledged the unity of 
