On the Cosmogony ofMosef, 287 



It is therefore dear that the term day will bear the sense of 

 af\ indefinite period, according to the genius of the Hebrew lan- 

 guage. Tliat it was actually intended to be so received in thi» 

 particidar place, appears to nie fully evident from the context. 

 Those who do not admit the supernatural intelligence of the 

 author of the Genesis will yet allow him a great portion of na- 

 tural sagacity and good sense, and wiil certainly acquit him of 

 so palpable tin absurdity as speaking of days in the literal 

 meaning of the word before the creation of the sun. 



If this interpretation be alloAvcd, the following series of facts 

 is found to be detailed in the Genesis : 



1. That the waters of the ocean for a long time covered the 

 whole earth. 



2. That no organized being existed for a long time in this 

 universal ocean. 



3. That the water had subsided before the creation of or- 

 ganized beings. 



4. That an indefinite period followed, during which the vege- 

 table creation was formed. It is to be remarked, that this part 

 of riie creation was effected before the existence of fishes in the 

 sea. 



5. That in the next period the sea produced locomotive ani- 

 mals. This is the precise meaning of the Hebrew word used 

 in this ])lace, as any of your correspondents will find by consult- 

 ing a lexicon, and it was so understood by the LXX. Zoo- 

 phytes and testacea are of course excluded from this class, and, 

 not being enumerated, must find their place in the sra of the 

 creation which belongs to beings lower in the scale than loco- 

 motive animals, viz. that appropriated to vegetables, to which, 

 in fact, zoophytes especially have a strong analogy. The crea- 

 tion of birds is referred to the same epoch with that of aquatic 

 locomotive animals. 



6. The creation of quadrupeds follows. No reason can be 

 assigned for placing this event later in the series than the for- 

 mation of aquatic animals ; and if the statement be confirmed 

 by positive proof, the correctness of the history is so much the 

 more striking. 



7. The creation of man was laiitcr than all the above-mentioned 

 events. ___»,^^« 



Let lis now try how far these facts enn be proved by geolo- 

 gical phaenomena. 



J. That the ocean covered the whole earth, cannot be ques- 

 tioned on any reasonable ground, because many of the highest 

 mountains are stratified, and strata are allowed by all to be de- 

 posits, from a atate of cbemioal solution or mechanical suspension 



in 



