On the Cosmogony of Moses. 115 



uiiclean to you among the creeping things that creep upon the 

 earth ; the weasel, the mouse, the tortoise after his kind." 



In Genesis vii. ver. 21. it is rendered " creeping things" in 

 English, and spTrsTov in Greek. 



The term applied to these aquatic animals in the twenty-first 

 verse, viz. ^0*1, occurs in the twenty-fourth, twenty-tifth, and 

 thirtieth verses of the same chapter, and in each of these places 

 is rendered by the LXX sg-inTx, and "creeping thing" in the 

 English trrais'ation. 



it is i'oimd in Psalm civ. ver. 20. " It is night wherein all the 

 beasts of the forest do creep forth." 



It occurs in Deuteronomy iv. ver. 1 8. " The likeness of any- 

 thing that CREEPETH on the ground." In the LXX we have 

 igverov 6 epTrs* Itt) t)]? yi;?. 



Eoth words occur in Leviticus xi. ver. 44. " Neitl:er shall 

 ye defile yourselves with any ckkkping thing that creepeth 

 upon the earth." The noun is Y'^tD and the verb \D}2'^. The 

 LXX have ra. Ip^ercc, t« Kivouixiva en) t>55 yfjg. 



It thus appears from parallel citations, chiefly from the Pen- 

 tateuch, that the terms employed in describing ihis part of the 

 fifth day's creation mean strictly " creeping or walking animals." 

 We advance on safe grounds when we make an author the in- 

 terpreter of his own words. 



This interpretation is further confirmed by the old versions 

 made before the Hebrew language was altogether extinct ; viz. 

 those of the LXX and of the Targumists, if, indeed, the latter 

 can be called versions. I have already shown that the LXX 

 constantly use the word EgTrexa. Both the Targums, Onkelos, 

 and Jonathan translate 1^72"! and yitU by the Chaldee word 

 D^n"l which also occurs in Genesis vii. ver. 8. and in Levit. v. 

 ver. 2. where it corresponds with the Hebrew words rendered 

 " creeping things." 



It seems therefore unquestionable that the animals which 

 Moses asserts to have been called into existence in the waters 

 during the fifth period, are designated liy him as whales (viz. 

 fishes^, and all the creeping things or reptiles which inhabit this 

 element. 



It is very remarkable that M. Cuvier has shown in the course 

 (•{ his wonderful geological researches, which entitle him to the 

 highest raidv among the naturalists who have yet lived, that the 

 remains of oviparous quadrupeds, or reptiles properly so called, 

 make their first appearance in the crust of the earth exactly in 

 the same period with those of fishes. This is another instance 

 of the remarkable coincidences which display themselves be- 

 tween the records of Nature and those of Moses ; and I am pcr- 

 Miadcd that the more these records arc scrutinized, the more 

 112 agreement 



