QUESTIONS RESPECTING THE DELUGE 159 



man, but destined as time went on and geographical 

 changes proceeded, preparatory to the great diluvial 

 subsidence, to fade away into the cool and damp 

 climate of the later post-glacial or antediluvian 

 period. This again would lead to migrations, wars, 

 and fierce struggles for existence among the human 

 populations a time of anarchy and violence pre- 

 ceding the final catastrophe. 



Much collateral evidence in substantiation of these 

 probabilities can be collected from the distribution of 

 marine life l and the changes of level, even on the 

 American coast. They conjure up before us strange 

 visions of the prehistoric past, and of the vicissitudes 

 of which man himself has been witness, and of 

 which, whether through memory and tradition or the 

 revelation of God, he has continued to retain some 

 written records which, long dim and uncertain, are 

 now beginning to be put into relation with physical 

 facts ascertained by modern scientific observation. 



We have already seen how the Deluge story and 

 the fate of the antediluvians have interwoven them- 

 selves with the myths and superstitions of the Old 

 World. The six great gods of the Egyptian pantheon 

 represent the creative days, and the * Sons of Horus ' 

 the antediluvians. So we have the ten patriarchs or 

 kings of the old Chaldeans corresponding to those of 

 Genesis, and the heaven-defying Titans of the old 

 mythologies representing the giants before the Flood. 

 Perhaps, however, no illustration of this is more 

 1 See The Ice Age in Canada, by the author. Montreal : 1893. 



