148 GENESIS VERSUS NATURE iv 



to exactly the same extent neither more nor 

 less. 



Suppose, however, that " fowl " is to be taken 

 to include flying insects. In that case, the first 

 appearance of an air-population must be shifted 

 back for long ages, recent discovery having shown 

 that they occur in rocks of Silurian age. Hence 

 there might still have been hope for the fourfold 

 order, were it not that the fates unkindly deter- 

 mined that scorpions " creeping things that 

 creep on the earth" par excellence turned up in 

 Silurian strata nearly at the same time. So that, 

 if the word in the original Hebrew translated 

 "fowl" should really after all mean " cockroach " 

 and I have great faith in the elasticity of that 

 tongue in the hands of Biblical exegetes the order 

 primarily suggested by the existing evidence 



2. Land and air-population ; 



1. Water-population ; 

 and Mr. Gladstone's order 



3. Land-population; 



2. Air-population ; 



1. Water-population ; 



can by no means be made to coincide. As a 

 matter of fact, then, the statement so confidently 

 put forward turns out to be devoid of foundation 

 and in direct contradiction of the evidence at 

 present at our disposal. 1 



1 It may be objected that I have not put the case fairly, 

 inasmuch as the solitary insect's wing which was discovered 



