154 GENESIS VERSUS NATURE iv 



research will show that Homo sapiens existed, not 

 only before Equus caballus, but before many other 

 of the existing forms of animal life ; so that, if all 

 the species of animals have been separately 

 created, man, in this case, would by no means be 

 the " consummation " of the land-population. 



I am raising no objection to the position of the 

 fourth term in Mr. Gladstone's " order '* on the 

 facts, as they stand, it is quite open to any one to 

 hold, as a pious opinion, that the fabrication of man 

 was the acme and final achievement of the process 

 of peopling the globe. But it must not be said 

 that natural science counts this opinion among her 

 " demonstrated conclusions and established facts/' 

 for there would be just as much, or as little, reason 

 for ranging the contrary opinion among them. 



It may seem superfluous to add to the evidence 

 that Mr. Gladstone has been utterly misled in sup- 

 posing that his interpretation of Genesis receives 

 any support from natural science. But it is as well 

 to do one's work thoroughly while one is about it ; 

 and I think it may be advisable to point out that 

 the facts, as they are at present known, not only 

 refute Mr. Gladstone's interpretation of Genesis in 

 detail, but are opposed to the central idea on which 

 it appears to be based. 



There must be some position from which the 

 reconcilers of science and Genesis will not retreat, 

 some central idea the maintenance of which is vital 

 and its refutation fatal. Even if they now allow 



