V MR. GLADSTONE AND GENESIS 177 



succeed fishes. Once more, as it is quite certain 

 that the term "fowl" includes the bats, for in 

 Leviticus xi. 13-19 we read, " And these shall ye 

 have in abomination among the fowls . . . the 

 heron after its kind, and the hoopoe, and the 

 bat/' it is obvious that bats are also said to have 

 been created at stage No. 3. And as bats are 

 mammals, and their existence obviously presup- 

 poses that of terrestrial " beasts," it is quite clear 

 that the latter could not have first appeared as 

 No. 5. I need not repeat my reasons for doubting 

 whether man came " last of all." 



As the latter half of Mr. Gladstone's sixfold 

 order thus shows itself to be wholly unauthorised 

 by, and inconsistent with, the plain language of 

 the Pentateuch, I might decline to discuss the 

 admissibility of its former half. 



But I will add one or two remarks on this 

 point also. Does Mr. Gladstone mean to say that 

 in any of the works he has cited, or indeed any- 

 where else, he can find scientific warranty for the 

 assertion that there was a period of land by 

 which I suppose he means dry land (for submerged 

 land must needs be as old as the separate exist- 

 ence of the sea) " anterior to all life " ? 



It may be so, or it may not be so ; but where 

 is the evidence which would justify any one in 

 making a positive assertion on the subject ? What 

 competent palaeontologist will affirm, at this 

 present moment, that he knows anything about 

 101 



