34 PROLOGUE I 



physical criticism, that no such event as that 

 described ever took place ; to exhibit the untrust- 

 worthy character of the narrative demonstrated 

 by literary criticism ; and, finally, to account for 

 its origin, by producing a form of those ancient 

 legends of pagan Chaldsea, from which the biblical 

 compilation is manifestly derived. I have yet to 

 learn that the main propositions of this essay can 

 be seriously challenged. 



In the essays (II., III.) on the narrative of the 

 Creation, I have endeavoured to controvert the 

 assertion that modern science supports, either the 

 interpretation put upon it by Mr. Gladstone, or 

 any interpretation which is compatible with the 

 general sense of the narrative, quite apart from 

 particular details. The first chapter of Genesis 

 teaches the supernatural creation of the present 

 forms of life ; modern science teaches that they 

 have come about by evolution. The first chapter 

 of Genesis teaches the successive origin firstly, 

 of all the plants, secondly, of all the aquatic and 

 aerial animals, thirdly, of all the terrestrial ani- 

 mals, which now exist during distinct intervals 

 of time ; modern science teaches that, throughout 

 all the duration of an immensely long past, so far 

 as we have any adequate knowledge of it (that is 

 as far back as the Silurian epoch), plants, aquatic, 

 aerial, and terrestrial animals have co-existed; 

 that the earliest known are unlike those which at 

 present exist ; and that the modern species have 



