144 MR. DARWIN'S CRITICS v 



" Nihilominus sententia Catholica est, verba ilia Scriptures 

 esse ad literam intelligenda. Ac PROINDE VERB, AC REALITER, 

 TULISSE DEUM COSTAM ADAM.E, ET, EX ILLA, CORPUS EV^E 

 FORMASSE." 1 



Nor is there any escape in the supposition that 

 some woman existed before Eve, after the fashion 

 of the Lilith of the rabbis ; since Suarez qualifies 

 that notion, along with some other Judaic 

 imaginations, as simply " damnabilis." 2 



After the perusal of the " Tractatus de Opere " 

 it is, in fact, impossible to admit that Suarez held 

 any opinion respecting the origin of species, except 

 such as is consistent with the strictest and most 

 literal interpretation of the words of Genesis. 

 For Suarez, it is Catholic doctrine, that the world 

 was made in six natural days. On the first of 

 these days the materia prima was made out of 

 nothing, to receive afterwards those " substantial 

 forms " which moulded it into the universe of 

 things ; on the third day, the ancestors of all 

 living plants suddenly came into being, full-grown, 

 perfect, and possessed of all the properties which 

 now distinguish them ; while, on the fifth and 

 sixth days, the ancestors of all existing animals 

 were similarly caused to exist in their complete 

 and perfect state, by the infusion of their appro- 

 priate material substantial forms into the matter 



1 Tractatus de Opere, Lib. III. " De hominis creatione," cap. 

 ii. No. 3. 



~ Ibid. Lib. III. cap. iv. Nos. 8 and 9 



