36 THE NOACHIAN FLOOD. 



the air were inexorably destroyed. But to this view of 

 the narrative there is more than one objection upon the 

 very surface of the narrative itself. And, by way of 

 preface, let it be remarked how vague arid indefinite is 

 the use in ordinary language of such terms as f all' and 

 * every' and ' universal.' For instance, if a popular lady 

 gives a kettledrum, we say, ' all the world was at it/ 

 although 500 persons could not have been squeezed into 

 the rooms without being suffocated ; or we say, ' so and 

 so is a thing which every school-boy knows,' when we 

 only mean that a good many lads of a particular age, in 

 a particular rank of life, and belonging to one particular 

 country, have most probably been taught it. And again 

 we say, * smoking is universal with the Dutch/ without 

 implying that every baby in Holland has a pipe instead 

 of a rattle. You are not to suppose that this is a view 

 of language invented for the occasion, frivolously ex- 

 plaining grave and sacred composition by the trivialities 

 of common speech. On the contrary, it is precisely to 

 the unquestioned prevalence of such phraseology, in all 

 but the most exact scientific writing, that the late Dr. 

 M'Caul appealed, and appealed successfully, against more 

 than one of the objections to the authority of the Pen- 

 tateuch, which were raised some time ago by the well- 

 known and ingenious arithmetician who presides over 

 the see of Natal. When we read that ' there went out 

 a decree from Caasar Augustus that all the world should 

 be taxed : and all went to be taxed, every one into his 

 own city/ are we to infer either that the clever practical 

 Roman decreed the taxation of barbarians over whom he 



