The Bible and Science 249 



English Bible, The present writer, even so lately as in 

 1888 was reproved with violence by a clergyman of 

 considerable education and position for expressing a 

 doubt as to the accuracy of these dates. Obviously 

 there was no common measure between a church hold- 

 ing such views and advancing science. War was in- 

 evitable, until one side or the other should give way. 



Huxley conducted the attack in a series of contro- 

 versies extending over many years, and in which his 

 opponents were well-known laymen such as Mr. Glad- 

 stone, Dr. St. George Mivart, the Duke of Argyll, 

 and many clerical dignitaries of different denomina- 

 tions. The most important of his contributions to 

 these controversies, as well as several isolated essays 

 and addresses, have been collected in two volumes, 

 Science and the Hebrew Tradition^ and Science afid the 

 Christian Tradition. 



The first stage in the controversy, and the stage most 

 immediately pressing, was to shew that the Bible was 

 misleading and inaccurate as a record of scientific fact, 

 and that therefore it could not be brought forward as 

 evidence against scientific doctrines supported by 

 scientific evidence. The vital matter in this was the 

 account given in Genesis of the origin of the world. 

 If that disappeared then the whole ground was gained ; 

 science would be left free in its own sphere. 



In a lecture on Evolution, delivered in 1876, Huxley 

 began by discussing the possibilities as to the past 

 history of nature. He believed that there were only 

 three hypotheses which had been entertained or which 

 well could be entertained respecting this history. The 

 first was to assume that phenomena of nature similar 

 to those exhibited by the world at present had alwa3^s 

 existed ; in fact that the universe had existed from 



