5o6 Edward Livingston Youmans. 



natural things are to be regarded was fundamentally and 

 forever altered. But, as it is impossible to escape at once 

 and completely from the dominion of old ideas, the full 

 import of the position was far from being recognized, and 

 different classes of the thinking world were naturally very 

 differently affected by the new discoveries. To the mass 

 of people who inherit their opinions and rarely inquire 

 into the grounds upon which they rest, the changed view 

 was of no moment ; nor had the geological revelations 

 much interest to the literary classes beyond that of bare 

 curiosity about strange and remote speculations. To the 

 theologians, however, the step that had been taken was of 

 grave concern. They were the proprietors of the old view ; 

 they claimed for it supernatural authority, and strenuously 

 maintained that its subversion would be the subversion of 

 religion itself. They maintained, moreover, that the con- 

 troversy involved the very existence of God. The most 

 familiar conception of the Deity was that of a Creator, and 

 creation was held to mean the grand six-day drama of call- 

 ing the universe into existence ; while this transcendent 

 display of power had always been devoutly held as alike 

 the exemplification and the proof of the Divine attributes. 

 How deep and tenacious was the old error is shown by the 

 fact that, although it has been completely exploded ; al- 

 though the immeasurable antiquity of the earth and the 

 progressive order of its life have been demonstrated and 

 admitted by all intelligent people, yet the pulpit still clings 

 to the old conceptions, and the traditional view is that 

 which generally prevails among the multitude.* 



To men of science the new position was, of course, in 

 the highest degree important. It was stated by Prof. 

 Sedgwick, in an anniversary address to the Geological So- 

 ciety of London in 1831, as follows : " We have a series of 



* See Note A. 



