46 EVOL UTION AND NA TURAL THEOL OGY. 



Several mediaeval and modern theologians 

 have held the Degradation Theory in a sense 

 similar to that alluded to by Milton, in the 

 passage quoted at the head of this chapter. 

 They maintained that a great physical revo- 

 lution took place at the Fall, overturning the 

 whole original system of Nature, and ren- 

 dering necessary its re-organisation on a very 

 inferior scale.* Whatever may be the true 

 interpretation of the ancient legendary narrative 

 in Genesis,f it is palpable that no such universal 

 cataclysm has ever occurred, or it would have 

 left ineffaceable geological traces. J Nor does 

 the Biblical record itself allude to any cataclysm 

 at the time of the Fall, but simply states that 

 man, the serpent, and the ground were cursed 

 in consequence. The legend itself must in any 

 case have been handed down by human agency, 

 and certainly cannot be interpreted literally, as 

 even " the primal curse " meets with no support 

 from Geology, which is God's handwriting on 



* See Hugh Miller's " Testimony of the Kocks," Lecture x. 



t On account of the importance often attributed to Genesis in these 

 discussions, I have added a note on the subject to the present chapter. 



j Formerly, geologists thought they saw in every dislocated series 

 of strata, traces of Noah's flood ; now the most pious can find no 

 phenomena which they can attribute with certainty to its influence. 



