28 ON A PIECE OF CHALK i 



county, proof that the chalk can justly claim a 

 very much greater antiquity than even the oldest 

 physical traces of mankind. But we may go fur- 

 ther and demonstrate, by evidence of the same 

 authority as that which testifies to the existence 

 of the father of men, that the chalk is vastly older 

 than Adam himself. The Book of Genesis informs 

 us that Adam, immediately upon his creation, and 

 before the appearance of Eve, was placed in the 

 Garden of Eden. The problem of the geographical 

 position of Eden has greatly vexed the spirits of 

 the learned in such matters, but there is one 

 point respecting which, so far as I know, no com- 

 mentator has ever raised a doubt. This is, that 

 of the four rivers which are said to run out of it, 

 Euphrates and Hiddekel are identical with the 

 rivers now known by the names of Euphrates and 

 Tigris. But the whole country in which these 

 mighty rivers take their origin, and through 

 which they run, is composed of rocks which are 

 either of the same age as the chalk, or of later 

 date. So that the chalk must not only have been 

 formed, but, after its formation, the time required 

 for the deposit of these later rocks, and for their 

 upheaval into dry land, must have elapsed, before 

 the smallest brook which feeds the swift stream 

 of " the great river, the river of Babylon," began 

 to flow. 



Thus, evidence which cannot be rebutted, and 

 which need not be strengthened, though if time 



