390 PLEASANT WA YS IN SCIENCE. 



avoid, as his " desire was first to obtain the recognition of the 

 evidence without prejudice." It might certainly have inter- 

 fered to some degree with the unprejudiced recognition of 

 the evidence of the tablets if it had been maintained by him, 

 and still more if he had demonstrated, that the Babylonian 

 is the earlier version. For the account in the book of 

 Genesis, coming thus to be regarded as merely an expurgated 

 version of a narrative originally containing much fabulous 

 matter, and not a little that is monstrous and preposterous, 

 would certainly not have been presented to us in quite that 

 aspect in which it had long been regarded by theologians. 



But although Mr. Smith states that he placed the various 

 dates as low as he fairly could, considering the evidence, 

 nay, that he " aimed to do this rather than to establish any 

 system of chronology," there can be no mistake about the 

 relative antiquity which he in reality assigns to the Babylonian 

 inscriptions. He states, indeed, that every copy of the 

 Genesis legends belongs to the reign of Assurbanipal, who 

 reigned over Assyria B.C. 670. But it is " acknowledged on 

 all hands that the tablets are not the originals, but are only 

 copies from earlier texts." The Assyrians acknowledge 

 themselves that this literature was borrowed from Babylonian 

 sources, and of course it is to Babylonia we have to look to 

 ascertain the approximate dates of the original documents 

 " The difficulty," he proceeds, " is increased by the following 

 considerations : it appears that at an early period in Baby- 

 lonian history a great literary development took place, and 

 numerous works were produced which embodied the pre- 

 vailing myths, religion, and science of that day. Written, 

 many of them, in a noble style of poetry on one side, or 

 registering the highest efforts of their science on the other, 

 these texts became the standards for Babylonian literature, 

 and later generations were content to copy these writings 

 instead of making new works for themselves. Clay, the 

 material on which they were written, was everywhere 

 abundant, copies were multiplied, and by the veneration in 

 which they were held these texts fixed and stereotyped the 



