THE EARLIEST MEN 195 



epochs, there is comparatively little difference of 

 opinion. Some may doubt whether, e.g., the Red 

 Crag is a Pliocene or a Pleistocene formation, and 

 others may hold differing opinions as to the number 

 of inter-glacial periods, but on the main question 

 of the succession of periods there is fairly general 

 consent. It is when geologists and still worse 

 anthropologists try to set these periods down in 

 terms of years, that we enter the domain of chaos. 

 But with all this it may be said quite definitely, 

 that the point of appearance of man upon this 

 earth must be put back to a very much greater 

 distance of time than was dreamed of by writers 

 up to a comparatively recent date. In this there 

 is nothing whatsoever to disturb the mind of any 

 Catholic. The Catholic Encyclopedia deals with 

 this matter in a very carefully written article, 

 which is no doubt accessible to most of the readers 

 of these pages, and from which, therefore, only 

 the following quotation may be made for the sake 

 of those who may not have the volume at hand. 

 The writer says (sub voce Chronology) Creation of 

 Man : 



" The question which this subject suggests is : 

 Can we confine the time that man has existed on 

 earth within the limits usually assigned, i.e., within 

 about four thousand years of the birth of Christ ? 

 The Church does not interfere with the freedom 

 of scientists to examine into this subject, and form 

 the best judgment they can with the aid of science. 

 She evidently does not attach decisive influence to 

 the chronology of the Vulgate, the official version 



