THE ADVENT OF MAN. 247 



According to our sacred Scriptures, this change is still imperfect, 

 and great additional ameliorations would have taken place but 

 for a moral catastrophe not within the domain of geology— the 

 fall of man. If we identify the Palceocosmic men with the 

 Antediluvians of the same venerable record, the roving 

 tribes whose remains are known to us represent that part of 

 the race of Cain of whom Jubal was the father, the nomads 

 dwelUng in tents, as distinguished from the settled agricultural 

 peoples. In this case, also, the catastrophe which destroyed 

 these rude and lawless men was that which culminated in the 

 deluge of Noah, which may represent the extinction of the last 

 great body of this primitive race, whose arts, handed down to 

 the physically inferior men of Postdiluvian times, astonish us 

 by their early development in Chaldaea and in Egypt. 



If man is so recent geologically, he may still be very old 

 historically ; and the question remains, Have we any facts 

 bearing on the absolute antiquity of man? For the properly 

 historical aspect of this question, I may refer to the excellent 

 work of Canon Rawlinson on the Origin of Nations,^ which 

 shows conclusively that the historic origin of all the great 

 nations of antiquity extends backward less than 4,400 years 

 from our time. Beyond this we have, however, the Palseo- 

 cosmic or Antediluvian men ; and their extension backward 

 seems limited geologically only by the close of the Glacial 

 period, while many hold that the Genealogy in Genesis does 

 not require us to limit very narrowly their antiquity. The date 

 of the Glacial period is, however, at present very uncertain. 

 On the one hand, some geologists, like Lyell, have supposed 

 it may be as far back as 200,000 years ago. Others, like 

 Croll, are contented with the more moderate estimate of 80,000 

 years'. On the other hand, the calculations of Andrews, based 

 on the recession of the American lakes, and those of Winchell 

 on the recession of the Falls of St. Anthony, reduce the time 

 to from 7,000 to 12,000 years. It is impossible in the present 



1 Religious Tract Society, 1878. 



