38 THE EEV. CANON E. B. GIRDLESTONE^ M.A., ON 



provincialisms, but I account for it by our individual ignorance. 

 We are no longer in contact with tbose who used the language, and 

 our ignorance is therefore just as honourable as our knowledge. 

 We have no power of investigation of those things where the 

 lexicons do not guide us. I will also refer to the point mentioned 

 by the author, as to the expression used by Balaam. I know the 

 Hebrew of the passage to which the lecturer referred ; but I can- 

 not agree with him that the expression he used was " Kobab " 

 (nnp). I say it is " Nakab " (IpJ). That occurs several times in 

 the Bible. 



Canon Girdlestone. — But " Kobab " only in the Book of 

 Numbers. 



Dr. LowY. — In many cases it is " Kobab," and at other times it 

 is "Nakab." Also in the case of " Eliezer," who went on his 

 mission to Rebekah, a certain exiDression is used which is very 

 carious, but if I may take the liberty of saying so, T think the 

 expression is not peculiar ; it means magnitude, and other expres- 

 sions of that kind occur in the time of Moses, which do not occur 

 often, because they were not often required. Sometimes it happens 

 in our own life that we do not use every day the same expressions, 

 but we use an extraordinary word on a special occasion. There is 

 a special language for the drawing room, and a special language 

 for the kitchen; but I believe, nevertheless, we are greatly 

 indebted to the lecturer for calling attention to these expressions. 

 We find differences of that nature in various books of the Bible. 

 The Canticles are extremely beautiful, but nevertheless there are 

 expressions in them of which we do not know whence they come. 

 I believe there is in every human heart a certain foundation of 

 belief, only we believe sometimes in different ways. 



Professor H. L. Orchard, M.A., B.Sc. — The author has brought 

 before us certain approximations between the truth of the Bible 

 and the truth of science, and has also pointed out certain 

 desiderata which might lead to further approximations. I could 

 have wished that amongst appi'oximations, at the beginning of the 

 third page, the author had mentioned a few more ; for instance, 

 it is a very remarkable fact that graphite has been found in the 

 earliest geological region, thus testifying to the truth of the Biblical 

 statement of vegetable life (from which alone this substance could 

 be supposed to be derived) preceding animal life. As we see, year 

 after year, one testimony after another to the truth of the science 



