28 . PRIMEVAL MAN. 



elements it may contain) leaves room, even 

 according to its most literal interpretation, 

 for a much wider latitude of speculation than 

 seems to be generally supposed. As regards 

 the Origin of Man, undoubtedly, the im- 

 pression conveyed is that the Creation of 

 Man was a special act — which indeed, what- 

 ever may have been its method, it must in a 

 sense have been ; but, as regards the Primitive 

 Condition of Mankind, it must be remembered 

 that, according to the narrative in Genesis, 

 there never was any generation of men which 

 lived and walked in the primal light. It was 

 the first man who fell. The second man was 

 a murderer. The causes, therefore, of degra- 

 dation are represented as having begun, so 

 far as the race is concerned, at once ; and it 



