GOSSIP ON ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 81 



sions on this subject. There is ample room for speculation, and 

 time and verge for almost every deduction that may be hazarded, 

 and many of these are practically mischievous. It has ah'eady 

 become a vexed question whether man was really created, or pro- 

 gressively developed from inferior forms of animal existence. Some 

 philosophers evidently deem the record of his creation a fable. 

 Others, among whom we may quote Sir Charles Lyell, attempt to 

 show that man went back to, if I may so speak, or was coeval with 

 the extinct animals, instead of their coming down to what we 

 beheve to have been his era; or they would lead us far beyond the 

 sacred chronology to a period anterior to the glacial, and showing 

 us vegetation similar to that which now prevails in temperate 

 regions of the earth, and remains of quadrupeds which once lived 

 and flourished upon it, bid us seek there, as if seeking we should 

 find, for evidence of man's existence also. None, however, has 

 been or is likely to be discovered. Nor does it seem probable, as 

 the result of investigation, that the truth of the sacred record will 

 ever be successfully disturbed. 



It is to a few of these speciilations, and the alleged proofs, 

 which may be found at large in Sir Chas. Lyell's book " On the 

 Antiquity of Man,'' that I would this evening direct your attention. 

 I shall endeavour to show that the facts stated as evidence of human 

 existence are not referable to the remoter period, but may all have 

 been consummated in the chronologic era. 



It is something gained in a cause like this, when the bias with 

 which an author approaches his subject can be clearly demonstrated. 

 If he truly believe that he can achieve a result, however distant it 

 may seem, he will seldom hesitate to adopt every possible inference 

 which he thinks may lead to it. Sir Charles Lyell has largely, 

 whether justifiably or not, drawn upon the material at his com- 

 mand, for the purpose of making a nearer approach to his object. 

 It would occupy too much of our time were I to allude to every 

 instance; but I will quote one, which if it open up an extensive 

 field of investigation, is well calculated to strengthen scepticism, 

 and to lead astray from the legitimate area of enquiry, which as yet 

 is far from being thoroughly explored. 



There are in England two sets of strata, of marine formation, 

 which seem to form a connecting link of the tertiary with the post- 

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