1855.] 



ELEMENTARY GEOLOaY. 



285 



by means analagous to that wliicli brouglit their ruin on them. 

 The Redeemer talses their nature, and malies them partaliers 

 of his own divine nature. " As in Adam all die, even so in 

 Christ shall all be made alive." Hence, this strange assertion 

 of a plurality of species among mankind seems altogether incon- 

 sistent with the revealed word. To accept it is, in all appear.; 

 ance at least, to lose our faith in the intelligibility, the practical 

 utility of Scripture. The language of inspiration is surely 

 wanting in any definite significance at all, if it can by any means 

 be made susceptible of an interpretation in favor of the view in 

 question. We know, indeed, the arguments which are adduced 

 from Astronomy and from Geology, in their relation to the 

 language of the Bible, as being applicable likewise to the matter 

 now under consideration. But is there really any parallelism 

 in the case ? The motion of the sun is spoken of in the Old 

 Testament, — a fact once urged against the truth of the Coper- 

 nioan system. Yet the inspired writers, when they used such 

 language, were not teaching us astronomy ; and, for the pur- 

 pose merely of describing things as they appear, the expression 

 is so natural, that knowing as we do the actual fact, we still are 

 wont to say that the sun has risen — has travelled vjncairls to 

 the meridian — is going down towards the tvest. 



So, too, with respect to the theories of the Geologist. His 

 science, also, has been thought incompatible with the Mosaic 

 history of the creation of our world. For Scripture saith, " In 

 sis days the Lord made heaven and earth." Modern Geology 

 declares that a creative work has been proceeding on the earth, 

 throughout myriads, nay hundreds of thousands of years ! 



But then we learn to think the less of this apparent difficulty, 

 on discovering that the word day has no uniform nor fixed 

 signification in the Holy Scriptures. Wc arc therein told, for 

 instance, that " one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, 

 and a thousand years as one day." Again, it is admitted, with 

 the common consent of the interpreters of Scriptural predictions, 

 that in the prophetical vocabulary day stands for year. 



There is, therefore, as we may say, nothing in the above ex- 

 amples from Astronomy and Geology amounting to a contra- 

 diction of the words of Scripture, when they are fairly construed 

 and explained. And there is, at the same time, an immense 

 amount of evidence in their fovor, as scientific ti-uths. 



That the sun is, so far at least as this earth is concerned, 

 the fixed centre around which we circulate, has been conclu- 

 sively demonstrated; so that ice must interpret Scripture lan- 

 guage consistently with this established fact. The results of 

 geological research are not yet, indeed, so familiar to the un- 

 learned many, neither are the principles of geology as yet so 

 capable of demonstration as are the principles of Astronomy. 

 Still, the Geologist finds certain fundamental principles in his 

 favorite science, of the necessary truth of which he is assured 

 upon the evidence of his own reason, and of his physical senses, 

 and of arithmetical computation". And of such sort is his pro- 

 position concerning the vast antitjuity of those organic and 

 animal remains which he discovers in the earlier strata of the 

 crust of the earth ; insomuch that whoever takes the trouble 

 to investigate the subject, is, in a manner, driven to adopt his 

 conclusion. 



But how stands the case, with respect to the question of one 

 or many species in the genus BiMANA ? 



There is no tnie connection, as we have seen, between these 

 several theories in the matter of their respective harmony or 

 variance with Holy Scripture. Let it, now, be further aflirmed, 

 that neither is there any closer resemblance between them, 

 when their scientific merits are compared. Zoology is certainly 

 vinfovorablc, upon the whole, tn this theory of a specific differ- 



ence of race among mankind. Such arguments as we can 

 derive from analogy tell strongly against it. 



It is an established general tact, that the offspring of a male 

 and female of diverse kind is barren. Particular exceptions to 

 this inile may be on record, but the rule itself stands good. 

 The mule we get by pairing the horse with the a.?s, cannot pro- 

 pagate its kind ; neither are those hybrids of the Fringilla 

 genus, which bird-fanciers delight in breeding, found to be pro- 

 lific. But it is otherwise with human beings. The union of 

 their various races has always been productive of a progeny 

 perfect in every physical function, fully capable of continuing 

 the race. Experience teaches us, in fact, that we have to fear, 

 not the mixture of any foreign stock, but rather the continuance 

 of intermarriages among tribes too nearly connected — the 

 breeding in and in. 



The strongest argument, however, of the advocates for a 

 specific difference among men, may be, perhaps, that which 

 they find in the great bodily variations which evidently exist. 

 There are races of men, they argue, so oppcsite, not alone in 

 color or in stature, but in more fixed and fundamental charac- 

 teristics, as in the configuration of the skull, that they must 

 necessarily be of different origin. New this diversity is cer- 

 tainly strange and mysterious ; and yet we see variety as marked 

 among domestic animals, whose identity of species is unques- 

 tioned by Zoologists. In that one species of the equine genus 

 which we caW, jiar excellence, the horse, the differences of size 

 and shape are very great. Our more familiar fiiend, the dog, 

 furnishes us with examples even more remarkable of deviations 

 from his own common type. 



Among direct arguments in favor of the common origin of 

 all men, the philologist produces one, drawn from his percep- 

 tion of a single source and root of all existing languages. And 

 his reasoning seems weighty ; but it must be sufficient here to 

 make this passing allusion to the aid he has to offer us. 



And, to make an end of words already too much luultiplied, 

 strange is it to find some men so restless, so dissatisfied with 

 the natural status of their race. Melancholy, yet ludicrous, the 

 contemplation of the opposite attempts which we have seen 

 made to deprive that " fairest of her daughters. Eve," of her 

 long-worn honors as " the mother of all living." Thus, there 

 is a theory, we know, which directs us backwards to the fish, 

 and one step lower, to find the embryo of human kind : — Itir- 

 pitcr atrum, desinit in ^yiscem, muli.er formosa. 



The speculation we have been considering, on the other 

 hand, is one which so exaggerates the value of varieties of form 

 and color, as to require distinct original progenitors for white 

 men, for the red, and for the black. 



Between such conflicting views we rather choose to hold fast 

 by the literal meaning of the Bible, deeming ourselves and all 

 our fcUow-creaturcs the offq^ring of God — a little lower than 

 the angels — children of one father — every one memhers one of 

 another. T. H. M. B. 



Elementary Geology.* 



The progress of a national scientific investigation, zealously and 

 faithfully conducted, such as the Geological Survey of Canada, 

 commands a respectful attention from the public, and encourages 

 a spirit of active enquiry and enthusiasm among the youth of 



* A Manual of Elementary Gcolopy : or tlic Ancient Cliiingcs of tho 

 Earth and its Inbabitants, as illustrated by Geological Monuments. 

 By Sir Charles Lycll, M.A., F.R.S., Fifth Edition, greatly enlarged 

 and illustrated with 750 wood cut.s. Boston : Little, Brown & Com- 

 pany, 1K.5.">. 



