﻿lxviii 



E-EOCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



of their occurrence is capable of being accounted for on many rea- 

 sonable grounds), still against such merely negative evidence we 

 have undeniable proofs, in numerous places^ of the existence of such 

 an association with man's works, and even many instances of his 

 having applied the bones of such animals to his wants. My own 

 conviction is, that this wide-spread belief of the recent existence of 

 man is to be ascribed, so far at least as this country is concerned, to 

 the impression made by the lesson taught in early youth, the sound- 

 ness of which is not questioned in after-life, by that marginal note 

 in our Bibles over against the first verse of the first chapter of the 

 Book of Genesis, that " In the beginning God created the heaven and 

 the earth " [four thousand and four years before the birth of Christ]. 

 It is more than probable that of the many millions of persons who 

 read the English Bible, a very large proportion look with the same 

 reverence upon that marginal note as they do upon the verse with 

 which it is connected. 



It will be useful to look into the history of this date of 4004 

 years, given, with so much precision, for the creation, not of this 

 our earth only, but of the universe, and to inquire into the authority 

 by which an addition of so much import is made to the sacred text. 



The author of the chronology given in the margin of our Bibles 

 was Usher, Archbishop of Armagh. I make no allusion to any part 

 of the learned prelate's system, except the date he assigns for the 

 creation of the world : that date comes properly within the province 

 of the geologist ; for, as the almost religious belief in its accuracy is 

 an obstacle to the acceptance of the conclusions to which he is led by 

 a careful study of the facts which the structure of the earth exhibits, 

 he is fairly entitled to deal with it. 



In the eighth volume of the Archbishop's Works*, there is a 

 treatise with the following title : — ' Annales Veteeis Testamenti, a 

 prima mundi origine deducti,' and in p. 13 of that treatise we find 

 the following sentence : — " In principio creamt Deus ccelum et terram, 

 quod temporis principium, juxta nostrum chronologium, incidit in 

 noctis illius initium, quo? vigesimum tertium diem Octobris prceeessit, 

 in anno periodi Julianas 710." Then follows : — " Primo igitur sceculi 

 die, Oetobris vigesima tertia, feriu prima, cum supremo coelo creavit 

 Deus angelos : deinde summo operis fastigio primum perfecto, ad ima 

 mimdunce hiijus fubricce fundamenta progressus mirandus artifeoc, 

 infimum hunc globum ex abysso et terra conjlatum eonstituit." 



In the eleventh volume of the same edition of the prelate's works 

 there is a treatise with the title — ' Cheoxologia Sacea,' in the 

 second chapter of which the Archbishop thus settles the number of 

 years, before the birth of Christ, for the creation of the world : — 

 " Ita a vespera primum mundi diem aperiente, usque ad medium 

 noctem initium pr&bentem, 25. quidem diei Decembris, quo Christum 

 naium sipiionimus, annos Jidiunos 3999. menses rpiaKovQnp.epovs 2. 

 dies 4. et horas 6. Kulendis vero Junuariis unni periodi Jidiunos 

 4714. (a quibus vulgaris (erce christiance exordium deducimus) unnos 

 4003. menses 2. dies 11. et horas 6. decurrisse colligimus." This, 

 therefore, is the authority upon which the confident belief is founded, 

 * Edition printed at Dublin in 16 vols. 8vo. 



