316 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY chap, xviii 



to us are, as a whole, neither older nor younger the one than the 

 other. 



The same holds good of aquatic and aerial species, as a 

 whole, compared with terrestrial species ; but birds appear in the 

 geological record later than terrestrial reptiles, and there is 

 every reason to believe that they were evolved from the latter. 



Until it is shown that the first two propositions are not con- 

 tained in the first chapter of Genesis, and that the second pair 

 are not justified by the present condition of our knowledge, I 

 must continue to maintain that natural science and the "Mosaic" 

 account of the origin of animals and plants are in irreconcilable 

 antagonism. 



As I greatly desire that this broad issue should not be ob- 

 scured by the discussion of minor points, I propose to defer 

 what I may have to say about the great " shehretz " and 

 " rehmes " question till to-morrow. 



On February n he wrote once more, again taking cer- 

 tain broader aspects of the problem presented by the first 

 chapter of Genesis. He expressed his belief, as he had 

 expressed it in 1869, that theism is not logically an- 

 tagonistic to evolution. If, he continues, the account in 

 Genesis, as Philo of Alexandria held, is only a poem or 

 allegory, where is the proof that any one non-natural inter- 

 pretation is the right one? and he concludes by pointing out 

 the difficulties in the way of those who, like the famous 

 thirty-eight, assert the infallibility of the Bible as guaranteed 

 by the infallibility of the Church. 



Apart from letters and occasional controversy, he pub- 

 lished this year only one magazine article and a single vol- 

 ume of collected essays, though he was busy preparing the 

 Romanes Lecture for 1893, the more so because there was 

 some chance that Mr. Gladstone would be unable to deliver 

 the first of the lectures in 1892, and Huxley had promised 

 to be ready to take his place if necessary. 



The volume (called Controverted Questions) which ap- 

 peared in 1892, was a collection of the essays of the last few 

 years, mainly controversial, or as he playfully called them, 

 " endeavours to defend a cherished cause," dealing with 

 agnosticism and the demonological and miraculous element 

 in Christianity. That they were controversial in tone no one 



