210 MAMMALIAN DESCENT. [Lect. IX. 



earth are but as a shadow. Yet surely this fog of mixed 

 thought and sentiment ought not to sadden and to para- 

 lyse us ; let us hear the wise man once more : — " Then I 

 returned and saw that wisdom recedeth from foUy, as 

 far as Light recedeth from darkness; for the wise man's 

 eyes keep watch in his head, but the fool roundeth about 

 in darkness." 



Now, all of us whose tendency is toward the senti- 

 mental and the mystical — who wish to travel along the 

 path that no fowl knoweth, and that even the Eagle's 

 eye hath not seen — are in danger of undervaluing " the 

 light of nature." 



For the third time within three hundred years the 

 teachers of the mystical are reconsidering their views as 

 to positive science. Astronomy, Geology, Biology — - 

 especially the last — have asserted their claims, have 

 maintained their rights, and have conquered their bitter- 

 est opponents. The earth is not flat, nor fixed, nor the 

 centre of the universe. The stony foundations of the 

 earth — the ancient mountains, the pleasant hills— were 

 not juggled into existence in a moment of time. Nor 

 did the living creatures come up out of the earth — 

 shivering, like the ghost of Samuel, and shaking the 

 mould off" their backs, all literally at the word of com- 

 mand. 



That the grand old " song of creation " should have 

 been so misconceived, is one of the greatest humili- 

 ations to the intelligent mind ; yet the mistake arose 



