204 



The First Men. 



and others which are indifferently translated as man and Adam, we 

 may obtain a clue to the earliest divisions of mankind, which with the 

 aid of the science of ethnology will lead to important results. The 

 26th verse of tlie 1st chapter reads: "And God said, Let us make 

 Adam in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion 

 over the fish of the sea [that is, become fishermen] and over the fowl 

 of the air [hunters] and over the cattle [herdsmen] and over all the 

 earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth " 

 [the smaller domestic animals]. In the fifth chapter, we have the 

 explanation of the plural form w^hen applied to Adam — "male and 

 female created He them, and blessed them, and called their name 

 Adam." In the language of Akkad, ^f/ means "fatherland dam 



mother; " and as Akkad signifies son, descendant or lineage of " Ad," 

 we may not improperly give to the term "Adam" an interpretation 

 expressive of the unity of the race. The record we are considering, in 

 tiie first chapter, shows the development of the race from fishermen to 

 hunters and herdsmen, and the slow movement of man over the earth, 

 as scientific inquiry has established. 



The 27th verse introduces us to another development. The trans- 

 lators have rendered the first word *^ so," when they ought to have 

 employed the word "and." The verse reads : "And Grod created Ila- 

 Adam in His own image, in the image of God created he him; male 

 and female created he them." The word "Ha" means "the," and its 

 employment signifies a development, which is simply expressed by 

 designating the differentiated family as "' the Adam." Its growth is 

 thus recorded : " And God blessed them, and God said unto them, bo 

 fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it [be the 

 ruling race] and have dominion over the fish of the sea [as fishermen] 

 and over the fowl of the air [as hunters] and over every living thing that 

 moveth upon the face of the earth" [the larger domestic animals]. 

 It will be observed that this portion of the sentence is similar to the 

 reference to Adam, except that "cattle" is omitted, and "living 

 things" substituted for "creeping things." With the introduction of 

 domestic animals of a higher order, there came a change wdiicli implies 

 that Ha- Adam was something more than a herder of cattle ; the 

 fruits and herbs of the field were introduced. " And God said, Behold, 

 I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all 

 the earth, and every tree in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding 

 faced ; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, 

 and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon 

 the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for 

 meat : and it was so." The Pliocene was remarkable for itsherbivora; 

 and it could not be more accurately described than in this passage. 



