154 THEOPHILUS G. PINCHES, LL.D., M.R.A.S., ON THE 



shores of the Mediterranean Sea of a great diluvial catastrophe 

 within the human period which must have swept, at least, over the 

 whole of Europe and carried away every living thing. He found 

 great masses of bones of carnivora and herbivora mingled in 

 inextricable confusion which had been washed down from the higher 

 lands to the sea-level. No doubt there are evidences of similar 

 catastrophes everywhere, though not all of the same period. 



Another interesting question raised by this fragment is the 

 dissection of the Hebrew narrative by modern critics into Jehovistic 

 and Elohistic elements with any number of additions by the 

 Redacteurs. But the Babylonian story contains both these so-called 

 elements and even into this little fragment a bit of the Jehovist's 

 narrative has found its way in the reference to the " bird of the 

 heavens." Is it credible that the Babylonians should have had so 

 detailed an account of the Deluge containing the " Yaweh-Elohim " 

 elements 2,000 or 3,000 years before Christ, and that the Hebrews 

 should not have made up their story containing these same two 

 elements until about 500 B.C., or the time of the exile. The fact is 

 the exile is a deep pit into which the critics conveniently pour their 

 difficulties, and the sooner this " Yaweh-Elohim " theory is given 

 up the better. 



Miss O'Reilly asked : Are the gods referred to in this story the 

 angels ruling the elements 1 



A speaker asked if the Gilgames Epic might possibly be a 

 zodiacal myth. 



The Rev. E. Seeley, in seconding the vote of thanks, asked for 

 explanation of an apparent contradiction between the newly-dis- 

 covered tablet which states that the same god (Ea who caused the 

 flood, also revealed it beforehand and commanded the building of an 

 ark; whereas on another tablet (quoted pp. 141 and 142) Illil (or 

 Enlil) is mentioned as the causer of the flood, and Ea as the causer of 

 deliverance by means of an ark. This may perhaps show that the 

 newly-discovered tablet agrees in this respect more closely with the 

 Hebrew record than with the other Babylonian tablets. 



He drew attention to the statement in Genesis that all the 

 mountains under the whole heaven were covered ; which he thought 

 affirmed the universality of the flood. He added that some years 

 ago it had been suggested at a meeting of the Victoria Institute, 

 that the sun might have become hotter for a while and melted the 



