28 WILLIAM DALE, ESQ., F.S.A., F.G.S., ON PEEHISTORIC MAN : 



" I will give thanks unto Thee ; for I am fearfully and wonder- 

 fully made ; 

 Wonderful are Thy works ; 

 And that my soul knoweth right well. 

 My frame was not hidden from Thee, 

 When I was made in secret, 



And curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 

 Thine eyes did see mine unperfect substance, 

 And in Thy Book were all my members written. 

 Which day by day were fashioned. 

 When as yet there was none of them.'* 



The writer of Ecclesiasticus xvii, 5, or one of his transcribers, 

 evidently understood the " day-by-day " of this Psalm to refer to 

 the days of Genesis. The Psalms are remarkable for far-reaching 

 inspired truths : let us beware of making this scripture, which attests 

 a great natural fact, of none effect by our own traditions. Genesis 

 tells of the creation of man ; the mode, except in the case of Eve, 

 is not recorded. This Psalm tells us the mode, namely by Creative 

 Evolution. 



Mr. A. W. Sutton, J.P., F.L.S. : Mr. Dale quotes from the Bishop 

 of Birmingham, and I conclude that he adopts the bishop's views 

 as quoted : "I venture to say that there is no man who is not 

 thankful, for the great Creator's sake, that the intertwining of His 

 creatures has been accepted on scientific knowledge." I would like 

 to ask what the lecturer considers is meant by the " intertwining 

 of God's creatures." I would like to ask Mr. Dale if he agrees that 

 that has been accepted on scientific knowledge or scientific explana- 

 tion. The next question comes from a closing paragraph of the 

 paper. Mr. Dale says : " We dare not deny Evolution altogether." 

 Not speaking merely for the sake of argument — for as our Chairman 

 says, the matter is of vast importance — I should like to ask what 

 kind of evolution he speaks of. Is it organic, that of plants and 

 animals ? Because if so, scientific men are not prepared to say that 

 there is any increasing evolution in animal or plant life. To what 

 evolution does the lecturer refer, when he speaks of the evidence as 

 increasing day by day ? I speak subject to correction by those 

 who know better, but I believe I am correct in saying, that Darwin's 



