DISCOVERIES WITH SACRED HISTORY. 17 
the spots where they are now found, shows that 
the strata in which they occur were deposited 
slowly and gradually, during long periods of time, 
and at widely distant intervals. These extinct 
animals and vegetables could therefore have 
formed no part of the creation with which we are 
immediately connected. 
It has been supposed by others, that these 
strata were formed at the bottom of the sea, 
during the interval between the creation of man 
and the Mosaic deluge ; and that, at the time of 
that deluge, portions of the globe which had 
been previously elevated above the level of the 
sea, and formed the antediluvian continents, were 
suddenly submerged ; while the ancient bed of 
the ocean rose to supply their place. To this 
hypothesis also, the facts I shall subsequently ad- 
vance offer insuperable objections. 
A third opinion has been suggested, both by 
learned theologians and by geologists, and on 
grounds independent of one another ; viz. that 
the Days of the Mosaic creation need not be 
understood to imply the same length of time 
which is now occupied by a single revolution of 
the globe ; but successive periods, each of great 
extent : and it has been asserted that the order 
of succession of the organic remains of a former 
world, accords with the order of creation re- 
corded in Genesis. This assertion, though to a 
certain degree apparently correct, is not entirely 
G EOL. C 
