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if you read with strict faith in the Holy Scriptures the 1st chapter of 
Genesis you will come to a very different conclusion with respect to the 
distribution of mankind. In point of fact, it would be forced upon you. It 
has been too much the habit to doubt the wonderful declarations of the 1st 
chapter of Genesis, from its not coinciding with our ideas that any portion 
of the human kind should have been created subsequently, and therefore the 
subsequent myths and fancies of the people are preferred to the true interpre- 
tation and true use of the Scriptures. But the 1st chapter of Genesis has 
the same high inspiration that all the rest has, and my object in wishing to 
direct attention to this point is, that mankind are there described to have 
been created the day previous, whatever length of time you may take that 
expression to mean, whether it was a period of ages or a period of days, a 
period of weeks, or even of seconds. However long or however short it may 
be, it was a different period ; and it was anterior to the creation of Adam, 
who, we have been told to-night, and who is generally believed to have been 
the great source and father of the human race. Now, I believe nothing of 
the kind. In my opinion Adam and his paradise is comparatively a modern 
creation 
Mr. Reddie. — The learned professor will forgive me interrupting him ; 
but I am afraid that he is travelling into a subject which is a great deal 
wider than the scope of the paper which has been read, and I doubt whether 
it is desirable to drift away from the discussion of so admirable a paper 
by introducing a still larger subject. 
Professor Macdonald. — If Mr. Reddie happened to know what I was 
about to say, he would be a better judge as to whether it had a bearing on 
the question or not ; but, as he does not, I must be pardoned for proceeding 
to explain my views. What I start with is, that the world was peopled on a 
day anterior to the paradisaic age, and that the blessing of God was 
then bestowed on them. We are told, in the 27th and 28th verses of the 
1st chapter of Genesis, “ So God created man in His own image, in the 
image of God created He him ; male and female created He them. And God 
blessed them.” This, I contend, was before the paradisaic age. God 
created them with full liberty of everything. They were to have dominion 
over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, the beasts of the field, over every 
living thing, over every herb and tree ; everything was given to them. 
There was no restriction whatever as to the eating of the forbidden fruit ; that 
is entirely a restriction which relates to the sabbathic Adam. I bring 
these observations to bear on the notice on the paper by observing that 
the gentleman who followed the writer of the paper showed that the 
Turanian was probably the most extensive source of the language of 
America ; but what are the people ? What are the yellow races of man- 
kind ? They are scattered all over the world. There is a great mass 
of them in China ; but generally speaking they are a maritime people. 
You have them scattered all along the edges of the southern con- 
tinent. You have the Fins, and the Laps, and the Esquimaux scat- 
tered all over the coast of the north hemisphere. That I consider is a 
