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the disappearance of that, island of Atalanta after it had been made use of 
to stop the great Flood. It was said to have disappeared. 
Professor Macdonald. — Mr. Row asks me to account for the disappear- 
ance of a thing which he says never existed ! (Laughter.) At this late 
period of the evening I will not detain you long, but I must make a few 
short passing remarks on what has been said. The first person who rose to 
extinguish me, at once gave three grounds for his mode of understanding a 
paper. If he read it once and did not understand it, he supposed he was 
stupid ; if he failed to understand it on a second reading, he still supposed 
that he was stupid ; but if he read it a third time, and even then could not 
understand it, he supposed the stupidity must be in the paper 
Mr. Row. — I did not say I attributed it to the author. I said that if I 
failed to understand the paper on a third reading, I thought the fault did 
not altogether rest with me. 
Professor Macdonald. — Well, even with that correction, what I would 
say is this, that if a person gets up and tells me “ I cannot understand this,” 
I feel inclined to do what I can to help to clear his understanding ; but 
when he goes through the paper two, and even three times, and declares it 
altogether unintelligible, what possible chance could I have of satisfying his 
mind ? (Laughter.) I therefore make no attempt to answer Mr. Row’s 
objections to my paper. It is quite right that he should find fault with me 
for not adducing a single reason in it, if he thinks there are none ; but I 
fancy it is because he is so unreasonable himself that he does not under- 
stand my reasons. He demands an exposition of facts, and a deduction 
from those facts ; but the principal object of my paper has been to attract 
attention to the future examination of the subject. The first chapter of 
Genesis tells you the succession of creation in six periods, and that man was 
created in the sixth, with all the powers and properties which enabled him 
to subjugate the earth. My friend, the secretary, who is agriculturally 
inclined (laughter), thinks that that subjugation of the earth refers only to 
the cultivation of the soil and the extermination of thistles. (Laughter.) As 
to that I have very little to say. Any one who reads the first chapter of 
Genesis honestly and reverently will see that mankind were created on the 
sixth day ; and it does not require any depth of thought to see that the sixth 
must have preceded the seventh. But then you shut your eyes to the second 
chapter, and say, “ we have a general resume of what took place, and we will 
start from that point and that day when God had rested from all the works 
which He had made.” Of course the work of creation was then completed, 
and God was resting, (as we all do,) from His labours. God had already 
created Adam, that being the general name for mankind ; but the record 
goes on to describe that He then created the spiritual Adam and the spiritual 
Eve, they being the creations of the seventh day 
The Chairman. — You have failed to point out the passage which shows 
that the Adam and Eve of Paradise were created on the seventh day. 
Professor Macdonald. — Gen. ii. 7-21. It is mentioned in my paper 
that they were created on the seventh day ; and if you read your Bible 
you will find that God rested on the seventh day 
