THE BOREAL CROWN. 
3or 
Perhaps if I tried to make the Bible speak in favor of my thesis, 
I should not have to rummage very far for the written proofs of 
the existence of the boreal crown at the epoch of the creation, 
[where there is mention of light before that of the Sun, moon, and 
stars.] But a learned naturalist of Geneva, M. De Candolle, has 
already demonstrated this phenomenon by the authority of Gene- 
sis. If I now well remember what I have read in this not very 
moral book, there ought to be found there a passage in the book 
of one Isaiah, a prophet inspired by God, who speaks even more 
to the purpose than the naturalist of Geneva, affirming in set terms 
that when this globe shall have sloughed its scab (civilization), 
“The light of the moon will be as that of the Sun, and that of the 
Sun seven times brighter, like the light of seven days ! ! in the day 
that the Lord bindeth up the breach of His people and healeth the 
stroke of their wound.’’ — Chap, xxx., v. 26 . 
I know that humanity, still silly as childhood, has hastily cred- 
ited an absurd explanation of the Fall, God is my witness, that I 
would not have turned aside from the track of my narrative to 
amuse myself by refuting this ridiculous story of eternal damna- 
tion and of the forbidden fruit; but I cannot be prevented from 
giving the thing a kick when it lies under my foot. 
The fall of humanity w^as the passage from liberty to oppres- 
sion, from wealth to misery, from carelessness to anxiety, from so- 
cial property to individual property, from innocence to perfidy, from 
peace to war. What fault effected this disastrous metamorphosis ? 
Poverty. Poverty alone. The deterioration of climates, the ad- 
vent of ca^intal, and the invasion of the philosophical spirit, which 
have contributed so largely to the misfortunes of the human spe- 
cies, come only in second order in the causes of the degradation 
of man. 
It happened one day that the population of Eden was found toe 
numerous for the spontaneous production of the soil to suffice for 
all his necessities, and that men recognized the necessity of in- 
creasing this production by labor. But labor in the infancy of hu- 
manity is a painful thing, for industry must first invent and fashion 
its tools; the hunter must previously have obtained the assistance 
of the dog and horse, for the tiller of the soil to begin culture. 
