OMPHALOS. 
109 
A. All organic beings bear in their structure evidences of previous 
stages of existence, or of a pre-existent parent. 
B. The earth bears, in its structure, evidences of previous stages of 
existence. 
C. Therefore the earth is an organic being. 
Second syllogism:— 
A. Every individual of an organic species bears within itself evi¬ 
dences of previous stages of existence, or of a pre-existent parent. 
B. But in the first created individual of a species this evidence must 
have been false. 
C. Therefore the evidence of previous stages of existence which the 
earth bears within itself are false. ‘‘ 1ST on-sequitur,’’ unless the conclusion 
of the first syllogism be accepted as true, and unless it can also be shown 
that the earth is the first created individual of a species. 
So much for Mr. Gosse’s logic. He equally fails in attempting to 
get rid of the force of the objection, that if the fossils and other evidence 
of previous stages of existence were created in the earth, it must have 
been with the intention of deception. He asks, with an air of triumph : 
“Were the concentric timber-rings of a created tree formed merely to 
deceive? "Were the growth lines of a created shell formed merely to 
deceive ? Was the navel of a created man intended to deceive him into 
the belief that he had a parent ?” To which the answer is —“ Certainly 
not, and they never did deceive any one.” The evidence in each and 
all of Mr. Gosse’s cases is perfectly true, and always was true, and will 
be true, for every individual except for such hypothetical ones as Mr. 
Gosse imagines himself to find. Will Mr. Gosse venture to affirm that 
Adam himself was led into any delusion on these matters, or that any 
one of his descendants has ever been deceived into drawing false con¬ 
clusions from the examination of a newly created individual of a species, 
or even that any man ever will be thus deceived ? But if the evidence 
contained in the earth be false, hundreds and thousands of men must in¬ 
evitably be deceived, and will continue to be so (Mr. Gosse’s “ Omphalos” 
notwithstanding), and deceived, too, by false appearances artfully con¬ 
trived and adjusted to the very faculties implanted in man by the De¬ 
ceiver. And the deceptive structure does not perish with the first 
individual, but remains false for ever, as long as the earth endures, and 
becomes eventually so blended with true evidence derived from exactly 
similar structure produced by subsequent operations, as to vitiate even 
that, and thus not only bear false witness itself, but corrupt and render 
untrustworthy true and faithful witness. All these, and many more in¬ 
credible and impious consequences, would flow directly from Mr. Gosse’s 
conclusion. 
What, may I ask, becomes of Mr. Gosse’s Berkleian acuteness, if he 
overlooked these consequences ? or what are we to think of his honesty 
if he suppressed them ? 
But, indeed, it is quite hopeless to reason with Mr. Gosse. He winds 
VOL. v.—HEV. Q 
