diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:19:32 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:19:32 -0700 |
| commit | 84ad0c2c38c554ae7bdeb19e9cee61673688d62d (patch) | |
| tree | 156c281b2fcce9f368f1865bb6bda51bef9ffbf9 | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 2630-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 22072 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 2630-h/2630-h.htm | 1214 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 2630.txt | 1028 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 2630.zip | bin | 0 -> 20730 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/4saht10.txt | 991 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/4saht10.zip | bin | 0 -> 19142 bytes |
9 files changed, 3249 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/2630-h.zip b/2630-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6aefa85 --- /dev/null +++ b/2630-h.zip diff --git a/2630-h/2630-h.htm b/2630-h/2630-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b41257a --- /dev/null +++ b/2630-h/2630-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1214 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" + content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> +<title> + The Interpreters of Genesis and the Interpreters Of Nature, + by Thomas Henry Huxley +</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + --> +</style> + +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Interpreters of Genesis and the +Interpreters of Nature, by Thomas Henry Huxley + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Interpreters of Genesis and the Interpreters of Nature + Essay #4 from "Science and Hebrew Tradition" + +Author: Thomas Henry Huxley + +Release Date: December 3, 2008 [EBook #2630] +Last Updated: January 20, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INTERPRETERS OF GENESIS *** + + + + +Produced by D.R. Thompson, and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + + +<br><br> + +<h1> + THE INTERPRETERS OF GENESIS AND THE INTERPRETERS OF NATURE +</h1> +<h3> +ESSAY #4 FROM "SCIENCE AND HEBREW TRADITION" +</h3><br> + +<h2> +By Thomas Henry Huxley +</h2> + + +<br> +<center> +<table summary="" border="3" cellpadding="4"> +<tbody><tr><td> + <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2629/2629-h/2629-h.htm">Previous Volume</a> + +</td></tr> +</tbody></table> +</center> +<br> + +<br> +<br> +<hr> +<br> +<br> + + + +<center> +<table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> +<tr><td> + + + +<p class="toc"><a href="#link2H_FOOT"> +FOOTNOTES +</a></p> + + +</td></tr> +</table> +</center> + + +<br> +<br> +<hr> +<br> +<br> + + +<p> +Our fabulist warns "those who in quarrels interpose" of the fate which +is probably in store for them; and, in venturing to place myself between +so powerful a controversialist as Mr. Gladstone and the eminent divine +whom he assaults with such vigour in the last number of this Review, <a href="#linknote-1" name="linknoteref-1"><small>1</small></a> +I am fully aware that I run great danger of verifying Gay's prediction. +Moreover, it is quite possible that my zeal in offering aid to a +combatant so extremely well able to take care of himself as M. Reville +may be thought to savour of indiscretion. +</p> +<p> +Two considerations, however, have led me to face the double risk. The +one is that though, in my judgment, M. Reville is wholly in the right +in that part of the controversy to which I propose to restrict my +observations, nevertheless he, as a foreigner, has very little chance of +making the truth prevail with Englishmen against the authority and the +dialectic skill of the greatest master of persuasive rhetoric among +English-speaking men of our time. As the Queen's proctor intervenes, in +certain cases, between two litigants in the interests of justice, so +it may be permitted me to interpose as a sort of uncommissioned science +proctor. My second excuse for my meddlesomeness is, that important +questions of natural science—respecting which neither of the combatants +professes to speak as an expert—are involved in the controversy; and +I think it is desirable that the public should know what it is that +natural science really has to say on these topics, to the best belief +of one who has been a diligent student of natural science for the last +forty years. +</p> +<p> +The original "Prolegomenes de l'Histoire des Religions" has not come in +my way; but I have read the translation of M. Reville's work, published +in England under the auspices of Professor Max Muller, with very great +interest. It puts more fairly and clearly than any book previously known +to me, the view which a man of strong religious feelings, but at the +same time possessing the information and the reasoning power which +enable him to estimate the strength of scientific methods of inquiry and +the weight of scientific truth, may be expected to take of the relation +between science and religion. +</p> +<p> +In the chapter on "The Primitive Revelation" the scientific worth of +the account of the Creation given in the book of Genesis is estimated +in terms which are as unquestionably respectful as, in my judgment, they +are just; and, at the end of the chapter on "Primitive Tradition," M. +Reville appraises the value of pentateuchal anthropology in a way which +I should have thought sure of enlisting the assent of all competent +judges, even if it were extended to the whole of the cosmogony and +biology of Genesis:— +</p> +<pre> + As, however, the original traditions of nations sprang up in an + epoch less remote than our own from the primitive life, it is + indispensable to consult them, to compare them, and to associate + them with other sources of information which are available. + From this point of view, the traditions recorded in Genesis + possess, in addition to their own peculiar charm, a value of the + highest order; but we cannot ultimately see in them more than a + venerable fragment, well-deserving attention, of the great + genesis of mankind. +</pre> +<p> +Mr. Gladstone is of a different mind. He dissents from M. Reville's +views respecting the proper estimation of the pentateuchal traditions, +no less than he does from his interpretation of those Homeric myths +which have been the object of his own special study. In the latter case, +Mr. Gladstone tells M. Reville that he is wrong on his own authority, +to which, in such a matter, all will pay due respect: in the former, he +affirms himself to be "wholly destitute of that kind of knowledge which +carries authority," and his rebuke is administered in the name and by +the authority of natural science. +</p> +<p> +An air of magisterial gravity hangs about the following passage:— +</p> +<pre> + But the question is not here of a lofty poem, or a skilfully + constructed narrative: it is whether natural science, in the + patient exercise of its high calling to examine facts, finds + that the works of God cry out against what we have fondly + believed to be His word and tell another tale; or whether, in + this nineteenth century of Christian progress, it substantially + echoes back the majestic sound, which, before it existed as a + pursuit, went forth into all lands. + + First, looking largely at the latter portion of the narrative, + which describes the creation of living organisms, and waiving + details, on some of which (as in v. 24) the Septuagint seems to + vary from the Hebrew, there is a grand fourfold division, set + forth in an orderly succession of times as follows: on the + fifth day + + 1. The water-population; + 2. The air-population; + and, on the sixth day, + 3. The land-population of animals; + 4. The land-population consummated in man. + "Now this same fourfold order is understood to have been so + affirmed in our time by natural science, that it may be taken as + a demonstrated conclusion and established fact." (p. 696). +</pre> +<p> +"Understood?" By whom? I cannot bring myself to imagine that Mr. +Gladstone has made so solemn and authoritative a statement on a matter +of this importance without due inquiry—without being able to found +himself upon recognised scientific authority. But I wish he had thought +fit to name the source from whence he has derived his information, as, +in that case, I could have dealt with his authority, and I should +have thereby escaped the appearance of making an attack on Mr. Gladstone +himself, which is in every way distasteful to me. +</p> +<p> +For I can meet the statement in the last paragraph of the above citation +with nothing but a direct negative. If I know anything at all about +the results attained by the natural science of our time, it is "a +demonstrated conclusion and established fact" that the "fourfold order" +given by Mr. Gladstone is not that in which the evidence at our disposal +tends to show that the water, air, and land-populations of the globe +have made their appearance. +</p> +<p> +Perhaps I may be told that Mr. Gladstone does give his authority—that +he cites Cuvier, Sir John Herschel, and Dr. Whewell in support of his +case. If that has been Mr. Gladstone's intention in mentioning these +eminent names, I may remark that, on this particular question, the only +relevant authority is that of Cuvier. But great as Cuvier was, it is to +be remembered that, as Mr. Gladstone incidentally remarks, he cannot now +be called a recent authority. In fact, he has been dead more than half +a century; and the palaeontology of our day is related to that of his, +very much as the geography of the sixteenth century is related to that +of the fourteenth. Since 1832, when Cuvier died, not only a new world, +but new worlds, of ancient life have been discovered; and those who +have most faithfully carried on the work of the chief founder of +palaeontology have done most to invalidate the essentially negative +grounds of his speculative adherence to tradition. +</p> +<p> +If Mr. Gladstone's latest information on these matters is derived +from the famous discourse prefixed to the "Ossemens Fossiles," I +can understand the position he has taken up; if he has ever opened a +respectable modern manual of palaeontology, or geology, I cannot. +For the facts which demolish his whole argument are of the commonest +notoriety. But before proceeding to consider the evidence for this +assertion we must be clear about the meaning of the phraseology +employed. +</p> +<p> +I apprehend that when Mr. Gladstone uses the term "water-population" he +means those animals which in Genesis i. 21 (Revised Version) are spoken +of as "the great sea monsters and every living creature that moveth, +which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind." And I +presume that it will be agreed that whales and porpoises, sea fishes, +and the innumerable hosts of marine invertebrated animals, are meant +thereby. So "air-population" must be the equivalent of "fowl" in verse +20, and "every winged fowl after its kind," verse 21. I suppose I may +take it for granted that by "fowl" we have here to understand birds—at +any rate primarily. Secondarily, it may be that the bats and the extinct +pterodactyles, which were flying reptiles, come under the same head. +But whether all insects are "creeping things" of the land-population, +or whether flying insects are to be included under the denomination of +"winged fowl," is a point for the decision of Hebrew exegetes. Lastly, +I suppose I may assume that "land-population" signifies "the cattle" and +"the beasts of the earth," and "every creeping thing that creepeth upon +the earth," in verses 25 and 26; presumably it comprehends all kinds of +terrestrial animals, vertebrate and invertebrate, except such as may be +comprised under the head of the "air-population." +</p> +<p> +Now what I want to make clear is this: that if the terms +"water-population," "air-population," and "land-population" are +understood in the senses here defined, natural science has nothing to +say in favour of the proposition that they succeeded one another in +the order given by Mr. Gladstone; but that, on the contrary, all the +evidence we possess goes to prove that they did not. Whence it will +follow that, if Mr. Gladstone has interpreted Genesis rightly (on which +point I am most anxious to be understood to offer no opinion), that +interpretation is wholly irreconcilable with the conclusions at present +accepted by the interpreters of nature—with everything that can be +called "a demonstrated conclusion and established fact" of natural +science. And be it observed that I am not here dealing with a question +of speculation, but with a question of fact. +</p> +<p> +Either the geological record is sufficiently complete to afford us +a means of determining the order in which animals have made their +appearance on the globe or it is not. If it is, the determination of +that order is little more than a mere matter of observation; if it is +not, then natural science neither affirms nor refutes the "fourfold +order," but is simply silent. +</p> +<p> +The series of the fossiliferous deposits, which contain the remains of +the animals which have lived on the earth in past ages of its history, +and which can alone afford the evidence required by natural science of +the order of appearance of their different species, may be grouped in +the manner shown in the left-hand column of the following table, the +oldest being at the bottom:— +</p> +<pre> + Formations First known appearance of + Quaternary. + Pliocene. + Miocene. + Eocene. Vertebrate <i>air</i>-population (Bats). + Cretaceous. + Jurassic. Vertebrate <i>air</i>-population (Birds and + Pterodactyles). + Triassic. + Upper Palaeozoic. + Middle Palaeozoic. Vertebrate <i>land</i>-population (Amphibia, + Reptilia [?]). + Lower Palaeozoic. + Silurian. Vertebrate <i>water</i>-population (Fishes). + Invertebrate <i>air</i> and <i>land</i>- + population (Flying Insects and Scorpions). + Cambrian. Invertebrate <i>water</i>-population (much + earlier, if <i>Eozoon</i> is animal). +</pre> +<p> +In the right-hand column I have noted the group of strata in which, +according to our present information, the <i>land, air,</i> and <i>water</i> +populations respectively appear for the first time; and in consequence +of the ambiguity about the meaning of "fowl," I have separately +indicated the first appearance of bats, birds, flying reptiles, and +flying insects. It will be observed that, if "fowl" means only "bird," +or at most flying vertebrate, then the first certain evidence of the +latter, in the Jurassic epoch, is posterior to the first appearance +of truly terrestrial <i>Amphibia,</i> and possibly of true reptiles, in the +Carboniferous epoch (Middle Palaeozoic) by a prodigious interval of +time. +</p> +<p> +The water-population of vertebrated animals first appears in the Upper +Silurian. <a href="#linknote-2" name="linknoteref-2"><small>2</small></a> Therefore, if we found ourselves on vertebrated animals +and take "fowl" to mean birds only, or, at most, flying vertebrates, +natural science says that the order of succession was water, land, and +air-population, and not—as Mr. Gladstone, founding himself on Genesis, +says—water, air, land-population. If a chronicler of Greece affirmed +that the age of Alexander preceded that of Pericles and immediately +succeeded that of the Trojan war, Mr. Gladstone would hardly say that +this order is "understood to have been so affirmed by historical science +that it may be taken as a demonstrated conclusion and established fact." +Yet natural science "affirms" his "fourfold order" to exactly the same +extent—neither more nor less. +</p> +<p> +Suppose, however, that "fowl" is to be taken to include flying insects. +In that case, the first appearance of an air-population must be shifted +back for long ages, recent discovery having shown that they occur in +rocks of Silurian age. Hence there might still have been hope for the +fourfold order, were it not that the fates unkindly determined +that scorpions—"creeping things that creep on the earth" <i>par +excellence—</i>turned up in Silurian strata nearly at the same time. So +that, if the word in the original Hebrew translated "fowl" should really +after all mean "cockroach"—and I have great faith in the elasticity +of that tongue in the hands of Biblical exegetes—the order primarily +suggested by the existing evidence— +</p> +<pre> + 2. Land and air-population; + 1. Water-population; +</pre> +<p> +and Mr. Gladstone's order— +</p> +<pre> + 3. Land-population; + 2. Air-population; + 1. Water-population; +</pre> +<p> +can by no means be made to coincide. As a matter of fact, then, +the statement so confidently put forward turns out to be devoid of +foundation and in direct contradiction of the evidence at present at our +disposal. <a href="#linknote-3" name="linknoteref-3"><small>3</small></a> +</p> +<p> +If, stepping beyond that which may be learned from the facts of the +successive appearance of the forms of animal life upon the surface +of the globe, in so far as they are yet made known to us by natural +science, we apply our reasoning faculties to the task of finding +out what those observed facts mean, the present conclusions of the +interpreters of nature appear to be no less directly in conflict with +those of the latest interpreter of Genesis. +</p> +<p> +Mr. Gladstone appears to admit that there is some truth in the doctrine +of evolution, and indeed places it under very high patronage. +</p> +<pre> + I contend that evolution in its highest form has not been a + thing heretofore unknown to history, to philosophy, or to + theology. I contend that it was before the mind of Saint Paul + when he taught that in the fulness of time God sent forth His + Son, and of Eusebius when he wrote the "Preparation for the + Gospel," and of Augustine when he composed the "City of God" + (p. 706). +</pre> +<p> +Has any one ever disputed the contention, thus solemnly enunciated, that +the doctrine of evolution was not invented the day before yesterday? Has +any one ever dreamed of claiming it as a modern innovation? Is there any +one so ignorant of the history of philosophy as to be unaware that it +is one of the forms in which speculation embodied itself long before the +time either of the Bishop of Hippo or of the Apostle to the Gentiles? +Is Mr. Gladstone, of all people in the world, disposed to ignore the +founders of Greek philosophy, to say nothing of Indian sages to whom +evolution was a familiar notion ages before Paul of Tarsus was born? +But it is ungrateful to cavil at even the most oblique admission of the +possible value of one of those affirmations of natural science which +really may be said to be "a demonstrated conclusion and established +fact." I note it with pleasure, if only for the purpose of introducing +the observation that, if there is any truth whatever in the doctrine of +evolution as applied to animals, Mr. Gladstone's gloss on Genesis in the +following passage is hardly happy:— +</p> +<pre> + God created + (a) The water-population; + (b) The air-population. + + And they receive His benediction (v. 20-23). + + 6. Pursuing this regular progression from the lower to the + higher, from the simple to the complex, the text now gives us + the work of the sixth "day," which supplies the land-population, + air and water having been already supplied (pp. 695, 696). +</pre> +<p> +The gloss to which I refer is the assumption that the "air-population" +forms a term in the order of progression from lower to higher, from +simple to complex—the place of which lies between the water-population +below and the land-population above—and I speak of it as a "gloss," +because the pentateuchal writer is nowise responsible for it. +</p> +<p> +But it is not true that the air-population, as a whole, is "lower" or +less "complex" than the land-population. On the contrary, every beginner +in the study of animal morphology is aware that the organisation of a +bat, of a bird, or of a pterodactyle presupposes that of a terrestrial +quadruped; and that it is intelligible only as an extreme modification +of the organisation of a terrestrial mammal or reptile. In the same way +winged insects (if they are to be counted among the "air-population") +presuppose insects which were wingless, and, therefore, as "creeping +things," were part of the land-population. Thus theory is as much +opposed as observation to the admission that natural science endorses +the succession of animal life which Mr. Gladstone finds in Genesis. On +the contrary, a good many representatives of natural science would be +prepared to say, on theoretical grounds alone, that it is +incredible that the "air-population" should have appeared before +the "land-population"—and that, if this assertion is to be found in +Genesis, it merely demonstrates the scientific worthlessness of the +story of which it forms a part. +</p> +<p> +Indeed, we may go further. It is not even admissible to say that +the water-population, as a whole, appeared before the air and the +land-populations. According to the Authorised Version, Genesis +especially mentions, among the animals created on the fifth day, +"great whales," in place of which the Revised Version reads "great +sea monsters." Far be it from me to give an opinion which rendering is +right, or whether either is right. All I desire to remark is, that +if whales and porpoises, dugongs and manatees, are to be regarded as +members of the water-population (and if they are not, what animals can +claim the designation?), then that much of the water-population has, as +certainly, originated later than the land-population as bats and birds +have. For I am not aware that any competent judge would hesitate to +admit that the organisation of these animals shows the most obvious +signs of their descent from terrestrial quadrupeds. +</p> +<p> +A similar criticism applies to Mr. Gladstone's assumption that, as the +fourth act of that "orderly succession of times" enunciated in Genesis, +"the land-population consummated in man." +</p> +<p> +If this means simply that man is the final term in the evolutional +series of which he forms a part, I do not suppose that any objection +will be raised to that statement on the part of students of natural +science. But if the pentateuchal author goes further than this, and +intends to say that which is ascribed to him by Mr. Gladstone, I think +natural science will have to enter a <i>caveat.</i> It is not by any means +certain that man—I mean the species <i>Homo sapiens</i> of zoological +terminology—has "consummated" the land-population in the sense of +appearing at a later period of time than any other. Let me make my +meaning clear by an example. From a morphological point of view, +our beautiful and useful contemporary—I might almost call him +colleague—the horse (<i>Equus caballus</i>), is the last term of the +evolutional series to which he belongs, just as <i>Homo sapiens</i> is the +last term of the series of which he is a member. If I want to know +whether the species <i>Equus caballus</i> made its appearance on the surface +of the globe before or after <i>Homo sapiens,</i> deduction from known laws +does not help me. There is no reason, that I know of, why one should +have appeared sooner or later than the other. If I turn to observation, +I find abundant remains of <i>Equus caballus</i> in Quaternary strata, +perhaps a little earlier. The existence of <i>Homo sapiens</i> in the +Quaternary epoch is also certain. Evidence has been adduced in favour of +man's existence in the Pliocene, or even in the Miocene epoch. It does +not satisfy me; but I have no reason to doubt that the fact may be so, +nevertheless. Indeed, I think it is quite possible that further research +will show that <i>Homo sapiens</i> existed, not only before <i>Equus caballus,</i> +but before many other of the existing forms of animal life; so that, if +all the species of animals have been separately created, man, in this +case, would by no means be the "consummation" of the land-population. +</p> +<p> +I am raising no objection to the position of the fourth term in Mr. +Gladstone's "order"—on the facts, as they stand, it is quite open to +any one to hold, as a pious opinion, that the fabrication of man was the +acme and final achievement of the process of peopling the globe. But +it must not be said that natural science counts this opinion among her +"demonstrated conclusions and established facts," for there would be +just as much, or as little, reason for ranging the contrary opinion +among them. +</p> +<p> +It may seem superfluous to add to the evidence that Mr. Gladstone has +been utterly misled in supposing that his interpretation of Genesis +receives any support from natural science. But it is as well to do one's +work thoroughly while one is about it; and I think it may be advisable +to point out that the facts, as they are at present known, not only +refute Mr. Gladstone's interpretation of Genesis in detail, but are +opposed to the central idea on which it appears to be based. +</p> +<p> +There must be some position from which the reconcilers of science and +Genesis will not retreat, some central idea the maintenance of which is +vital and its refutation fatal. Even if they now allow that the words +"the evening and the morning" have not the least reference to a natural +day, but mean a period of any number of millions of years that may be +necessary; even if they are driven to admit that the word "creation," +which so many millions of pious Jews and Christians have held, and still +hold, to mean a sudden act of the Deity, signifies a process of gradual +evolution of one species from another, extending through immeasurable +time; even if they are willing to grant that the asserted coincidence of +the order of Nature with the "fourfold order" ascribed to Genesis is an +obvious error instead of an established truth; they are surely prepared +to make a last stand upon the conception which underlies the whole, and +which constitutes the essence of Mr. Gladstone's "fourfold division, set +forth in an orderly succession of times." It is, that the animal +species which compose the water-population, the air-population, and +the land-population respectively, originated during three distinct and +successive periods of time, and only during those periods of time. +</p> +<p> +This statement appears to me to be the interpretation of Genesis which +Mr. Gladstone supports, reduced to its simplest expression. "Period +of time" is substituted for "day"; "originated" is substituted for +"created"; and "any order required" for that adopted by Mr. Gladstone. +It is necessary to make this proviso, for if "day" may mean a few +million years, and "creation" may mean evolution, then it is +obvious that the order (1) water-population, (2) air-population, +(3) land-population, may also mean (1) water-population, (2) +land-population, (3) air-population; and it would be unkind to bind down +the reconcilers to this detail when one has parted with so many others +to oblige them. +</p> +<p> +But even this sublimated essence of the pentateuchal doctrine (if it be +such) remains as discordant with natural science as ever. +</p> +<p> +It is not true that the species composing any one of the three +populations originated during any one of three successive periods of +time, and not at any other of these. +</p> +<p> +Undoubtedly, it is in the highest degree probable that animal life +appeared first under aquatic conditions; that terrestrial forms appeared +later, and flying animals only after land animals; but it is, at the +same time, testified by all the evidence we possess, that the great +majority, if not the whole, of the primordial species of each division +have long since died out and have been replaced by a vast succession of +new forms. Hundreds of thousands of animal species, as distinct as those +which now compose our water, land, and air-populations, have come into +existence and died out again, throughout the aeons of geological time +which separate us from the lower Palaeozoic epoch, when, as I have +pointed out, our present evidence of the existence of such distinct +populations commences. If the species of animals have all been +separately created, then it follows that hundreds of thousands of acts +of creative energy have occurred, at intervals, throughout the whole +time recorded by the fossiliferous rocks; and, during the greater part +of that time, the "creation" of the members of the water, land, and +air-populations must have gone on contemporaneously. +</p> +<p> +If we represent the water, land, and air-populations by <i>a, b,</i> and <i>c</i> +respectively, and take vertical succession on the page to indicate +order in time, then the following schemes will roughly shadow forth the +contrast I have been endeavouring to explain: +</p> +<pre> + Genesis (as interpreted by Nature (as interpreted by + Mr. Gladstone). natural science). + <i>b b b c1 a3 b2 + c c c c a2 b1 + a a a b a1 b + a a a</i> +</pre> +<p> +So far as I can see, there is only one resource left for those modern +representatives of Sisyphus, the reconcilers of Genesis with science; +and it has the advantage of being founded on a perfectly legitimate +appeal to our ignorance. It has been seen that, on any interpretation of +the terms water-population and land-population, it must be admitted that +invertebrate representatives of these populations existed during the +lower Palaeozoic epoch. No evolutionist can hesitate to admit that other +land animals (and possibly vertebrates among them) may have existed +during that time, of the history of which we know so little; and, +further, that scorpions are animals of such high organisation that it +is highly probable their existence indicates that of a long antecedent +land-population of a similar character. +</p> +<p> +Then, since the land-population is said not to have been created until +the sixth day, it necessarily follows that the evidence of the order +in which animals appeared must be sought in the record of those older +Palaeozoic times in which only traces of the water-population have as +yet been discovered. +</p> +<p> +Therefore, if any one chooses to say that the creative work took place +in the Cambrian or Laurentian epoch, in exactly that manner which Mr. +Gladstone does, and natural science does not, affirm, natural science +is not in a position to disprove the accuracy of the statement. Only +one cannot have one's cake and eat it too, and such safety from the +contradiction of science means the forfeiture of her support. +</p> +<p> +Whether the account of the work of the first, second, and third days +in Genesis would be confirmed by the demonstration of the truth of the +nebular hypothesis; whether it is corroborated by what is known of the +nature and probable relative antiquity of the heavenly bodies; whether, +if the Hebrew word translated "firmament" in the Authorised Version +really means "expanse," the assertion that the waters are partly under +this "expanse" and partly above it would be any more confirmed by the +ascertained facts of physical geography and meteorology than it +was before; whether the creation of the whole vegetable world, and +especially of "grass, herb yielding seed after its kind, and tree +bearing fruit," before any kind of animal, is "affirmed" by the +apparently plain teaching of botanical palaeontology, that grasses +and fruit-trees originated long subsequently to animals all these are +questions which, if I mistake not, would be answered decisively in +the negative by those who are specially conversant with the sciences +involved. And it must be recollected that the issue raised by Mr. +Gladstone is not whether, by some effort of ingenuity, the pentateuchal +story can be shown to be not disprovable by scientific knowledge, but +whether it is supported thereby. +</p> +<pre> + There is nothing, then, in the criticisms of Dr. Reville but + what rather tends to confirm than to impair the old-fashioned + belief that there is a revelation in the book of Genesis + (p. 694). +</pre> +<p> +The form into which Mr. Gladstone has thought fit to throw this opinion +leaves me in doubt as to its substance. I do not understand how a +hostile criticism can, under any circumstances, tend to confirm that +which it attacks. If, however, Mr. Gladstone merely means to express his +personal impression, "as one wholly destitute of that kind of knowledge +which carries authority," that he has destroyed the value of these +criticisms, I have neither the wish nor the right to attempt to disturb +his faith. On the other hand, I may be permitted to state my own +conviction, that, so far as natural science is involved, M. Reville's +observations retain the exact value they possessed before Mr. Gladstone +attacked them. +</p> +<p> +Trusting that I have now said enough to secure the author of a wise and +moderate disquisition upon a topic which seems fated to stir unwisdom +and fanaticism to their depths, a fuller measure of justice than +has hitherto been accorded to him, I retire from my self-appointed +championship, with the hope that I shall not hereafter be called upon by +M. Reville to apologise for damage done to his strong case by imperfect +or impulsive advocacy. But, perhaps, I may be permitted to add a word +or two, on my own account, in reference to the great question of the +relations between science and religion; since it is one about which I +have thought a good deal ever since I have been able to think at all; +and about which I have ventured to express my views publicly, more than +once, in the course of the last thirty years. +</p> +<p> +The antagonism between science and religion, about which we hear so +much, appears to me to be purely factitious—fabricated, on the one +hand, by short-sighted religious people who confound a certain branch +of science, theology, with religion; and, on the other, by equally +short-sighted scientific people who forget that science takes for +its province only that which is susceptible of clear intellectual +comprehension; and that, outside the boundaries of that province, they +must be content with imagination, with hope, and with ignorance. +</p> +<p> +It seems to me that the moral and intellectual life of the civilised +nations of Europe is the product of that interaction, sometimes in the +way of antagonism, sometimes in that of profitable interchange, of the +Semitic and the Aryan races, which commenced with the dawn of history, +when Greek and Phoenician came in contact, and has been continued by +Carthaginian and Roman, by Jew and Gentile, down to the present day. Our +art (except, perhaps, music) and our science are the contributions of +the Aryan; but the essence of our religion is derived from the Semite. +In the eighth century B.C., in the heart of a world of idolatrous +polytheists, the Hebrew prophets put forth a conception of religion +which appears to me to be as wonderful an inspiration of genius as the +art of Pheidias or the science of Aristotle. +</p> +<p> +"And what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love +mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" +</p> +<p> +If any so-called religion takes away from this great saying of Micah, +I think it wantonly mutilates, while, if it adds thereto, I think it +obscures, the perfect ideal of religion. +</p> +<p> +But what extent of knowledge, what acuteness of scientific criticism, +can touch this, if any one possessed of knowledge, or acuteness, could +be absurd enough to make the attempt? Will the progress of research +prove that justice is worthless and mercy hateful; will it ever soften +the bitter contrast between our actions and our aspirations; or show us +the bounds of the universe and bid us say, Go to, now we comprehend the +infinite? A faculty of wrath lay in those ancient Israelites, and surely +the prophet's staff would have made swift acquaintance with the head of +the scholar who had asked Micah whether, peradventure, the Lord further +required of him an implicit belief in the accuracy of the cosmogony of +Genesis! +</p> +<p> +What we are usually pleased to call religion nowadays is, for the most +part, Hellenised Judaism; and, not unfrequently, the Hellenic element +carries with it a mighty remnant of old-world paganism and a great +infusion of the worst and weakest products of Greek scientific +speculation; while fragments of Persian and Babylonian, or rather +Accadian, mythology burden the Judaic contribution to the common stock. +</p> +<p> +The antagonism of science is not to religion, but to the heathen +survivals and the bad philosophy under which religion herself is often +well-nigh crushed. And, for my part, I trust that this antagonism will +never cease; but that, to the end of time, true science will continue to +fulfil one of her most beneficent functions, that of relieving men from +the burden of false science which is imposed upon them in the name of +religion. +</p> +<p> +This is the work that M. Reville and men such as he are doing for us; +this is the work which his opponents are endeavouring, consciously or +unconsciously, to hinder. +</p> + + + + +<a name="link2H_FOOT"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + FOOTNOTES: +</h2> +<a name="linknote-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>1</u> (<a href="#linknoteref-1">return</a>)<br> +[ <i>The Nineteenth Century.</i>] +</p> +<a name="linknote-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>2</u> (<a href="#linknoteref-2">return</a>)<br> +[ Earlier, if more recent announcements are correct.] +</p> +<a name="linknote-3"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>3</u> (<a href="#linknoteref-3">return</a>)<br> +[ It may be objected that I have not put the case fairly +inasmuch as the solitary insect's wing which was discovered twelve +months ago in Silurian rocks, and which is, at present, the sole +evidence of insects older than the Devonian epoch, came from strata of +Middle Silurian age, and is therefore older than the scorpions which, +within the last two years, have been found in Upper Silurian strata in +Sweden, Britain, and the United States. But no one who comprehends the +nature of the evidence afforded by fossil remains would venture to say +that the non-discovery of scorpions in the Middle Silurian strata, up +to this time, affords any more ground for supposing that they did not +exist, than the non-discovery of flying insects in the Upper Silurian +strata, up to this time, throws any doubt on the certainty that they +existed, which is derived from the occurrence of the wing in the Middle +Silurian. In fact, I have stretched a point in admitting that these +fossils afford a colourable pretext for the assumption that the land and +air-population were of contemporaneous origin.] +</p> + +<br> +<center> +<table summary="" border="3" cellpadding="4"> +<tbody><tr><td> + <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2631/2631-h/2631-h.htm">Next Volume</a> + +</td></tr> +</tbody></table> +</center> +<br> + +<br><br><br><br> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Interpreters of Genesis and the +Interpreters of Nature, by Thomas Henry Huxley + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INTERPRETERS OF GENESIS *** + +***** This file should be named 2630-h.htm or 2630-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/3/2630/ + +Produced by D.R. Thompson, and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/2630.txt b/2630.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0a2e76f --- /dev/null +++ b/2630.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1028 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Interpreters of Genesis and the +Interpreters of Nature, by Thomas Henry Huxley + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Interpreters of Genesis and the Interpreters of Nature + Essay #4 from "Science and Hebrew Tradition" + +Author: Thomas Henry Huxley + +Posting Date: December 3, 2008 [EBook #2630] +Release Date: May, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INTERPRETERS OF GENESIS *** + + + + +Produced by D.R. Thompson + + + + + +THE INTERPRETERS OF GENESIS AND THE INTERPRETERS OF NATURE + +ESSAY #4 FROM "SCIENCE AND HEBREW TRADITION" + + +By Thomas Henry Huxley + + + +Our fabulist warns "those who in quarrels interpose" of the fate which +is probably in store for them; and, in venturing to place myself between +so powerful a controversialist as Mr. Gladstone and the eminent divine +whom he assaults with such vigour in the last number of this Review, [1] +I am fully aware that I run great danger of verifying Gay's prediction. +Moreover, it is quite possible that my zeal in offering aid to a +combatant so extremely well able to take care of himself as M. Reville +may be thought to savour of indiscretion. + +Two considerations, however, have led me to face the double risk. The +one is that though, in my judgment, M. Reville is wholly in the right +in that part of the controversy to which I propose to restrict my +observations, nevertheless he, as a foreigner, has very little chance of +making the truth prevail with Englishmen against the authority and the +dialectic skill of the greatest master of persuasive rhetoric among +English-speaking men of our time. As the Queen's proctor intervenes, in +certain cases, between two litigants in the interests of justice, so +it may be permitted me to interpose as a sort of uncommissioned science +proctor. My second excuse for my meddlesomeness is, that important +questions of natural science--respecting which neither of the combatants +professes to speak as an expert--are involved in the controversy; and +I think it is desirable that the public should know what it is that +natural science really has to say on these topics, to the best belief +of one who has been a diligent student of natural science for the last +forty years. + +The original "Prolegomenes de l'Histoire des Religions" has not come in +my way; but I have read the translation of M. Reville's work, published +in England under the auspices of Professor Max Muller, with very great +interest. It puts more fairly and clearly than any book previously known +to me, the view which a man of strong religious feelings, but at the +same time possessing the information and the reasoning power which +enable him to estimate the strength of scientific methods of inquiry and +the weight of scientific truth, may be expected to take of the relation +between science and religion. + +In the chapter on "The Primitive Revelation" the scientific worth of +the account of the Creation given in the book of Genesis is estimated +in terms which are as unquestionably respectful as, in my judgment, they +are just; and, at the end of the chapter on "Primitive Tradition," M. +Reville appraises the value of pentateuchal anthropology in a way which +I should have thought sure of enlisting the assent of all competent +judges, even if it were extended to the whole of the cosmogony and +biology of Genesis:-- + + As, however, the original traditions of nations sprang up in an + epoch less remote than our own from the primitive life, it is + indispensable to consult them, to compare them, and to associate + them with other sources of information which are available. + From this point of view, the traditions recorded in Genesis + possess, in addition to their own peculiar charm, a value of the + highest order; but we cannot ultimately see in them more than a + venerable fragment, well-deserving attention, of the great + genesis of mankind. + + +Mr. Gladstone is of a different mind. He dissents from M. Reville's +views respecting the proper estimation of the pentateuchal traditions, +no less than he does from his interpretation of those Homeric myths +which have been the object of his own special study. In the latter case, +Mr. Gladstone tells M. Reville that he is wrong on his own authority, +to which, in such a matter, all will pay due respect: in the former, he +affirms himself to be "wholly destitute of that kind of knowledge which +carries authority," and his rebuke is administered in the name and by +the authority of natural science. + +An air of magisterial gravity hangs about the following passage:-- + + + But the question is not here of a lofty poem, or a skilfully + constructed narrative: it is whether natural science, in the + patient exercise of its high calling to examine facts, finds + that the works of God cry out against what we have fondly + believed to be His word and tell another tale; or whether, in + this nineteenth century of Christian progress, it substantially + echoes back the majestic sound, which, before it existed as a + pursuit, went forth into all lands. + + First, looking largely at the latter portion of the narrative, + which describes the creation of living organisms, and waiving + details, on some of which (as in v. 24) the Septuagint seems to + vary from the Hebrew, there is a grand fourfold division, set + forth in an orderly succession of times as follows: on the + fifth day + + 1. The water-population; + 2. The air-population; + and, on the sixth day, + 3. The land-population of animals; + 4. The land-population consummated in man. + "Now this same fourfold order is understood to have been so + affirmed in our time by natural science, that it may be taken as + a demonstrated conclusion and established fact." (p. 696). + + +"Understood?" By whom? I cannot bring myself to imagine that Mr. +Gladstone has made so solemn and authoritative a statement on a matter +of this importance without due inquiry--without being able to found +himself upon recognised scientific authority. But I wish he had thought +fit to name the source from whence he has derived his information, as, +in that case, I could have dealt with [143] his authority, and I should +have thereby escaped the appearance of making an attack on Mr. Gladstone +himself, which is in every way distasteful to me. + +For I can meet the statement in the last paragraph of the above citation +with nothing but a direct negative. If I know anything at all about +the results attained by the natural science of our time, it is "a +demonstrated conclusion and established fact" that the "fourfold order" +given by Mr. Gladstone is not that in which the evidence at our disposal +tends to show that the water, air, and land-populations of the globe +have made their appearance. + +Perhaps I may be told that Mr. Gladstone does give his authority--that +he cites Cuvier, Sir John Herschel, and Dr. Whewell in support of his +case. If that has been Mr. Gladstone's intention in mentioning these +eminent names, I may remark that, on this particular question, the only +relevant authority is that of Cuvier. But great as Cuvier was, it is to +be remembered that, as Mr. Gladstone incidentally remarks, he cannot now +be called a recent authority. In fact, he has been dead more than half +a century; and the palaeontology of our day is related to that of his, +very much as the geography of the sixteenth century is related to that +of the fourteenth. Since 1832, when Cuvier died, not only a new world, +but new worlds, of ancient life have been discovered; and those who +have most faithfully carried on the work of the chief founder of +palaeontology have done most to invalidate the essentially negative +grounds of his speculative adherence to tradition. + +If Mr. Gladstone's latest information on these matters is derived +from the famous discourse prefixed to the "Ossemens Fossiles," I +can understand the position he has taken up; if he has ever opened a +respectable modern manual of palaeontology, or geology, I cannot. +For the facts which demolish his whole argument are of the commonest +notoriety. But before proceeding to consider the evidence for this +assertion we must be clear about the meaning of the phraseology +employed. + +I apprehend that when Mr. Gladstone uses the term "water-population" he +means those animals which in Genesis i. 21 (Revised Version) are spoken +of as "the great sea monsters and every living creature that moveth, +which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind." And I +presume that it will be agreed that whales and porpoises, sea fishes, +and the innumerable hosts of marine invertebrated animals, are meant +thereby. So "air-population" must be the equivalent of "fowl" in verse +20, and "every winged fowl after its kind," verse 21. I suppose I may +take it for granted that by "fowl" we have here to understand birds--at +any rate primarily. Secondarily, it may be that the bats and the extinct +pterodactyles, which were flying reptiles, come under the same head. +But whether all insects are "creeping things" of the land-population, +or whether flying insects are to be included under the denomination of +"winged fowl," is a point for the decision of Hebrew exegetes. Lastly, +I suppose I may assume that "land-population" signifies "the cattle" and +"the beasts of the earth," and "every creeping thing that creepeth upon +the earth," in verses 25 and 26; presumably it comprehends all kinds of +terrestrial animals, vertebrate and invertebrate, except such as may be +comprised under the head of the "air-population." + +Now what I want to make clear is this: that if the terms +"water-population," "air-population," and "land-population" are +understood in the senses here defined, natural science has nothing to +say in favour of the proposition that they succeeded one another in +the order given by Mr. Gladstone; but that, on the contrary, all the +evidence we possess goes to prove that they did not. Whence it will +follow that, if Mr. Gladstone has interpreted Genesis rightly (on which +point I am most anxious to be understood to offer no opinion), that +interpretation is wholly irreconcilable with the conclusions at present +accepted by the interpreters of nature--with everything that can be +called "a demonstrated conclusion and established fact" of natural +science. And be it observed that I am not here dealing with a question +of speculation, but with a question of fact. + +Either the geological record is sufficiently complete to afford us +a means of determining the order in which animals have made their +appearance on the globe or it is not. If it is, the determination of +that order is little more than a mere matter of observation; if it is +not, then natural science neither affirms nor refutes the "fourfold +order," but is simply silent. + +The series of the fossiliferous deposits, which contain the remains of +the animals which have lived on the earth in past ages of its history, +and which can alone afford the evidence required by natural science of +the order of appearance of their different species, may be grouped in +the manner shown in the left-hand column of the following table, the +oldest being at the bottom:-- + + Formations First known appearance of + Quaternary. + Pliocene. + Miocene. + Eocene. Vertebrate _air_-population (Bats). + Cretaceous. + Jurassic. Vertebrate _air_-population (Birds and + Pterodactyles). + Triassic. + Upper Palaeozoic. + Middle Palaeozoic. Vertebrate _land_-population (Amphibia, + Reptilia [?]). + Lower Palaeozoic. + Silurian. Vertebrate _water_-population (Fishes). + Invertebrate _air_ and _land_- + population (Flying Insects and Scorpions). + Cambrian. Invertebrate _water_-population (much + earlier, if _Eozoon_ is animal). + +In the right-hand column I have noted the group of strata in which, +according to our present information, the _land, air,_ and _water_ +populations respectively appear for the first time; and in consequence +of the ambiguity about the meaning of "fowl," I have separately +indicated the first appearance of bats, birds, flying reptiles, and +flying insects. It will be observed that, if "fowl" means only "bird," +or at most flying vertebrate, then the first certain evidence of the +latter, in the Jurassic epoch, is posterior to the first appearance +of truly terrestrial _Amphibia,_ and possibly of true reptiles, in the +Carboniferous epoch (Middle Palaeozoic) by a prodigious interval of +time. + +The water-population of vertebrated animals first appears in the Upper +Silurian. [2] Therefore, if we found ourselves on vertebrated animals +and take "fowl" to mean birds only, or, at most, flying vertebrates, +natural science says that the order of succession was water, land, and +air-population, and not--as Mr. Gladstone, founding himself on Genesis, +says--water, air, land-population. If a chronicler of Greece affirmed +that the age of Alexander preceded that of Pericles and immediately +succeeded that of the Trojan war, Mr. Gladstone would hardly say that +this order is "understood to have been so affirmed by historical science +that it may be taken as a demonstrated conclusion and established fact." +Yet natural science "affirms" his "fourfold order" to exactly the same +extent--neither more nor less. + +Suppose, however, that "fowl" is to be taken to include flying insects. +In that case, the first appearance of an air-population must be shifted +back for long ages, recent discovery having shown that they occur in +rocks of Silurian age. Hence there might still have been hope for the +fourfold order, were it not that the fates unkindly determined +that scorpions--"creeping things that creep on the earth" _par +excellence--_turned up in Silurian strata nearly at the same time. So +that, if the word in the original Hebrew translated "fowl" should really +after all mean "cockroach"--and I have great faith in the elasticity +of that tongue in the hands of Biblical exegetes--the order primarily +suggested by the existing evidence-- + + 2. Land and air-population; + 1. Water-population; + +and Mr. Gladstone's order-- + + 3. Land-population; + 2. Air-population; + 1. Water-population; + +can by no means be made to coincide. As a matter of fact, then, +the statement so confidently put forward turns out to be devoid of +foundation and in direct contradiction of the evidence at present at our +disposal. [3] + +If, stepping beyond that which may be learned from the facts of the +successive appearance of the forms of animal life upon the surface +of the globe, in so far as they are yet made known to us by natural +science, we apply our reasoning faculties to the task of finding +out what those observed facts mean, the present conclusions of the +interpreters of nature appear to be no less directly in conflict with +those of the latest interpreter of Genesis. + +Mr. Gladstone appears to admit that there is some truth in the doctrine +of evolution, and indeed places it under very high patronage. + + I contend that evolution in its highest form has not been a + thing heretofore unknown to history, to philosophy, or to + theology. I contend that it was before the mind of Saint Paul + when he taught that in the fulness of time God sent forth His + Son, and of Eusebius when he wrote the "Preparation for the + Gospel," and of Augustine when he composed the "City of God" + (p. 706). + +Has any one ever disputed the contention, thus solemnly enunciated, that +the doctrine of evolution was not invented the day before yesterday? Has +any one ever dreamed of claiming it as a modern innovation? Is there any +one so ignorant of the history of philosophy as to be unaware that it +is one of the forms in which speculation embodied itself long before the +time either of the Bishop of Hippo or of the Apostle to the Gentiles? +Is Mr. Gladstone, of all people in the world, disposed to ignore the +founders of Greek philosophy, to say nothing of Indian sages to whom +evolution was a familiar notion ages before Paul of Tarsus was born? +But it is ungrateful to cavil at even the most oblique admission of the +possible value of one of those affirmations of natural science which +really may be said to be "a demonstrated conclusion and established +fact." I note it with pleasure, if only for the purpose of introducing +the observation that, if there is any truth whatever in the doctrine of +evolution as applied to animals, Mr. Gladstone's gloss on Genesis in the +following passage is hardly happy:-- + + God created + (a) The water-population; + (b) The air-population. + + And they receive His benediction (v. 20-23). + + 6. Pursuing this regular progression from the lower to the + higher, from the simple to the complex, the text now gives us + the work of the sixth "day," which supplies the land-population, + air and water having been already supplied (pp. 695, 696). + +The gloss to which I refer is the assumption that the "air-population" +forms a term in the order of progression from lower to higher, from +simple to complex--the place of which lies between the water-population +below and the land-population above--and I speak of it as a "gloss," +because the pentateuchal writer is nowise responsible for it. + +But it is not true that the air-population, as a whole, is "lower" or +less "complex" than the land-population. On the contrary, every beginner +in the study of animal morphology is aware that the organisation of a +bat, of a bird, or of a pterodactyle presupposes that of a terrestrial +quadruped; and that it is intelligible only as an extreme modification +of the organisation of a terrestrial mammal or reptile. In the same way +winged insects (if they are to be counted among the "air-population") +presuppose insects which were wingless, and, therefore, as "creeping +things," were part of the land-population. Thus theory is as much +opposed as observation to the admission that natural science endorses +the succession of animal life which Mr. Gladstone finds in Genesis. On +the contrary, a good many representatives of natural science would be +prepared to say, on theoretical grounds alone, that it is +incredible that the "air-population" should have appeared before +the "land-population"--and that, if this assertion is to be found in +Genesis, it merely demonstrates the scientific worthlessness of the +story of which it forms a part. + +Indeed, we may go further. It is not even admissible to say that +the water-population, as a whole, appeared before the air and the +land-populations. According to the Authorised Version, Genesis +especially mentions, among the animals created on the fifth day, +"great whales," in place of which the Revised Version reads "great +sea monsters." Far be it from me to give an opinion which rendering is +right, or whether either is right. All I desire to remark is, that +if whales and porpoises, dugongs and manatees, are to be regarded as +members of the water-population (and if they are not, what animals can +claim the designation?), then that much of the water-population has, as +certainly, originated later than the land-population as bats and birds +have. For I am not aware that any competent judge would hesitate to +admit that the organisation of these animals shows the most obvious +signs of their descent from terrestrial quadrupeds. + +A similar criticism applies to Mr. Gladstone's assumption that, as the +fourth act of that "orderly succession of times" enunciated in Genesis, +"the land-population consummated in man." + +If this means simply that man is the final term in the evolutional +series of which he forms a part, I do not suppose that any objection +will be raised to that statement on the part of students of natural +science. But if the pentateuchal author goes further than this, and +intends to say that which is ascribed to him by Mr. Gladstone, I think +natural science will have to enter a _caveat._ It is not by any means +certain that man--I mean the species _Homo sapiens_ of zoological +terminology--has "consummated" the land-population in the sense of +appearing at a later period of time than any other. Let me make my +meaning clear by an example. From a morphological point of view, +our beautiful and useful contemporary--I might almost call him +colleague--the horse (_Equus caballus_), is the last term of the +evolutional series to which he belongs, just as _Homo sapiens_ is the +last term of the series of which he is a member. If I want to know +whether the species _Equus caballus_ made its appearance on the surface +of the globe before or after _Homo sapiens,_ deduction from known laws +does not help me. There is no reason, that I know of, why one should +have appeared sooner or later than the other. If I turn to observation, +I find abundant remains of _Equus caballus_ in Quaternary strata, +perhaps a little earlier. The existence of _Homo sapiens_ in the +Quaternary epoch is also certain. Evidence has been adduced in favour of +man's existence in the Pliocene, or even in the Miocene epoch. It does +not satisfy me; but I have no reason to doubt that the fact may be so, +nevertheless. Indeed, I think it is quite possible that further research +will show that _Homo sapiens_ existed, not only before _Equus caballus,_ +but before many other of the existing forms of animal life; so that, if +all the species of animals have been separately created, man, in this +case, would by no means be the "consummation" of the land-population. + +I am raising no objection to the position of the fourth term in Mr. +Gladstone's "order"--on the facts, as they stand, it is quite open to +any one to hold, as a pious opinion, that the fabrication of man was the +acme and final achievement of the process of peopling the globe. But +it must not be said that natural science counts this opinion among her +"demonstrated conclusions and established facts," for there would be +just as much, or as little, reason for ranging the contrary opinion +among them. + +It may seem superfluous to add to the evidence that Mr. Gladstone has +been utterly misled in supposing that his interpretation of Genesis +receives any support from natural science. But it is as well to do one's +work thoroughly while one is about it; and I think it may be advisable +to point out that the facts, as they are at present known, not only +refute Mr. Gladstone's interpretation of Genesis in detail, but are +opposed to the central idea on which it appears to be based. + +There must be some position from which the reconcilers of science and +Genesis will not retreat, some central idea the maintenance of which is +vital and its refutation fatal. Even if they now allow that the words +"the evening and the morning" have not the least reference to a natural +day, but mean a period of any number of millions of years that may be +necessary; even if they are driven to admit that the word "creation," +which so many millions of pious Jews and Christians have held, and still +hold, to mean a sudden act of the Deity, signifies a process of gradual +evolution of one species from another, extending through immeasurable +time; even if they are willing to grant that the asserted coincidence of +the order of Nature with the "fourfold order" ascribed to Genesis is an +obvious error instead of an established truth; they are surely prepared +to make a last stand upon the conception which underlies the whole, and +which constitutes the essence of Mr. Gladstone's "fourfold division, set +forth in an orderly succession of times." It is, that the animal +species which compose the water-population, the air-population, and +the land-population respectively, originated during three distinct and +successive periods of time, and only during those periods of time. + +This statement appears to me to be the interpretation of Genesis which +Mr. Gladstone supports, reduced to its simplest expression. "Period +of time" is substituted for "day"; "originated" is substituted for +"created"; and "any order required" for that adopted by Mr. Gladstone. +It is necessary to make this proviso, for if "day" may mean a few +million years, and "creation" may mean evolution, then it is +obvious that the order (1) water-population, (2) air-population, +(3) land-population, may also mean (1) water-population, (2) +land-population, (3) air-population; and it would be unkind to bind down +the reconcilers to this detail when one has parted with so many others +to oblige them. + +But even this sublimated essence of the pentateuchal doctrine (if it be +such) remains as discordant with natural science as ever. + +It is not true that the species composing any one of the three +populations originated during any one of three successive periods of +time, and not at any other of these. + +Undoubtedly, it is in the highest degree probable that animal life +appeared first under aquatic conditions; that terrestrial forms appeared +later, and flying animals only after land animals; but it is, at the +same time, testified by all the evidence we possess, that the great +majority, if not the whole, of the primordial species of each division +have long since died out and have been replaced by a vast succession of +new forms. Hundreds of thousands of animal species, as distinct as those +which now compose our water, land, and air-populations, have come into +existence and died out again, throughout the aeons of geological time +which separate us from the lower Palaeozoic epoch, when, as I have +pointed out, our present evidence of the existence of such distinct +populations commences. If the species of animals have all been +separately created, then it follows that hundreds of thousands of acts +of creative energy have occurred, at intervals, throughout the whole +time recorded by the fossiliferous rocks; and, during the greater part +of that time, the "creation" of the members of the water, land, and +air-populations must have gone on contemporaneously. + +If we represent the water, land, and air-populations by _a, b,_ and _c_ +respectively, and take vertical succession on the page to indicate +order in time, then the following schemes will roughly shadow forth the +contrast I have been endeavouring to explain: + + Genesis (as interpreted by Nature (as interpreted by + Mr. Gladstone). natural science). + _b b b c1 a3 b2 + c c c c a2 b1 + a a a b a1 b + a a a_ + +So far as I can see, there is only one resource left for those modern +representatives of Sisyphus, the reconcilers of Genesis with science; +and it has the advantage of being founded on a perfectly legitimate +appeal to our ignorance. It has been seen that, on any interpretation of +the terms water-population and land-population, it must be admitted that +invertebrate representatives of these populations existed during the +lower Palaeozoic epoch. No evolutionist can hesitate to admit that other +land animals (and possibly vertebrates among them) may have existed +during that time, of the history of which we know so little; and, +further, that scorpions are animals of such high organisation that it +is highly probable their existence indicates that of a long antecedent +land-population of a similar character. + +Then, since the land-population is said not to have been created until +the sixth day, it necessarily follows that the evidence of the order +in which animals appeared must be sought in the record of those older +Palaeozoic times in which only traces of the water-population have as +yet been discovered. + +Therefore, if any one chooses to say that the creative work took place +in the Cambrian or Laurentian epoch, in exactly that manner which Mr. +Gladstone does, and natural science does not, affirm, natural science +is not in a position to disprove the accuracy of the statement. Only +one cannot have one's cake and eat it too, and such safety from the +contradiction of science means the forfeiture of her support. + +Whether the account of the work of the first, second, and third days +in Genesis would be confirmed by the demonstration of the truth of the +nebular hypothesis; whether it is corroborated by what is known of the +nature and probable relative antiquity of the heavenly bodies; whether, +if the Hebrew word translated "firmament" in the Authorised Version +really means "expanse," the assertion that the waters are partly under +this "expanse" and partly above it would be any more confirmed by the +ascertained facts of physical geography and meteorology than it +was before; whether the creation of the whole vegetable world, and +especially of "grass, herb yielding seed after its kind, and tree +bearing fruit," before any kind of animal, is "affirmed" by the +apparently plain teaching of botanical palaeontology, that grasses +and fruit-trees originated long subsequently to animals all these are +questions which, if I mistake not, would be answered decisively in +the negative by those who are specially conversant with the sciences +involved. And it must be recollected that the issue raised by Mr. +Gladstone is not whether, by some effort of ingenuity, the pentateuchal +story can be shown to be not disprovable by scientific knowledge, but +whether it is supported thereby. + + There is nothing, then, in the criticisms of Dr. Reville but + what rather tends to confirm than to impair the old-fashioned + belief that there is a revelation in the book of Genesis + (p. 694). + +The form into which Mr. Gladstone has thought fit to throw this opinion +leaves me in doubt as to its substance. I do not understand how a +hostile criticism can, under any circumstances, tend to confirm that +which it attacks. If, however, Mr. Gladstone merely means to express his +personal impression, "as one wholly destitute of that kind of knowledge +which carries authority," that he has destroyed the value of these +criticisms, I have neither the wish nor the right to attempt to disturb +his faith. On the other hand, I may be permitted to state my own +conviction, that, so far as natural science is involved, M. Reville's +observations retain the exact value they possessed before Mr. Gladstone +attacked them. + + +Trusting that I have now said enough to secure the author of a wise and +moderate disquisition upon a topic which seems fated to stir unwisdom +and fanaticism to their depths, a fuller measure of justice than +has hitherto been accorded to him, I retire from my self-appointed +championship, with the hope that I shall not hereafter be called upon by +M. Reville to apologise for damage done to his strong case by imperfect +or impulsive advocacy. But, perhaps, I may be permitted to add a word +or two, on my own account, in reference to the great question of the +relations between science and religion; since it is one about which I +have thought a good deal ever since I have been able to think at all; +and about which I have ventured to express my views publicly, more than +once, in the course of the last thirty years. + +The antagonism between science and religion, about which we hear so +much, appears to me to be purely factitious--fabricated, on the one +hand, by short-sighted religious people who confound a certain branch +of science, theology, with religion; and, on the other, by equally +short-sighted scientific people who forget that science takes for +its province only that which is susceptible of clear intellectual +comprehension; and that, outside the boundaries of that province, they +must be content with imagination, with hope, and with ignorance. + +It seems to me that the moral and intellectual life of the civilised +nations of Europe is the product of that interaction, sometimes in the +way of antagonism, sometimes in that of profitable interchange, of the +Semitic and the Aryan races, which commenced with the dawn of history, +when Greek and Phoenician came in contact, and has been continued by +Carthaginian and Roman, by Jew and Gentile, down to the present day. Our +art (except, perhaps, music) and our science are the contributions of +the Aryan; but the essence of our religion is derived from the Semite. +In the eighth century B.C., in the heart of a world of idolatrous +polytheists, the Hebrew prophets put forth a conception of religion +which appears to me to be as wonderful an inspiration of genius as the +art of Pheidias or the science of Aristotle. + +"And what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love +mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" + +If any so-called religion takes away from this great saying of Micah, +I think it wantonly mutilates, while, if it adds thereto, I think it +obscures, the perfect ideal of religion. + +But what extent of knowledge, what acuteness of scientific criticism, +can touch this, if any one possessed of knowledge, or acuteness, could +be absurd enough to make the attempt? Will the progress of research +prove that justice is worthless and mercy hateful; will it ever soften +the bitter contrast between our actions and our aspirations; or show us +the bounds of the universe and bid us say, Go to, now we comprehend the +infinite? A faculty of wrath lay in those ancient Israelites, and surely +the prophet's staff would have made swift acquaintance with the head of +the scholar who had asked Micah whether, peradventure, the Lord further +required of him an implicit belief in the accuracy of the cosmogony of +Genesis! + +What we are usually pleased to call religion nowadays is, for the most +part, Hellenised Judaism; and, not unfrequently, the Hellenic element +carries with it a mighty remnant of old-world paganism and a great +infusion of the worst and weakest products of Greek scientific +speculation; while fragments of Persian and Babylonian, or rather +Accadian, mythology burden the Judaic contribution to the common stock. + +The antagonism of science is not to religion, but to the heathen +survivals and the bad philosophy under which religion herself is often +well-nigh crushed. And, for my part, I trust that this antagonism will +never cease; but that, to the end of time, true science will continue to +fulfil one of her most beneficent functions, that of relieving men from +the burden of false science which is imposed upon them in the name of +religion. + +This is the work that M. Reville and men such as he are doing for us; +this is the work which his opponents are endeavouring, consciously or +unconsciously, to hinder. + + + + +FOOTNOTES + +[Footnote 1: _The Nineteenth Century._] + +[Footnote 2: Earlier, if more recent announcements are correct.] + +[Footnote 3: It may be objected that I have not put the case fairly +inasmuch as the solitary insect's wing which was discovered twelve +months ago in Silurian rocks, and which is, at present, the sole +evidence of insects older than the Devonian epoch, came from strata of +Middle Silurian age, and is therefore older than the scorpions which, +within the last two years, have been found in Upper Silurian strata in +Sweden, Britain, and the United States. But no one who comprehends the +nature of the evidence afforded by fossil remains would venture to say +that the non-discovery of scorpions in the Middle Silurian strata, up +to this time, affords any more ground for supposing that they did not +exist, than the non-discovery of flying insects in the Upper Silurian +strata, up to this time, throws any doubt on the certainty that they +existed, which is derived from the occurrence of the wing in the Middle +Silurian. In fact, I have stretched a point in admitting that these +fossils afford a colourable pretext for the assumption that the land and +air-population were of contemporaneous origin.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Interpreters of Genesis and the +Interpreters of Nature, by Thomas Henry Huxley + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INTERPRETERS OF GENESIS *** + +***** This file should be named 2630.txt or 2630.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/3/2630/ + +Produced by D.R. Thompson + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/2630.zip b/2630.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a1f50f2 --- /dev/null +++ b/2630.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ae5044d --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #2630 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2630) diff --git a/old/4saht10.txt b/old/4saht10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..390a277 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/4saht10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,991 @@ +PG's The Interpreters of Genesis and the Interpreters of Nature +#7 in our series by Thomas Henry Huxley +This is Essay #4 from "Science and Hebrew Tradition" + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + +*It must legally be the first thing seen when opening the book.* +In fact, our legal advisors said we can't even change margins. + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. We need your donations. + + +Title: The Interpreters of Genesis and the Interpreters of Nature +Title: This is Essay #4 from "Science and Hebrew Tradition" + +Author: Thomas Henry Huxley + +May, 2001 [Etext #2630] + + +PG's The Interpreters of Genesis and the Interpreters of Nature +*****This file should be named 4saht10.txt or 4saht10.zip****** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, 1saht11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 4saht10a.txt + +Processed by D.R. Thompson <drthom@ihug.co.nz> + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions, +all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a +copyright notice is included. Therefore, we usually do NOT keep any +of these books in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +We are now trying to release all our books one month in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. + +Please note: neither this list nor its contents are final till +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. To be sure you have an +up to date first edition [xxxxx10x.xxx] please check file sizes +in the first week of the next month. Since our ftp program has +a bug in it that scrambles the date [tried to fix and failed] a +look at the file size will have to do, but we will try to see a +new copy has at least one byte more or less. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. This +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If our value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour this year as we release thirty-six text +files per month, or 432 more Etexts in 1999 for a total of 2000+ +If these reach just 10% of the computerized population, then the +total should reach over 200 billion Etexts given away this year. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext +Files by December 31, 2001. [10,000 x 100,000,000 = 1 Trillion] +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only ~5% of the present number of computer users. + +At our revised rates of production, we will reach only one-third +of that goal by the end of 2001, or about 3,333 Etexts unless we +manage to get some real funding; currently our funding is mostly +from Michael Hart's salary at Carnegie-Mellon University, and an +assortment of sporadic gifts; this salary is only good for a few +more years, so we are looking for something to replace it, as we +don't want Project Gutenberg to be so dependent on one person. + +We need your donations more than ever! + + +All donations should be made to "Project Gutenberg/CMU": and are +tax deductible to the extent allowable by law. (CMU = Carnegie- +Mellon University). + +For these and other matters, please mail to: + +Project Gutenberg +P. O. Box 2782 +Champaign, IL 61825 + +When all other email fails. . .try our Executive Director: +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> +hart@pobox.com forwards to hart@prairienet.org and archive.org +if your mail bounces from archive.org, I will still see it, if +it bounces from prairienet.org, better resend later on. . . . + +We would prefer to send you this information by email. + +****** + +To access Project Gutenberg etexts, use any Web browser +to view http://promo.net/pg. This site lists Etexts by +author and by title, and includes information about how +to get involved with Project Gutenberg. You could also +download our past Newsletters, or subscribe here. This +is one of our major sites, please email hart@pobox.com, +for a more complete list of our various sites. + +To go directly to the etext collections, use FTP or any +Web browser to visit a Project Gutenberg mirror (mirror +sites are available on 7 continents; mirrors are listed +at http://promo.net/pg). + +Mac users, do NOT point and click, typing works better. + +Example FTP session: + +ftp metalab.unc.edu +login: anonymous +password: your@login +cd pub/docs/books/gutenberg +cd etext90 through etext99 or etext00 through etext01, etc. +dir [to see files] +get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files] +GET GUTINDEX.?? [to get a year's listing of books, e.g., GUTINDEX.99] +GET GUTINDEX.ALL [to get a listing of ALL books] + +*** + +**Information prepared by the Project Gutenberg legal advisor** + +(Three Pages) + + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you can distribute copies of this etext if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this etext on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG- +tm etexts, is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor +Michael S. Hart through the Project Gutenberg Association at +Carnegie-Mellon University (the "Project"). Among other +things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext +under the Project's "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] the Project (and any other party you may receive this +etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold the Project, its directors, +officers, members and agents harmless from all liability, cost +and expense, including legal fees, that arise directly or +indirectly from any of the following that you do or cause: +[1] distribution of this etext, [2] alteration, modification, +or addition to the etext, or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + etext or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word pro- + cessing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the etext (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the + net profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association/Carnegie-Mellon + University" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Carnegie-Mellon University". + +We are planning on making some changes in our donation structure +in 2000, so you might want to email me, hart@pobox.com beforehand. + + + + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +Processed by D.R. Thompson <drthom@ihug.co.nz> + + + + + +The Interpreters of Genesis and the Interpreters of Nature +by Thomas Henry Huxley +This is Essay #4 from "Science and Hebrew Tradition" + + + + +Our fabulist warns "those who in quarrels interpose" of the fate +which is probably in store for them; and, in venturing to place +myself between so powerful a controversialist as Mr. Gladstone +and the eminent divine whom he assaults with such vigour in the +last number of this Review,<1> I am fully aware that I run great +danger of verifying Gay's prediction. Moreover, it is quite +possible that my zeal in offering aid to a combatant so +extremely well able to take care of himself as M. Reville may be +thought to savour of indiscretion. + +Two considerations, however, have led me to face the double +risk. The one is that though, in my judgment, M. Reville is +wholly in the right in that part of the controversy to which I +propose to restrict my observations, nevertheless he, as a +foreigner, has very little chance of making the truth prevail +with Englishmen against the authority and the dialectic skill of +the greatest master of persuasive rhetoric among English- +speaking men of our time. As the Queen's proctor intervenes, in +certain cases, between two litigants in the interests of +justice, so it may be permitted me to interpose as a sort of +uncommissioned science proctor. My second excuse for my +meddlesomeness is, that important questions of natural science-- +respecting which neither of the combatants professes to speak as +an expert--are involved in the controversy; and I think it is +desirable that the public should know what it is that natural +science really has to say on these topics, to the best belief of +one who has been a diligent student of natural science for the +last forty years. + +The original "Prolegomenes de l'Histoire des Religions" has not +come in my way; but I have read the translation of M. Reville's +work, published in England under the auspices of Professor Max +Muller, with very great interest. It puts more fairly and +clearly than any book previously known to me, the view which a +man of strong religious feelings, but at the same time +possessing the information and the reasoning power which enable +him to estimate the strength of scientific methods of inquiry +and the weight of scientific truth, may be expected to take of +the relation between science and religion. + +In the chapter on "The Primitive Revelation" the scientific +worth of the account of the Creation given in the book of +Genesis is estimated in terms which are as unquestionably +respectful as, in my judgment, they are just; and, at the end of +the chapter on "Primitive Tradition," M. Reville appraises the +value of pentateuchal anthropology in a way which I should have +thought sure of enlisting the assent of all competent judges, +even if it were extended to the whole of the cosmogony and +biology of Genesis:-- + +<quote> +As, however, the original traditions of nations sprang up in an +epoch less remote than our own from the primitive life, it is +indispensable to consult them, to compare them, and to associate +them with other sources of information which are available. +From this point of view, the traditions recorded in Genesis +possess, in addition to their own peculiar charm, a value of the +highest order; but we cannot ultimately see in them more than a +venerable fragment, well-deserving attention, of the great +genesis of mankind. +<end quote> + +Mr. Gladstone is of a different mind. He dissents from +M. Reville's views respecting the proper estimation of the +pentateuchal traditions, no less than he does from his +interpretation of those Homeric myths which have been the object +of his own special study. In the latter case, Mr. Gladstone +tells M. Reville that he is wrong on his own authority, to +which, in such a matter, all will pay due respect: in the +former, he affirms himself to be "wholly destitute of that kind +of knowledge which carries authority," and his rebuke is +administered in the name and by the authority of +natural science. + +An air of magisterial gravity hangs about the following +passage:-- + +<quote> +But the question is not here of a lofty poem, or a skilfully +constructed narrative: it is whether natural science, in the +patient exercise of its high calling to examine facts, finds +that the works of God cry out against what we have fondly +believed to be His word and tell another tale; or whether, in +this nineteenth century of Christian progress, it substantially +echoes back the majestic sound, which, before it existed as a +pursuit, went forth into all lands. + +First, looking largely at the latter portion of the narrative, +which describes the creation of living organisms, and waiving +details, on some of which (as in v. 24) the Septuagint seems to +vary from the Hebrew, there is a grand fourfold division, set +forth in an orderly succession of times as follows: on the +fifth day +1. The water-population; +2. The air-population; +and, on the sixth day, +3. The land-population of animals; +4. The land-population consummated in man. +Now this same fourfold order is understood to have been so +affirmed in our time by natural science, that it may be taken as +a demonstrated conclusion and established fact" (p. 696). +<end quote> + +"Understood?" By whom? I cannot bring myself to imagine that Mr. +Gladstone has made so solemn and authoritative a statement on a +matter of this importance without due inquiry--without being +able to found himself upon recognised scientific authority. But +I wish he had thought fit to name the source from whence he has +derived his information, as, in that case, I could have dealt +with [143] his authority, and I should have thereby escaped the +appearance of making an attack on Mr. Gladstone himself, which +is in every way distasteful to me. + +For I can meet the statement in the last paragraph of the above +citation with nothing but a direct negative. If I know anything +at all about the results attained by the natural science of our +time, it is "a demonstrated conclusion and established fact" +that the "fourfold order" given by Mr. Gladstone is not that in +which the evidence at our disposal tends to show that the water, +air, and land-populations of the globe have made +their appearance. + +Perhaps I may be told that Mr. Gladstone does give his +authority--that he cites Cuvier, Sir John Herschel, and Dr. +Whewell in support of his case. If that has been Mr. Gladstone's +intention in mentioning these eminent names, I may remark that, +on this particular question, the only relevant authority is that +of Cuvier. But great as Cuvier was, it is to be remembered that, +as Mr. Gladstone incidentally remarks, he cannot now be called a +recent authority. In fact, he has been dead more than half a +century; and the palaeontology of our day is related to that of +his, very much as the geography of the sixteenth century is +related to that of the fourteenth. Since 1832, when Cuvier died, +not only a new world, but new worlds, of ancient life have been +discovered; and those who have most faithfully carried on the +work of the chief founder of palaeontology have done most to +invalidate the essentially negative grounds of his speculative +adherence to tradition. + +If Mr. Gladstone's latest information on these matters is +derived from the famous discourse prefixed to the "Ossemens +Fossiles," I can understand the position he has taken up; if he +has ever opened a respectable modern manual of palaeontology, or +geology, I cannot. For the facts which demolish his whole +argument are of the commonest notoriety. But before proceeding +to consider the evidence for this assertion we must be clear +about the meaning of the phraseology employed. + +I apprehend that when Mr. Gladstone uses the term "water- +population" he means those animals which in Genesis i. 21 +(Revised Version) are spoken of as "the great sea monsters and +every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought +forth abundantly, after their kind." And I presume that it will +be agreed that whales and porpoises, sea fishes, and the +innumerable hosts of marine invertebrated animals, are meant +thereby. So "air-population" must be the equivalent of "fowl" in +verse 20, and "every winged fowl after its kind," verse 21. +I suppose I may take it for granted that by "fowl" we have here +to understand birds--at any rate primarily. Secondarily, it may +be that the bats and the extinct pterodactyles, which were +flying reptiles, come under the same head. But whether all +insects are "creeping things" of the land-population, or whether +flying insects are to be included under the denomination of +"winged fowl," is a point for the decision of Hebrew exegetes. +Lastly, I suppose I may assume that "land-population" signifies +"the cattle" and "the beasts of the earth," and "every creeping +thing that creepeth upon the earth," in verses 25 and 26; +presumably it comprehends all kinds of terrestrial animals, +vertebrate and invertebrate, except such as may be comprised +under the head of the "air-population." + +Now what I want to make clear is this: that if the terms "water- +population," "air-population," and "land-population" are +understood in the senses here defined, natural science has +nothing to say in favour of the proposition that they succeeded +one another in the order given by Mr. Gladstone; but that, on +the contrary, all the evidence we possess goes to prove that +they did not. Whence it will follow that, if Mr. Gladstone has +interpreted Genesis rightly (on which point I am most anxious to +be understood to offer no opinion), that interpretation is +wholly irreconcilable with the conclusions at present accepted +by the interpreters of nature--with everything that can be +called "a demonstrated conclusion and established fact" of +natural science. And be it observed that I am not here dealing +with a question of speculation, but with a question of fact. + +Either the geological record is sufficiently complete to afford +us a means of determining the order in which animals have made +their appearance on the globe or it is not. If it is, the +determination of that order is little more than a mere matter of +observation; if it is not, then natural science neither affirms +nor refutes the "fourfold order," but is simply silent. + +The series of the fossiliferous deposits, which contain the +remains of the animals which have lived on the earth in past +ages of its history, and which can alone afford the evidence +required by natural science of the order of appearance of their +different species, may be grouped in the manner shown in the +left-hand column of the following table, the oldest being at +the bottom:-- + +Formations First known appearance of +Quaternary. +Pliocene. +Miocene. +Eocene. Vertebrate <i>air</i>-population (Bats). +Cretaceous. +Jurassic. Vertebrate <i>air</i>-population (Birds and + Pterodactyles). +Triassic. +Upper Palaeozoic. +Middle Palaeozoic. Vertebrate <i>land</i>-population (Amphibia, + Reptilia [?]). +Lower Palaeozoic. + Silurian. Vertebrate <i>water</i>-population (Fishes). + Invertebrate <i>air</i> and <i>land</i>- + population (Flying Insects and Scorpions). + Cambrian. Invertebrate <i>water</i>-population (much + earlier, if <i>Eozoon</i> is animal). + +In the right-hand column I have noted the group of strata in +which, according to our present information, the <i>land, +air,</i> and <i>water</i> populations respectively appear for +the first time; and in consequence of the ambiguity about the +meaning of "fowl," I have separately indicated the first +appearance of bats, birds, flying reptiles, and flying insects. +It will be observed that, if "fowl" means only "bird," or at +most flying vertebrate, then the first certain evidence of the +latter, in the Jurassic epoch, is posterior to the first +appearance of truly terrestrial <i>Amphibia,</i> and possibly of +true reptiles, in the Carboniferous epoch (Middle Palaeozoic) by +a prodigious interval of time. + +The water-population of vertebrated animals first appears in the +Upper Silurian.<2> Therefore, if we found ourselves on +vertebrated animals and take "fowl" to mean birds only, or, at +most, flying vertebrates, natural science says that the order of +succession was water, land, and air-population, and not--as Mr. +Gladstone, founding himself on Genesis, says--water, air, land- +population. If a chronicler of Greece affirmed that the age of +Alexander preceded that of Pericles and immediately succeeded +that of the Trojan war, Mr. Gladstone would hardly say that this +order is "understood to have been so affirmed by historical +science that it may be taken as a demonstrated conclusion and +established fact." Yet natural science "affirms" his "fourfold +order" to exactly the same extent--neither more nor less. + +Suppose, however, that "fowl" is to be taken to include flying +insects. In that case, the first appearance of an air-population +must be shifted back for long ages, recent discovery having +shown that they occur in rocks of Silurian age. Hence there +might still have been hope for the fourfold order, were it not +that the fates unkindly determined that scorpions--"creeping +things that creep on the earth" <i>par excellence--</i>turned up +in Silurian strata nearly at the same time. So that, if the word +in the original Hebrew translated "fowl" should really after all +mean "cockroach"--and I have great faith in the elasticity of +that tongue in the hands of Biblical exegetes--the order +primarily suggested by the existing evidence-- + +2. Land and air-population; +1. Water-population; + +and Mr. Gladstone's order-- + +3. Land-population; +2. Air-population; +1. Water-population; + +can by no means be made to coincide. As a matter of fact, then, +the statement so confidently put forward turns out to be devoid +of foundation and in direct contradiction of the evidence at +present at our disposal.<3> + +If, stepping beyond that which may be learned from the facts of +the successive appearance of the forms of animal life upon the +surface of the globe, in so far as they are yet made known to us +by natural science, we apply our reasoning faculties to the task +of finding out what those observed facts mean, the present +conclusions of the interpreters of nature appear to be no less +directly in conflict with those of the latest interpreter +of Genesis. + +Mr. Gladstone appears to admit that there is some truth in the +doctrine of evolution, and indeed places it under very +high patronage. + +<quote> +I contend that evolution in its highest form has not been a +thing heretofore unknown to history, to philosophy, or to +theology. I contend that it was before the mind of Saint Paul +when he taught that in the fulness of time God sent forth His +Son, and of Eusebius when he wrote the "Preparation for the +Gospel," and of Augustine when he composed the "City of God" +(p. 706). +<end quote> + +Has any one ever disputed the contention, thus solemnly +enunciated, that the doctrine of evolution was not invented the +day before yesterday? Has any one ever dreamed of claiming it as +a modern innovation? Is there any one so ignorant of the history +of philosophy as to be unaware that it is one of the forms in +which speculation embodied itself long before the time either of +the Bishop of Hippo or of the Apostle to the Gentiles? Is Mr. +Gladstone, of all people in the world, disposed to ignore the +founders of Greek philosophy, to say nothing of Indian sages to +whom evolution was a familiar notion ages before Paul of Tarsus +was born? But it is ungrateful to cavil at even the most oblique +admission of the possible value of one of those affirmations of +natural science which really may be said to be "a demonstrated +conclusion and established fact." I note it with pleasure, if +only for the purpose of introducing the observation that, if +there is any truth whatever in the doctrine of evolution as +applied to animals, Mr. Gladstone's gloss on Genesis in the +following passage is hardly happy:-- + +<quote> +God created +(a) The water-population; +(b) The air-population. + +And they receive His benediction (v. 20-23). + +6. Pursuing this regular progression from the lower to the +higher, from the simple to the complex, the text now gives us +the work of the sixth "day," which supplies the land-population, +air and water having been already supplied (pp. 695, 696). +<end quote> + +The gloss to which I refer is the assumption that the "air- +population" forms a term in the order of progression from lower +to higher, from simple to complex--the place of which lies +between the water-population below and the land-population +above--and I speak of it as a "gloss," because the pentateuchal +writer is nowise responsible for it. + +But it is not true that the air-population, as a whole, is +"lower" or less "complex" than the land-population. On the +contrary, every beginner in the study of animal morphology is +aware that the organisation of a bat, of a bird, or of a +pterodactyle presupposes that of a terrestrial quadruped; and +that it is intelligible only as an extreme modification of the +organisation of a terrestrial mammal or reptile. In the same way +winged insects (if they are to be counted among the +"air-population") presuppose insects which were wingless, and, +therefore, as "creeping things," were part of the land- +population. Thus theory is as much opposed as observation to the +admission that natural science endorses the succession of animal +life which Mr. Gladstone finds in Genesis. On the contrary, a +good many representatives of natural science would be prepared +to say, on theoretical grounds alone, that it is incredible that +the "air-population" should have appeared before the +"land-population"--and that, if this assertion is to be found in +Genesis, it merely demonstrates the scientific worthlessness of +the story of which it forms a part. + +Indeed, we may go further. It is not even admissible to say that +the water-population, as a whole, appeared before the air and +the land-populations. According to the Authorised Version, +Genesis especially mentions, among the animals created on the +fifth day, "great whales," in place of which the Revised Version +reads "great sea monsters." Far be it from me to give an opinion +which rendering is right, or whether either is right. All I +desire to remark is, that if whales and porpoises, dugongs and +manatees, are to be regarded as members of the water-population +(and if they are not, what animals can claim the designation?), +then that much of the water-population has, as certainly, +originated later than the land-population as bats and birds +have. For I am not aware that any competent judge would hesitate +to admit that the organisation of these animals shows the most +obvious signs of their descent from terrestrial quadrupeds. + +A similar criticism applies to Mr. Gladstone's assumption that, +as the fourth act of that "orderly succession of times" +enunciated in Genesis, "the land-population consummated in man." + +If this means simply that man is the final term in the +evolutional series of which he forms a part, I do not suppose +that any objection will be raised to that statement on the part +of students of natural science. But if the pentateuchal author +goes further than this, and intends to say that which is +ascribed to him by Mr. Gladstone, I think natural science will +have to enter a <i>caveat.</i> It is not by any means certain +that man--I mean the species <i>Homo sapiens</i> of zoological +terminology--has "consummated" the land-population in the sense +of appearing at a later period of time than any other. Let me +make my meaning clear by an example. From a morphological point +of view, our beautiful and useful contemporary--I might almost +call him colleague--the horse (<i>Equus caballus</i>), is the +last term of the evolutional series to which he belongs, just as +<i>Homo sapiens</i> is the last term of the series of which he +is a member. If I want to know whether the species <i>Equus +caballus</i> made its appearance on the surface of the globe +before or after <i>Homo sapiens,</i> deduction from known laws +does not help me. There is no reason, that I know of, why one +should have appeared sooner or later than the other. If I turn +to observation, I find abundant remains of <i>Equus caballus</i> +in Quaternary strata, perhaps a little earlier. The existence of +<i>Homo sapiens</i> in the Quaternary epoch is also certain. +Evidence has been adduced in favour of man's existence in the +Pliocene, or even in the Miocene epoch. It does not satisfy me; +but I have no reason to doubt that the fact may be so, +nevertheless. Indeed, I think it is quite possible that further +research will show that <i>Homo sapiens</i> existed, not only +before <i>Equus caballus,</i> but before many other of the +existing forms of animal life; so that, if all the species of +animals have been separately created, man, in this case, would +by no means be the "consummation" of the land-population. + +I am raising no objection to the position of the fourth term in +Mr. Gladstone's "order"--on the facts, as they stand, it is +quite open to any one to hold, as a pious opinion, that the +fabrication of man was the acme and final achievement of the +process of peopling the globe. But it must not be said that +natural science counts this opinion among her "demonstrated +conclusions and established facts," for there would be just as +much, or as little, reason for ranging the contrary opinion +among them. + +It may seem superfluous to add to the evidence that Mr. +Gladstone has been utterly misled in supposing that his +interpretation of Genesis receives any support from natural +science. But it is as well to do one's work thoroughly while one +is about it; and I think it may be advisable to point out that +the facts, as they are at present known, not only refute Mr. +Gladstone's interpretation of Genesis in detail, but are opposed +to the central idea on which it appears to be based. + +There must be some position from which the reconcilers of +science and Genesis will not retreat, some central idea the +maintenance of which is vital and its refutation fatal. Even if +they now allow that the words "the evening and the morning" have +not the least reference to a natural day, but mean a period of +any number of millions of years that may be necessary; even if +they are driven to admit that the word "creation," which so many +millions of pious Jews and Christians have held, and still hold, +to mean a sudden act of the Deity, signifies a process of +gradual evolution of one species from another, extending through +immeasurable time; even if they are willing to grant that the +asserted coincidence of the order of Nature with the "fourfold +order" ascribed to Genesis is an obvious error instead of an +established truth; they are surely prepared to make a last stand +upon the conception which underlies the whole, and which +constitutes the essence of Mr. Gladstone's "fourfold division, +set forth in an orderly succession of times." It is, that the +animal species which compose the water-population, the air- +population, and the land-population respectively, originated +during three distinct and successive periods of time, and only +during those periods of time. + +This statement appears to me to be the interpretation of Genesis +which Mr. Gladstone supports, reduced to its simplest +expression. "Period of time" is substituted for "day"; +"originated" is substituted for "created"; and "any order +required" for that adopted by Mr. Gladstone. It is necessary to +make this proviso, for if "day" may mean a few million years, +and "creation" may mean evolution, then it is obvious that the +order (1) water-population, (2) air-population, (3) land- +population, may also mean (1) water-population, (2) land- +population, (3) air-population; and it would be unkind to bind +down the reconcilers to this detail when one has parted with so +many others to oblige them. + +But even this sublimated essence of the pentateuchal doctrine +(if it be such) remains as discordant with natural science +as ever. + +It is not true that the species composing any one of the three +populations originated during any one of three successive +periods of time, and not at any other of these. + +Undoubtedly, it is in the highest degree probable that animal +life appeared first under aquatic conditions; that terrestrial +forms appeared later, and flying animals only after land +animals; but it is, at the same time, testified by all the +evidence we possess, that the great majority, if not the whole, +of the primordial species of each division have long since died +out and have been replaced by a vast succession of new forms. +Hundreds of thousands of animal species, as distinct as those +which now compose our water, land, and air-populations, have +come into existence and died out again, throughout the aeons of +geological time which separate us from the lower Palaeozoic +epoch, when, as I have pointed out, our present evidence of the +existence of such distinct populations commences. If the species +of animals have all been separately created, then it follows +that hundreds of thousands of acts of creative energy have +occurred, at intervals, throughout the whole time recorded by +the fossiliferous rocks; and, during the greater part of that +time, the "creation" of the members of the water, land, and +air-populations must have gone on contemporaneously. + +If we represent the water, land, and air-populations by <i>a, +b,</i> and <i>c</i> respectively, and take vertical succession +on the page to indicate order in time, then the following +schemes will roughly shadow forth the contrast I have been +endeavouring to explain: + +Genesis (as interpreted by Nature (as interpreted by + Mr. Gladstone). natural science). + <i>b b b c1 a3 b2 + c c c c a2 b1 + a a a b a1 b + a a a</i> + +So far as I can see, there is only one resource left for those +modern representatives of Sisyphus, the reconcilers of Genesis +with science; and it has the advantage of being founded on a +perfectly legitimate appeal to our ignorance. It has been seen +that, on any interpretation of the terms water-population and +land-population, it must be admitted that invertebrate +representatives of these populations existed during the lower +Palaeozoic epoch. No evolutionist can hesitate to admit that +other land animals (and possibly vertebrates among them) may +have existed during that time, of the history of which we know +so little; and, further, that scorpions are animals of such high +organisation that it is highly probable their existence +indicates that of a long antecedent land-population of a +similar character. + +Then, since the land-population is said not to have been created +until the sixth day, it necessarily follows that the evidence of +the order in which animals appeared must be sought in the record +of those older Palaeozoic times in which only traces of the +water-population have as yet been discovered. + +Therefore, if any one chooses to say that the creative work took +place in the Cambrian or Laurentian epoch, in exactly that +manner which Mr. Gladstone does, and natural science does not, +affirm, natural science is not in a position to disprove the +accuracy of the statement. Only one cannot have one's cake and +eat it too, and such safety from the contradiction of science +means the forfeiture of her support. + +Whether the account of the work of the first, second, and third +days in Genesis would be confirmed by the demonstration of the +truth of the nebular hypothesis; whether it is corroborated by +what is known of the nature and probable relative antiquity of +the heavenly bodies; whether, if the Hebrew word translated +"firmament" in the Authorised Version really means "expanse," +the assertion that the waters are partly under this "expanse" +and partly above it would be any more confirmed by the +ascertained facts of physical geography and meteorology than it +was before; whether the creation of the whole vegetable world, +and especially of "grass, herb yielding seed after its kind, and +tree bearing fruit," before any kind of animal, is "affirmed" by +the apparently plain teaching of botanical palaeontology, that +grasses and fruit-trees originated long subsequently to animals +all these are questions which, if I mistake not, would be +answered decisively in the negative by those who are specially +conversant with the sciences involved. And it must be +recollected that the issue raised by Mr. Gladstone is not +whether, by some effort of ingenuity, the pentateuchal story can +be shown to be not disprovable by scientific knowledge, but +whether it is supported thereby. + +<quote> +There is nothing, then, in the criticisms of Dr. Reville but +what rather tends to confirm than to impair the old-fashioned +belief that there is a revelation in the book of Genesis +(p. 694). +<end quote> + +The form into which Mr. Gladstone has thought fit to throw this +opinion leaves me in doubt as to its substance. I do not +understand how a hostile criticism can, under any circumstances, +tend to confirm that which it attacks. If, however, Mr. +Gladstone merely means to express his personal impression, "as +one wholly destitute of that kind of knowledge which carries +authority," that he has destroyed the value of these criticisms, +I have neither the wish nor the right to attempt to disturb his +faith. On the other hand, I may be permitted to state my own +conviction, that, so far as natural science is involved, +M. Reville's observations retain the exact value they possessed +before Mr. Gladstone attacked them. + + +Trusting that I have now said enough to secure the author of a +wise and moderate disquisition upon a topic which seems fated to +stir unwisdom and fanaticism to their depths, a fuller measure +of justice than has hitherto been accorded to him, I retire from +my self-appointed championship, with the hope that I shall not +hereafter be called upon by M. Reville to apologise for damage +done to his strong case by imperfect or impulsive advocacy. +But, perhaps, I may be permitted to add a word or two, on my own +account, in reference to the great question of the relations +between science and religion; since it is one about which I have +thought a good deal ever since I have been able to think at all; +and about which I have ventured to express my views publicly, +more than once, in the course of the last thirty years. + +The antagonism between science and religion, about which we hear +so much, appears to me to be purely factitious--fabricated, on +the one hand, by short-sighted religious people who confound a +certain branch of science, theology, with religion; and, on the +other, by equally short-sighted scientific people who forget +that science takes for its province only that which is +susceptible of clear intellectual comprehension; and that, +outside the boundaries of that province, they must be content +with imagination, with hope, and with ignorance. + +It seems to me that the moral and intellectual life of the +civilised nations of Europe is the product of that interaction, +sometimes in the way of antagonism, sometimes in that of +profitable interchange, of the Semitic and the Aryan races, +which commenced with the dawn of history, when Greek and +Phoenician came in contact, and has been continued by +Carthaginian and Roman, by Jew and Gentile, down to the present +day. Our art (except, perhaps, music) and our science are the +contributions of the Aryan; but the essence of our religion is +derived from the Semite. In the eighth century B.C., in the +heart of a world of idolatrous polytheists, the Hebrew prophets +put forth a conception of religion which appears to me to be as +wonderful an inspiration of genius as the art of Pheidias or the +science of Aristotle. + +"And what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and +to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" + +If any so-called religion takes away from this great saying of +Micah, I think it wantonly mutilates, while, if it adds thereto, +I think it obscures, the perfect ideal of religion. + +But what extent of knowledge, what acuteness of scientific +criticism, can touch this, if any one possessed of knowledge, or +acuteness, could be absurd enough to make the attempt? Will the +progress of research prove that justice is worthless and mercy +hateful; will it ever soften the bitter contrast between our +actions and our aspirations; or show us the bounds of the +universe and bid us say, Go to, now we comprehend the infinite? +A faculty of wrath lay in those ancient Israelites, and surely +the prophet's staff would have made swift acquaintance with the +head of the scholar who had asked Micah whether, peradventure, +the Lord further required of him an implicit belief in the +accuracy of the cosmogony of Genesis! + +What we are usually pleased to call religion nowadays is, for +the most part, Hellenised Judaism; and, not unfrequently, the +Hellenic element carries with it a mighty remnant of old-world +paganism and a great infusion of the worst and weakest products +of Greek scientific speculation; while fragments of Persian and +Babylonian, or rather Accadian, mythology burden the Judaic +contribution to the common stock. + +The antagonism of science is not to religion, but to the heathen +survivals and the bad philosophy under which religion herself is +often well-nigh crushed. And, for my part, I trust that this +antagonism will never cease; but that, to the end of time, true +science will continue to fulfil one of her most beneficent +functions, that of relieving men from the burden of false +science which is imposed upon them in the name of religion. + +This is the work that M. Reville and men such as he are doing +for us; this is the work which his opponents are endeavouring, +consciously or unconsciously, to hinder. + + +FOOTNOTES + +(1) <i>The Nineteenth Century.</i> + +(2) [Earlier, if more recent announcements are correct.] + +(3) It may be objected that I have not put the case fairly +inasmuch as the solitary insect's wing which was discovered +twelve months ago in Silurian rocks, and which is, at present, +the sole evidence of insects older than the Devonian epoch, came +from strata of Middle Silurian age, and is therefore older than +the scorpions which, within the last two years, have been found +in Upper Silurian strata in Sweden, Britain, and the United +States. But no one who comprehends the nature of the evidence +afforded by fossil remains would venture to say that the non- +discovery of scorpions in the Middle Silurian strata, up to this +time, affords any more ground for supposing that they did not +exist, than the non-discovery of flying insects in the Upper +Silurian strata, up to this time, throws any doubt on the +certainty that they existed, which is derived from the +occurrence of the wing in the Middle Silurian. In fact, I have +stretched a point in admitting that these fossils afford a +colourable pretext for the assumption that the land and air- +population were of contemporaneous origin. + + + + + +End of PG's The Interpreters of Genesis and the Interpreters of Nature +This is Essay #4 from "Science and Hebrew Tradition" + diff --git a/old/4saht10.zip b/old/4saht10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d1445e5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/4saht10.zip |