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diff --git a/2633.txt b/2633.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1de306c --- /dev/null +++ b/2633.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1520 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Hasisadra's Adventure, 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: Hasisadra's Adventure + Essay #7 from "Science and Hebrew Tradition" + +Author: Thomas Henry Huxley + +Posting Date: December 3, 2008 [EBook #2633] +Release Date: May, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HASISADRA'S ADVENTURE *** + + + + +Produced by D. R. Thompson + + + + + +HASISADRA'S ADVENTURE + +ESSAY #7 FROM "SCIENCE AND HEBREW TRADITION" + + +By Thomas Henry Huxley + + + +Some thousands of years ago there was a city in Mesopotamia called +Surippak. One night a strange dream came to a dweller therein, whose +name, if rightly reported, was Hasisadra. The dream foretold the speedy +coming of a great flood; and it warned Hasisadra to lose no time in +building a ship, in which, when notice was given, he, his family and +friends, with their domestic animals and a collection of wild creatures +and seed of plants of the land, might take refuge and be rescued from +destruction. Hasisadra awoke, and at once acted upon the warning. A +strong decked ship was built, and her sides were paid, inside and out, +with the mineral pitch, or bitumen, with which the country abounded; +the vessel's seaworthiness was tested, the cargo was stowed away, and a +trusty pilot or steersman appointed. + +The promised signal arrived. Wife and friends embarked; Hasisadra, +following, prudently "shut the door," or, as we should say, put on the +hatches; and Nes-Hea, the pilot, was left alone on deck to do his +best for the ship. Thereupon a hurricane began to rage; rain fell in +torrents; the subterranean waters burst forth; a deluge swept over +the land, and the wind lashed it into waves sky high; heaven and earth +became mingled in chaotic gloom. For six days and seven nights the gale +raged, but the good ship held out until, on the seventh day, the storm +lulled. Hasisadra ventured on deck; and, seeing nothing but a waste +of waters strewed with floating corpses and wreck, wept over the +destruction of his land and people. Far away, the mountains of Nizir +were visible; the ship was steered for them and ran aground upon the +higher land. Yet another seven days passed by. On the seventh, Hasisadra +sent forth a dove, which found no resting place and returned; then he +liberated a swallow, which also came back; finally, a raven was let +loose, and that sagacious bird, when it found that the water had abated, +came near the ship, but refused to return to it. Upon this, Hasisadra +liberated the rest of the wild animals, which immediately dispersed +in all directions, while he, with his family and friends, ascending a +mountain hard by, offered sacrifice upon its summit to the gods. + +The story thus given in summary abstract, told in an ancient Semitic +dialect, is inscribed in cuneiform characters upon a tablet of burnt +clay. Many thousands of such tablets, collected by Assurbanipal, King +of Assyria in the middle of the seventh century B.C., were stored in +the library of his palace at Nineveh; and, though in a sadly broken +and mutilated condition, they have yielded a marvellous amount of +information to the patient and sagacious labour which modern scholars +have bestowed upon them. Among the multitude of documents of various +kinds, this narrative of Hasisadra's adventure has been found in a +tolerably complete state. But Assyriologists agree that it is only a +copy of a much more ancient work; and there are weighty reasons +for believing that the story of Hasisadra's flood was well known in +Mesopotamia before the year 2000 B.C. + +No doubt, then, we are in presence of a narrative which has all +the authority which antiquity can confer; and it is proper to deal +respectfully with it, even though it is quite as proper, and indeed +necessary, to act no less respectfully towards ourselves; and, before +professing to put implicit faith in it, to inquire what claim it has to +be regarded as a serious account of an historical event. + +It is of no use to appeal to contemporary history, although the annals +of Babylonia, no less than those of Egypt, go much further back than +2000 B.C. All that can be said is, that the former are hardly consistent +with the supposition that any catastrophe, competent to destroy all the +population, has befallen the land since civilisation began, and that +the latter are notoriously silent about deluges. In such a case as this, +however, the silence of history does not leave the inquirer wholly at +fault. Natural science has something to say when the phenomena of nature +are in question. Natural science may be able to show, from the nature of +the country, either that such an event as that described in the story +is impossible, or at any rate highly improbable; or, on the other hand, +that it is consonant with probability. In the former case, the narrative +must be suspected or rejected; in the latter, no such summary verdict +can be given: on the contrary, it must be admitted that the story may be +true. And then, if certain strangely prevalent canons of criticism are +accepted, and if the evidence that an event might have happened is to be +accepted as proof that it did happen, Assyriologists will be at liberty +to congratulate one another on the "confirmation by modern science" of +the authority of their ancient books. + +It will be interesting, therefore, to inquire how far the physical +structure and the other conditions of the region in which Surippak +was situated are compatible with such a flood as is described in the +Assyrian record. + +The scene of Hasisadra's adventure is laid in the broad valley, six or +seven hundred miles long, and hardly anywhere less than a hundred +miles in width, which is traversed by the lower courses of the rivers +Euphrates and Tigris, and which is commonly known as the "Euphrates +valley." Rising, at the one end, into a hill country, which gradually +passes into the Alpine heights of Armenia; and, at the other, dipping +beneath the shallow waters of the head of the Persian Gulf, which +continues in the same direction, from north-west to south-east, for some +eight hundred miles farther, the floor of the valley presents a gradual +slope, from eight hundred feet above the sea level to the depths of the +southern end of the Persian Gulf. The boundary between sea and land, +formed by the extremest mudflats of the delta of the two rivers, is +but vaguely defined; and, year by year, it advances seaward. On the +north-eastern side, the western frontier ranges of Persia rise abruptly +to great heights; on the south-western side, a more gradual ascent leads +to a table-land of less elevation, which, very broad in the south, where +it is occupied by the deserts of Arabia and of Southern Syria, narrows, +northwards, into the highlands of Palestine, and is continued by +the ranges of the Lebanon, the Antilebanon, and the Taurus, into the +highlands of Armenia. + +The wide and gently inclined plain, thus inclosed between the gulf +and the highlands, on each side and at its upper extremity, is +distinguishable into two regions of very different character, one of +which lies north, and the other south of the parallel of Hit, on the +Euphrates. Except in the immediate vicinity of the river, the northern +division is stony and scantily covered with vegetation, except in +spring. Over the southern division, on the contrary, spreads a deep +alluvial soil, in which even a pebble is rare; and which, though, under +the existing misrule, mainly a waste of marsh and wilderness, needs +only intelligent attention to become, as it was of old, the granary of +western Asia. Except in the extreme south, the rainfall is small and +the air dry. The heat in summer is intense, while bitterly cold northern +blasts sweep the plain in winter. Whirlwinds are not uncommon; and, in +the intervals of the periodical inundations, the fine, dry, powdery +soil is swept, even by moderate breezes, into stifling clouds, or rather +fogs, of dust. Low inequalities, elevations here and depressions there, +diversify the surface of the alluvial region. The latter are occupied +by enormous marshes, while the former support the permanent dwellings of +the present scanty and miserable population. + +In antiquity, so long as the canalisation of the country was properly +carried out, the fertility of the alluvial plain enabled great and +prosperous nations to have their home in the Euphrates valley. Its +abundant clay furnished the materials for the masses of sun-dried and +burnt bricks, the remains of which, in the shape of huge artificial +mounds, still testify to both the magnitude and the industry of the +population, thousands of years ago. Good cement is plentiful, while +the bitumen, which wells from the rocks at Hit and elsewhere, not +only answers the same purpose, but is used to this day, as it was in +Hasisadra's time, to pay the inside and the outside of boats. + +In the broad lower course of the Euphrates, the stream rarely acquires +a velocity of more than three miles an hour, while the lower Tigris +attains double that rate in times of flood. The water of both great +rivers is mainly derived from the northern and eastern highlands in +Armenia and in Kurdistan, and stands at its lowest level in early autumn +and in January. But when the snows accumulated in the upper basins of +the great rivers, during the winter, melt under the hot sunshine of +spring, they rapidly rise, [1] and at length overflow their banks, +covering the alluvial plain with a vast inland sea, interrupted only +by the higher ridges and hummocks which form islands in a seemingly +boundless expanse of water. + +In the occurrence of these annual inundations lies one of several +resemblances between the valley of the Euphrates and that of the Nile. +But there are important differences. The time of the annual flood is +reversed, the Nile being highest in autumn and winter, and lowest in +spring and early summer. The periodical overflows of the Nile, regulated +by the great lake basins in the south, are usually punctual in arrival, +gradual in growth, and beneficial in operation. No lakes are interposed +between the mountain torrents of the upper basis of the Tigris and the +Euphrates and their lower courses. Hence, heavy rain, or an unusually +rapid thaw in the uplands, gives rise to the sudden irruption of a vast +volume of water which not even the rapid Tigris, still less its more +sluggish companion, can carry off in time to prevent violent and +dangerous overflows. Without an elaborate system of canalisation, +providing an escape for such sudden excesses of the supply of water, +the annual floods of the Euphrates, and especially of the Tigris, must +always be attended with risk, and often prove harmful. + +There are other peculiarities of the Euphrates valley which may +occasionally tend to exacerbate the evils attendant on the inundations. +It is very subject to seismic disturbances; and the ordinary +consequences of a sharp earthquake shock might be seriously complicated +by its effect on a broad sheet of water. Moreover the Indian Ocean lies +within the region of typhoons; and if, at the height of an inundation, +a hurricane from the south-east swept up the Persian Gulf, driving its +shallow waters upon the delta and damming back the outflow, perhaps for +hundreds of miles up-stream, a diluvial catastrophe, fairly up to the +mark of Hasisadra's, might easily result. [2] + +Thus there seems to be no valid reason for rejecting Hasisadra's +story on physical grounds. I do not gather from the narrative that the +"mountains of Nizir" were supposed to be submerged, but merely that they +came into view above the distant horizon of the waters, as the vessel +drove in that direction. Certainly the ship is not supposed to ground on +any of their higher summits, for Hasisadra has to ascend a peak in order +to offer his sacrifice. The country of Nizir lay on the north-eastern +side of the Euphrates valley, about the courses of the two rivers Zab, +which enter the Tigris where it traverses the plain of Assyria some +eight or nine hundred feet above the sea; and, so far as I can judge +from maps [3] and other sources of information, it is possible, under +the circumstances supposed, that such a ship as Hasisadra's might drive +before a southerly gale, over a continuously flooded country, until it +grounded on some of the low hills between which both the lower and the +upper Zab enter upon the Assyrian plain. + +The tablet which contains the story under consideration is the eleventh +of a series of twelve. Each of these answers to a month, and to the +corresponding sign of the Zodiac. The Assyrian year began with the +spring equinox; consequently, the eleventh month, called "the rainy," +answers to our January-February, and to the sign which corresponds with +our Aquarius. The aquatic adventure of Hasisadra, therefore, is not +inappropriately placed. It is curious, however, that the season thus +indirectly assigned to the flood is not that of the present highest +level of the rivers. It is too late for the winter rise and too early +for the spring floods. + +I think it must be admitted that, so far, the physical cross-examination +to which Hasisadra has been subjected does not break down his story. On +the contrary, he proves to have kept it in all essential respects [4] +within the bounds of probability or possibility. However, we have not +yet done with him. For the conditions which obtained in the Euphrates +valley, four or five thousand years ago, may have differed to such an +extent from those which now exist that we should be able to convict him +of having made up his tale. But here again everything is in favour of +his credibility. Indeed, he may claim very powerful support, for it +does not lie in the mouths of those who accept the authority of the +Pentateuch to deny that the Euphrates valley was what it is, even +six thousand years back. According to the book of Genesis, Phrat and +Hiddekel--the Euphrates and the Tigris--are coeval with Paradise. An +edition of the Scriptures, recently published under high authority, +with an elaborate apparatus of "Helps" for the use of students--and +therefore, as I am bound to suppose, purged of all statements that could +by any possibility mislead the young--assigns the year B.C. 4004 as the +date of Adam's too brief residence in that locality. + +But I am far from depending on this authority for the age of the +Mesopotamian plain. On the contrary, I venture to rely, with much more +confidence, on another kind of evidence, which tends to show that the +age of the great rivers must be carried back to a date earlier than +that at which our ingenuous youth is instructed that the earth came into +existence. For, the alluvial deposit having been brought down by the +rivers, they must needs be older than the plain it forms, as navvies +must needs antecede the embankment painfully built up by the contents of +their wheel-barrows. For thousands of years, heat and cold, rain, snow, +and frost, the scrubbing of glaciers, and the scouring of torrents laden +with sand and gravel, have been wearing down the rocks of the upper +basins of the rivers, over an area of many thousand square miles; and +these materials, ground to fine powder in the course of their long +journey, have slowly subsided, as the water which carried them spread +out and lost its velocity in the sea. It is because this process is +still going on that the shore of the delta constantly encroaches on the +head of the gulf [5] into which the two rivers are constantly throwing +the waste of Armenia and of Kurdistan. Hence, as might be expected, +fluviatile and marine shells are common in the alluvial deposit; and +Loftus found strata, containing subfossil marine shells of species now +living, in the Persian Gulf, at Warka, two hundred miles in a straight +line from the shore of the delta. [6] It follows that, if a trustworthy +estimate of the average rate of growth of the alluvial can be formed, +the lowest limit (by no means the highest limit) of age of the rivers +can be determined. All such estimates are beset with sources of error +of very various kinds; and the best of them can only be regarded as +approximations to the truth. But I think it will be quite safe to assume +a maximum rate of growth of four miles in a century for the lower half +of the alluvial plain. + +Now, the cycle of narratives of which Hasisadra's adventure forms a part +contains allusions not only to Surippak, the exact position of which +is doubtful, but to other cities, such as Erech. The vast ruins at the +present village of Warka have been carefully explored and determined to +be all that remains of that once great and flourishing city, "Erech the +lofty." Supposing that the two hundred miles of alluvial country, which +separates them from the head of the Persian Gulf at present, have been +deposited at the very high rate of four miles in a century, it will +follow that 4000 years ago, or about the year 2100 B.C., the city of +Erech still lay forty miles inland. Indeed, the city might have been +built a thousand years earlier. Moreover, there is plenty of independent +archaeological and other evidence that in the whole thousand years, +2000 to 3000 B.C, the alluvial plain was inhabited by a numerous +people, among whom industry, art, and literature had attained a +very considerable development. And it can be shown that the physical +conditions and the climate of the Euphrates valley, at that time, must +have been extremely similar to what they are now. + +Thus, once more, we reach the conclusion that, as a question of +physical probability, there is no ground for objecting to the reality +of Hasisadra's adventure. It would be unreasonable to doubt that such a +flood might have happened, and that such a person might have escaped +in the way described, any time during the last 5000 years. And if the +postulate of loose thinkers in search of scientific "confirmations" +of questionable narratives--proof that an event may have happened is +evidence that it did happen--is to be accepted, surely Hasisadra's story +is "confirmed by modern scientific investigation" beyond all cavil. +However, it may be well to pause before adopting this conclusion, +because the original story, of which I have set forth only the broad +outlines, contains a great many statements which rest upon just the +same foundation as those cited, and yet are hardly likely to meet with +general acceptance. The account of the circumstances which led up to the +flood, of those under which Hasisadra's adventure was made known to his +descendant, of certain remarkable incidents before and after the flood, +are inseparably bound up with the details already given. And I am unable +to discover any justification for arbitrarily picking out some of +these and dubbing them historical verities, while rejecting the rest as +legendary fictions. They stand or fall together. + +Before proceeding to the consideration of these less satisfactory +details, it is needful to remark that Hasisadra's adventure is a mere +episode in a cycle of stories of which a personage, whose name is +provisionally read "Izdubar," is the centre. The nature of Izdubar +hovers vaguely between the heroic and the divine; sometimes he seems a +mere man, sometimes approaches so closely to the divinities of fire and +of the sun as to be hardly distinguishable from them. As I have already +mentioned, the tablet which sets forth Hasisadra's perils is one of +twelve; and, since each of these represents a month and bears a story +appropriate to the corresponding sign of the Zodiac, great weight must +be attached to Sir Henry Rawlinson's suggestion that the epos of Izdubar +is a poetical embodiment of solar mythology. + +In the earlier books of the epos, the hero, not content with rejecting +the proffered love of the Chaldaean Aphrodite, Istar, freely expresses +his very low estimate of her character; and it is interesting to observe +that, even in this early stage of human experience, men had reached +a conception of that law of nature which expresses the inevitable +consequences of an imperfect appreciation of feminine charms. The +injured goddess makes Izdubar's life a burden to him, until at last, +sick in body and sorry in mind, he is driven to seek aid and comfort +from his forbears in the world of spirits. So this antitype of Odysseus +journeys to the shore of the waters of death, and there takes ship +with a Chaldaean Charon, who carries him within hail of his ancestor +Hasisadra. That venerable personage not only gives Izdubar instructions +how to regain his health, but tells him, somewhat _a propos des bottes_ +(after the manner of venerable personages), the long story of his +perilous adventure; and how it befell that he, his wife, and his +steersman came to dwell among the blessed gods, without passing through +the portals of death like ordinary mortals. + +According to the full story, the sins of mankind had become grievous; +and, at a council of the gods, it was resolved to extirpate the whole +race by a great flood. And, once more, let us note the uniformity of +human experience. It would appear that, four thousand years ago, the +obligations of confidential intercourse about matters of state were +sometimes violated--of course from the best of motives. Ea, one of +the three chiefs of the Chaldaean Pantheon, the god of justice and of +practical wisdom, was also the god of the sea; and, yielding to the +temptation to do a friend a good turn, irresistible to kindly seafaring +folks of all ranks, he warned Hasisadra of what was coming. When Bel +subsequently reproached him for this breach of confidence, Ea defended +himself by declaring that he did not tell Hasisadra anything; he only +sent him a dream. This was undoubtedly sailing very near the wind; but +the attribution of a little benevolent obliquity of conduct to one of +the highest of the gods is a trifle compared with the truly Homeric +anthropomorphism which characterises other parts of the epos. + +The Chaldaean deities are, in truth, extremely human; and, occasionally, +the narrator does not scruple to represent them in a manner which is +not only inconsistent with our idea of reverence, but is sometimes +distinctly humorous. [7] When the storm is at its height, he exhibits +them flying in a state of panic to Anu, the god of heaven, and crouching +before his portal like frightened dogs. As the smoke of Hasisadra's +sacrifice arises, the gods, attracted by the sweet savour, are compared +to swarms of flies. I have already remarked that the lady Istar's +reputation is torn to shreds; while she and Ea scold Bel handsomely for +his ferocity and injustice in destroying the innocent along with +the guilty. One is reminded of Here hung up with weighted heels; of +misleading dreams sent by Zeus; of Ares howling as he flies from the +Trojan battlefield; and of the very questionable dealings of Aphrodite +with Helen and Paris. + +But to return to the story. Bel was, at first, excluded from the +sacrifice as the author of all the mischief; which really was somewhat +hard upon him, since the other gods agreed to his proposal. But +eventually a reconciliation takes place; the great bow of Anu is +displayed in the heavens; Bel agrees that he will be satisfied with what +war, pestilence, famine, and wild beasts can do in the way of destroying +men; and that, henceforward, he will not have recourse to extraordinary +measures. Finally, it is Bel himself who, by way of making amends, +transports Hasisadra, his wife, and the faithful Nes-Hea to the abode of +the gods. + +It is as indubitable as it is incomprehensible to most of us, that, for +thousands of years, a great people, quite as intelligent as we are, +and living in as high a state of civilisation as that which had been +attained in the greater part of Europe a few centuries ago, entertained +not the slightest doubt that Anu, Bel, Ea, Istar, and the rest, were +real personages, possessed of boundless powers for good and evil. The +sincerity of the monarchs whose inscriptions gratefully attribute their +victories to Merodach, or to Assur, is as little to be questioned as +that of the authors of the hymns and penitential psalms which give full +expression to the heights and depths of religious devotion. An "infidel" +bold enough to deny the existence, or to doubt the influence, of these +deities probably did not exist in all Mesopotamia; and even constructive +rebellion against their authority was apt to end in the deprivation, not +merely of the good name, but of the skin of the offender. The adherents +of modern theological systems dismiss these objects of the love and +fear of a hundred generations of their equals, offhand, as "gods of the +heathen," mere creations of a wicked and idolatrous imagination; and, +along with them, they disown, as senseless, the crude theology, with its +gross anthropomorphism and its low ethical conception of the divinity, +which satisfied the pious souls of Chaldaea. + +I imagine, though I do not presume to be sure, that any endeavour +to save the intellectual and moral credit of Chaldaean religion, +by suggesting the application to it of that universal solvent of +absurdities, the allegorical method, would be scouted; I will not +even suggest that any ingenuity can be equal to the discovery of the +antitypes of the personifications effected by the religious imagination +of later ages, in the triad Anu, Ea, and Bel, still less in Istar. +Therefore, unless some plausible reconciliatory scheme should be +propounded by a Neo-Chaldaean devotee (and, with Neo-Buddhists to +the fore, this supposition is not so wild as it looks), I suppose the +moderns will continue to smile, in a superior way, at the grievous +absurdity of the polytheistic idolatry of these ancient people. + +It is probably a congenital absence of some faculty which I ought to +possess which withholds me from adopting this summary procedure. But I +am not ashamed to share David Hume's want of ability to discover +that polytheism is, in itself, altogether absurd. If we are bound, or +permitted, to judge the government of the world by human standards, it +appears to me that directorates are proved, by familiar experience, to +conduct the largest and the most complicated concerns quite as well as +solitary despots. I have never been able to see why the hypothesis of +a divine syndicate should be found guilty of innate absurdity. Those +Assyrians, in particular, who held Assur to be the one supreme and +creative deity, to whom all the other supernal powers were subordinate, +might fairly ask that the essential difference between their system and +that which obtains among the great majority of their modern theological +critics should be demonstrated. In my apprehension, it is not the +quantity, but the quality, of the persons, among whom the attributes +of divinity are distributed, which is the serious matter. If the divine +might is associated with no higher ethical attributes than those which +obtain among ordinary men; if the divine intelligence is supposed to +be so imperfect that it cannot foresee the consequences of its own +contrivances; if the supernal powers can become furiously angry with the +creatures of their omnipotence and, in their senseless wrath, destroy +the innocent along with the guilty; or if they can show themselves to +be as easily placated by presents and gross flattery as any oriental or +occidental despot; if, in short, they are only stronger than mortal +men and no better, as it must be admitted Hasisadra's deities proved +themselves to be--then, surely, it is time for us to look somewhat +closely into their credentials, and to accept none but conclusive +evidence of their existence. + +To the majority of my respected contemporaries this reasoning will +doubtless appear feeble, if not worse. However, to my mind, such are +the only arguments by which the Chaldaean theology can be satisfactorily +upset. So far from there being any ground for the belief that Ea, +Anu, and Bel are, or ever were, real entities, it seems to me quite +infinitely more probable that they are products of the religious +imagination, such as are to be found everywhere and in all ages, so long +as that imagination riots uncontrolled by scientific criticism. + +It is on these grounds that I venture, at the risk of being called +an atheist by the ghosts of all the principals of all the colleges of +Babylonia, or by their living successors among the Neo-Chaldaeans, if +that sect should arise, to express my utter disbelief in the gods of +Hasisadra. Hence, it follows, that I find Hasisadra's account of their +share in his adventure incredible; and, as the physical details of +the flood are inseparable from its theophanic accompaniments, and are +guaranteed by the same authority, I must let them go with the rest. The +consistency of such details with probability counts for nothing. The +inhabitants of Chaldaea must always have been familiar with inundations; +probably no generation failed to witness an inundation which rose +unusually high, or was rendered serious by coincident atmospheric +or other disturbances. And the memory of the general features of any +exceptionally severe and devastating flood, would be preserved by +popular tradition for long ages. What, then, could be more natural +than that a Chaldaean poet should seek for the incidents of a great +catastrophe among such phenomena? In what other way than by such an +appeal to their experience could he so surely awaken in his audience the +tragic pity and terror? What possible ground is there for insisting that +he must have had some individual good in view, and that his history is +historical, in the sense that the account of the effects of a hurricane +in the Bay of Bengal, in the year 1875, is historical? + + +More than three centuries after the time of Assurbanipal, Berosus of +Babylon, born in the reign of Alexander the Great, wrote an account of +the history of his country in Greek. The work of Berosus has vanished; +but extracts from it--how far faithful is uncertain--have been preserved +by later writers. Among these occurs the well-known story of the Deluge +of Xisuthros, which is evidently built upon the same foundation as that +of Hasisadra. The incidents of the divine warning, the building of the +ship, the sending out of birds, the ascension of the hero, betray their +common origin. But stories, like Madeira, acquire a heightened flavour +with time and travel; and the version of Berosus is characterised by +those circumstantial improbabilities which habitually gather round the +legend of a legend. The later narrator knows the exact day of the month +on which the flood began. The dimensions of the ship are stated with +Munchausenian precision at five stadia by two--say, half by one-fifth of +an English mile. The ship runs aground among the "Gordaean mountains" to +the south of Lake Van, in Armenia, beyond the limits of any imaginable +real inundation of the Euphrates valley; and, by way of climax, we have +the assertion, worthy of the sailor who said that he had brought up one +of Pharaoh's chariot wheels on the fluke of his anchor in the Red Sea, +that pilgrims visited the locality and made amulets of the bitumen which +they scraped off from the still extant remains of the mighty ship of +Xisuthros. + +Suppose that some later polyhistor, as devoid of critical faculty as +most of his tribe, had found the version of Berosus, as well as another +much nearer the original story; that, having too much respect for his +authorities to make up a _tertium quid_ of his own, out of the materials +offered, he followed a practice, common enough among ancient and, +particularly, among Semitic historians, of dividing, both into fragments +and piecing these together, without troubling himself very much about +those resulting repetitions and inconsistencies; the product of such +a primitive editorial operation would be a narrative analogous to that +which treats of the Noachian deluge in the book of Genesis. For the +Pentateuchal story is indubitably a patchwork, composed of fragments +of at least two, different and partly discrepant, narratives, +quilted together in such an inartistic fashion that the seams remain +conspicuous. And, in the matter of circumstantial exaggeration, it in +some respects excels even the second-hand legend of Berosus. + +There is a certain practicality about the notion of taking refuge from +floods and storms in a ship provided with a steersman; but, surely, no +one who had ever seen more water than he could wade through would dream +of facing even a moderate breeze, in a huge three-storied coffer, or +box, three hundred cubits long, fifty wide and thirty high, left to +drift without rudder or pilot. [8] Not content with giving the exact +year of Noah's age in which the flood began, the Pentateuchal story adds +the month and the day of the month. It is the Deity himself who "shuts +in" Noah. The modest week assigned to the full deluge in Hasisadra's +story becomes forty days, in one of the Pentateuchal accounts, and a +hundred and fifty in the other. The flood, which, in the version of +Berosus, has grown so high as to cast the ship among the mountains of +Armenia, is improved upon in the Hebrew account until it covers "all +the high hills that were under the whole heaven"; and, when it begins +to subside, the ark is left stranded on the summit of the highest peak, +commonly identified with Ararat itself. + +While the details of Hasisadra's adventure are, at least, compatible +with the physical conditions of the Euphrates valley, and, as we have +seen, involve no catastrophe greater than such as might be brought under +those conditions, many of the very precisely stated details of Noah's +flood contradict some of the best established results of scientific +inquiry. + +If it is certain that the alluvium of the Mesopotamian plain has been +brought down by the Tigris and the Euphrates, then it is no less certain +that the physical structure of the whole valley has persisted, without +material modification, for many thousand years before the date assigned +to the flood. If the summits, even of the moderately elevated ridges +which immediately bound the valley, still more those of the Kurdish and +Armenian mountains, were ever covered by water, for even forty days, +that water must have extended over the whole earth. If the earth was +thus covered, anywhere between 4000 and 5000 years ago, or, at any other +time, since the higher terrestrial animals came into existence, they +must have been destroyed from the whole face of it, as the Pentateuchal +account declares they were three several times (Genesis vii. 21, 22, +23), in language which cannot be made more emphatic, or more solemn, +than it is; and the present population must consist of the descendants +of emigrants from the ark. And, if that is the case, then, as has often +been pointed out, the sloths of the Brazilian forests, the kangaroos +of Australia, the great tortoises of the Galapagos islands, must have +respectively hobbled, hopped, and crawled over many thousand miles +of land and sea from "Ararat" to their present habitations. Thus, the +unquestionable facts of the geographical distribution of recent land +animals, alone, form an insuperable obstacle to the acceptance of the +assertion that the kinds of animals composing the present terrestrial +fauna have been, at any time, universally destroyed in the way described +in the Pentateuch. + +It is upon this and other unimpeachable grounds that, as I ventured +to say some time ago, persons who are duly conversant with even +the elements of natural science decline to take the Noachian deluge +seriously; and that, as I also pointed out, candid theologians, who, +without special scientific knowledge, have appreciated the weight of +scientific arguments, have long since given it up. But, as Goethe has +remarked, there is nothing more terrible than energetic ignorance; [9] +and there are, even yet, very energetic people, who are neither candid, +nor clear-headed, nor theologians, still less properly instructed in the +elements of natural science, who make prodigious efforts to obscure the +effect of these plain truths, and to conceal their real surrender of +the historical character of Noah's deluge under cover of the smoke of a +great discharge of pseudoscientific artillery. They seem to imagine that +the proofs which abound in all parts of the world, of large oscillations +of the relative level of land and sea, combined with the probability +that, when the sea-level was rising, sudden incursions of the sea like +that which broke in over Holland and formed the Zuyder Zee, may have +often occurred, can be made to look like evidence that something that, +by courtesy, might be called a general Deluge has really taken place. +Their discursive energy drags misunderstood truth into their service; +and "the glacial epoch" is as sure to crop up among them as King +Charles's head in a famous memorial--with about as much appropriateness. +The old story of the raised beach on Moel Tryfaen is trotted out; +though, even if the facts are as yet rightly interpreted, there is not +a shadow of evidence that the change of sea-level in that locality was +sudden, or that glacial Welshmen would have known it was taking place. +[10] Surely it is difficult to perceive the relevancy of bringing in +something that happened in the glacial epoch (if it did happen) to +account for the tradition of a flood in the Euphrates valley between +2000 and 3000 B.C. But the date of the Noachian flood is solidly fixed +by the sole authority for it; no shuffling of the chronological data +will carry it so far back as 3000 B.C.; and the Hebrew epos agrees with +the Chaldaean in placing it after the development of a somewhat advanced +civilisation. The only authority for the Noachian deluge assures us +that, before it visited the earth, Cain had built cities; Jubal had +invented harps and organs; while mankind had advanced so far beyond the +neolithic, nay even the bronze, stage that Tubal-cain was a worker in +iron. Therefore, if the Noachian legend is to be taken for the history +of an event which happened in the glacial epoch, we must revise +our notions of pleistocene civilisation. On the other hand, if the +Pentateuchal story only means something quite different, that happened +somewhere else, thousands of years earlier, dressed up, what becomes of +its credit as history? I wonder what would be said to a modern historian +who asserted that Pekin was burnt down in 1886, and then tried to +justify the assertion by adducing evidence of the Great Fire of London +in 1666. Yet the attempt to save the credit of the Noachian story by +reference to something which is supposed to have happened in the far +north, in the glacial epoch, is far more preposterous. + +Moreover, these dust-raising dialecticians ignore some of the most +important and well-known facts which bear upon the question. Anything +more than a parochial acquaintance with physical geography and geology +would suffice to remind its possessor that the Holy Land itself offers a +standing protest against bringing such a deluge as that of Noah anywhere +near it, either in historical times or in the course of that pleistocene +period, of which the "great ice age" formed a part. + +Judaea and Galilee, Moab and Gilead, occupy part of that extensive +tableland at the summit of the western boundary of the Euphrates valley, +to which I have already referred. If that valley had ever been filled +with water to a height sufficient, not indeed to cover a third of +Ararat, in the north, or half of some of the mountains of the Persian +frontier in the east, but to reach even four or five thousand feet, it +must have stood over the Palestinian hog's back, and have filled, up to +the brim, every depression on its surface. Therefore it could not have +failed to fill that remarkable trench in which the Dead Sea, the Jordan, +and the Sea of Galilee lie, and which is known as the "Jordan-Arabah" +valley. + +This long and deep hollow extends more than 200 miles, from near the +site of ancient Dan in the north, to the water-parting at the head of +the Wady Arabah in the south; and its deepest part, at the bottom of the +basin of the Dead Sea, lies 2500 feet below the surface of the adjacent +Mediterranean. The lowest portion of the rim of the Jordan-Arabah +valley is situated at the village of El Fuleh, 257 feet above the +Mediterranean. Everywhere else the circumjacent heights rise to a very +much greater altitude. Hence, of the water which stood over the Syrian +tableland, when as much drained off as could run away, enough would +remain to form a "Mere" without an outlet, 2757 feet deep, over the +present site of the Dead Sea. From this time forth, the level of +the Palestinian mere could be lowered only by evaporation. It is an +extremely interesting fact, which has happily escaped capture for the +purposes of the energetic misunderstanding, that the valley, at one +time, was filled, certainly within 150 feet of this height--probably +higher. And it is almost equally certain, that the time at which this +great Jordan-Arabah mere reached its highest level coincides with the +glacial epoch. But then the evidence which goes to prove this, also +leads to the conclusion that this state of things obtained at a period +considerably older than even 4000 B.C., when the world, according to the +"Helps" (or shall we say "Hindrances") provided for the simple student +of the Bible, was created; that it was not brought about by any diluvial +catastrophe, but was the result of a change in the relative activities +of certain natural operations which are quietly going on now; and that, +since the level of the mere began to sink, many thousand years ago, no +serious catastrophe of any description has affected the valley. + +The evidence that the Jordan-Arabah valley really was once filled with +water, the surface of which reached within 160 feet of the level of the +pass of Jezrael, and possibly stood higher, is this: Remains of alluvial +strata, containing shells of the freshwater mollusks which still inhabit +the valley, worn down into terraces by waves which long rippled at the +same level, and furrowed by the channels excavated by modern rainfalls, +have been found at the former height; and they are repeated, at +intervals, lower down, until the Ghor, or plain of the Jordan, itself +an alluvial deposit, is reached. These strata attain a considerable +thickness; and they indicate that the epoch at which the freshwater mere +of Palestine reached its highest level is extremely remote; that its +diminution has taken place very slowly, and with periods of rest, +during which the first formed deposits were cut down into terraces. This +conclusion is strikingly borne out by other facts. A volcanic region +stretches from Galilee to Gilead and the Hauran, on each side of the +northern end of the valley. Some of the streams of basaltic lava which +have been thrown out from its craters and clefts in times of which +history has no record, have run athwart the course of the Jordan +itself, or of that of some of its tributary streams. The lava streams, +therefore, must be of later date than the depressions they fill. And +yet, where they have thus temporarily dammed the Jordan and the Jermuk, +these streams have had time to cut through the hard basalts and lay bare +the beds, over which, before the lava streams invaded them, they flowed. + +In fact, the antiquity of the present Jordan-Arabah valley, as a hollow +in a tableland, out of reach of the sea, and troubled by no diluvial +or other disturbances, beyond the volcanic eruptions of Gilead and of +Galilee, is vast, even as estimated by a geological standard. No marine +deposits of later than miocene age occur in or about it; and there is +every reason to believe that the Syro-Arabian plateau has been dry land, +throughout the pliocene and later epochs, down to the present time. +Raised beaches, containing recent shells, on the Levantine shores of +the Mediterranean and on those of the Red Sea, testify to a geologically +recent change of the sea level to the extent of 250 or 300 feet, +probably produced by the slow elevation of the land; and, as I have +already remarked, the alluvial plain of the Euphrates and Tigris appears +to have been affected in the same way, though seemingly to a less +extent. But of violent, or catastrophic, change there is no trace. Even +the volcanic outbursts have flowed in even sheets over the old land +surface; and the long lines of the horizontal terraces which remain, +testify to the geological insignificance of such earthquakes as have +taken place. It is, indeed, possible that the original formation of the +valley may have been determined by the well-known fault, along which the +western rocks are relatively depressed and the eastern elevated. But, +whether that fault was effected slowly or quickly, and whenever it came +into existence, the excavation of the valley to its present width, no +less than the sculpturing of its steep walls and of the innumerable deep +ravines which score them down to the very bottom, are indubitably due +to the operation of rain and streams, during an enormous length of +time, without interruption or disturbance of any magnitude. The alluvial +deposits which have been mentioned are continued into the lateral +ravines, and have more or less filled them. But, since the waters have +been lowered, these deposits have been cut down to great depths, and are +still being excavated by the present temporary, or permanent, streams. +Hence, it follows, that all these ravines must have existed before +the time at which the valley was occupied by the great mere. This fact +acquires a peculiar importance when we proceed to consider the grounds +for the conclusion that the old Palestinian mere attained its highest +level in the cold period of the pleistocene epoch. It is well known +that glaciers formerly came low down on the flanks of Lebanon and +Antilebanon; indeed, the old moraines are the haunts of the few +survivors of the famous cedars. This implies a perennial snowcap of +great extent on Hermon; therefore, a vastly greater supply of water to +the sources of the Jordan which rise on its flanks; and, in addition, +such a total change in the general climate, that the innumerable Wadys, +now traversed only by occasional storm torrents, must have been occupied +by perennial streams. All this involves a lower annual temperature and +a moist and rainy atmosphere. If such a change of meteorological +conditions could be effected now, when the loss by evaporation from the +surface of the Dead Sea salt-pan balances all the gain from the Jordan +and other streams, the scale would be turned in the other direction. The +waters of the Dead Sea would become diluted; its level would rise; it +would cover, first the plain of the Jordan, then the lake of Galilee, +then the middle Jordan between this lake and that of Huleh (the ancient +Merom); and, finally, it would encroach, northwards, along the course of +the upper Jordan, and, southwards, up the Wady Arabah, until it reached +some 260 feet above the level of the Mediterranean, when it would +attain a permanent level, by sending any superfluity through the pass +of Jezrael to swell the waters of the Kishon, and flow thence into the +Mediterranean. + +Reverse the process, in consequence of the excess of loss by evaporation +over gain by inflow, which must have set in as the climate of Syria +changed after the end of the pleistocene epoch, and (without taking into +consideration any other circumstances) the present state of things must +eventually be reached--a concentrated saline solution in the deepest +part of the valley--water, rather more charged with saline matter than +ordinary fresh water, in the lower Jordan and the lake of Galilee--fresh +waters, still largely derived from the snows of Hermon, in the upper +Jordan and in Lake Huleh. But, if the full state of the Jordan valley +marks the glacial epoch, then it follows that the excavation of that +valley by atmospheric agencies must have occupied an immense antecedent +time--a large part, perhaps the whole, of the pliocene epoch; and we +are thus forced to the conclusion that, since the miocene epoch, the +physical conformation of the Holy Land has been substantially what it is +now. It has been more or less rained upon, searched by earthquakes +here and there, partially overflowed by lava streams, slowly raised +(relatively to the sea-level) a few hundred feet. But there is not +a shadow of ground for supposing that, throughout all this time, +terrestrial animals have ceased to inhabit a large part of its surface; +or that, in many parts, they have been, in any respect, incommoded by +the changes which have taken place. + +The evidence of the general stability of the physical conditions of +Western Asia, which is furnished by Palestine and by the Euphrates +Valley, is only fortified if we extend our view northwards to the Black +Sea and the Caspian. The Caspian is a sort of magnified replica of the +Dead Sea. The bottom of the deepest part of this vast inland mere is +about 3000 feet below the level of the Mediterranean, while its surface +is lower by 85 feet. At present, it is separated, on the west, by wide +spaces of dry land from the Black Sea, which has the same height as +the Mediterranean; and, on the east, from the Aral, 138 feet above +that level. The waters of the Black Sea, now in communication with the +Mediterranean by the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, are salt, but become +brackish northwards, where the rivers of the steppes pour in a great +volume of fresh water. Those of the shallower northern half of the +Caspian are similarly affected by the Volga and the Ural, while, in the +shallow bays of the southern division, they become extremely saline in +consequence of the intense evaporation. The Aral Sea, though supplied by +the Jaxartes and the Oxus, has brackish water. There is evidence that, +in the pliocene and pleistocene periods, to go no farther back, the +strait of the Dardanelles did not exist, and that the vast area, +from the valley of the Danube to that of the Jaxartes, was covered by +brackish or, in some parts, fresh water to a height of at least 200 +feet above the level of the Mediterranean. At the present time, the +water-parting which separates the northern part of the basin of the +Caspian from the vast plains traversed by the Tobol and the Obi, in +their course to the Arctic Ocean, appears to be less than 200 feet above +the latter. It would seem, therefore, to be very probable that, under +the climatal conditions of part of the pleistocene period, the valley +of the Obi played the same part in relation to the Ponto-Aralian sea, as +that of the Kishon may have done to the great mere of the Jordan valley; +and that the outflow formed the channel by which the well-known Arctic +elements of the fauna of the Caspian entered it. For the fossil remains +imbedded in the strata continuously deposited in the Aralo-Caspian area, +since the latter end of the miocene epoch, show no sign that, from +that time onward, it has ever been covered by sea water. Therefore, the +supposition of a free inflow of the Arctic Ocean, which at one time was +generally received, as well as that of various hypothetical deluges from +that quarter, must be seriously questioned. + +The Caspian and the Aral stand in somewhat the same relation to the vast +basin of dry land in which they lie, as the Dead Sea and the lake of +Galilee to the Jordan valley. They are the remains of a vast, mostly +brackish, mere, which has dried up in consequence of the excess +of evaporation over supply, since the cold and damp climate of the +pleistocene epoch gave place to the increasing dryness and great summer +heats of Central Asia in more modern times. The desiccation of the +Aralo-Caspian basin, which communicated with the Black Sea only by a +comparatively narrow and shallow strait along the present valley +of Manytsch, the bottom of which was less than 100 feet above the +Mediterranean, must have been vastly aided by the erosion of the strait +of the Dardanelles towards the end of the pleistocene epoch, or perhaps +later. For the result of thus opening a passage for the waters of the +Black Sea into the Mediterranean must have been the gradual lowering of +its level to that of the latter sea. When this process had gone so far +as to bring down the Black Sea water to within less than a hundred feet +of its present level, the strait of Manytsch ceased to exist; and the +vast body of fresh water brought down by the Danube, the Dnieper, the +Don, and other South Russian rivers was cut off from the Caspian, +and eventually delivered into the Mediterranean. Thus, there is as +conclusive evidence as one can well hope to obtain in these matters, +that, north of the Euphrates valley, the physical geography of an area +as large as all Central Europe has remained essentially unchanged, +from the miocene period down to our time; just as, to the west of the +Euphrates valley, Palestine has exhibited a similar persistence of +geographical type. To the south, the valley of the Nile tells exactly +the same story. The holes bored by miocene mollusks in the cliffs east +and west of Cairo bear witness that, in the miocene epoch, it contained +an arm of the sea, the bottom of which has since been gradually filled +up by the alluvium of the Nile, and elevated to its present position. +But the higher parts of the Mokattam and of the desert about Ghizeh, +have been dry land from that time to this. Too little is known of the +geology of Persia, at present, to allow any positive conclusion to be +enunciated. But, taking the name to indicate the whole continental +mass of Iran, between the valleys of the Indus and the Euphrates, the +supposition that its physical geography has remained unchanged for +an immensely long period is hardly rash. The country is, in fact, +an enormous basin, surrounded on all sides by a mountainous rim, and +subdivided within by ridges into plateaus and hollows, the bottom of the +deepest of which, in the province of Seistan, probably descends to +the level of the Indian Ocean. These depressions are occupied by salt +marshes and deserts, in which the waters of the streams which flow +down the sides of the basin are now dissipated by evaporation. I am +acquainted with no evidence that the present Iranian basin was ever +occupied by the sea; but the accumulations of gravel over a great extent +of its surface indicate long-continued water action. It is, therefore, +a fair presumption that large lakes have covered much of its present +deserts, and that they have dried up by the operation of the same +changed climatal conditions as those which have reduced the Caspian and +the Dead Sea to their present dimensions. [11] + +Thus it would seem that the Euphrates valley, the centre of the fabled +Noachian deluge, is also the centre of a region covering some millions +of square miles of the present continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa, +in which all the facts, relevant to the argument, at present known, +converge to the conclusion that, since the miocene epoch, the essential +features of its physical geography have remained unchanged; that it has +neither been depressed below the sea, nor swept by diluvial waters since +that time; and that the Chaldaean version of the legend of a flood in +the Euphrates valley is, of all those which are extant, the only one +which is even consistent with probability, since it depicts a local +inundation, not more severe than one which might be brought about by a +concurrence of favourable conditions at the present day; and which might +probably have been more easily effected when the Persian Gulf extended +farther north. Hence, the recourse to the "glacial epoch" for some event +which might colourably represent a flood, distinctly asserted by +the only authority for it to have occurred in historical times, is +peculiarly unfortunate. Even a Welsh antiquary might hesitate over the +supposition that a tradition of the fate of Moel Tryfaen, in the glacial +epoch, had furnished the basis of fact for a legend which arose among +people whose own experience abundantly supplied them with the needful +precedents. Moreover, if evidence of interchanges of land and sea are +to be accepted as "confirmations" of Noah's deluge, there are plenty of +sources for the tradition to be had much nearer than Wales. + +The depression now filled by the Red Sea, for example, appears to be, +geologically, of very recent origin. The later deposits found on its +shores, two or three hundred feet above the sea level, contain no +remains older than those of the present fauna; while, as I have already +mentioned, the valley of the adjacent delta of the Nile was a gulf of +the sea in miocene times. But there is not a particle of evidence that +the change of relative level which admitted the waters of the Indian +Ocean between Arabia and Africa, took place any faster than that which +is now going on in Greenland and Scandinavia, and which has left their +inhabitants undisturbed. Even more remarkable changes were effected, +towards the end of, or since, the glacial epoch, over the region now +occupied by the Levantine Mediterranean and the AEgean Sea. The eastern +coast region of Asia Minor, the western of Greece, and many of the +intermediate islands, exhibit thick masses of stratified deposits +of later tertiary age and of purely lacustrine characters; and it is +remarkable that, on the south side of the island of Crete, such masses +present steep cliffs facing the sea, so that the southern boundary of +the lake in which they were formed must have been situated where the sea +now flows. Indeed, there are valid reasons for the supposition that the +dry land once extended far to the west of the present Levantine coast, +and not improbably forced the Nile to seek an outlet to the north-east +of its present delta--a possibility of no small importance in relation +to certain puzzling facts in the geographical distribution of animals +in this region. At any rate, continuous land joined Asia Minor with +the Balkan peninsula; and its surface bore deep fresh-water lakes, +apparently disconnected with the Ponto-Aralian sea. This state of things +lasted long enough to allow of the formation of the thick lacustrine +strata to which I have referred. I am not aware that there is the +smallest ground for the assumption that the AEgean land was broken up in +consequence of any of the "catastrophes" which are so commonly invoked. +[12] For anything that appears to the contrary, the narrow, steep-sided, +straits between the islands of the AEgean archipelago may have been +originally brought about by ordinary atmospheric and stream action; +and may then have been filled from the Mediterranean, during a slow +submergence proceeding from the south northwards. The strait of the +Dardanelles is bounded by undisturbed pleistocene strata forty feet +thick, through which, to all appearance, the present passage has been +quietly cut. + +That Olympus and Ossa were torn asunder and the waters of the Thessalian +basin poured forth, is a very ancient notion, and an often cited +"confirmation" of Deucalion's flood. It has not yet ceased to be in +vogue, apparently because those who entertain it are not aware that +modern geological investigation has conclusively proved that the gorge +of the Penens is as typical an example of a valley of erosion as any to +be seen in Auvergne or in Colorado. [13] + +Thus, in the immediate vicinity of the vast expanse of country which can +be proved to have been untouched by any catastrophe before, during, and +since the "glacial epoch," lie the great areas of the AEgean and the +Red Sea, in which, during or since the glacial epoch, changes of the +relative positions of land and sea have taken place, in comparison with +which the submergence of Moel Tryfaen, with all Wales and Scotland to +boot, does not come to much. + +What, then, is the relevancy of talk about the "glacial epoch" to the +question of the historical veracity of the narrator of the story of the +Noachian deluge? So far as my knowledge goes, there is not a particle of +evidence that destructive inundations were more common, over the general +surface of the earth, in the glacial epoch than they have been before +or since. No doubt the fringe of an ice-covered region must be always +liable to them; but, if we examine the records of such catastrophes in +historical times, those produced in the deltas of great rivers, or in +lowlands like Holland, by sudden floods, combined with gales of wind or +with unusual tides, far excel all others. + +With respect to such inundations as are the consequences of earthquakes, +and other slight movements of the crust of the earth, I have never heard +of anything to show that they were more frequent and severer in the +quaternary or tertiary epochs than they are now. In the discussion +of these, as of all other geological problems, the appeal to needless +catastrophes is born of that impatience of the slow and painful search +after sufficient causes, in the ordinary course of nature, which is a +temptation to all, though only energetic ignorance nowadays completely +succumbs to it. + + + + +POSTSCRIPT. + +My best thanks are due to Mr. Gladstone for his courteous withdrawal +of one of the statements to which I have thought it needful to take +exception. The familiarity with controversy, to which Mr. Gladstone +alludes, will have accustomed him to the misadventures which arise when, +as sometimes will happen in the heat of fence, the buttons come off the +foils. I trust that any scratch which he may have received will heal as +quickly as my own flesh wounds have done. + + +A contribution to the last number of this Review (_The Nineteenth +Century_) of a different order would be left unnoticed, were it not that +my silence would convert me into an accessory to misrepresentations of +a very grave character. However, I shall restrict myself to the barest +possible statement of facts, leaving my readers to draw their own +conclusions. + +In an article entitled "A Great Lesson," published in this Review for +September, 1887: + +(1) The Duke of Argyll says the "overthrow of Darwin's speculations" (p. +301) concerning the origin of coral reefs, which he fancied had taken +place, had been received by men of science "with a grudging silence as +far as public discussion is concerned" (p. 301). + +The truth is that, as every one acquainted with the literature of +the subject was well aware, the views supposed to have effected this +overthrow had been fully and publicly discussed by Dana in the United +States; by Geikie, Green, and Prestwich in this country; by Lapparent in +France; and by Credner in Germany. + +(2) The Duke of Argyll says "that no serious reply has ever been +attempted" (p. 305). + +The truth is that the highest living authority on the subject, Professor +Dana, published a most weighty reply, two years before the Duke of +Argyll committed himself to this statement. + +(3) The Duke of Argyll uses the preceding products of defective +knowledge, multiplied by excessive imagination, to illustrate the manner +in which "certain accepted opinions" established "a sort of Reign of +Terror in their own behalf" (p. 307). + +The truth is that no plea, except that of total ignorance of the +literature of the subject, can excuse the errors cited, and that the +"Reign of Terror" is a purely subjective phenomenon. + +(4) The letter in "Nature" for the 17th of November, 1887, to which I +am referred, contains neither substantiation, nor retractation, of +statements 1 and 2. Nevertheless, it repeats number 3. The Duke of +Argyll says of his article that it "has done what I intended it to +do. It has called wide attention to the influence of mere authority +in establishing erroneous theories and in retarding the progress of +scientific truth." + +(5) The Duke of Argyll illustrates the influence of his fictitious +"Reign of Terror" by the statement that Mr. John Murray "was strongly +advised against the publication of his views in derogation of Darwin's +long-accepted theory of the coral islands, and was actually induced to +delay it for two years" (p.307). And in "Nature" for the 17th November, +1887, the Duke of Argyll states that he has seen a letter from Sir +Wyville Thomson in which he "urged and almost insisted that Mr. Murray +should withdraw the reading of his papers on the subject from the Royal +Society of Edinburgh. This was in February, 1877." The next paragraph, +however, contains the confession: "No special reason was assigned." The +Duke of Argyll proceeds to give a speculative opinion that "Sir Wyville +dreaded some injury to the scientific reputation of the body of which he +was the chief." Truly, a very probable supposition; but as Sir Wyville +Thomson's tendencies were notoriously anti-Darwinian, it does not +appear to me to lend the slightest justification to the Duke of Argyll's +insinuation that the Darwinian "terror" influenced him. However, the +question was finally set at rest by a letter which appeared in "Nature" +(29th of December, 1887), in which the writer says that: + +"talking with Sir Wyville about 'Murray's new theory,' I asked what +objection he had to its being brought before the public? The answer +simply was: he considered that the grounds of the theory had not, as +yet, been sufficiently investigated or sufficiently corroborated, and +that therefore any immature dogmatic publication of it would do less +than little service either to science or to the author of the paper." + +Sir Wyville Thomson was an intimate friend of mine, and I am glad to +have been afforded one more opportunity of clearing his character from +the aspersions which have been so recklessly cast upon his good sense +and his scientific honour. + +(6) As to the "overthrow" of Darwin's theory, which, according to the +Duke of Argyll, was patent to every unprejudiced person four years +ago, I have recently become acquainted with a work, in which a really +competent authority, [14] thoroughly acquainted with all the new lights +which have been thrown upon the subject during the last ten years, +pronounces the judgment; firstly, that some of the facts brought forward +by Messrs. Murray and Guppy against Darwin's theory are not facts; +secondly, that the others are reconcilable with Darwin's theory; and, +thirdly, that the theories of Messrs. Murray and Guppy "are contradicted +by a series of important facts" (p. 13). + +Perhaps I had better draw attention to the circumstance that Dr. +Langenbeck writes under shelter of the guns of the fortress of +Strasburg; and may therefore be presumed to be unaffected by those +dreams of a "Reign of Terror" which seem to disturb the peace of some of +us in these islands (April, 1891). + +[See, on the subject of this note, the essay entitled "An Episcopal +Trilogy" in the following volume.] + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + + +[Footnote 1: In May 1849 the Tigris at Bagdad rose 22-1/2 feet--5 +feet above its usual rise--and nearly swept away the town. In 1831 a +similarly exceptional flood did immense damage, destroying 7000 houses. +See Loftus, _Chaldea and Susiana,_ p. 7.] + +[Footnote 2: See the instructive chapter on Hasisadra's flood in Suess, +_Das Antlitz der Erde,_ Abth. I. Only fifteen years ago a cyclone in the +Bay of Bengal gave rise to a flood which covered 3000 square miles of +the delta of the Ganges, 3 to 45 feet deep, destroying 100,000 people, +innumerable cattle, houses, and trees. It broke inland on the rising +ground of Tipperah, and may have swept a vessel from the sea that far, +though I do not know that it did.] + +[Footnote 3: See Cernik's maps in _Petermanns Mittheilungen,_ +Erganzungashefte 44 and 45, 1875-76.] + +[Footnote 4: I have not cited the dimensions given to the ships in most +translations of the story, because there appears to be a doubt about +them. Haupt (_Keilinschriftliche Sindfluth-Bericht,_ p. 13: says that +the figures are illegible.)] + +[Footnote 5: It is probable that a slow movement of elevation of the +land at one time contributed to the result--perhaps does so still.] + +[Footnote 6: At a comparatively recent period, the littoral margin of +the Persian Gulf extended certainly 250 miles farther to the northwest +than the present embouchure of the Shatt-el Arab. (Loftus, _Quarterly +Journal of the Geological Society,_ 1853, p. 251.) The actual extent of +the marine deposit inland cannot be defined, as it is covered by later +fluviatile deposits.] + +[Footnote 7: Tiele (_Babylonisch-Assyrische Geschicthe,_ pp. 572-3) has +some very just remarks on this aspect of the epos.] + +[Footnote 8: In the second volume of the _History of the Euphrates,_ +p. 637 Col. Chesney gives a very interesting account of the simple and +rapid manner in which the people about Tekrit and in the marshes of +Lemlum construct large barges, and make them water-tight with bitumen. +Doubtless the practice is extremely ancient and as Colonel Chesney +suggests, may possibly have furnished the conception of Noah's ark. But +it is one thing to build a barge 44ft. long by 11ft. wide and 4ft. +deep in the way described; and another to get a vessel of ten times the +dimensions, so constructed, to hold together.] + +[Footnote 9: "Es ist nichts schrecklicher als eine thatige +Unwissenheit," _Maximen und Reflexionen,_ iii.] + +[Footnote 10: The well-known difficulties connected with this case have +recently been carefully discussed by Mr. Bell in the _Transactions_ of +the Geological Society of Glasgow.] + +[Footnote 11: An instructive parallel is exhibited by the "Great Basin" +of North America. See the remarkable memoir on _Lake Bonneville_ by Mr. +G. K. Gilbert, of the United States Geological Survey, just published.] + +[Footnote 12: It is true that earthquakes are common enough, but they +are incompetent to produce such changes as those which have taken +place.] + +[Footnote 13: See Teller, _Geologische Beschreibung des sud-ostlichen +Thessalien;_ Denkschriften d. Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien, Bd. xl. +p. 199.] + +[Footnote 14: Dr. Langenbeck, _Die Theorien uber die Entstehung der +Korallen-Inseln und Korallen-Riffe_ (p. 13), 1890.] + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Hasisadra's Adventure, by Thomas Henry Huxley + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HASISADRA'S ADVENTURE *** + +***** This file should be named 2633.txt or 2633.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/3/2633/ + +Produced by D. R. 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