[Transcriber's note: All footnotes are renumbered and moved to the end ofthe text before the index.]
THE
ORIGIN OF THE WORLD,
ACCORDING TO
REVELATION AND SCIENCE.
By J. W. DAWSON, LL.D., F.R.S., F.G.S.,
PRINCIPAL AND VICE-CHANCELLOR OF M'GILL UNIVERSITY, MONTREAL; AUTHOR OF
"ACADIAN GEOLOGY," "THE STORY OF THE EARTH AND MAN," "LIFE'S DAWN ON
EARTH," ETC.
"Speak to the Earth, and it shall teach thee."
—Job.
NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
FRANKLIN SQUARE.
1877.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY
THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF DUFFERIN,
K.P., K.C.B., ETC.,
GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF CANADA,
This Work is Respectfully Dedicated,
AS A SLIGHT TRIBUTE OF ESTEEM TO ONE WHO GRACES THE
HIGHEST POSITION IN THE DOMINION OF CANADA BY HIS
EMINENT PERSONAL QUALITIES, HIS REPUTATION AS
A STATESMAN AND AN AUTHOR, AND HIS KIND
AND ENLIGHTENED PATRONAGE OF EDUCATION,
LITERATURE, AND SCIENCE.
PREFACE.[Pg i]
The scope of this work is in the main identical with that of"Archaia," published in 1860; but in attempting to prepare a newedition brought up to the present condition of the subject, it wasfound that so much required to be rewritten as to make it essentiallya new book, and it was therefore decided to give it a new name, moreclearly indicating its character and purpose.
The intention of this new publication is to throw as much light aspossible on the present condition of the much-agitated questionsrespecting the origin of the world and its inhabitants. To students ofthe Bible it will afford the means of determining the precise importof the biblical references to creation, and of their relation to whatis known from other sources. To geologists and biologists it isintended to give some intelligible explanation of the connection ofthe doctrines of revealed religion with the results of theirrespective sciences.
A still higher end to which the author would gladly contribute is thatof aiding thoughtful men perplexed with the apparent antagonisms ofscience and religion, and of indicating how they may best harmonizeour great and growing knowledge of nature with our old and cherishedbeliefs as to the origin and destiny of man.
In aiming at these results, it has not been thought necessary to[Pg ii]assume a controversial attitude or to stand on the defensive, eitherwith regard to religion or science, but rather to attempt to arrive atbroad and comprehensive views which may exhibit those higher harmoniesof the spiritual and the natural which they derive from their commonAuthor, and which reach beyond the petty difficulties arising fromnarrow or imperfect views of either or both. Such an aim is too highto be fully attained, but in so far as it can be reached we may hopeto rescue science from a dry and barren infidelity, and religion frommere fruitless sentiment or enfeebling superstition.
Since the publication of "Archaia," the subject of which it treats haspassed through several phases, but the author has seen no reason toabandon in the least degree the principles of interpretation on w