lue, you cannot do much with it in the addition or subtraction
of mathematical values; _c_ also is quite "summary," and if you go into
the details of which it is made up, many of them may be wrong, and their
sum total equal to 0, or even to a minus quantity.

Mr. Gladstone appears to wish that I should (1) enter upon a sort of
essay competition with the author of the pentateuchal cosmogony; (2)
that I should make a further statement about some elementary facts in
the history of Indian and Greek philosophy; and (3) that I should show
cause for my hesitation in accepting the assertion that Genesis is
supported, at any rate to the extent of the first two verses, by the
nebular hypothesis.

A certain sense of humour prevents me from accepting the first
invitation. I would as soon attempt to put Hamlet's soliloquy into
a more scientific shape. But if I supposed the "Mosaic writer" to be
inspired, as Mr. Gladstone does, it would not be consistent with my
notions of respect for the Supreme Being to imagine Him unable to frame
a form of words which should accurately, or, at least, not inaccurately,
express His own meaning. It is sometimes said that, had the statements
contained in the first chapter of Genesis been scientifically true, they
would have been unintelligible to ignorant people; but how is the matter
mended if, being scientifically untrue, they must needs be rejected by
instructed people?

With respect to the second suggestion, it would be presumptuous in me
to pretend to instruct Mr. Gladstone in matters which lie as much within
the province of Literature and History as in that of Science; but if
any one desirous of further knowledge will be so good as to turn to
that most excellent and by no means recondite source of information, the
"Encyclopaedia Britannica," he will find, under the letter E, the word
"Evolution," and a long article on that subject. Now, I do not recommend
him to read the first half of the article; but the second half, by my
friend Mr. Sully, is really very good. He will there find it said that
in some of the philosophies of ancient India, the idea of evolution is
clearly expressed: "Brahma is conceived as the eternal self-existent
being, which, on its material side, unfolds itself to the world by
gradually condensing itself to material objects through the gradations
of ether, fire, water, earth, and other elements." And again: "In the
later system of emanation of Sankhya there is a more marked