tions
among divines as to the primitive speech of man. Some have thought
that the language of Adam consisted altogether of nouns, that they were
monosyllables, and that the confusion was occasioned by the introduction
of polysyllables. But these learned men must surely have overlooked the
numerous conversations reported in Genesis, such as those between the
Almighty and Adam, the serpent and Eve, etc. In these all the various
parts of speech occur. There was, however, a coincidence of opinion
that the primitive language was Hebrew. On the general principles of
patristicism, it was fitting that this should be the case.

The Greek Fathers computed that, at the time of the dispersion,
seventy-two nations were formed, and in this conclusion St. Augustine
coincides. But difficulties seem to have been recognized in these
computations; thus the learned Dr. Shuckford, who has treated very
elaborately on all the foregoing points in his excellent work "On the
Sacred and Profane History of the World connected," demonstrates that
there could not have been more than twenty-one or twenty-two men, women,
and children, in each of those kingdoms.

A very vital point in this system of chronological computation, based
upon the ages of the patriarchs, was the great length of life to which
those worthies attained. It was generally supposed that before the Flood
"there was a perpetual equinox," and no vicissitudes in Nature. After
that event the standard of life diminished one-half, and in the time of
the Psalmist it had sunk to seventy years, at which it still remains.
Austerities of climate were affirmed to have arisen through the shifting
of the earth's axis at the Flood, and to this ill effect were added the
noxious influences of that universal catastrophe, which, "converting the
surface of the earth into a vast swamp, gave rise to fermentations of
the blood and a weakening of the fibres."

With a view of avoiding difficulties arising from the extraordinary
length of the patriarchal lives, certain divines suggested that the
years spoken of by the sacred penman were not ordinary but lunar years.
This, though it might bring the age of those venerable men within
the recent term of life, introduced, however, another insuperable
difficulty, since it made them have children when only five or six years
old.

Sacred science, as interpreted by the Fathers of the Church,
demonstrated these facts: 1. That the date of Creation was comparatively