rofessor of Theology at the
Protestant University of Erlangen. He does not, indeed, dare put in the
old claim that Hebrew is identical with the primitive tongue, but he
insists that it is nearer it than any other. He relinquishes the two
former theological strongholds--first, the idea that language was taught
by the Almighty to Adam, and, next, that the alphabet was thus taught to
Moses--and falls back on the position that all tongues are thus derived
from Noah, giving as an example the language of the Caribbees, and
insisting that it was evidently so derived. What chance similarity in
words between Hebrew and the Caribbee tongue he had in mind is past
finding out. He comes out strongly in defence of the biblical account of
the Tower of Babel, and insists that "by the symbolical expression 'God
said, Let us go down,' a further natural phenomenon is intimated, to
wit, the cleaving of the earth, whereby the return of the dispersed
became impossible--that is to say, through a new or not universal
flood, a partial inundation and temporary violent separation of great
continents until the time of the rediscovery" By these words the learned
doctor means nothing less than the separation of Europe from America.

While at the middle of the nineteenth century the theory of the origin
and development of language was upon the continent considered as
settled, and a well-ordered science had there emerged from the old
chaos, Great Britain still held back, in spite of the fact that the most
important contributors to the science were of British origin. Leaders in
every English church and sect vied with each other, either in denouncing
the encroachments of the science of language or in explaining them away.

But a new epoch had come, and in a way least expected. Perhaps the most
notable effort in bringing it in was made by Dr. Wiseman, afterward
Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster. His is one of the best examples of
a method which has been used with considerable effect during the latest
stages of nearly all the controversies between theology and science.
It consists in stating, with much fairness, the conclusions of the
scientific authorities, and then in persuading one's self and trying
to persuade others that the Church has always accepted them and accepts
them now as "additional proofs of the truth of Scripture." A little
juggling with words, a little amalgamation of texts, a little judicious
suppression, a little imaginative deduction,