ken as a
demonstrated conclusion and established fact," Prof. Huxley showed
that, as a matter of fact, no such "fourfold division" and "orderly
succession" exist; that, so far from establishing Mr. Gladstone's
assumption that the population of water, air, and land followed each
other in the order given, "all the evidence we possess goes to prove
that they did not"; that the distribution of fossils through the various
strata proves that some land animals originated before sea animals;
that there has been a mixing of sea, land, and air "population" utterly
destructive to the "great fourfold division" and to the creation "in an
orderly succession of times"; that, so far is the view presented in the
sacred text, as stated by Mr. Gladstone, from having been "so
affirmed in our own time by natural science, that it may be taken as
a demonstrated conclusion and established fact" that Mr. Gladstone's
assertion is "directly contradictory to facts known to every one who is
acquainted with the elements of natural science"; that Mr. Gladstone's
only geological authority, Cuvier, had died more than fifty years
before, when geological science was in its infancy (and he might have
added, when it was necessary to make every possible concession to
the Church); and, finally, he challenged Mr. Gladstone to produce any
contemporary authority in geological science who would support his
so-called scriptural view. And when, in a rejoinder, Mr. Gladstone
attempted to support his view on the authority of Prof. Dana, Prof.
Huxley had no difficulty in showing from Prof. Dana's works that Mr.
Gladstone's inference was utterly unfounded. But, while the fabric
reared by Mr. Gladstone had been thus undermined by Huxley on the
scientific side, another opponent began an attack from the biblical
side. The Rev. Canon Driver, professor at Mr. Gladstone's own
University of Oxford, took up the question in the light of scriptural
interpretation. In regard to the comparative table drawn up by Sir J. W.
Dawson, showing the supposed correspondence between the scriptural and
the geological order of creation, Canon Driver said: "The two series
are evidently at variance. The geological record contains no evidence
of clearly defined periods corresponding to the 'days' of Genesis. In
Genesis, vegetation is complete two days before animal life appears.
Geology shows that they appear simultaneously--even if animal life
does not appear first. In Genesis, birds appear tog