be disproved
by geological or historical evidence, then that the analogy of our
present experience leads us up, not to "an infusorial point" or
"microscopic monad," but to a primary living organism as the
commencement of each existing tribe. In the words of Dr. Barclay, "It
will not be easy, on any principles exclusive of the vital, to answer
these questions, What was the origin of the first egg, or what was the
origin of the first bird? For where is the egg that comes not from a
bird, and where is the bird that comes not from an egg? To the mere
materialists, who exclude every species of vitality but that from
organism, this problem is nearly as embarrassing as the origin of the
Universe itself."[38]

If these views be correct, all the natural analogies would lead us to
acquiesce, as Dr. Barclay did, in the Mosaic narrative as the most
philosophical account of the commencement of the present order of
things. It traces up every race to a primary organism, endowed with
reproductive powers; for it tells us, in regard to the FLORA, that God
said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, _the herb yielding seed_, and
the fruit-tree yielding fruit _after his kind_, whose _seed is in
itself_, upon the earth; and it was so." And it tells us, with regard to
the FAUNA, that God said, "Let the waters bring forth abundantly the
moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in
the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every
living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly,
_after their kind_, and every winged fowl _after his kind_. And God
blessed them, saying, _Be fruitful, and multiply_, and fill the waters
in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth."

Here the distinction between different genera and species, and the
provision that was made for the perpetuation of different races, are
prominently presented; while the production, in the first instance, not
of an "infusorial point" or "microscopic monad," but of a living
organism capable of multiplying its kind, is expressly declared; and
every race is traced up to that primary organism, in perfect consistency
with the only law, whether of vegetable or animal reproduction, which is
known to be in operation at the present day. And _this_ law of
reproduction, so far from being exclusive of a primary act of Creation,
seems to presuppose and require it; for there must be a living organism
before there can be vital tr