no more objection to that fact than to any other. Only in that case God would be a known term in a known series of phenomena; and such a thing, we need hardly say, is scarcely conceivable by any mind raised above the condition of barbarism. Ancient history, of course, is full of just such definite statements. Romulus had the god Mars for his father; Æneas the goddess Aphrodite for his mother, and so on ad infinitum. If Dr. Abbott means what he says about the human race in a literal sense, he should point us to the historical record; and, it is needless to say, that record should not be one lending itself to an infinity of "doubtful interpretations." Where is the record? But is it not perfectly manifest that, considered as the historical statement of what happened thousands of years ago, it is utterly impossible that the "universal consciousness" should bear witness to the procreation—the word is Dr. Abbott's—of the first man by the God of the book of Genesis? It is said to be a wise child that knows its own father; and, as to a child's being conscious who its own father is or was, the idea is simply irrational. It would seem as if Dr. Abbott, while discouraging inquiry into the meaning of the opening chapters of Genesis, desires, as far as possible, to save their credit, and so claims that consciousness confirms the account they contain, of the origin of mankind. Consciousness, however, does nothing of the kind—could not, by any possibility, do anything of the kind—and if the evolution philosophy should come into collision with the Mosaic account of man's creation, it will have to deal, not with an affirmation of the "universal consciousness," but simply with an ancient legend hardened into a dogma. It has had some experience already in dealing with such things, and need not quail at the prospect of another encounter. It is really very idle thus to try to frighten away Science from ground that it is entirely fitted to occupy. The effort irresistibly reminds one of the attempts that savages make to avert an eclipse by the vigorous beating of tom-toms. Unaffrighted by all the tom-toms of the pulpit and the theological press, modern science will press steadily forward, grasping at all facts, and reducing them, as fast as possible, to order and harmony. It is already concerning itself with the origin of mankind; and has taught us more upon that subject than all the theologies and mythologies put together. We may claim to know now that primitive man had not a very profound or very enlarged consciousness of a divine descent, and that any ideas of divinity that he possessed were not inconsistent with a lively cannibalism. But it is science that teaches us this, and not the book of Genesis, which starts man on his career with a respectable equipment of theological and industrial knowledge. Dr. Abbott may count with confidence upon a complete abstention on the part of science from any interference with the devout experiences or exercises of any human soul; but, unless he wishes to see his counsels brought to naught, he will himself refrain from any attempt to check science in its career
