written; but that rather, when a systematic geological survey of the Euphrates-Tigris basin shall have been carried out such as that which has been accomplished in recent years for the Nile-basin under the directorship of my friend Captain H. G. Lyons, D.Sc., F.R.S.-a good deal of what has been written by Professor Driver of Oxford in his work on Genesis (pp. 99-108 of the latest edition) will probably have to be re-written. It would be no compliment to a man in Dr. Driver's position to suppose that he himself believes that in the single paragraph (pp. 102, 103, op. cit.) in which he notices Professor Prestwich's views, as they were put before the Victoria Institute some years ago, he has done justice to a paper occupying twenty-two pages of the Institute's Journal of Transactions, with the sixteen pages of a closely-printed report of the discussion thereupon, in which many of the foremost geologists of the day took part. Such regional oscillations of level of the lithosphere relatively to the hydrosphere would, in the nature of things, and as shown in Prestwich's great paper on the Rubble Drift, be differential; and Dr. Wright's instance of a raised beach 750 feet above the present level of the Black Sea, gives us some indication of the great vertical range of such differential movements, and points as a fingerpost to other possible differential movements in connection with the great elevated region of Asia Minor and Armenia, which might give us all we need to enable us to realise the actuality of such a catastrophe as is implied in the Genesis narrative of the "Noachian Deluge," when due allowance is made for those elaborate and hyperbolic habits of expression, on which the author of a recent work on "the Magi"* (along with Sir William Ramsay, LL.D.) has laid special stress, as characteristic of the Oriental mind.

There are two minor points in Dr. Wright's paper open to criticism (i) his use of the word "cataract" for a waterfall, the former word having been associated for centuries with certain features in the Nile channel, while we are told in the latest monograph issued by the Egyptian Survey Department (1907) that "there is nothing about the Nile cataracts in any way resembling the falls of Niagara or even the falls of the Rhine at Schaffhausen " and (ii) it has been shown in the great monograph on the "Physio

";

*The Magi: how they recognised Christ's Star, by Lieut.-Colonel G. Mackinlay (Hodder and Stoughton, 1907).

graphy of the Nile Basin," which (as the result of a twelve years survey by Captain Lyons and his accomplished staff) will be the standard work of reference for many years to come, that the Nile Flood and its variations depend upon the annual rainfall in the Abyssinian Highlands, and not upon any periodic overflow of the lakes of Central Africa (p. 62). But these are incidental matters, and do not detract from the solid value of an otherwise excellent paper. From Mr. HENRY PROCTOR, F.R.S.L., M.R.A.S. :

In Professor Wright's paper on "The Influence of the Glacial Epoch upon the Early History of Mankind," he speaks of centres of high civilization which existed on the earth ten thousand years ago, which is far anterior to the time which the Bible assigns to Adam. But in this connection it is important to note that the Bible nowhere speaks of Adam as the first man, for it is clearly evident that what is called the Elohistic account of creation in the first chapter of Genesis, is quite distinct from the Jehovistic narrative of the advent of Adam contained in the second chapter.

The differences, indeed, are so great that it is difficult to imagine how it could have been believed so long that they were merely two versions of the same account of creation.

:

For in the first chapter we see that men and women are created (bāra) without specifying the number, whereas in the second. account it is first one man only, and subsequently one woman, who are formed (asah). In the first chapter they are to occupy the whole earth to rule, subdue and replenish it; and in the second chapter, the one man Adam is to occupy Paradise, a garden specially prepared by God-" Eastward in Eden." To Primeval Man every tree and herb is granted without restriction, but to Adam, one tree, the tree of knowledge, is forbidden on pain of death. Primeval Man was not restricted to any particular place; all the fruits and animals of the earth were his, by right, as well as the fishes of the sea. He probably lived, according to the geological evidence, in a similar manner to that which we find the aborigines living now, not tilling the soil, but living by hunting and fishing, and on the spontaneous produce of Mother Earth. But, on the other hand, Adam was specially formed and cared for, and specially restricted. God breathed into him "nishmath Khayyim "-the breath of lives, a portion of God's own life, so that he would have

lived "for ever," if he had not fallen from his high estate as a son of God (Luke iii, 38) and partaker of the Divine Nature, and of the "nishmath-Shaddaï," or inspiration of the Almighty. The comparison instituted between him and our Blessed Lord in the New Testament as the First and Second Adams, points to a similarity of purpose in the advent of both. In accordance with this view, Jacob Böhman gives a remarkable description of Adam. "Adam was created," he says, "to be the restoring angel of this world. His nature was twofold: Within he had an angelic soul and body, derived from the powers of heaven. Without he had a life and body derived from the powers of earth. The former was given him that he might be separate from, and superior to, the world. He was endowed with the latter, that he might be connected with and operative in the world.

This conception of Adam as Ben-Elohim, or Son of God, explains the otherwise inexplicable passage in Genesis vi, 2–6 (R.V.).

The Beney-Elohim of this chapter are the Adamic race, the Benoth Ha-adham are the women of the pre-Adamic races. The mingling of races is put as the cause of the great increase of wickedness on the earth. In this chapter we can distinguish four races, viz. :

(1) Beney-Elohim, or Elohites.

(2) Beney-ha-adam, or Adamites.
(3) The Nephilim.

(4) A mixed race (Hag-gibborim) resulting from the union of
the first three.

Adam was the first Federal Head of the human race, just as our Lord was the second. In this sense, therefore, he is the father, and Eve the mother, of the human race.

The expression "mother of all living" (Genesis iii, 20), however, is not a genuine reading, but a gloss, according to Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, article "Adam."

From the hypotheses here indicated, it will be seen: (1) That the Sacred Book is in opposition to no branch of science or to any historical record; and

(2) That the original record in Genesis i, being absolutely dateless, it does not conflict with any discovery, geological, monumental, or otherwise, which has been, or may be made, pointing to an immense antiquity for Man.

Gilbert, G. R.

LITERATURE ON NIAGARA FALLS.

1. Annual Report of the Commissioners of the State Reservation at Niagara, 1889, pp. 61-84.

2. Smithsonian Report, 1890.

3. National Geographical Society of the U.S., vol. i, Sept. 1895, pp. 203-236.

4.

"Rate of Recession of Niagara Falls," Bulletin of U.S. Geol. Survey, No. 306, 1907.

Da. Pohlman.

1. Proc. Am. Ass. Science, vol. xxxii, pp. 183–202.

2. Transactions of Mining Engineers, vol. xvii, pp. 322-338, 1888.

Spencer, J. W.

The Duration of Niagara Falls, and the History of the Great Lakes,
New York, Humboldt Pub. Co., 1895.

Geological Magazine, October, 1907.

A still more recent and detailed work has just (1908) been published by Professor J. W. Spencer, of which a resume was delivered before the Geological Society of London in 1907.

Upham, Warren.

"Niagara Gorge and St. David's Channel," Bulletin of Geol. Soc. of America, vol. ix, 1898, pp. 101-110.

Wright, G. F.

Ice Age in North America, cap. xii.

"New Method of Estimating the Age of Niagara Falls," Popular Science Monthly for June, 1899.

"The Rate of Lateral Erosion at Niagara," American Geologist, March, 1902.

ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING.*

GENERAL J. G. HALLIDAY IN THE CHAIR.

The Minutes of previous meeting were read and confirmed. ELECTION.-Miss Gwendoline Crewdson was elected Associate.

The following paper was read by the Author :

RESEMBLANCES BETWEEN INDIAN AND JEWISH IDEAS AND CUSTOMS (with lantern slides). By Colonel T. HOLBEIN HENDLEY, C.I.E.

THE of a

HE subject of the present paper is rather of a miscellaneous

of Indian ideas and customs and similar ones which are mentioned in the Bible, whether they relate to the Jewish nation or to the people beyond their borders, with whom the Hebrews were brought in contact, but which are alluded to in the Scriptures. I am aware that many such Biblical ideas and customs have been compared with those of other countries both ancient and modern. Of most of these, however, I do not intend to speak, but I have thought it might be useful, and might lead to interesting discussion if I brought together a few notes upon the subject with special reference to such matters as have come within my own knowledge. It is, perhaps, necessary to state that my own experience was chiefly gained in North India, although my studies, particularly in relation to Indian jewellery, and in connection with the collection of objects for exhibitions and museums, have led me to make researches and inquiries in all parts of the great peninsula, and of the East. I will commence with some remarks upon land.

Love of the land, and especially of hereditary possessions, as well as a keen desire to own it, are common to all agricultural

* Monday, 25th January, 1908.