HOW THEY MUST BE MET. 445 in this case. him a better judge than others are, of the extent and value of this evidence. Now, the merit of great knowledge in his own departments must undoubtedly be conceded to Agassiz, and any opinion supported by the weight of his name is entitled to be received with a degree of respect. And the more so, that he has been hitherto favourably known as a defender of Christianity against the errors of the Vestiges. The custom, often followed in this country, of answering unchristian views by casting obloquy on the author of them, will not answer the end The assertions of Agassiz must be looked fully in the face, and fairly met—by men who know his own subject as well as himself, or who have made themselves fully master of the groups of facts upon which he chiefly relies. I believe that before a calm lover of truth, cooler and sounder in reasoning, the supposed evidence relied on by Agassiz will for the most part disappear, and that the truth will come out the clearer for the trial. At the same time, as natural knowledge advances, we must be prepared to review the interpretation or meaning we have been accustomed to attach to certain words, phrases, or passages of Scripture -- to separate their supposed or received, from their necessary meaning - and thus to rid ourselves of interpretations which, not being necessary, may be represented as inconsistent with the known laws of nature.* 1 * That I may not be misunderstood as to the kind of concessions adverted to in the text, I append, by way of illustration, the following passage froin a recent work by the Rev. Dr King : “I have found some persons startled at the idea that the world, as it existed before the creation and transgression of man, presents, in the delineations of geologists, so little that is paradisaical. But where does the Bible say that the whole earth was ever a paradise ? If it had been so, what need would there have been for any paradise at all ? Eden was brought into existence, if we are to believe the Scriptures in immediate connection with the creation of man, and its peculiar delights were found only within its own enclosures. A wide difference, therefore, between the general condition of the earth and the felicities of paradise is altogeth conformable to the Scriptural narrative. 446 CHRISTIANITY MOST LIKELY TO BE ASSAILED And further, it is worthy the consideration of all the friends of the Christian faith-that in our time it appears likely that Christianity is to be most seriously assailed on the fields of zoology, comparative anatomy, geology, and generally of the sciences of observation. Those whose duty and profession it is to defend and uphold the truths of Christianity, ought therefore to be somewhat familiar with these fields of knowledge—to know so much, at least, as to enable them, when need arises, to travel over and explore them without the help “Not a few, however, are particularly shocked to think that fossil remains should indicate the ravages of death among the brute creation, at periods anterior to the fall of man. They have been accustomed to regard death as in all cases the effect of sin, and they are confounded to hear of creatures having died in the earth before it was tainted or blighted by transgression. But let the following considerations be duly weighed :-1. If birds and beasts and creeping things had not died, they must have been immortal; and we at once perceive that there is an unsuitableness in the nature and extent of their powers to the inheritance of immortality. 2. The supposition of irresponsible and sinless creatures dying in consequence of the sin of man is a mysterious explanation of the facts; and instead of removing the difficulty, only replaces it by another. 3. The circumstance of man alone having been created immortal, is not at all more wonderful or unlikely, than that man alone should have been created rational. There is in truth a natural fitness that these wonders should go together—Reason and Immortality. As eternal life appears inappropriate to an insect, so, on the other hand, a duration equally brief with that of the brutes appears inappropriate to the faculties and affections, the retrospects and, anticipations, of the soul of man. The immortality of the human body, and the happy immortality of the human spirit, were, however, made conditional on obedience. The apostasy of our race brought sad derangement over this seemly order; but surely the consequences have not been more disastrous than might have been anticipated from the acknowledged entrance of moral evil. 4. The Scriptures advance nothing at variance with these statements. They tell us of no tree of life, of which the lower animals might eat and live for ever; nor do they give us the slightest hint that such creatures expire, because our ON THE FIELDS OF NATURAL SCIENCE. 447 of a guide or interpreter, and to meet the enemy to be encountered on the ground he may himself have chosen. But these are the very departments of knowledge from the study of which, in our universities, the future teachers and defenders of Christianity from the pulpit are systematically excluded. How many of our clergy, of any denomination, were able to expose the errors of the Vestiges? How many are now able successfully to encounter the new infidelities of Agassiz ? * first parents partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That brutes die because man has sinned, has been asserted innumerable times by divines of eminence ; but I consider it unnecessary to enter into any critical examination of the few texts which have been supposed to favour this idea, as they have scarcely even a semblance of giving it any countenance. We are told, indeed, tható sin entered into the world, and death by sin;' but it is evident that the Apostle, in so expressing himself, used the language in relation to man, for he adds, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.' (Romans, v. 12.) The death of animals is a fact in the course of nature, the truth of which all parties must admit. It creates, however, no special difficulty to the reception of our holy faith, for it contradicts in no way whatever either the Scriptural narrative or Christian doctrine. This objection, when justly viewed, only shows, then, how much safer we are with the Scriptures themselves, as our rule of faith and manners, than with the most ably executed and generally received systems of theology.”— Geology and Religion, by the Rev. DR KING. * A work against the views of Agassiz has already been published by the Rev. Dr Smyth of Charlestown, on the Unity of the Human Race-in which Agassiz's positions and theory are reviewed. CHAPTER XXIX. Etherisation at Boston. - Hospital and medical school.-Mammoth skeleton.-Improvement of the negro race.-Quincy and Braintree. -Expense of clearing land.—Apple, pear, and peach borers.—Husk of Indian corn.-Hock from the Catawba grape. — Vineyards of the Ohio river.-Agricultural implement stores.-Importers and jobbers at Boston.-German hosiery excluding English.-Smuggling into Canada. Gallantry of the Kentucky Legislature. Reasons of divorce in the different States. Position of the female sex in the United States. — Proportion of male and female immigrants.— High price of native-born females.-Corresponding depression of females at home.-Plymouth and Forefathers' Rock.-Poor soil.-Labourers and their wages.- Pilgrim hall and graveyard.—The clam, a valuable and abundant shell-fish.-A clam bake.-Cultivation of cranberries.Fresh water in sand-banks.—Anniversary addresses and the Pilgrim forefathers. Their alleged great lights, and their tendency to persecution. Providence in Rhode Island. - Farming in this State.Position of the agricultural class.-Brown University.- Causes of its declension. The existing universities do not supply what the most progressive classes of society require.-Comparative lowering of the professions. Right of all to an education adapted to the pursuits of their after life. – Civilisation progressing in the line of material development.-Proposed changes and new courses of study in Brown University, to adapt it to the wants of the whole community.-Constitution and success of the University of Virginia. MARCH 1.—One of the most interesting applications of modern science to human comfort the practice of etherisation-had its origin in Boston. The gentlemen to whom the world owes this happy application, are Dr Charles T. Jackson, who discovered and announced the principle, and Dr J. C. Warren, who first applied it in MEDICAL SCHOOL AT BOSTON. 449 practice. I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of both gentlemen, and was indebted to them for many civilities. I accompanied Dr Warren to-day to the hospital, and was present during the performance of several successful operations under the influence of the etherising agent. That which is preferred by Dr Warren is what is called chloric ether—a mixture of alcohol and chloroform. This hospital of Boston differs from most of our public institutions of the kind, in having sets of rooms for paying patients. These looked very comfortable; and very respectable people are in the habit of occupying them. For a handsome room, board, and all attendance, ten dollars a-week was the rate of charge. My stay in Boston happened to be during the time of the excitement caused by the murder of Dr Parkman, and the trial of his murderer, Dr Webster. I therefore willingly accompanied Dr Warren to the medical school, and to the class-room of Dr Webster. This school is the medical branch of the university at Harvard, and is attended by about one hundred and thirty students. Dr Warren has been a great benefactor to it, having presented to the museum his large anatomical collections ; and the late Dr Parkman was another of its liberal friends. I was on a subsequent occasion indebted to Dr Warren for the opportunity of inspecting the enormous and unique skeleton of the Mastodon found at Newburg, in New York, which is in his possession. It is nearly twelve feet high-is most complete, almost every bone being preserved, and its parts are admirably put together. The tusks are fourteen feet in length, and the animal, when alive, is estimated to have weighed nine tons.* * A ton and a half is about the heaviest weight to which the largest of our high-bred bulls is ever fed. VOL. II. 2 F |