The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1842-04-10

!Lt OF living peIngs, OF plants or animals existed.
Light was necessary. to produce by its chemical
| action, the division of elements living in chaos-
And light was by mandate made to appear. hut
siter now long period is unknown. II divides
h,ga' IRON daskness, and separates water from
zes the universal materials still unfit for the habi-
tation OF living beings, life of any sort. This
hrst period is called aday, which may mean a vast
period OF time, as we have stated above
Second day.-The armament was creat.5 rra
baby the atmosphere is here meant. which nav
have been, in us first condition. very different from
what we now hndi And which, during its earliest
formation, may have contained gases, which rem
dered II unit to sustain vitality Of any kind Or
1t nay at another period have contained an excess
Of car bonic acid gas, which rendered it totally I'M
fit for the existence OF animal fe or such animals
| as exist on land. Some philosophers suppose the
air at early period Of the earth's cxistance had
such vast excess Of carbonie acid gas a. TO cause
the most extraordinary and rank growth of vegsta-
| BILE life-altogether beyond any thing we con-
ceve of in the present day of purified air-and that
his great of vegetation, afforded the immense
materials Of which the vast coal fields of the earth
have been formed, all of which are considered to
be of vegetable origin-and what would seem TO
favor this curious theory is the fact, that the
mains Of no land animals with respiratory organs
are ever found mbeded in coal, while they abound
with Impressions OF vegetables, &c,
Third day-Dry land appears and seas are form
ca. Earth brings forth grass, herbs, trees, sc -
The earth being dry, first becomes fit for vegeta-
tlon, which was brought, probably, into powerful
nut during all this vast period, no animal life ap
peared.
Eourth dsy;-Stars or new worlds are formed,
or as called lights in the armament of Heaven
With greater and lesser lights to rule the day and
night, and the seasons formed.
Here another great period has probably inter-
yened, and no being great or small, yet animated
the earth.
Fifth Day.-Water is made to produce the first
living thing, Agreeing with all dis veries in Ge-
ology, and the opinions Of all men who have studied
th0c nhI At No fAu la
great interval of time, and even before whales Of
the sea, whose large frames and high state of or
sani zaton, succeeded in the order Of animal crea-
ton. The seals commanded to be fruitful and null
tiply its species in every form, and il NAV be in
new forms and varieties; and has it not been ae-
complished?
Sixth Day.-Animals Of the land formed, or
"beast of tho earth,' and :" all other creeping
things" These all preceded man All were made,
and for how loag a period before man, we know
not. Aud, probably, owing to peculiar circum-
as had been the case Of vegetable growth And
monsters land, as we'll as in water, sprung into
being, to perish again, when the peculiar condition
Of the earth or air which favored their existence,
became so far changed as to fail to sustain their
extraordinary position in the link of animal crea-
ton. Hence we know nothing of them save from
their fossil remains.
All these changes and formations come up in
their order. And it was not till the earth was
made habltable for being, with an organization so
delicate yet so mystic riously perfect as mans, that
his being commenced. The dry land had appeared.
Vegetation had sprung whose seed, Moses says,
"ofitsefls in the ground The animals Of the water
were produced, the air purified, animals of the land
were produced, in excess it may be- The revelations
of earth become less violent. Excuses OF We.
getable and animal life were restrained, governed
by more fixed and conservative laws of reproduc.
ton. And the earth itself was prepared as a gar
den for the reception of man, who was the last and
for centuries, has been gradually unfolding the
powers of physical and capacities, that
were at first wrapt up in the high organization of
his being; and il one might conf ecture the vast f.
ture from the past, it may not be unreasonable to
suppose that, when all mans present powers are
exhausted and nothing further remains that he can
do, that he, too, may give way in turn, to new
order, and still higher existence in a more exalted
class Of beings. v
The second chapter of Genesis is more or less an
application of the first, and attempts to give some
dim notions or Details with respect to the method
of Creation, such as the formation of Eve, &C.,
much of which must DO taken in q met phoica1
scnse:- pTaa
T.recnpitulaie the Mosaic Account.
al was dark and rod vi'A embryo Earth and Heaven.
First Daylight created. fh
Second Day-Atmosphere, or Frmament created
Third Day-DTy land appear.Iv first atsd
Fifth DayEwster produces living beings '
Sixth Bay-Land animals Termed, and then, and last,
man succeeds
The centre the Earth ball Of granite-the inter-
nal and central portions of which in state Of
fusion
First Period-The first lay strata encrusng this
ball. destitute of all animal or vegetable remains
Second PeriodThe second class Of layers strata,
first to contain animals Of the simplest form and
such IS produced alone in water.
Third Psrod-The next strata contains fossils of ami
mails, Of more complicated structure, such as have
sphes, sc.
Fourth Period-The strata contains the fossils OF
herbs and plants, seeds, SC.
Fifth Perod-The last strata in order found for the
FIRST time contain the petred fossils of quadrupeds
land animals, but remains Of mamie being the last
formation oil creation. -.
Allowing for the dim light Of the age in which
the first chapter of Genesis was written, and for
the occasional metaphorical expressions Of the
author, and we must say, the coincidence between
the Mosaic history of the world and that given by
Biologists, is most striking and remarkable, and
renders the Book of Genesis one of the most extra
ordinary productions ever penned by man-wheth-
er wrote by Moses or another hand, or whether
profans or inspired, il boots not, as far
gument is concerned. There it has stood for seve-
raj thousand years, and there il must stand during
the future existence Of an, as one of the most re-
markable monuments in the history the world.
franklin.