Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1869-08-03
Interesting Discoveries.


There seems to be reasonable expectation
of the discovery Of the site of the Garden OF
Eden, if we may credit Sir Henry RawIinsOn,
the distinguished Assyrian explorer, and Pres
ident of the Royal Asiatc Society. At a meet
ing Of that Society, held in London Of the 3lst
Of May, at which he was inargurated, he made
speech, in which he expressed his conviction
that the Babylonian writings aud monuments
now in the possession of the British Museum
would turn out to be intimately connected with
the earliest Biblical writings and that, before
long, the whole of the early history given in the
Book of Genesis from the time of Abraham,
downwards, would be found existing in it's orig
inal form among these primitive stone records
He also announced that in a short time he
should submit to the Society evidence that the
name Garden OF Eden was the old and natu
raj name of Babylon. He stated that there
were Babylonian documents which gave an ex-
act geographical description OF that Paradise
in which the opening scene of huuan history is
laid, answering precisely to the topography and
the geodeslcal particulars. of Holy Writ In
them he has found the four rivers, or rather,
the tour branches of ''the river which went out
of Eden to water the garden" mentioned by
the very same names, Plson, Gihon, Hiddekel
and EupErates. He has also met with accounts
of the Flood, and the building of the Tower of
Babel, which bear with singular directness and
value upon the Biblical narrative of those
events. If he should realize all that he antici-
pates he will have given to the world one of
the most interesting archaeological and ANTIGUA
rian discoveries ever made. Among Biblical
critics, it has long been matter Of discussions
whence came the two different accounts of the
creation of the world, OF man. and of history
from his emanation from the hands of his Gre
ator down to his destruction by the deluge
h., oh, ,e
These two narratives have been distinguished
respectively as the Jehovah aud the Elohim re-
cords, because in the one Deity is spoken of as
Jehovah, and in the other in the plural form as
Elolhim Probably Sir Henry Rawlinson's dis
coyeries will throw light on the subject, and
| thus clear up the obscurlty which hangs over
| that portion of the sacred text. If this should
| b. the case, he will be bencfactor to theology
and Biblical lore, as well as to history and ar
| cheology There is nothing amazing in the
| fact that sculptured archleves OF Babylonia,
necessarily the chief memorial OF tradition and
belief among the Chaldeans should be reflected
in the annals OF a race which came forth from
Chaldea: still, the prospect OF comparing the
originals with The derived reports, and of find
| ing the authentic sources from which Elohist
and ,)ehovi.t drew their statements, is one
| which will naturally excite vlved expectations
among Biblical scholars, and can not fail to
! arouse very general curiosity. The cause of re-
| llgion has always been advanced by discoveries
| 10 science, notwithstanding the outcries made
| against them By we-meaning but rather short
sighted persons Truth can never gainsay truth,
nor can we go back to the practice, whether
political or religious, which is said to have laid
! hands on GalIiieo for asserting that the earth
moved. Nevertheless it moves is true of ev-
| erything, as we'll as of the planet we live on
and If these new discoveries, or any others, in
| terpret to us, in a positive and simple sense,
| legends which have been lost in the sacred mist
| OF tradition, the Biblical account cannot but
gain In clearness, while the infent which dicta-
ted the record must be carried out with increas-
ed drectness and force The character of all
such investigations has ever been in the highest
| sense Scripiura and Christian 1t may turn out
| that the Chaldeans had traditions of Eden, of
The Flood and of Babel, and that Abraham
| brought them with him from ''Ur of the Cnal-
dees.' to Canaan, and handed them down to
| his posterity, and these traditions may also
have found their way into other lands long be-
tore Abraham S time, which would partly ac-
count for their universally. Let Us, at any
rate. know what the Babylonan records can tell
| about the Garden of Eden. 1t Hiddekel, Pison
and Gihon can be identified without geographical
IbeWilderment. by all means, be DONE We
have our doubts about the probability of this. =
| EuDhrates remains, but 1t seems strange that
| ,be three other rivers should have disappeared
SO completely in country where no natural
COMMISSIONS have taken place within recorded
| history. Neither the heat nor the sand have
been able to obl,terate the Euphrates, and it is
difficult to imagine that they could have oblI-
Grated the other rivers, unless they were insig-
! nifcant streams Bat the turn which Sir Hen
/ ~ Rawlinson has given to the meaning of the
tern, .I4arden of Eden, throws light on that
passage in Isaiah, (chap. SO, V. 81: Have the
gods of nations delivered them which my faith
ers have destroyed a- Gozan AID Haran and
! Rezaph. and the children IF Eden which were
in Telassar? And nn that in Ezekiel, (chap
LIS, V l3): Thou hast been in Eden, the gar
den of God "--P,ih1deIphia Ledger.
/ A most remarkable ease OF death occurred &
few days since on the farm Of Mr.. Edware
/ Coles. A colored child five or six years of agt
climbed over into the hog lot and caught
Young pig by the tall A number of hogs, at
! tracted by the squeaIing of the pig, made an at
tack on the child and maoged it In such man
ner as to cau>e its death in few hours. Th'
moor child was dragged byahe hogs some twent.
wards and besides the mutllatlon OF It's bod.
and face, had one foot and one arm eaten en-
tirely off Charlottesville Chronicle.
The latest un, ergraduate joke at Yale Col
lege was the transfer, at midnight, of florist
!. sign-"New Haven Nursery to conspic
uous position on fouIishing young ladies