Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1876-03-19
''The CIlailean Account Of Gen
esis."
Jew York Evening POst.l

new 1OIlA EfeUluS EOS's
The Mosaic accounts Of the Gre alton O!
the universe, the fall of man, the DEUCE,
and the confusion of tongues are as IA.
miiiar to the gCesttT pai t OF The civilized
world as hCusehOli words, yet they TO-
tFin a singular freshness Of intere
They are AIS )ciated, in many minds,
with the founding OF a wonderful spirit
ual religion; in otherg, Of different
mould, with the machinery Of gigantic
priestcraft; and ia others, which are not
troubled with tie question OF their au-
thentieity and emptiness, with the sur
roundings of home and childhood. IL
whatever aspect they may be viewed,
there is 3 fascination about their study
felt alike by the reverend senior of criti-
cism and the imaginative schoolboy;
and every new discovery in science or
literature that promises to promote their
better interpretation is hailed with
pleasure on all sides. We have no doubt,
therefore, that Mr. George Smiths new
book on The Chdldedn Account Of Gene
SIS, as the latest contribution to this de.
partment of learning, will find large
circle of curious readers, none Of whom
will begrudge the time required for it's
careful perussl. S1ch parts OF the
work Of the Chsldean historian Be-
rosus as have come down to
Us through later writer's indi-
cate that the BsEylonians were
possessed Of traditions respecting the
events described in the Hebrew book
Genesis, and corresponding more or less
folly with the versions there recorded; ;
still, as BerOsus wrote some time during
the third or fourth century before the
christian era, until lately the Oriental
lists mad no means OF knowing whether
these traditions were original with the
BsbylOnians, or were brought among
them by their Jewish captives. Relics
Of Assyrisn literature have Low been
thought to light, however, OF much
greater antiquity than the work Of B aro-
s1s, and with uuQuestioDsble traces of 8
Babylonian origin; and this fact, taken
in connection with the general agree.
ment between the topography of Bsbylo-
Bis and the description OF the Garden
Of Eden given by MOses, makes it rea-
sonable to believe that the Baby Ionian
legends were at least as ancient as those
Of the Jews, il, indeed, the latter were
not actually b)rOTed from the former.
Mr.. Smith has been diIigent student OF
the Assyrian inscriptions, aud his book
is IuS HuiI Vi DIE laDOTS IN tnaL uelu.
Some Of the tablets upon which the
most interesting legends are craven
were so badly broken when found that
considerable ingenuity was required
in arranging The fragments for de-
cipherment. Even sfter all has been
done that can be done, annoying gaps
occur here and there in an inscription.
robbiDg its sense Of completeness ana
its firm of symmetry. Or course, it Is
impossible for Us Of the present era to
guess through what a series Of modify
ing conditions the notion OF the origin
of all things, as held by the Jews before
the time OF Moses, may have passed in
order TO reach that simple and direct
epitome expressed in the opening words
Of Genesis: "In the beginning Gsd
created the heaven and the earth. And
the earth was without form and void:
and darkness was upon the face of the
deep. And the spirit Of God moved
upon the face of the Waters" We
know, however, that the Bsbylonians
had a complicated mythology; aud it is
only after accounting for the existence
of the heavenly host that their chIoni-
clers condescend 10 describe the ger era
ton of things mundane. The first Of