Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1889-04-20
THE GREAT DELUGE.
EVIDENCE THAT THE ENTIRE
EARTH WAS NOT INUN-
DATED.

Geological and archaeological
reasons combine to prove that geo.
graphically the deluge was not uni
versal. AT the time assigned for
the deluge the surface of the earth
was substantially as it Is now. If,
then, some great portion of the dry
land had been submerged, proper.
tionate rise of land above the waters
would have been necessary in some
other part of the globe. For, MS
Professor Alexander Wnchell oh.
served, {" the terrestrial globe, in
some of its behavior, may be com.
pared to an India.rubber ball filed
with water. If indented by pres.
sure in one place there must be a
.protuberance equal in volume in
another place. t1
Hence, if all Asia had been sub
merged, a porportionate amount of
dry land would have been lifted
above the waters somewhere else.
That Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia
and America were all submerged at
the same time seems geologically
impossible, and we have no evidence
which would justify us to assume
that God wrought so stupendous u
wouder.
On tue contrary, there are geolog.
ical and archaeological facts which
evidently prove that some portions
of the earth have not been inundat.
ed by the Noaehian deluge. For in.
stance, in Anvergne, France !; in the
Eifel country of the Prussian Rhine
providence; In New Zealand and
elsewhere, there are extinct volca-
noes, evidently older than Noe, that
are marked by cones of pumice.
stone, ashes, and such light sub.
stances as could not have resisted
the waters of the deluge.n
Whereabout was the delugeR In.
dieations seem to point to western
Central Asia. 1t is quite probable
that the ancestors Of Gods chosen
people of old, continued to reside
near the former happy home of our
first parents-the garden of Para.
disc. Now, this was undoubtedly
situated in western Central Asia, as
the Book of Genesis Enthusiastically
indicates by stating that four rivers,
the Prison, the GehoD, the Tigris
and the Euphrates, had their source
in the region Of the Paradise. That
really the Tigris and the Euphrates
of to-day were meant cannot be
doubted. In the first place, of the
Tigris it is expressly stated that it
is the same that passeth along the
Assyrians. Secondly, there is no
geological reason known why the
present Tigris and Euphrates should
not have existed in the days Of
Adam, or even long before.
Thus, for instance, our Missouri,
Ohio and Mississippi, the latter
about as far south as Tennessee,
seem to have been in existence dur
ing the tertiary age, long before the
appearance of man upon earth.
Moreover, it is not likely that the
transient innndation caused by the
deluge has permanently changed
the channels of these rivers, which
it could not have done without
changing the entire surface of the
surrounding territories. And, final.
~, the Book Of Genesis was written
at time when no other rivers were
known as the Tigris and the Euphra.
ties than the rivers which still bears
these names.
For these reasons it cannot be
doubted that the Paradise was Iocat
Ell somewhere near or about the
source of the present Tigris and En-
pirates IN Armenia. This is the
opinion of competent authorities
John Gmeiner in the Catholic World
for April.