,,hasisadra',s ,,adventure  ,,essay #g  
,,from ,,science ,,and ,,hebrew         
,,tradition   ,by ,thomas ,henry ,huxley
    ,some thousands of years ago there  
was a city in ,mesopotamia called       
,surippak4 ,one night a strange dream   
came to a dweller therein1 whose name1  
if rightly reported1 was ,hasisadra4    
,the dream foretold the speedy coming of
 a great flood2 and it warned ,hasisadra
 to lose no time in building a ship1 in 
which1 when notice was given1 he1 his   
family and friends1 with their domestic 
animals and a collection of wild        
creatures and seed of plants of the     
land1 might take refuge and be rescued  
from destruction4 ,hasisadra awoke1 and 
at once acted upon the warning4 ,a      
strong decked ship was built1 and her   
sides were paid1 inside and out1 with   
the mineral pitch1 or bitumen1 with     
which the country abounded2 the vessel's
 seaworthiness was tested1 the cargo was
 stowed away1 and a trusty pilot or     
steersman appointed4  ,the promised     

signal arrived4 ,wife and friends       
embarked2 ,hasisadra1 following1        
prudently shut the door1 or1 as we      
should say1 put on the hatches2 and     
,nes-,hea1 the pilot1 was left alone on 
deck to do his best for the ship4       
,thereupon a hurricane began to rage2   
rain fell in torrents2 the subterranean 
waters burst forth2 a deluge swept over 
the land1 and the wind lashed it into   
waves sky high2 heaven and earth became 
mingled in chaotic gloom4 ,for six days 
and seven nights the gale raged1 but the
 good ship held out until1 on the       
seventh day1 the storm lulled4          
,hasisadra ventured on deck2 and1 seeing
 nothing but a waste of waters strewed  
with floating corpses and wreck1 wept   
over the destruction of his land and    
people4 ,far away1 the mountains of     
,nizir were visible2 the ship was       
steered for them and ran aground upon   
the higher land4 ,yet another seven days
 passed by4 ,on the seventh1 ,hasisadra 
sent forth a dove1 which found no       

resting place and returned2 then he     
liberated a swallow1 which also came    
back2 finally1 a raven was let loose1   
and that sagacious bird1 when it found  
that the water had abated1 came near the
 ship1 but refused to return to it4     
,upon this1 ,hasisadra liberated the    
rest of the wild animals1 which         
immediately dispersed in all directions1
 while he1 with his family and friends1 
ascending a mountain hard by1 offered   
sacrifice upon its summit to the gods4  
,the story thus given in summary        
abstract1 told in an ancient ,semitic   
dialect1 is inscribed in cuneiform      
characters upon a tablet of burnt clay4 
,many thousands of such tablets1        
collected by ,assurbanipal1 ,king of    
,assyria in the middle of the seventh   
century ,b4,c41 were stored in the      
library of his palace at ,nineveh2 and1 
though in a sadly broken and mutilated  
condition1 they have yielded a          
marvellous amount of information to the 
patient and sagacious labour which      

modern scholars have bestowed upon them4
 ,among the multitude of documents of   
various kinds1 this narrative of        
,hasisadra's adventure has been found in
 a tolerably complete state4 ,but       
,assyriologists agree that it is only a 
copy of a much more ancient work2 and   
there are weighty reasons for believing 
that the story of ,hasisadra's flood was
 well known in ,mesopotamia before the  
year #bjjj ,b4,c4  ,no doubt1 then1 we  
are in presence of a narrative which has
 all the authority which antiquity can  
confer2 and it is proper to deal        
respectfully with it1 even though it is 
quite as proper1 and indeed necessary1  
to act no less respectfully towards     
ourselves2 and1 before professing to put
 implicit faith in it1 to inquire what  
claim it has to be regarded as a serious
 account of an historical event4  ,it is
 of no use to appeal to contemporary    
history1 although the annals of         
,babylonia1 no less than those of       
,egypt1 go much further back than #bjjj 

,b4,c4 ,all that can be said is1 that   
the former are hardly consistent with   
the supposition that any catastrophe1   
competent to destroy all the population1
 has befallen the land since            
civilisation began1 and that the latter 
are notoriously silent about deluges4   
,in such a case as this1 however1 the   
silence of history does not leave the   
inquirer wholly at fault4 ,natural      
science has something to say when the   
phenomena of nature are in question4    
,natural science may be able to show1   
from the nature of the country1 either  
that such an event as that described in 
the story is impossible1 or at any rate 
highly improbable2 or1 on the other     
hand1 that it is consonant with         
probability4 ,in the former case1 the   
narrative must be suspected or rejected2
 in the latter1 no such summary verdict 
can be given3 on the contrary1 it must  
be admitted that the story may be true4 
,and then1 if certain strangely         
prevalent canons of criticism are       

accepted1 and if the evidence that an   
event might have happened is to be      
accepted as proof that it did happen1   
,assyriologists will be at liberty to   
congratulate one another on the         
confirmation by modern science of the   
authority of their ancient books4  ,it  
will be interesting1 therefore1 to      
inquire how far the physical structure  
and the other conditions of the region  
in which ,surippak was situated are     
compatible with such a flood as is      
described in the ,assyrian record4  ,the
 scene of ,hasisadra's adventure is laid
 in the broad valley1 six or seven      
hundred miles long1 and hardly anywhere 
less than a hundred miles in width1     
which is traversed by the lower courses 
of the rivers ,euphrates and ,tigris1   
and which is commonly known as the      
,euphrates valley4 ,rising1 at the one  
end1 into a hill country1 which         
gradually passes into the ,alpine       
heights of ,armenia2 and1 at the other1 
dipping beneath the shallow waters of   

the head of the ,persian ,gulf1 which   
continues in the same direction1 from   
north-west to south-east1 for some eight
 hundred miles farther1 the floor of the
 valley presents a gradual slope1 from  
eight hundred feet above the sea level  
to the depths of the southern end of the
 ,persian ,gulf4 ,the boundary between  
sea and land1 formed by the extremest   
mudflats of the delta of the two rivers1
 is but vaguely defined2 and1 year by   
year1 it advances seaward4 ,on the      
north-eastern side1 the western frontier
 ranges of ,persia rise abruptly to     
great heights2 on the south-western     
side1 a more gradual ascent leads to a  
table-land of less elevation1 which1    
very broad in the south1 where it is    
occupied by the deserts of ,arabia and  
of ,southern ,syria1 narrows1           
northwards1 into the highlands of       
,palestine1 and is continued by the     
ranges of the ,lebanon1 the             
,antilebanon1 and the ,taurus1 into the 
highlands of ,armenia4  ,the wide and   

gently inclined plain1 thus inclosed    
between the gulf and the highlands1 on  
each side and at its upper extremity1 is
 distinguishable into two regions of    
very different character1 one of which  
lies north1 and the other south of the  
parallel of ,hit1 on the ,euphrates4    
,except in the immediate vicinity of the
 river1 the northern division is stony  
and scantily covered with vegetation1   
except in spring4 ,over the southern    
division1 on the contrary1 spreads a    
deep alluvial soil1 in which even a     
pebble is rare2 and which1 though1 under
 the existing misrule1 mainly a waste of
 marsh and wilderness1 needs only       
intelligent attention to become1 as it  
was of old1 the granary of western      
,asia4 ,except in the extreme south1 the
 rainfall is small and the air dry4 ,the
 heat in summer is intense1 while       
bitterly cold northern blasts sweep the 
plain in winter4 ,whirlwinds are not    
uncommon2 and1 in the intervals of the  
periodical inundations1 the fine1 dry1  

powdery soil is swept1 even by moderate 
breezes1 into stifling clouds1 or rather
 fogs1 of dust4 ,low inequalities1      
elevations here and depressions there1  
diversify the surface of the alluvial   
region4 ,the latter are occupied by     
enormous marshes1 while the former      
support the permanent dwellings of the  
present scanty and miserable population4
  ,in antiquity1 so long as the         
canalisation of the country was properly
 carried out1 the fertility of the      
alluvial plain enabled great and        
prosperous nations to have their home in
 the ,euphrates valley4 ,its abundant   
clay furnished the materials for the    
masses of sun-dried and burnt bricks1   
the remains of which1 in the shape of   
huge artificial mounds1 still testify to
 both the magnitude and the industry of 
the population1 thousands of years ago4 
,good cement is plentiful1 while the    
bitumen1 which wells from the rocks at  
,hit and elsewhere1 not only answers the
 same purpose1 but is used to this day1 

as it was in ,hasisadra's time1 to pay  
the inside and the outside of boats4    
,in the broad lower course of the       
,euphrates1 the stream rarely acquires a
 velocity of more than three miles an   
hour1 while the lower ,tigris attains   
double that rate in times of flood4 ,the
 water of both great rivers is mainly   
derived from the northern and eastern   
highlands in ,armenia and in ,kurdistan1
 and stands at its lowest level in early
 autumn and in ,january4 ,but when the  
snows accumulated in the upper basins of
 the great rivers1 during the winter1   
melt under the hot sunshine of spring1  
they rapidly rise1 #a and at length     
overflow their banks1 covering the      
alluvial plain with a vast inland sea1  
interrupted only by the higher ridges   
and hummocks which form islands in a    
seemingly boundless expanse of water4   
,in the occurrence of these annual      
inundations lies one of several         
resemblances between the valley of the  
,euphrates and that of the ,nile4 ,but  

there are important differences4 ,the   
time of the annual flood is reversed1   
the ,nile being highest in autumn and   
winter1 and lowest in spring and early  
summer4 ,the periodical overflows of the
 ,nile1 regulated by the great lake     
basins in the south1 are usually        
punctual in arrival1 gradual in growth1 
and beneficial in operation4 ,no lakes  
are interposed between the mountain     
torrents of the upper basis of the      
,tigris and the ,euphrates and their    
lower courses4 ,hence1 heavy rain1 or an
 unusually rapid thaw in the uplands1   
gives rise to the sudden irruption of a 
vast volume of water which not even the 
rapid ,tigris1 still less its more      
sluggish companion1 can carry off in    
time to prevent violent and dangerous   
overflows4 ,without an elaborate system 
of canalisation1 providing an escape for
 such sudden excesses of the supply of  
water1 the annual floods of the         
,euphrates1 and especially of the       
,tigris1 must always be attended with   

risk1 and often prove harmful4  ,there  
are other peculiarities of the          
,euphrates valley which may occasionally
 tend to exacerbate the evils attendant 
on the inundations4 ,it is very subject 
to seismic disturbances2 and the        
ordinary consequences of a sharp        
earthquake shock might be seriously     
complicated by its effect on a broad    
sheet of water4 ,moreover the ,indian   
,ocean lies within the region of        
typhoons2 and if1 at the height of an   
inundation1 a hurricane from the        
south-east swept up the ,persian ,gulf1 
driving its shallow waters upon the     
delta and damming back the outflow1     
perhaps for hundreds of miles up-stream1
 a diluvial catastrophe1 fairly up to   
the mark of ,hasisadra's1 might easily  
result4 #b  ,thus there seems to be no  
valid reason for rejecting ,hasisadra's 
story on physical grounds4 ,i do not    
gather from the narrative that the      
mountains of ,nizir were supposed to be 
submerged1 but merely that they came    

into view above the distant horizon of  
the waters1 as the vessel drove in that 
direction4 ,certainly the ship is not   
supposed to ground on any of their      
higher summits1 for ,hasisadra has to   
ascend a peak in order to offer his     
sacrifice4 ,the country of ,nizir lay on
 the north-eastern side of the          
,euphrates valley1 about the courses of 
the two rivers ,zab1 which enter the    
,tigris where it traverses the plain of 
,assyria some eight or nine hundred feet
 above the sea2 and1 so far as ,i can   
judge from maps #c and other sources of 
information1 it is possible1 under the  
circumstances supposed1 that such a ship
 as ,hasisadra's might drive before a   
southerly gale1 over a continuously     
flooded country1 until it grounded on   
some of the low hills between which both
 the lower and the upper ,zab enter upon
 the ,assyrian plain4  ,the tablet which
 contains the story under consideration 
is the eleventh of a series of twelve4  
,each of these answers to a month1 and  

to the corresponding sign of the        
,zodiac4 ,the ,assyrian year began with 
the spring equinox2 consequently1 the   
eleventh month1 called the rainy1       
answers to our ,january-,february1 and  
to the sign which corresponds with our  
,aquarius4 ,the aquatic adventure of    
,hasisadra1 therefore1 is not           
inappropriately placed4 ,it is curious1 
however1 that the season thus indirectly
 assigned to the flood is not that of   
the present highest level of the rivers4
 ,it is too late for the winter rise and
 too early for the spring floods4  ,i   
think it must be admitted that1 so far1 
the physical cross-examination to which 
,hasisadra has been subjected does not  
break down his story4 ,on the contrary1 
he proves to have kept it in all        
essential respects #d within the bounds 
of probability or possibility4 ,however1
 we have not yet done with him4 ,for the
 conditions which obtained in the       
,euphrates valley1 four or five thousand
 years ago1 may have differed to such an

 extent from those which now exist that 
we should be able to convict him of     
having made up his tale4 ,but here again
 everything is in favour of his         
credibility4 ,indeed1 he may claim very 
powerful support1 for it does not lie in
 the mouths of those who accept the     
authority of the ,pentateuch to deny    
that the ,euphrates valley was what it  
is1 even six thousand years back4       
,according to the book of ,genesis1     
,phrat and ,hiddekel--the ,euphrates and
 the ,tigris--are coeval with ,paradise4
 ,an edition of the ,scriptures1        
recently published under high authority1
 with an elaborate apparatus of ,helps  
for the use of students--and therefore1 
as ,i am bound to suppose1 purged of all
 statements that could by any           
possibility mislead the young--assigns  
the year ,b4,c4 #djjd as the date of    
,adam's too brief residence in that     
locality4  ,but ,i am far from depending
 on this authority for the age of the   
,mesopotamian plain4 ,on the contrary1  

,i venture to rely1 with much more      
confidence1 on another kind of evidence1
 which tends to show that the age of the
 great rivers must be carried back to a 
date earlier than that at which our     
ingenuous youth is instructed that the  
earth came into existence4 ,for1 the    
alluvial deposit having been brought    
down by the rivers1 they must needs be  
older than the plain it forms1 as       
navvies must needs antecede the         
embankment painfully built up by the    
contents of their wheel-barrows4 ,for   
thousands of years1 heat and cold1 rain1
 snow1 and frost1 the scrubbing of      
glaciers1 and the scouring of torrents  
laden with sand and gravel1 have been   
wearing down the rocks of the upper     
basins of the rivers1 over an area of   
many thousand square miles2 and these   
materials1 ground to fine powder in the 
course of their long journey1 have      
slowly subsided1 as the water which     
carried them spread out and lost its    
velocity in the sea4 ,it is because this

 process is still going on that the     
shore of the delta constantly encroaches
 on the head of the gulf #e into which  
the two rivers are constantly throwing  
the waste of ,armenia and of ,kurdistan4
 ,hence1 as might be expected1          
fluviatile and marine shells are common 
in the alluvial deposit2 and ,loftus    
found strata1 containing subfossil      
marine shells of species now living1 in 
the ,persian ,gulf1 at ,warka1 two      
hundred miles in a straight line from   
the shore of the delta4 #f ,it follows  
that1 if a trustworthy estimate of the  
average rate of growth of the alluvial  
can be formed1 the lowest limit 7by no  
means the highest limit7 of age of the  
rivers can be determined4 ,all such     
estimates are beset with sources of     
error of very various kinds2 and the    
best of them can only be regarded as    
approximations to the truth4 ,but ,i    
think it will be quite safe to assume a 
maximum rate of growth of four miles in 
a century for the lower half of the     

alluvial plain4  ,now1 the cycle of     
narratives of which ,hasisadra's        
adventure forms a part contains         
allusions not only to ,surippak1 the    
exact position of which is doubtful1 but
 to other cities1 such as ,erech4 ,the  
vast ruins at the present village of    
,warka have been carefully explored and 
determined to be all that remains of    
that once great and flourishing city1   
,erech the lofty4 ,supposing that the   
two hundred miles of alluvial country1  
which separates them from the head of   
the ,persian ,gulf at present1 have been
 deposited at the very high rate of four
 miles in a century1 it will follow that
 #djjj years ago1 or about the year     
#bajj ,b4,c41 the city of ,erech still  
lay forty miles inland4 ,indeed1 the    
city might have been built a thousand   
years earlier4 ,moreover1 there is      
plenty of independent archaeological and
 other evidence that in the whole       
thousand years1 #bjjj to #cjjj ,b4,c1   
the alluvial plain was inhabited by a   

numerous people1 among whom industry1   
art1 and literature had attained a very 
considerable development4 ,and it can be
 shown that the physical conditions and 
the climate of the ,euphrates valley1 at
 that time1 must have been extremely    
similar to what they are now4  ,thus1   
once more1 we reach the conclusion that1
 as a question of physical probability1 
there is no ground for objecting to the 
reality of ,hasisadra's adventure4 ,it  
would be unreasonable to doubt that such
 a flood might have happened1 and that  
such a person might have escaped in the 
way described1 any time during the last 
#ejjj years4 ,and if the postulate of   
loose thinkers in search of scientific  
confirmations of questionable           
narratives--proof that an event may have
 happened is evidence that it did       
happen--is to be accepted1 surely       
,hasisadra's story is confirmed by      
modern scientific investigation beyond  
all cavil4 ,however1 it may be well to  
pause before adopting this conclusion1  

because the original story1 of which ,i 
have set forth only the broad outlines1 
contains a great many statements which  
rest upon just the same foundation as   
those cited1 and yet are hardly likely  
to meet with general acceptance4 ,the   
account of the circumstances which led  
up to the flood1 of those under which   
,hasisadra's adventure was made known to
 his descendant1 of certain remarkable  
incidents before and after the flood1   
are inseparably bound up with the       
details already given4 ,and ,i am unable
 to discover any justification for      
arbitrarily picking out some of these   
and dubbing them historical verities1   
while rejecting the rest as legendary   
fictions4 ,they stand or fall together4 
,before proceeding to the consideration 
of these less satisfactory details1 it  
is needful to remark that ,hasisadra's  
adventure is a mere episode in a cycle  
of stories of which a personage1 whose  
name is provisionally read ,izdubar1 is 
the centre4 ,the nature of ,izdubar     

hovers vaguely between the heroic and   
the divine2 sometimes he seems a mere   
man1 sometimes approaches so closely to 
the divinities of fire and of the sun as
 to be hardly distinguishable from them4
 ,as ,i have already mentioned1 the     
tablet which sets forth ,hasisadra's    
perils is one of twelve2 and1 since each
 of these represents a month and bears a
 story appropriate to the corresponding 
sign of the ,zodiac1 great weight must  
be attached to ,sir ,henry ,rawlinson's 
suggestion that the epos of ,izdubar is 
a poetical embodiment of solar          
mythology4  ,in the earlier books of the
 epos1 the hero1 not content with       
rejecting the proffered love of the     
,chaldaean ,aphrodite1 ,istar1 freely   
expresses his very low estimate of her  
character2 and it is interesting to     
observe that1 even in this early stage  
of human experience1 men had reached a  
conception of that law of nature which  
expresses the inevitable consequences of
 an imperfect appreciation of feminine  

charms4 ,the injured goddess makes      
,izdubar's life a burden to him1 until  
at last1 sick in body and sorry in mind1
 he is driven to seek aid and comfort   
from his forbears in the world of       
spirits4 ,so this antitype of ,odysseus 
journeys to the shore of the waters of  
death1 and there takes ship with a      
,chaldaean ,charon1 who carries him     
within hail of his ancestor ,hasisadra4 
,that venerable personage not only gives
 ,izdubar instructions how to regain his
 health1 but tells him1 somewhat a      
propos des bottes 7after the manner of  
venerable personages71 the long story of
 his perilous adventure2 and how it     
befell that he1 his wife1 and his       
steersman came to dwell among the       
blessed gods1 without passing through   
the portals of death like ordinary      
mortals4  ,according to the full story1 
the sins of mankind had become grievous2
 and1 at a council of the gods1 it was  
resolved to extirpate the whole race by 
a great flood4 ,and1 once more1 let us  

note the uniformity of human experience4
 ,it would appear that1 four thousand   
years ago1 the obligations of           
confidential intercourse about matters  
of state were sometimes violated--of    
course from the best of motives4 ,ea1   
one of the three chiefs of the          
,chaldaean ,pantheon1 the god of justice
 and of practical wisdom1 was also the  
god of the sea2 and1 yielding to the    
temptation to do a friend a good turn1  
irresistible to kindly seafaring folks  
of all ranks1 he warned ,hasisadra of   
what was coming4 ,when ,bel subsequently
 reproached him for this breach of      
confidence1 ,ea defended himself by     
declaring that he did not tell          
,hasisadra anything2 he only sent him a 
dream4 ,this was undoubtedly sailing    
very near the wind2 but the attribution 
of a little benevolent obliquity of     
conduct to one of the highest of the    
gods is a trifle compared with the truly
 ,homeric anthropomorphism which        
characterises other parts of the epos4  

,the ,chaldan deities are1 in truth1    
extremely human2 and1 occasionally1 the 
narrator does not scruple to represent  
them in a manner which is not only      
inconsistent with our idea of reverence1
 but is sometimes distinctly humorous4  
#g ,when the storm is at its height1 he 
exhibits them flying in a state of panic
 to ,anu1 the god of heaven1 and        
crouching before his portal like        
frightened dogs4 ,as the smoke of       
,hasisadra's sacrifice arises1 the gods1
 attracted by the sweet savour1 are     
compared to swarms of flies4 ,i have    
already remarked that the lady ,istar's 
reputation is torn to shreds2 while she 
and ,ea scold ,bel handsomely for his   
ferocity and injustice in destroying the
 innocent along with the guilty4 ,one is
 reminded of ,here hung up with weighted
 heels2 of misleading dreams sent by    
,zeus2 of ,ares howling as he flies from
 the ,trojan battlefield2 and of the    
very questionable dealings of ,aphrodite
 with ,helen and ,paris4  ,but to return

 to the story4 ,bel was1 at first1      
excluded from the sacrifice as the      
author of all the mischief2 which really
 was somewhat hard upon him1 since the  
other gods agreed to his proposal4 ,but 
eventually a reconciliation takes place2
 the great bow of ,anu is displayed in  
the heavens2 ,bel agrees that he will be
 satisfied with what war1 pestilence1   
famine1 and wild beasts can do in the   
way of destroying men2 and that1        
henceforward1 he will not have recourse 
to extraordinary measures4 ,finally1 it 
is ,bel himself who1 by way of making   
amends1 transports ,hasisadra1 his wife1
 and the faithful ,nes-,hea to the abode
 of the gods4  ,it is as indubitable as 
it is incomprehensible to most of us1   
that1 for thousands of years1 a great   
people1 quite as intelligent as we are1 
and living in as high a state of        
civilisation as that which had been     
attained in the greater part of ,europe 
a few centuries ago1 entertained not the
 slightest doubt that ,anu1 ,bel1 ,ea1  

,istar1 and the rest1 were real         
personages1 possessed of boundless      
powers for good and evil4 ,the sincerity
 of the monarchs whose inscriptions     
gratefully attribute their victories to 
,merodach1 or to ,assur1 is as little to
 be questioned as that of the authors of
 the hymns and penitential psalms which 
give full expression to the heights and 
depths of religious devotion4 ,an       
infidel bold enough to deny the         
existence1 or to doubt the influence1 of
 these deities probably did not exist in
 all ,mesopotamia2 and even constructive
 rebellion against their authority was  
apt to end in the deprivation1 not      
merely of the good name1 but of the skin
 of the offender4 ,the adherents of     
modern theological systems dismiss these
 objects of the love and fear of a      
hundred generations of their equals1    
offhand1 as gods of the heathen1 mere   
creations of a wicked and idolatrous    
imagination2 and1 along with them1 they 
disown1 as senseless1 the crude         

theology1 with its gross                
anthropomorphism and its low ethical    
conception of the divinity1 which       
satisfied the pious souls of ,chaldaea4 
,i imagine1 though ,i do not presume to 
be sure1 that any endeavour to save the 
intellectual and moral credit of        
,chaldaean religion1 by suggesting the  
application to it of that universal     
solvent of absurdities1 the allegorical 
method1 would be scouted2 ,i will not   
even suggest that any ingenuity can be  
equal to the discovery of the antitypes 
of the personifications effected by the 
religious imagination of later ages1 in 
the triad ,anu1 ,ea1 and ,bel1 still    
less in ,istar4 ,therefore1 unless some 
plausible reconciliatory scheme should  
be propounded by a ,neo-,chaldaean      
devotee 7and1 with ,neo-,buddhists to   
the fore1 this supposition is not so    
wild as it looks71 ,i suppose the       
moderns will continue to smile1 in a    
superior way1 at the grievous absurdity 
of the polytheistic idolatry of these   

ancient people4  ,it is probably a      
congenital absence of some faculty which
 ,i ought to possess which withholds me 
from adopting this summary procedure4   
,but ,i am not ashamed to share ,david  
,hume's want of ability to discover that
 polytheism is1 in itself1 altogether   
absurd4 ,if we are bound1 or permitted1 
to judge the government of the world by 
human standards1 it appears to me that  
directorates are proved1 by familiar    
experience1 to conduct the largest and  
the most complicated concerns quite as  
well as solitary despots4 ,i have never 
been able to see why the hypothesis of a
 divine syndicate should be found guilty
 of innate absurdity4 ,those ,assyrians1
 in particular1 who held ,assur to be   
the one supreme and creative deity1 to  
whom all the other supernal powers were 
subordinate1 might fairly ask that the  
essential difference between their      
system and that which obtains among the 
great majority of their modern          
theological critics should be           

demonstrated4 ,in my apprehension1 it is
 not the quantity1 but the quality1 of  
the persons1 among whom the attributes  
of divinity are distributed1 which is   
the serious matter4 ,if the divine might
 is associated with no higher ethical   
attributes than those which obtain among
 ordinary men2 if the divine            
intelligence is supposed to be so       
imperfect that it cannot foresee the    
consequences of its own contrivances2 if
 the supernal powers can become         
furiously angry with the creatures of   
their omnipotence and1 in their         
senseless wrath1 destroy the innocent   
along with the guilty2 or if they can   
show themselves to be as easily placated
 by presents and gross flattery as any  
oriental or occidental despot2 if1 in   
short1 they are only stronger than      
mortal men and no better1 as it must be 
admitted ,hasisadra's deities proved    
themselves to be--then1 surely1 it is   
time for us to look somewhat closely    
into their credentials1 and to accept   

none but conclusive evidence of their   
existence4  ,to the majority of my      
respected contemporaries this reasoning 
will doubtless appear feeble1 if not    
worse4 ,however1 to my mind1 such are   
the only arguments by which the         
,chaldaean theology can be              
satisfactorily upset4 ,so far from there
 being any ground for the belief that   
,ea1 ,anu1 and ,bel are1 or ever were1  
real entities1 it seems to me quite     
infinitely more probable that they are  
products of the religious imagination1  
such as are to be found everywhere and  
in all ages1 so long as that imagination
 riots uncontrolled by scientific       
criticism4  ,it is on these grounds that
 ,i venture1 at the risk of being called
 an atheist by the ghosts of all the    
principals of all the colleges of       
,babylonia1 or by their living          
successors among the ,neo-,chaldaeans1  
if that sect should arise1 to express my
 utter disbelief in the gods of         
,hasisadra4 ,hence1 it follows1 that ,i 

find ,hasisadra's account of their share
 in his adventure incredible2 and1 as   
the physical details of the flood are   
inseparable from its theophanic         
accompaniments1 and are guaranteed by   
the same authority1 ,i must let them go 
with the rest4 ,the consistency of such 
details with probability counts for     
nothing4 ,the inhabitants of ,chaldaea  
must always have been familiar with     
inundations2 probably no generation     
failed to witness an inundation which   
rose unusually high1 or was rendered    
serious by coincident atmospheric or    
other disturbances4 ,and the memory of  
the general features of any             
exceptionally severe and devastating    
flood1 would be preserved by popular    
tradition for long ages4 ,what1 then1   
could be more natural than that a       
,chaldaean poet should seek for the     
incidents of a great catastrophe among  
such phenomena8 ,in what other way than 
by such an appeal to their experience   
could he so surely awaken in his        

audience the tragic pity and terror8    
,what possible ground is there for      
insisting that he must have had some    
individual good in view1 and that his   
history is historical1 in the sense that
 the account of the effects of a        
hurricane in the ,bay of ,bengal1 in the
 year #ahge1 is historical8   ,more than
 three centuries after the time of      
,assurbanipal1 ,berosus of ,babylon1    
born in the reign of ,alexander the     
,great1 wrote an account of the history 
of his country in ,greek4 ,the work of  
,berosus has vanished2 but extracts from
 it--how far faithful is uncertain--have
 been preserved by later writers4 ,among
 these occurs the well-known story of   
the ,deluge of ,xisuthros1 which is     
evidently built upon the same foundation
 as that of ,hasisadra4 ,the incidents  
of the divine warning1 the building of  
the ship1 the sending out of birds1 the 
ascension of the hero1 betray their     
common origin4 ,but stories1 like       
,madeira1 acquire a heightened flavour  

with time and travel2 and the version of
 ,berosus is characterised by those     
circumstantial improbabilities which    
habitually gather round the legend of a 
legend4 ,the later narrator knows the   
exact day of the month on which the     
flood began4 ,the dimensions of the ship
 are stated with ,munchausenian         
precision at five stadia by two--say1   
half by one-fifth of an ,english mile4  
,the ship runs aground among the        
,gordaean mountains to the south of     
,lake ,van1 in ,armenia1 beyond the     
limits of any imaginable real inundation
 of the ,euphrates valley2 and1 by way  
of climax1 we have the assertion1 worthy
 of the sailor who said that he had     
brought up one of ,pharaoh's chariot    
wheels on the fluke of his anchor in the
 ,red ,sea1 that pilgrims visited the   
locality and made amulets of the bitumen
 which they scraped off from the still  
extant remains of the mighty ship of    
,xisuthros4  ,suppose that some later   
polyhistor1 as devoid of critical       

faculty as most of his tribe1 had found 
the version of ,berosus1 as well as     
another much nearer the original story2 
that1 having too much respect for his   
authorities to make up a tertium quid of
 his own1 out of the materials offered1 
he followed a practice1 common enough   
among ancient and1 particularly1 among  
,semitic historians1 of dividing1 both  
into fragments and piecing these        
together1 without troubling himself very
 much about those resulting repetitions 
and inconsistencies2 the product of such
 a primitive editorial operation would  
be a narrative analogous to that which  
treats of the ,noachian deluge in the   
book of ,genesis4 ,for the ,pentateuchal
 story is indubitably a patchwork1      
composed of fragments of at least two1  
different and partly discrepant1        
narratives1 quilted together in such an 
inartistic fashion that the seams remain
 conspicuous4 ,and1 in the matter of    
circumstantial exaggeration1 it in some 
respects excels even the second-hand    

legend of ,berosus4  ,there is a certain
 practicality about the notion of taking
 refuge from floods and storms in a ship
 provided with a steersman2 but1 surely1
 no one who had ever seen more water    
than he could wade through would dream  
of facing even a moderate breeze1 in a  
huge three-storied coffer1 or box1 three
 hundred cubits long1 fifty wide and    
thirty high1 left to drift without      
rudder or pilot4 #h ,not content with   
giving the exact year of ,noah's age in 
which the flood began1 the ,pentateuchal
 story adds the month and the day of the
 month4 ,it is the ,deity himself who   
shuts in ,noah4 ,the modest week        
assigned to the full deluge in          
,hasisadra's story becomes forty days1  
in one of the ,pentateuchal accounts1   
and a hundred and fifty in the other4   
,the flood1 which1 in the version of    
,berosus1 has grown so high as to cast  
the ship among the mountains of         
,armenia1 is improved upon in the       
,hebrew account until it covers all the 

high hills that were under the whole    
heaven2 and1 when it begins to subside1 
the ark is left stranded on the summit  
of the highest peak1 commonly identified
 with ,ararat itself4  ,while the       
details of ,hasisadra's adventure are1  
at least1 compatible with the physical  
conditions of the ,euphrates valley1    
and1 as we have seen1 involve no        
catastrophe greater than such as might  
be brought under those conditions1 many 
of the very precisely stated details of 
,noah's flood contradict some of the    
best established results of scientific  
inquiry4  ,if it is certain that the    
alluvium of the ,mesopotamian plain has 
been brought down by the ,tigris and the
 ,euphrates1 then it is no less certain 
that the physical structure of the whole
 valley has persisted1 without material 
modification1 for many thousand years   
before the date assigned to the flood4  
,if the summits1 even of the moderately 
elevated ridges which immediately bound 
the valley1 still more those of the     

,kurdish and ,armenian mountains1 were  
ever covered by water1 for even forty   
days1 that water must have extended over
 the whole earth4 ,if the earth was thus
 covered1 anywhere between #djjj and    
#ejjj years ago1 or1 at any other time1 
since the higher terrestrial animals    
came into existence1 they must have been
 destroyed from the whole face of it1 as
 the ,pentateuchal account declares they
 were three several times 7,genesis vii4
 #ba1 #bb1 #bc71 in language which      
cannot be made more emphatic1 or more   
solemn1 than it is2 and the present     
population must consist of the          
descendants of emigrants from the ark4  
,and1 if that is the case1 then1 as has 
often been pointed out1 the sloths of   
the ,brazilian forests1 the kangaroos of
 ,australia1 the great tortoises of the 
,galapagos islands1 must have           
respectively hobbled1 hopped1 and       
crawled over many thousand miles of land
 and sea from ,ararat to their present  
habitations4 ,thus1 the unquestionable  

facts of the geographical distribution  
of recent land animals1 alone1 form an  
insuperable obstacle to the acceptance  
of the assertion that the kinds of      
animals composing the present           
terrestrial fauna have been1 at any     
time1 universally destroyed in the way  
described in the ,pentateuch4  ,it is   
upon this and other unimpeachable       
grounds that1 as ,i ventured to say some
 time ago1 persons who are duly         
conversant with even the elements of    
natural science decline to take the     
,noachian deluge seriously2 and that1 as
 ,i also pointed out1 candid            
theologians1 who1 without special       
scientific knowledge1 have appreciated  
the weight of scientific arguments1 have
 long since given it up4 ,but1 as       
,goethe has remarked1 there is nothing  
more terrible than energetic ignorance2 
#i and there are1 even yet1 very        
energetic people1 who are neither       
candid1 nor clear-headed1 nor           
theologians1 still less properly        

instructed in the elements of natural   
science1 who make prodigious efforts to 
obscure the effect of these plain       
truths1 and to conceal their real       
surrender of the historical character of
 ,noah's deluge under cover of the smoke
 of a great discharge of                
pseudoscientific artillery4 ,they seem  
to imagine that the proofs which abound 
in all parts of the world1 of large     
oscillations of the relative level of   
land and sea1 combined with the         
probability that1 when the sea-level was
 rising1 sudden incursions of the sea   
like that which broke in over ,holland  
and formed the ,zuyder ,zee1 may have   
often occurred1 can be made to look like
 evidence that something that1 by       
courtesy1 might be called a general     
,deluge has really taken place4 ,their  
discursive energy drags misunderstood   
truth into their service2 and the       
glacial epoch is as sure to crop up     
among them as ,king ,charles's head in a
 famous memorial--with about as much    

appropriateness4 ,the old story of the  
raised beach on ,moel ,tryfaen is       
trotted out2 though1 even if the facts  
are as yet rightly interpreted1 there is
 not a shadow of evidence that the      
change of sea-level in that locality was
 sudden1 or that glacial ,welshmen would
 have known it was taking place4 #aj    
,surely it is difficult to perceive the 
relevancy of bringing in something that 
happened in the glacial epoch 7if it did
 happen7 to account for the tradition of
 a flood in the ,euphrates valley       
between #bjjj and #cjjj ,b4,c4 ,but the 
date of the ,noachian flood is solidly  
fixed by the sole authority for it2 no  
shuffling of the chronological data will
 carry it so far back as #cjjj ,b4,c42  
and the ,hebrew epos agrees with the    
,chaldaean in placing it after the      
development of a somewhat advanced      
civilisation4 ,the only authority for   
the ,noachian deluge assures us that1   
before it visited the earth1 ,cain had  
built cities2 ,jubal had invented harps 

and organs2 while mankind had advanced  
so far beyond the neolithic1 nay even   
the bronze1 stage that ,tubal-cain was a
 worker in iron4 ,therefore1 if the     
,noachian legend is to be taken for the 
history of an event which happened in   
the glacial epoch1 we must revise our   
notions of pleistocene civilisation4 ,on
 the other hand1 if the ,pentateuchal   
story only means something quite        
different1 that happened somewhere else1
 thousands of years earlier1 dressed up1
 what becomes of its credit as history8 
,i wonder what would be said to a modern
 historian who asserted that ,pekin was 
burnt down in #ahhf1 and then tried to  
justify the assertion by adducing       
evidence of the ,great ,fire of ,london 
in #afff4 ,yet the attempt to save the  
credit of the ,noachian story by        
reference to something which is supposed
 to have happened in the far north1 in  
the glacial epoch1 is far more          
preposterous4  ,moreover1 these         
dust-raising dialecticians ignore some  

of the most important and well-known    
facts which bear upon the question4     
,anything more than a parochial         
acquaintance with physical geography and
 geology would suffice to remind its    
possessor that the ,holy ,land itself   
offers a standing protest against       
bringing such a deluge as that of ,noah 
anywhere near it1 either in historical  
times or in the course of that          
pleistocene period1 of which the great  
ice age formed a part4  ,judaea and     
,galilee1 ,moab and ,gilead1 occupy part
 of that extensive tableland at the     
summit of the western boundary of the   
,euphrates valley1 to which ,i have     
already referred4 ,if that valley had   
ever been filled with water to a height 
sufficient1 not indeed to cover a third 
of ,ararat1 in the north1 or half of    
some of the mountains of the ,persian   
frontier in the east1 but to reach even 
four or five thousand feet1 it must have
 stood over the ,palestinian hog's back1
 and have filled1 up to the brim1 every 

depression on its surface4 ,therefore it
 could not have failed to fill that     
remarkable trench in which the ,dead    
,sea1 the ,jordan1 and the ,sea of      
,galilee lie1 and which is known as the 
,jordan-,arabah valley4  ,this long and 
deep hollow extends more than #bjj      
miles1 from near the site of ancient    
,dan in the north1 to the water-parting 
at the head of the ,wady ,arabah in the 
south2 and its deepest part1 at the     
bottom of the basin of the ,dead ,sea1  
lies #bejj feet below the surface of the
 adjacent ,mediterranean4 ,the lowest   
portion of the rim of the               
,jordan-,arabah valley is situated at   
the village of ,el ,fuleh1 #beg feet    
above the ,mediterranean4 ,everywhere   
else the circumjacent heights rise to a 
very much greater altitude4 ,hence1 of  
the water which stood over the ,syrian  
tableland1 when as much drained off as  
could run away1 enough would remain to  
form a ,mere without an outlet1 #bgeg   
feet deep1 over the present site of the 

,dead ,sea4 ,from this time forth1 the  
level of the ,palestinian mere could be 
lowered only by evaporation4 ,it is an  
extremely interesting fact1 which has   
happily escaped capture for the purposes
 of the energetic misunderstanding1 that
 the valley1 at one time1 was filled1   
certainly within #aej feet of this      
height--probably higher4 ,and it is     
almost equally certain1 that the time at
 which this great ,jordan-,arabah mere  
reached its highest level coincides with
 the glacial epoch4 ,but then the       
evidence which goes to prove this1 also 
leads to the conclusion that this state 
of things obtained at a period          
considerably older than even #djjj      
,b4,c41 when the world1 according to the
 ,helps 7or shall we say ,hindrances7   
provided for the simple student of the  
,bible1 was created2 that it was not    
brought about by any diluvial           
catastrophe1 but was the result of a    
change in the relative activities of    
certain natural operations which are    

quietly going on now2 and that1 since   
the level of the mere began to sink1    
many thousand years ago1 no serious     
catastrophe of any description has      
affected the valley4  ,the evidence that
 the ,jordan-,arabah valley really was  
once filled with water1 the surface of  
which reached within #afj feet of the   
level of the pass of ,jezrael1 and      
possibly stood higher1 is this3 ,remains
 of alluvial strata1 containing shells  
of the freshwater mollusks which still  
inhabit the valley1 worn down into      
terraces by waves which long rippled at 
the same level1 and furrowed by the     
channels excavated by modern rainfalls1 
have been found at the former height2   
and they are repeated1 at intervals1    
lower down1 until the ,ghor1 or plain of
 the ,jordan1 itself an alluvial        
deposit1 is reached4 ,these strata      
attain a considerable thickness2 and    
they indicate that the epoch at which   
the freshwater mere of ,palestine       
reached its highest level is extremely  

remote2 that its diminution has taken   
place very slowly1 and with periods of  
rest1 during which the first formed     
deposits were cut down into terraces4   
,this conclusion is strikingly borne out
 by other facts4 ,a volcanic region     
stretches from ,galilee to ,gilead and  
the ,hauran1 on each side of the        
northern end of the valley4 ,some of the
 streams of basaltic lava which have    
been thrown out from its craters and    
clefts in times of which history has no 
record1 have run athwart the course of  
the ,jordan itself1 or of that of some  
of its tributary streams4 ,the lava     
streams1 therefore1 must be of later    
date than the depressions they fill4    
,and yet1 where they have thus          
temporarily dammed the ,jordan and the  
,jermuk1 these streams have had time to 
cut through the hard basalts and lay    
bare the beds1 over which1 before the   
lava streams invaded them1 they flowed4 
,in fact1 the antiquity of the present  
,jordan-,arabah valley1 as a hollow in a

 tableland1 out of reach of the sea1 and
 troubled by no diluvial or other       
disturbances1 beyond the volcanic       
eruptions of ,gilead and of ,galilee1 is
 vast1 even as estimated by a geological
 standard4 ,no marine deposits of later 
than miocene age occur in or about it2  
and there is every reason to believe    
that the ,syro-,arabian plateau has been
 dry land1 throughout the pliocene and  
later epochs1 down to the present time4 
,raised beaches1 containing recent      
shells1 on the ,levantine shores of the 
,mediterranean and on those of the ,red 
,sea1 testify to a geologically recent  
change of the sea level to the extent of
 #bej or #cjj feet1 probably produced by
 the slow elevation of the land2 and1 as
 ,i have already remarked1 the alluvial 
plain of the ,euphrates and ,tigris     
appears to have been affected in the    
same way1 though seemingly to a less    
extent4 ,but of violent1 or             
catastrophic1 change there is no trace4 
,even the volcanic outbursts have flowed

 in even sheets over the old land       
surface2 and the long lines of the      
horizontal terraces which remain1       
testify to the geological insignificance
 of such earthquakes as have taken      
place4 ,it is1 indeed1 possible that the
 original formation of the valley may   
have been determined by the well-known  
fault1 along which the western rocks are
 relatively depressed and the eastern   
elevated4 ,but1 whether that fault was  
effected slowly or quickly1 and whenever
 it came into existence1 the excavation 
of the valley to its present width1 no  
less than the sculpturing of its steep  
walls and of the innumerable deep       
ravines which score them down to the    
very bottom1 are indubitably due to the 
operation of rain and streams1 during an
 enormous length of time1 without       
interruption or disturbance of any      
magnitude4 ,the alluvial deposits which 
have been mentioned are continued into  
the lateral ravines1 and have more or   
less filled them4 ,but1 since the waters

 have been lowered1 these deposits have 
been cut down to great depths1 and are  
still being excavated by the present    
temporary1 or permanent1 streams4       
,hence1 it follows1 that all these      
ravines must have existed before the    
time at which the valley was occupied by
 the great mere4 ,this fact acquires a  
peculiar importance when we proceed to  
consider the grounds for the conclusion 
that the old ,palestinian mere attained 
its highest level in the cold period of 
the pleistocene epoch4 ,it is well known
 that glaciers formerly came low down on
 the flanks of ,lebanon and             
,antilebanon2 indeed1 the old moraines  
are the haunts of the few survivors of  
the famous cedars4 ,this implies a      
perennial snowcap of great extent on    
,hermon2 therefore1 a vastly greater    
supply of water to the sources of the   
,jordan which rise on its flanks2 and1  
in addition1 such a total change in the 
general climate1 that the innumerable   
,wadys1 now traversed only by occasional

 storm torrents1 must have been occupied
 by perennial streams4 ,all this        
involves a lower annual temperature and 
a moist and rainy atmosphere4 ,if such a
 change of meteorological conditions    
could be effected now1 when the loss by 
evaporation from the surface of the     
,dead ,sea salt-pan balances all the    
gain from the ,jordan and other streams1
 the scale would be turned in the other 
direction4 ,the waters of the ,dead ,sea
 would become diluted2 its level would  
rise2 it would cover1 first the plain of
 the ,jordan1 then the lake of ,galilee1
 then the middle ,jordan between this   
lake and that of ,huleh 7the ancient    
,merom72 and1 finally1 it would         
encroach1 northwards1 along the course  
of the upper ,jordan1 and1 southwards1  
up the ,wady ,arabah1 until it reached  
some #bfj feet above the level of the   
,mediterranean1 when it would attain a  
permanent level1 by sending any         
superfluity through the pass of ,jezrael
 to swell the waters of the ,kishon1 and

 flow thence into the ,mediterranean4   
,reverse the process1 in consequence of 
the excess of loss by evaporation over  
gain by inflow1 which must have set in  
as the climate of ,syria changed after  
the end of the pleistocene epoch1 and   
7without taking into consideration any  
other circumstances7 the present state  
of things must eventually be reached--a 
concentrated saline solution in the     
deepest part of the valley--water1      
rather more charged with saline matter  
than ordinary fresh water1 in the lower 
,jordan and the lake of ,galilee--fresh 
waters1 still largely derived from the  
snows of ,hermon1 in the upper ,jordan  
and in ,lake ,huleh4 ,but1 if the full  
state of the ,jordan valley marks the   
glacial epoch1 then it follows that the 
excavation of that valley by atmospheric
 agencies must have occupied an immense 
antecedent time--a large part1 perhaps  
the whole1 of the pliocene epoch2 and we
 are thus forced to the conclusion that1
 since the miocene epoch1 the physical  

conformation of the ,holy ,land has been
 substantially what it is now4 ,it has  
been more or less rained upon1 searched 
by earthquakes here and there1 partially
 overflowed by lava streams1 slowly     
raised 7relatively to the sea-level7 a  
few hundred feet4 ,but there is not a   
shadow of ground for supposing that1    
throughout all this time1 terrestrial   
animals have ceased to inhabit a large  
part of its surface2 or that1 in many   
parts1 they have been1 in any respect1  
incommoded by the changes which have    
taken place4  ,the evidence of the      
general stability of the physical       
conditions of ,western ,asia1 which is  
furnished by ,palestine and by the      
,euphrates ,valley1 is only fortified if
 we extend our view northwards to the   
,black ,sea and the ,caspian4 ,the      
,caspian is a sort of magnified replica 
of the ,dead ,sea4 ,the bottom of the   
deepest part of this vast inland mere is
 about #cjjj feet below the level of the
 ,mediterranean1 while its surface is   

lower by #he feet4 ,at present1 it is   
separated1 on the west1 by wide spaces  
of dry land from the ,black ,sea1 which 
has the same height as the              
,mediterranean2 and1 on the east1 from  
the ,aral1 #ach feet above that level4  
,the waters of the ,black ,sea1 now in  
communication with the ,mediterranean by
 the ,dardanelles and the ,bosphorus1   
are salt1 but become brackish           
northwards1 where the rivers of the     
steppes pour in a great volume of fresh 
water4 ,those of the shallower northern 
half of the ,caspian are similarly      
affected by the ,volga and the ,ural1   
while1 in the shallow bays of the       
southern division1 they become extremely
 saline in consequence of the intense   
evaporation4 ,the ,aral ,sea1 though    
supplied by the ,jaxartes and the ,oxus1
 has brackish water4 ,there is evidence 
that1 in the pliocene and pleistocene   
periods1 to go no farther back1 the     
strait of the ,dardanelles did not      
exist1 and that the vast area1 from the 

valley of the ,danube to that of the    
,jaxartes1 was covered by brackish or1  
in some parts1 fresh water to a height  
of at least #bjj feet above the level of
 the ,mediterranean4 ,at the present    
time1 the water-parting which separates 
the northern part of the basin of the   
,caspian from the vast plains traversed 
by the ,tobol and the ,obi1 in their    
course to the ,arctic ,ocean1 appears to
 be less than #bjj feet above the       
latter4 ,it would seem1 therefore1 to be
 very probable that1 under the climatal 
conditions of part of the pleistocene   
period1 the valley of the ,obi played   
the same part in relation to the        
,ponto-,aralian sea1 as that of the     
,kishon may have done to the great mere 
of the ,jordan valley2 and that the     
outflow formed the channel by which the 
well-known ,arctic elements of the fauna
 of the ,caspian entered it4 ,for the   
fossil remains imbedded in the strata   
continuously deposited in the           
,aralo-,caspian area1 since the latter  

end of the miocene epoch1 show no sign  
that1 from that time onward1 it has ever
 been covered by sea water4 ,therefore1 
the supposition of a free inflow of the 
,arctic ,ocean1 which at one time was   
generally received1 as well as that of  
various hypothetical deluges from that  
quarter1 must be seriously questioned4  
,the ,caspian and the ,aral stand in    
somewhat the same relation to the vast  
basin of dry land in which they lie1 as 
the ,dead ,sea and the lake of ,galilee 
to the ,jordan valley4 ,they are the    
remains of a vast1 mostly brackish1     
mere1 which has dried up in consequence 
of the excess of evaporation over       
supply1 since the cold and damp climate 
of the pleistocene epoch gave place to  
the increasing dryness and great summer 
heats of ,central ,asia in more modern  
times4 ,the desiccation of the          
,aralo-,caspian basin1 which            
communicated with the ,black ,sea only  
by a comparatively narrow and shallow   
strait along the present valley of      

,manytsch1 the bottom of which was less 
than #ajj feet above the ,mediterranean1
 must have been vastly aided by the     
erosion of the strait of the            
,dardanelles towards the end of the     
pleistocene epoch1 or perhaps later4    
,for the result of thus opening a       
passage for the waters of the ,black    
,sea into the ,mediterranean must have  
been the gradual lowering of its level  
to that of the latter sea4 ,when this   
process had gone so far as to bring down
 the ,black ,sea water to within less   
than a hundred feet of its present      
level1 the strait of ,manytsch ceased to
 exist2 and the vast body of fresh water
 brought down by the ,danube1 the       
,dnieper1 the ,don1 and other ,south    
,russian rivers was cut off from the    
,caspian1 and eventually delivered into 
the ,mediterranean4 ,thus1 there is as  
conclusive evidence as one can well hope
 to obtain in these matters1 that1 north
 of the ,euphrates valley1 the physical 
geography of an area as large as all    

,central ,europe has remained           
essentially unchanged1 from the miocene 
period down to our time2 just as1 to the
 west of the ,euphrates valley1         
,palestine has exhibited a similar      
persistence of geographical type4 ,to   
the south1 the valley of the ,nile tells
 exactly the same story4 ,the holes     
bored by miocene mollusks in the cliffs 
east and west of ,cairo bear witness    
that1 in the miocene epoch1 it contained
 an arm of the sea1 the bottom of which 
has since been gradually filled up by   
the alluvium of the ,nile1 and elevated 
to its present position4 ,but the higher
 parts of the ,mokattam and of the      
desert about ,ghizeh1 have been dry land
 from that time to this4 ,too little is 
known of the geology of ,persia1 at     
present1 to allow any positive          
conclusion to be enunciated4 ,but1      
taking the name to indicate the whole   
continental mass of ,iran1 between the  
valleys of the ,indus and the           
,euphrates1 the supposition that its    

physical geography has remained         
unchanged for an immensely long period  
is hardly rash4 ,the country is1 in     
fact1 an enormous basin1 surrounded on  
all sides by a mountainous rim1 and     
subdivided within by ridges into        
plateaus and hollows1 the bottom of the 
deepest of which1 in the province of    
,seistan1 probably descends to the level
 of the ,indian ,ocean4 ,these          
depressions are occupied by salt marshes
 and deserts1 in which the waters of the
 streams which flow down the sides of   
the basin are now dissipated by         
evaporation4 ,i am acquainted with no   
evidence that the present ,iranian basin
 was ever occupied by the sea2 but the  
accumulations of gravel over a great    
extent of its surface indicate          
long-continued water action4 ,it is1    
therefore1 a fair presumption that large
 lakes have covered much of its present 
deserts1 and that they have dried up by 
the operation of the same changed       
climatal conditions as those which have 

reduced the ,caspian and the ,dead ,sea 
to their present dimensions4 #aa  ,thus 
it would seem that the ,euphrates       
valley1 the centre of the fabled        
,noachian deluge1 is also the centre of 
a region covering some millions of      
square miles of the present continents  
of ,europe1 ,asia1 and ,africa1 in which
 all the facts1 relevant to the         
argument1 at present known1 converge to 
the conclusion that1 since the miocene  
epoch1 the essential features of its    
physical geography have remained        
unchanged2 that it has neither been     
depressed below the sea1 nor swept by   
diluvial waters since that time2 and    
that the ,chaldaean version of the      
legend of a flood in the ,euphrates     
valley is1 of all those which are       
extant1 the only one which is even      
consistent with probability1 since it   
depicts a local inundation1 not more    
severe than one which might be brought  
about by a concurrence of favourable    
conditions at the present day2 and which

 might probably have been more easily   
effected when the ,persian ,gulf        
extended farther north4 ,hence1 the     
recourse to the glacial epoch for some  
event which might colourably represent a
 flood1 distinctly asserted by the only 
authority for it to have occurred in    
historical times1 is peculiarly         
unfortunate4 ,even a ,welsh antiquary   
might hesitate over the supposition that
 a tradition of the fate of ,moel       
,tryfaen1 in the glacial epoch1 had     
furnished the basis of fact for a legend
 which arose among people whose own     
experience abundantly supplied them with
 the needful precedents4 ,moreover1 if  
evidence of interchanges of land and sea
 are to be accepted as confirmations of 
,noah's deluge1 there are plenty of     
sources for the tradition to be had much
 nearer than ,wales4  ,the depression   
now filled by the ,red ,sea1 for        
example1 appears to be1 geologically1 of
 very recent origin4 ,the later deposits
 found on its shores1 two or three      

hundred feet above the sea level1       
contain no remains older than those of  
the present fauna2 while1 as ,i have    
already mentioned1 the valley of the    
adjacent delta of the ,nile was a gulf  
of the sea in miocene times4 ,but there 
is not a particle of evidence that the  
change of relative level which admitted 
the waters of the ,indian ,ocean between
 ,arabia and ,africa1 took place any    
faster than that which is now going on  
in ,greenland and ,scandinavia1 and     
which has left their inhabitants        
undisturbed4 ,even more remarkable      
changes were effected1 towards the end  
of1 or since1 the glacial epoch1 over   
the region now occupied by the          
,levantine ,mediterranean and the       
,a,egean ,sea4 ,the eastern coast region
 of ,asia ,minor1 the western of        
,greece1 and many of the intermediate   
islands1 exhibit thick masses of        
stratified deposits of later tertiary   
age and of purely lacustrine characters2
 and it is remarkable that1 on the south

 side of the island of ,crete1 such     
masses present steep cliffs facing the  
sea1 so that the southern boundary of   
the lake in which they were formed must 
have been situated where the sea now    
flows4 ,indeed1 there are valid reasons 
for the supposition that the dry land   
once extended far to the west of the    
present ,levantine coast1 and not       
improbably forced the ,nile to seek an  
outlet to the north-east of its present 
delta--a possibility of no small        
importance in relation to certain       
puzzling facts in the geographical      
distribution of animals in this region4 
,at any rate1 continuous land joined    
,asia ,minor with the ,balkan peninsula2
 and its surface bore deep fresh-water  
lakes1 apparently disconnected with the 
,ponto-,aralian sea4 ,this state of     
things lasted long enough to allow of   
the formation of the thick lacustrine   
strata to which ,i have referred4 ,i am 
not aware that there is the smallest    
ground for the assumption that the      

,a,egean land was broken up in          
consequence of any of the catastrophes  
which are so commonly invoked4 #ab ,for 
anything that appears to the contrary1  
the narrow1 steep-sided1 straits between
 the islands of the ,a,egean archipelago
 may have been originally brought about 
by ordinary atmospheric and stream      
action2 and may then have been filled   
from the ,mediterranean1 during a slow  
submergence proceeding from the south   
northwards4 ,the strait of the          
,dardanelles is bounded by undisturbed  
pleistocene strata forty feet thick1    
through which1 to all appearance1 the   
present passage has been quietly cut4   
,that ,olympus and ,ossa were torn      
asunder and the waters of the           
,thessalian basin poured forth1 is a    
very ancient notion1 and an often cited 
confirmation of ,deucalion's flood4 ,it 
has not yet ceased to be in vogue1      
apparently because those who entertain  
it are not aware that modern geological 
investigation has conclusively proved   

that the gorge of the ,penens is as     
typical an example of a valley of       
erosion as any to be seen in ,auvergne  
or in ,colorado4 #ac  ,thus1 in the     
immediate vicinity of the vast expanse  
of country which can be proved to have  
been untouched by any catastrophe       
before1 during1 and since the glacial   
epoch1 lie the great areas of the       
,a,egean and the ,red ,sea1 in which1   
during or since the glacial epoch1      
changes of the relative positions of    
land and sea have taken place1 in       
comparison with which the submergence of
 ,moel ,tryfaen1 with all ,wales and    
,scotland to boot1 does not come to     
much4  ,what1 then1 is the relevancy of 
talk about the glacial epoch to the     
question of the historical veracity of  
the narrator of the story of the        
,noachian deluge8 ,so far as my         
knowledge goes1 there is not a particle 
of evidence that destructive inundations
 were more common1 over the general     
surface of the earth1 in the glacial    

epoch than they have been before or     
since4 ,no doubt the fringe of an       
ice-covered region must be always liable
 to them2 but1 if we examine the records
 of such catastrophes in historical     
times1 those produced in the deltas of  
great rivers1 or in lowlands like       
,holland1 by sudden floods1 combined    
with gales of wind or with unusual      
tides1 far excel all others4  ,with     
respect to such inundations as are the  
consequences of earthquakes1 and other  
slight movements of the crust of the    
earth1 ,i have never heard of anything  
to show that they were more frequent and
 severer in the quaternary or tertiary  
epochs than they are now4 ,in the       
discussion of these1 as of all other    
geological problems1 the appeal to      
needless catastrophes is born of that   
impatience of the slow and painful      
search after sufficient causes1 in the  
ordinary course of nature1 which is a   
temptation to all1 though only energetic
 ignorance nowadays completely succumbs 

to it4     ,,postscript4  ,my best      
thanks are due to ,mr4 ,gladstone for   
his courteous withdrawal of one of the  
statements to which ,i have thought it  
needful to take exception4 ,the         
familiarity with controversy1 to which  
,mr4 ,gladstone alludes1 will have      
accustomed him to the misadventures     
which arise when1 as sometimes will     
happen in the heat of fence1 the buttons
 come off the foils4 ,i trust that any  
scratch which he may have received will 
heal as quickly as my own flesh wounds  
have done4   ,a contribution to the last
 number of this ,review 7,the           
,nineteenth ,century7 of a different    
order would be left unnoticed1 were it  
not that my silence would convert me    
into an accessory to misrepresentations 
of a very grave character4 ,however1 ,i 
shall restrict myself to the barest     
possible statement of facts1 leaving my 
readers to draw their own conclusions4  
,in an article entitled ,a ,great       
,lesson1 published in this ,review for  

,september1 #ahhg3  7#a7 ,the ,duke of  
,argyll says the overthrow of ,darwin's 
speculations 7p4 #cja7 concerning the   
origin of coral reefs1 which he fancied 
had taken place1 had been received by   
men of science with a grudging silence  
as far as public discussion is concerned
 7p4 #cja74  ,the truth is that1 as     
every one acquainted with the literature
 of the subject was well aware1 the     
views supposed to have effected this    
overthrow had been fully and publicly   
discussed by ,dana in the ,united       
,states2 by ,geikie1 ,green1 and        
,prestwich in this country2 by          
,lapparent in ,france2 and by ,credner  
in ,germany4  7#b7 ,the ,duke of ,argyll
 says that no serious reply has ever    
been attempted 7p4 #cje74  ,the truth is
 that the highest living authority on   
the subject1 ,professor ,dana1 published
 a most weighty reply1 two years before 
the ,duke of ,argyll committed himself  
to this statement4  7#c7 ,the ,duke of  
,argyll uses the preceding products of  

defective knowledge1 multiplied by      
excessive imagination1 to illustrate the
 manner in which certain accepted       
opinions established a sort of ,reign of
 ,terror in their own behalf 7p4 #cjg74 
,the truth is that no plea1 except that 
of total ignorance of the literature of 
the subject1 can excuse the errors      
cited1 and that the ,reign of ,terror is
 a purely subjective phenomenon4  7#d7  
,the letter in ,nature for the #agth of 
,november1 #ahhg1 to which ,i am        
referred1 contains neither              
substantiation1 nor retractation1 of    
statements #a and #b4 ,nevertheless1 it 
repeats number #c4 ,the ,duke of ,argyll
 says of his article that it has done   
what ,i intended it to do4 ,it has      
called wide attention to the influence  
of mere authority in establishing       
erroneous theories and in retarding the 
progress of scientific truth4  7#e7 ,the
 ,duke of ,argyll illustrates the       
influence of his fictitious ,reign of   
,terror by the statement that ,mr4 ,john

 ,murray was strongly advised against   
the publication of his views in         
derogation of ,darwin's long-accepted   
theory of the coral islands1 and was    
actually induced to delay it for two    
years 7p4#cjg74 ,and in ,nature for the 
#agth ,november1 #ahhg1 the ,duke of    
,argyll states that he has seen a letter
 from ,sir ,wyville ,thomson in which he
 urged and almost insisted that ,mr4    
,murray should withdraw the reading of  
his papers on the subject from the      
,royal ,society of ,edinburgh4 ,this was
 in ,february1 #ahgg4 ,the next         
paragraph1 however1 contains the        
confession3 ,no special reason was      
assigned4 ,the ,duke of ,argyll proceeds
 to give a speculative opinion that ,sir
 ,wyville dreaded some injury to the    
scientific reputation of the body of    
which he was the chief4 ,truly1 a very  
probable supposition2 but as ,sir       
,wyville ,thomson's tendencies were     
notoriously anti-,darwinian1 it does not
 appear to me to lend the slightest     

justification to the ,duke of ,argyll's 
insinuation that the ,darwinian terror  
influenced him4 ,however1 the question  
was finally set at rest by a letter     
which appeared in ,nature 7#bith of     
,december1 #ahhg71 in which the writer  
says that3  talking with ,sir ,wyville  
about ',murray's new theory1' ,i asked  
what objection he had to its being      
brought before the public8 ,the answer  
simply was3 he considered that the      
grounds of the theory had not1 as yet1  
been sufficiently investigated or       
sufficiently corroborated1 and that     
therefore any immature dogmatic         
publication of it would do less than    
little service either to science or to  
the author of the paper4  ,sir ,wyville 
,thomson was an intimate friend of mine1
 and ,i am glad to have been afforded   
one more opportunity of clearing his    
character from the aspersions which have
 been so recklessly cast upon his good  
sense and his scientific honour4  7#f7  
,as to the overthrow of ,darwin's       

theory1 which1 according to the ,duke of
 ,argyll1 was patent to every           
unprejudiced person four years ago1 ,i  
have recently become acquainted with a  
work1 in which a really competent       
authority1 #ad thoroughly acquainted    
with all the new lights which have been 
thrown upon the subject during the last 
ten years1 pronounces the judgment2     
firstly1 that some of the facts brought 
forward by ,messrs4 ,murray and ,guppy  
against ,darwin's theory are not facts2 
secondly1 that the others are           
reconcilable with ,darwin's theory2 and1
 thirdly1 that the theories of ,messrs4 
,murray and ,guppy are contradicted by a
 series of important facts 7p4 #ac74    
,perhaps ,i had better draw attention to
 the circumstance that ,dr4 ,langenbeck 
writes under shelter of the guns of the 
fortress of ,strasburg2 and may         
therefore be presumed to be unaffected  
by those dreams of a ,reign of ,terror  
which seem to disturb the peace of some 
of us in these islands 7,april1 #ahia74 

,see1 on the subject of this note1 the  
essay entitled ,an ,episcopal ,trilogy  
in the following volume4                
,,footnotes3   ,footnote #a3 ,in ,may   
#ahdi the ,tigris at ,bagdad rose       
#bb-a_/b feet--#e feet above its usual  
rise--and nearly swept away the town4   
,in #ahca a similarly exceptional flood 
did immense damage1 destroying #gjjj    
houses4 ,see ,loftus1 ,chaldea and      
,susiana1 p4 #g4  ,footnote #b3 ,see the
 instructive chapter on ,hasisadra's    
flood in ,suess1 ,das ,antlitz der      
,erde1 ,abth4 ,i4 ,only fifteen years   
ago a cyclone in the ,bay of ,bengal    
gave rise to a flood which covered #cjjj
 square miles of the delta of the       
,ganges1 #c to #de feet deep1 destroying
 #ajj1jjj people1 innumerable cattle1   
houses1 and trees4 ,it broke inland on  
the rising ground of ,tipperah1 and may 
have swept a vessel from the sea that   
far1 though ,i do not know that it did4 
,footnote #c3 ,see ,cernik's maps in    
,petermanns ,mittheilungen1             

,erganzungashefte #dd and #de1 #ahge-gf4
  ,footnote #d3 ,i have not cited the   
dimensions given to the ships in most   
translations of the story1 because there
 appears to be a doubt about them4      
,haupt 7,keilinschriftliche             
,sindfluth-,bericht1 p4 #ac3 says that  
the figures are illegible47  ,footnote  
#e3 ,it is probable that a slow movement
 of elevation of the land at one time   
contributed to the result--perhaps does 
so still4  ,footnote #f3 ,at a          
comparatively recent period1 the        
littoral margin of the ,persian ,gulf   
extended certainly #bej miles farther to
 the northwest than the present         
embouchure of the ,shatt-el ,arab4      
7,loftus1 ,quarterly ,journal of the    
,geological ,society1 #ahec1 p4 #bea47  
,the actual extent of the marine deposit
 inland cannot be defined1 as it is     
covered by later fluviatile deposits4   
,footnote #g3 ,tiele                    
7,babylonisch-,assyrische ,geschicthe1  
pp4 #egb-c7 has some very just remarks  

on this aspect of the epos4  ,footnote  
#h3 ,in the second volume of the        
,history of the ,euphrates1 p4 #fcg     
,col4 ,chesney gives a very interesting 
account of the simple and rapid manner  
in which the people about ,tekrit and in
 the marshes of ,lemlum construct large 
barges1 and make them water-tight with  
bitumen4 ,doubtless the practice is     
extremely ancient and as ,colonel       
,chesney suggests1 may possibly have    
furnished the conception of ,noah's ark4
 ,but it is one thing to build a barge  
#dd;ft4 long by #aa;ft4 wide and #d;ft4 
deep in the way described2 and another  
to get a vessel of ten times the        
dimensions1 so constructed1 to hold     
together4  ,footnote #i3 ,es ist nichts 
schrecklicher als eine thatige          
,unwissenheit1 ,maximen und             
,reflexionen1 iii4  ,footnote #aj3 ,the 
well-known difficulties connected with  
this case have recently been carefully  
discussed by ,mr4 ,bell in the          
,transactions of the ,geological        

,society of ,glasgow4  ,footnote #aa3   
,an instructive parallel is exhibited by
 the ,great ,basin of ,north ,america4  
,see the remarkable memoir on ,lake     
,bonneville by ,mr4 ,g4 ,k4 ,gilbert1 of
 the ,united ,states ,geological        
,survey1 just published4  ,footnote #ab3
 ,it is true that earthquakes are common
 enough1 but they are incompetent to    
produce such changes as those which have
 taken place4  ,footnote #ac3 ,see      
,teller1 ,geologische ,beschreibung des 
sud-ostlichen ,thessalien2              
,denkschriften d4 ,akademie der         
,wissenschaften1 ,wien1 ,bd4 xl4 p4     
#aii4  ,footnote #ad3 ,dr4 ,langenbeck1 
,die ,theorien uber die ,entstehung der 
,korallen-,inseln und ,korallen-,riffe  
7p4 #ac71 #ahij4