al of
pains to secure that such knowledge as I do possess shall be accurate
and trustworthy.

In the third place, Mr. Gladstone appears to wish that I should discuss
with him the question whether the nebular hypothesis is, or is not,
confirmatory of the pentateuchal account of the origin of things. Mr.
Gladstone appears to be prepared to enter upon this campaign with a
light heart. I confess I am not, and my reason for this backwardness
will doubtless surprise Mr. Gladstone. It is that, rather more than
a quarter of a century ago (namely, in February 1859), when it was my
duty, as President of the Geological Society, to deliver the Anniversary
Address, [5] I chose a topic which involved a very careful study of the
remarkable cosmogonical speculation, originally promulgated by Immanuel
Kant and, subsequently, by Laplace, which is now known as the nebular
hypothesis. With the help of such little acquaintance with the
principles of physics and astronomy as I had gained, I endeavoured to
obtain a clear understanding of this speculation in all its bearings.
I am not sure that I succeeded; but of this I am certain, that the
problems involved are very difficult, even for those who possess the
intellectual discipline requisite for dealing with them. And it was this
conviction that led me to express my desire to leave the discussion of
the question of the asserted harmony between Genesis and the nebular
hypothesis to experts in the appropriate branches of knowledge. And I
think my course was a wise one; but as Mr. Gladstone evidently does not
understand how there can be any hesitation on my part, unless it arises
from a conviction that he is in the right, I may go so far as to set out
my difficulties.

They are of two kinds--exegetical and scientific. It appears to me that
it is vain to discuss a supposed coincidence between Genesis and science
unless we have first settled, on the one hand, what Genesis says, and,
on the other hand, what science says.

In the first place, I cannot find any consensus among Biblical scholars
as to the meaning of the words, "In the beginning God created the
heaven and the earth." Some say that the Hebrew word _bara,_ which is
translated "create," means "made out of nothing." I venture to object to
that rendering, not on the ground of scholarship, but of common sense.
Omnipotence itself can surely no more make something "out of" nothing
than it can make a triangular circle. What is intended by "m