ol, and leaves a solid residue, which liquefies at 275 deg. C.,
alcohol and an oily body containing iodine passing over. At a higher
temperature, this product was again decomposed, with formation of
alcohol, ethylene, and alumina. But the most interesting results were
obtained under diminished pressure. Then a greenish white solid
sublimed, and this was found to be aluminic ethylate. This is therefore
the second known organometallic body, containing oxygen, which is
capable of distillation, cacodylic oxide being the other.

CURRENT LITERATURE.

Prof. Huxley's ingenious if somewhat shallow evasion of the Biblical
account of creation, by crediting it to Milton rather than to Moses, has
perhaps aroused many minds to inquire what modern theologians really do
think of the first chapters of Genesis. This question is answered by a
recent publication[12] by Dr. Cocker of the Michigan State University.
In the "Theistic Conception of the World" he treats the first two
chapters of the Bible as a poem, which he calls the "symbolical hymn of
creation." It has an exordium, six strophes, each with its refrain, and
an episode. He does not believe the sacred narrative intends to describe
the exact mode of forming the world, nor even to set the successive
events in order. It is an ascription, designed to embody in symbolical
language the fact that all existence is derived from God. One paragraph
will show the broad ground on which this conclusion is based:

A cursory reading of the narrative will convince any one that
its purpose is not to enlarge men's views of nature, but to
teach them something concerning nature's God. It says nothing
about the forces of nature, the laws of nature, the
classifications of natural history, or the size, positions,
distances, and motions of the heavenly bodies. From first to
last, every phenomenon and every law is linked immediately to
some act or some command of God. It is God who creates, God who
commands, God who names, God who approves, and God who blesses.
Strike out the allusions to God, and the narrative is
meaningless. Clearly it was never intended to teach science. It
has obviously one purpose, to reveal and keep before the minds
of men the grand truth _that Jehovah is the sole Creator and
Lord of the heavens and the earth_; and it leaves the
scientific comprehension of nature to the natural powers with
whi