cents from father to son, in another two, in another
only one. This is, perhaps, an extreme case; but it shows at least how
far the disparity may be extended, without exceeding the bounds of
possibility. The present Emperor of the French had reached the age of
forty-eight, when the Prince Imperial was born: whereas her Majesty
Queen Victoria became a grandmother at forty-one. Thus, in the royal
family of England we find two descents in forty-one years; in the
imperial line of France only one descent in forty-eight years. It is,
therefore, quite preposterous _to take for granted_ that, in _all the
families of a whole nation_, the number of descents were exactly the
same during a period of 215 years.

But this assumption is especially inadmissible, when we consider the
peculiar circumstances of the case before us. The first generation,
according to Dr. Colenso, was composed of the fifty-one grandsons of
Jacob. They were already grown up, and some of them even had children
when they came into Egypt. Therefore the whole of the first generation
was already in existence, and the second had begun to be born some
years, let us say three, before the descent. If we add the 215 years of
sojourn in Egypt, we shall have 218 years from the beginning of the
second generation to the Exodus. Now, according to Dr. Colenso, all
those who were twenty years of age at the Exodus, belonged to the fourth
generation. Therefore the fourth generation was not complete until
twenty years before that time, or 198 years after the second had begun.
Consequently, only three generations, the second, third, and fourth,
came into existence during a period of 198 years. In other words, the
length of each generation, according to Dr. Colenso's calculation, was
sixty-six years. Hence it follows, that we cannot accept his argument,
unless we are prepared to _take for granted_ that _all the males_ in
_all the Hebrew families_ were without issue until they had reached the
age of sixty-six.

Let us now look into the examples of Dr. Colenso in detail. It is
important to ascertain what generation is to be reckoned as the _first_.
In his argument he allows but fifty-one males to the _first generation_;
"supposing now _the fifty-one males of the first generation_" (p. 105).
Since Jacob had fifty-one grandsons living at the time of the descent
into Egypt, it follows that the _first generation_, according to the
argument, was composed of the grandsons of Jacob, _and