Society ("Proc. Geol. Soc." XVII., 1861).)
which has interested me much...I thought that I had read up pretty well
on the antiquity of man; but you bring all the facts so well together in
a condensed focus, that the case seems much clearer to me. How curious
about the Bible! (404/3. At page lxviii. Mr. Horner points out that the
"chronology, given in the margin of our Bibles," i.e., the statement
that the world was created 4004 B.C., is the work of Archbishop Usher,
and is in no way binding on those who believe in the inspiration of
Scripture. Mr. Horner goes on (page lxx): "The retention of the marginal
note in question is by no means a matter of indifference; it is untrue,
and therefore it is mischievous." It is interesting that Archbishop
Sumner and Dr. Dawes, Dean of Hereford, wrote with approbation of Mr.
Horner's views on Man. The Archbishop says: "I have always considered
the first verse of Genesis as indicating, rather than denying, a
PREADAMITE world" ("Memoir of Leonard Horner, II.", page 303).) I declare
I had fancied that the date was somehow in the Bible. You are coming out
in a new light as a Biblical critic. I must thank you for some remarks
on the "Origin of Species" (404/4. Mr. Horner (page xxxix) begins by
disclaiming the qualifications of a competent critic, and confines
himself to general remarks on the philosophic candour and freedom from
dogmatism of the "Origin": he does, however, give an opinion on the
geological chapters IX. and X. As a general criticism he quotes Mr.
Huxley's article in the "Westminster Review," which may now be read in
"Collected Essays," II., page 22.) (though I suppose it is almost as
incorrect to do so as to thank a judge for a favourable verdict): what
you have said has pleased me extremely. I am the more pleased, as I
would rather have been well attacked than have been handled in the
namby-pamby, old-woman style of the cautious Oxford Professor. (404/5.
This no doubt refers to Professor Phillips' "Life on the Earth," 1860, a
book founded on the author's "Rede Lecture," given before the University
of Cambridge. Reference to this work will be found in "Life and
Letters," II., pages 309, 358, 373.)

LETTER 405. TO J.D. HOOKER.

(405/1. Mr. Wallace was, we believe, the first to treat the evolution of
Man in any detail from the point of view of Natural Selection,
namely, in a paper in the "Anthropological Review and Journal of the
Anthropological Society," May 1864, page c