and gravest
difficulty placed in the way of science was the asserted infallibility
of the Scriptures. In Catholic theology, at least until late in this
century, the general tendency has been to regard the Bible rather as a
quarry for doctrine than as a direct means of grace. The theory of
religion rested on two pillars: the inspired Scriptures containing the
necessary information and the inspired Church to interpret the
Scriptures. Protestant theology had rejected the infallible
inspiration of the Church, and, in consequence, had thrown a greater
burden on the Scriptures. The Scriptures became the Word of God,
verbally and literally true; in its extreme form this doctrine
reverted almost to the ancient Rabbinical maxim that even the vowel
points and accents were of divine origin. In practice, if not in
theory, the halo was extended to cover even the marginal chronology,
then a familiar feature in the editions of the English Bible. The
present writer, even so lately as in 1888 was reproved with violence
by a clergyman of considerable education and position for expressing a
doubt as to the accuracy of these dates. Obviously there was no common
measure between a church holding such views and advancing science. War
was inevitable, until one side or the other should give way.

Huxley conducted the attack in a series of controversies extending
over many years, and in which his opponents were well-known laymen
such as Mr. Gladstone, Dr. St. George Mivart, the Duke of Argyll, and
many clerical dignitaries of different denominations. The most
important of his contributions to these controversies, as well as
several isolated essays and addresses, have been collected in two
volumes, _Science and the Hebrew Tradition_, and _Science and the
Christian Tradition_.

The first stage in the controversy, and the stage most immediately
pressing, was to shew that the Bible was misleading and inaccurate as
a record of scientific fact, and that therefore it could not be
brought forward as evidence against scientific doctrines supported by
scientific evidence. The vital matter in this was the account given in
Genesis of the origin of the world. If that disappeared then the whole
ground was gained; science would be left free in its own sphere.

In a lecture on Evolution, delivered in 1876, Huxley began by
discussing the possibilities as to the past history of nature. He
believed that there were only three hypotheses which had been
entertai