A “Nebulous” Hypothesis.
By Editor
THIS is a specimen of the way the Christian at Work patches up the Mosaic account of creation:— “On the first day, Moses tells us, God produced light. And science, following the great nebulous hypothesis of La Place, tells us how it was produced, viz., by the action of gravity and chemical affinity, concentrating the diffused gas into one or more nebulæ, so that they shone forth as luminous spots in the dark space of heaven.” “On the third day, according to Moses, the waters were gathered into one place, dry land appeared, and the land brought forth vegetation. And according to science, the nebulous masses began to concentrate at this point into definite stars. Our sun became such a star. Our planet was also a luminous sun, made so by the force of shrinkage and chemical action, until after a while, out of a confusion of solid crust, ocean, and atmosphere, there developed land, ozoic rocks, infusorial plants, and protophytes.” We think the expression “nebulous hypothesis” very aptly describes the above theory, for it is decidedly hazy, so much so that we are unable to see through it, or to see anything in it. We confess to being old fogyish enough to believe that Moses has given, in the first of Genesis, as clear an account as is possible to be given, because it is correct. Compared with this “nebulous” hypothesis, it is like the noonday sun compared with a fog bank.