has been recently imported into this country by theologians of the Colenso class, and palæontologists of the German school, viz: that Adam was by no means the first of the genus homo who occupied this earth. E.g. a tribe of these worthies called the Boorung, who inhabit the Mallee country, in the neighbourhood of Lake Tyrill, and pride themselves upon knowing more than their neighbours, say that the earth is a flat plain, and was formerly in a chaotic state of darkness, until a little bird named Pupperimbul, took an emu's egg, and ejected it into space. This egg was called Gorvee, the Sun, and has since given light to the world. The earth before. this was inhabited by a race of beings called Nurrumbunguttias, or old spirits. They resemble its present inhabitants, and possessed some knowledge of fire, being, it is concluded, of rather an irascible nature. They are said to have been translated to heaven before Adam and his descendants came into existence.*

See the "Transactions of the Philosophical Institute of Victoria," Vol. II.

Notwithstanding the opinion entertained by all the distinguished rationalists of the German school,* respecting the position of Adam in the genealogy of the genus homo, it may be interesting to our readers to know that there were some famous writers in former days who clung with rigorous persistency to the now exploded idea that Adam was indeed the first man on earth made" after the image and likeness of God." We find an antiquarian of the last century, one Professor Johann Hübner of Hamburg (or as some irreverently would write it Humbug), so positive and precise on the matter in dispute, that he could assure his generation, as his work still extant testifies, that, "in the year of the Julian period 710, on October 23rd, at 3 P.M., Jehovah Elohim El-Shaddah created out of nothing the

* A writer of this school dates the birth of "Adam, Patriarch of the Hebrews," as he terms him, 2618 years after the time of Mizraim, the grandson of Noah, which computation would make Adam the contemporary of the Emperor Constantine according to biblical chronology. See M. Desner's Chronologie des Rois d'Egypte," p. 316.

D

man Adam." It will be seen that the learned Professor alike discards the modern theory imported from Germany of a distinction between the Jehovist and Elohist in the compilation of Genesis, as well as recognizes the true origin of man from nothing. It is satisfactory, moreover, to know the exact time when this interesting event took place, Oct. 23rd, A. J. P. 710, 3 P.M. Strange to say, this very exact statement occurs only in the first edition of the work. For some cause it was omitted in all following editions, possibly on account of the author's uncertainty whether the clocks in Eden kept mean or railway time.

It is a continued source of lament among the savants of the present day that there is no sign of the missing link, even in a fossil state, between Pithecus and Homo, whether it be Adam or his first human grandpapa.

We

venture to think that we have discovered some notice of the said missing link, and if our find should prove true, we may fairly claim admission to the first class of discoverers,

such as Roger Bacon, Flavio Gioja, Laurentius Coster, Galileo, Isaac Newton, James Watt, and others who have adorned and benefited the human race. We ask their attention to the writings of one Sanconiatho, an ancient Phoenician historian, who flourished B.C. 1280, about three centuries after Moses, as we find this ancient speaking of certain animals which once existed on earth, and which he declares were formed from the "fermented watery substance or Mót, which was void of sensation (anti-asthetic, we presume). From these were generated intelligent beings called Zophasemin, or star-gazers (ancestors of the Galileos and Herschels and Lord Rosses of modern times), and they were formed in the shape of an egg. These for some time lay in a dormant state, until they were drawn up by the heat of the sun into the air, where they were dashed against each other, thunder and lightning being the result; at which noise the beforementioned intelligent animals awoke (like Lord Byron in later days) and found themselves

famous, and began to move about by land and sea, male and female." Eusebius, to whom we are indebted for having preserved this valuable fragment of Sanconiatho, justly observes that "these things were found written in the Cosmogony of Thoth, and were drawn from his observations and the natural signs which by his penetration he perceived and discovered, and with which he has enlightened our minds."* We may now safely assume that intelligent Motites constitute the long sought for link between man and beast.

Recent intelligence from India has informed us of a fact which may possibly throw some farther light upon this interesting phase of the Darwinian theory. It appears that certain districts of Hindostan are possessed by a species of creatures unknown to European fame, one member of which is reported to have

*"Eusebius' Evangelical Preparation," Lib, I. c. 10. We commend the writings of Sanconiatho to the attention of Mr. Goodwyn, the author of the "Mosaic Cosmogony" in "Essays and Reviews."