It is uncertain, as we before observed, if this commentary is the genuine work of Saint Eucherius; at all events it is the production of some learned and Catholic writer of the fifth or sixth century. His words run thus: “_Vespere conditae creaturae terminus; mane initium condendae creaturae alterius._”--Comment. in Genes. cap. i. v. 4; Edit. Migne, Patr. Latin. Cursus Completus, vol. 50, p. 897. And again in v. 10 et seqq.:--“Si quarto die facta sunt luminaria, quomodo tres dies jam ante fuerunt? nisi ut intelligamus, in ipsa hora temporis ipsas operum distinctiones ita appellatas; _vesperam propter transactionem consummati operis; mane propter inchoationem_ futuri diei; in similitudinem humanorum operum quod plerique mane incipiunt et in vesperam desinunt.”--Ib. p. 899. (40.) VENERABLE BEDE.--P. 335. “Quid est _vespere_ nisi _ipsa perfectio singulorum operum_? et _mane_, id est inchoatio sequentium?”--De Sex Dierum Creatione, De Prima Die; Edit. Migne, Patrum Lat. Cursus Completus, vol. 93, p. 210. In another place he says: “Vespere autem in toto illo triduo, antequam luminaria essent, _consummati operis terminus_ non absurde fortasse intelligitur; Mane autem _futuræ operationis significatio_.”--In Pentateuchum Comment. Gen. cap. i.; Edit. Migne, vol. 91, p. 194. (41.) SAINT HILDEGARDE.--P. 335. “Sex enim dies, sex opera sunt; quia inceptio et completio singuli cujusque operis dies dicitur.”--Epist. ad Colonienses. See Pianciani, Cosmogonia, p. 34. (42.) SAINT AUGUSTINE.--P. 342. “Dies autem septimus sine vespere est nec habet occasum.”--Confess. Lib. xiii. cap. xxxvi. (43.) VENERABLE BEDE.--P. 342. “Quia finem non habet, neque ullo termino clauditur.”--De Sex Dierum Creatione, De Die Septima; Edit. Migne, Patr. Lat. Cursus Completus, vol. 93, p. 218. And elsewhere he says: “Septimus dies coepit a mane et in nullo vespere terminatur.”--In Pentateuch Comment., Gen. ii.; Edit. Migne, vol. 91, p. 203. (44.) SAINT AUGUSTINE.--P. 355. “Eligat quis quod potest: tantum ne aliquid temere atque incognitum pro cognito asserat; memineritque se hominem de divinis operibus quantum permittitur quærere.”--De Genesi Liber Imperfectus, cap. ix., n. 80. [Illustration] APPENDIX TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. _From Prof. J. D. Dana’s Manual of Geology. [8vo. Philadelphia: T. Bliss & Co.] By permission of the author._ COSMOGONY. The science of cosmogony treats of the history of creation. Geology comprises that later portion of the history which is within the range of direct investigation, beginning with the rock-covered globe, and gathering only a few hints as to a previous state of igneous fluidity.