Omphalos : $b an attempt to untie the geological knotGosse, Philip Henry
Religion
Omphalos : $b an attempt to untie the geological knot
Gosse, Philip Henry
Bible and geology; Creation; Evolution (Biology)
For example, the individual Stag before us, now browsing so peacefully,
has each horn composed of the following elements:--the beam, or main
stem; two brow-antlers; one stem-antler, and a coronet of four snags, or
royal-antlers, at the summit. This condition is peculiar to the seventh
development, to which if we add one year for the hornless stage of
fawnhood, we obtain eight years, as, beyond all doubt, the age of this
Stag.
Both of these examples, however, the Ibex and the Stag, though so
conclusive, and seemingly so irrefragable, are rendered nugatory by the
opposing fact of a just recent creation.
See this Horse, a newly created, really wild Horse,
"Wild as the wild deer, and untaught,
With spur and bridle undefiled,"--
his sleek coat of a dun mouse-colour, with a black stripe running down
his back, and with a full black mane and tail. He has a wild spiteful
glance; and his eye, and his lips now and then drawn back displaying his
teeth, indicate no very amiable temper. Still, we want to look at those
teeth of his. Please to moderate your rancour, generous Dobbin, and let
us make an inspection of their condition!
Now notice these peculiarities. The third pair of permanent incisors
have appeared, and have attained the same level as their fellows; all
are marked with a central hollow on the crown, the middle pair faintly:
the canines have acquired considerable size; they present a
regularly-convex surface outwardly, without any marks of grooving on the
sides; their inner side is concave; their edges sharp; the third
permanent molar has displaced its predecessor of the milk set, and the
sixth is developed.[83]
This condition of the teeth infallibly marks the fifth year of the
Horse's age. A year ago the third incisor was only just rising; the
canines were small, and strongly grooved, and the third milk grinder was
yet existing. A year hence, the central incisors will be worn quite
flat, and their marks obliterated; the canines will be fully grown
tusks, the second molar will have reached its full height, and all the
teeth will be of the same level. We can then with perfect confidence
assert this to be a five-year old Horse. And yet, if we do so, we shall
assert a palpable untruth, for the young and vigorous stallion has been
created to-day.
[Illustration: SKULL OF BABIROUSSA.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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