But, after all, the question is not one of a few thousands of years more or less, but of six common days, or many thousands of years. It may help us to arrive at a right conclusion on the subject if we endeavour to ascertain, in the first instance, whether there are any strongly-marked indications that the writer of the first chapter of Genesis did possess some accurate information on some points in the history of Creation which he was not likely to obtain by his own researches. For this purpose we will place in parallel columns the leading facts recorded by Moses, and a table of the successive formations of the rocks, abridged from the last edition (1871) of Sir C. Lyell's Student's Geology. This process will bring to light certain coincidences which may serve as landmarks for our investigation. The Days. THE ROCKS. 1. Creation of light. 2. Creation of the Atmosphere. |The earth covered with water |Laurentian. 3.--| [implied]. |Cambrian. |Upheaval of land. ----|Silurian. |Creation of terrestrial Flora. |Devonian. |Carboniferous. 4. The sun and moon made "Luminaries."----|Permian. |Triassic. |Triassic. 5. Creation of birds and reptiles ----|Jurassic. |Cretaceous, |Eocene. 6.--|Creation of land animals. ----|Eocene. |Creation of man. |Miocene. |Pleiocene. |Post Tertiary. CONCURRENT EVENTS. Laurentian: Upper Laurentian unconformably placed on Lower Laurentian, which contains Eozoon Canadense. Cambrian: Traces of volcanic action. Ripple marks indicating land. Silurian: Earliest fish. Devonian: Earliest land plants. Carboniferous: The coal measures. Peculiarly abundant vegetation. Earliest known reptile. Permian: Foot-prints of birds and reptiles--with a few remains of the latter. Jurassic: The first bird, and the first mammal. The age of reptiles. Cretaceous: Reptiles passing away, mammalia abundant and of large size. Post Tertiary: Human remains found only in the most recent deposits. In this table we see certain points of strongly-marked coincidence:-- 1. The oldest rocks with which we are acquainted--the Lower Laurentian [Footnote: The age of granite is uncertain.--Lyell'a Student's Geology, p. 548.]--were formed under water, but had begun to be elevated before the next series, the Upper Laurentian, were deposited. Ripple marks are found in the Cambrian group [Footnote: Ibid. p. 470], indicating that the parts where they occur formed a sea-beach, and, consequently, that dry land was in existence at that time.