The Origin And References Of The Hermesian Spurious Freemasonry.

mane , not a single bone or tooth of any monkey , not even a bone or tooth of an extinct species . Neither has there been found in diluvian strata any human being ; all the bones of our species which have been discovered , together with any fossil remains of the animals have been found

accidentally , and their number is small , which certainly would not havo been the case if man bad made settlements in the lands which Avere inhabited by these animals . " Forchhammor , hoAvever , asserts in his geological lectureson Avhat

, authority I know not , that " petrified human bones have been found from the diluvian strata . " And Von Schlottheim says that he discovered human bones , Avhich he took to be antediluvian , in the fissure of a rock at Costritz , but I cannot

think the assertion well founded , because it is at variance with the opinions of all other scientific men . The summit of the highest mountains in all the four quarters of the globe display relics of the spoils of the ocean . Skeletons of the elephant , crocodile , rhinoceros , and hyena , have been found in our own country , where the living animal was never

seen . lhe bones of creatures which are natives of America have been found in Ireland . Trees grown under the prolific heat of a tropical sun are found at the bottom of deep mines in Staffordshire , imbedded in coal aud ironstone . What conclusion arc Ave to draw from these

extraordinary facts 1 They are existing witnesses to the truth of tho Mosaical account of the Deluge , for under no other circumstances can thoy possibly be accounted for . And yet , to prove beyond a doubt the fearful accuracy of the divine judgments ,

notwithstanding the number of souls destroyed by the Flood Avas two thousand times more than the earth at present contains , yet no vestige has ever been discovered which can safely be pronounced to constitute part of an anteclihrvian man .

The Jewish scriptures assure us that the Deluge was general over the face of the whole earth , and that the highest hills and mountains wore covered with water . But does it follow , according to the opinion of some theorists , that because the mountains were submerged they were also dissolved and reduced to a soft pulp down ' to their very foundations , by Avhich all the

works of nature ancl art perished ? I think not . Such a bodge podge is inconsistent with the nature of the thing in itself ancl the agent employed to dissolve it ; nor can any satisfactory cause be assigned for such a dissolution , without having recourse to miraclesforthough the loose earth

, , towards the surface and for a good Avay into it might be dissolved into mud , and undoubtedly was so , as there must luwe also been groat breaks ancl cracks in the earth by the terrible shocks , contortions , and concussions of it , which the bursting out of

the subterranean lakes must make , as well as at their going off and pouring down those immense chasms , Avith the violence of rushing backwards ancl forwards upon the earth . " I say we can easily conceive that there

must be a good depth of mud both upon tho surface of the earth ancl among the chasms Avithin it , but we cannot conceive how the hardest rocks , metals , etc ., could either be dissolved or come to their

consistence again in so short a tune . What menstruum could do this ? Water alone will not do it . There are vast rocks in the sea ever since the Deluge , perpetually attacked by the violence of the waves , yet they are rocks still , and very likely will remain undissolved till the general

conflagration . Let gold , or iron , or marble and hard stones lie at the bottom of the sea ever so long , we do not fiud they will be dissolved into pap by it . Undoubtedly there wore solid rocks and metals in the earth before tho Floodas well as at

pre-, sent . If water Avill not dissolve them now how could it dissolve them then ? Besides , to effect this the whole earth must be rent to Avhitters , through ancl through , centre and all—a mere precarious suppositionand against all matter of fact . " *

, The Deluge is not the only agent by which organic changes have been accomp lished . Pliny has recorded several instances of cities ancl large tracts of land disappearing , and of new lands emerging from the sea by the force of subterranean

fires . Instances of the same kind are found iu the Philosophical Transactions and other records of more modern occurrence . In the year IG 89 a well was dug on the