I am very much obliged for your Address (404/2. Mr. Horner's Anniversary
Address to the Geological Society ("Proc. Geol. Soc." XVII., 1861).) which
has interested me much...I thought that I had read up pretty well on the
antiquity of man; but you bring all the facts so well together in a
condensed focus, that the case seems much clearer to me. How curious about
the Bible! (404/3. At page lxviii. Mr. Horner points out that the
"chronology, given in the margin of our Bibles," i.e., the statement that
the world was created 4004 B.C., is the work of Archbishop Usher, and is in
no way binding on those who believe in the inspiration of Scripture. Mr.
Horner goes on (page lxx): "The retention of the marginal note in question
is by no means a matter of indifference; it is untrue, and therefore it is
mischievous." It is interesting that Archbishop Sumner and Dr. Dawes, Dean
of Hereford, wrote with approbation of Mr. Horner's views on Man. The
Archbishop says: "I have always considered the first verse of Genesis as
indicating, rather than denying, a PREADAMITE world" ("Memoir of Leonard
Horner, II., page 303).) I declare I had fancied that the date was somehow
in the Bible. You are coming out in a new light as a Biblical critic. I
must thank you for some remarks on the "Origin of Species" (404/4. Mr.
Horner (page xxxix) begins by disclaiming the qualifications of a competent
critic, and confines himself to general remarks on the philosophic candour
and freedom from dogmatism of the "Origin": he does, however, give an
opinion on the geological chapters IX. and X. As a general criticism he
quotes Mr. Huxley's article in the "Westminster Review," which may now be
read in "Collected Essays," II., page 22.) (though I suppose it is almost
as incorrect to do so as to thank a judge for a favourable verdict): what
you have said has pleased me extremely. I am the more pleased, as I would
rather have been well attacked than have been handled in the namby-pamby,
old-woman style of the cautious Oxford Professor. (404/5. This no doubt
refers to Professor Phillips' "Life on the Earth," 1860, a book founded on
the author's "Rede Lecture," given before the University of Cambridge.