jects, first by the nearest, and then by the more distant. As Cain was the father of agriculture, Abel, watching his flock by night, a solitary observer of the starlit skies, may have been the founder of astronomy.

Mankind early became familiar with the use and manufacture of metals; and in the smithy of Tubal-Cain, the quick ear of Jubal, his brother, caught the clear ringing sounds which prompted the invention of music. The building of cities became a ruling passion with the heads of families; and, as each would try to excel, and the rage for great works continued to spread, considerable advances were made in architecture. This necessitated a knowledge of mensuration and geometry, and must at least have introduced some novelty of design. The very outlines of nature, the standing tree, with its outspread boughs, and the dome-circling sky, would suggest the arch and column; and it is remarkable that Layard has discovered both in the most ancient of the Nineveh remains.1 Navigation was probably but little practised except on rivers or lakes, or along familiar coasts, as the population is generally believed to have been confined to Asia, and, conse

'Researches at Nineveh.'

quently, had little inducement to venture on the ocean. Nor is it surprising that two thousand years should elapse without such an advance in navigation, when we reflect that, in our later world, it was not till three thousand five hundred years after the Flood that Columbus crossed the Atlantic. It is no objection to this fact, that the American continent was then inhabited; for, by our Arctic explorations, we now know that it may be approached by land, and the huts of the Esquimaux have actually been traced round the coast from Europe to America. The Ark, being constructed according to divine command, and to meet a special visitation, can afford no idea of the progress made in ship-building; but, from the tenor of the directions, their brevity and simplicity, leaving so much to the judgment and cunning of the builder, we may conceive that Noah was skilled in mechanics and geometry, as well as conversant with the laws of floating bodies; and hence that mathematics and hydrostatics were among the acquirements of the time. He is simply enjoined to make 'an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt

2 Armstrong's 'Personal Narrative of the Discovery of the North-West Passage.'

pitch it within and without with pitch: And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits; the breadth of it fifty cubits; and the height of it thirty cubits: A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above: and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof, with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. '3 The dimensions of the Ark, here precisely stated, have been thought to be scarcely adequate to the living freight it was to accommodate; but, according to the calculations of Smellius and Arbuthnot, there was room and verge enough. Taking the cubit at the Jewish standard of eighteen inches, the whole area was half an acre. Arbuthnot computes the tonnage at 81,062 tons, but this must be in excess, as the Leviathan, which is 11 feet higher, is stated to be only 22,500 tons. In the directions to Noah, no reference is made to arrangements in the Ark for ventilation or draught, so indispensable to its promiscuous company; and unless it be supposed that these were secured by some miraculous provision, we must conclude that full reliance was placed on the power of Noah, by his scientific attain

3 Gen. vi. 14, 16.

ments and skill, to meet such necessary requirements.

But it is useless to speculate on the intelligence of an era which is for ever hidden from view. That remote period, with all its characters and incidents, is a closed page in the records of eternity; and the little facts that loom up from its grave, are, like the fossils that we dig from the earth, shadowy and confusing. It is a sure clue to the date of the Deluge, that while all is darkness before, from the time of its alleged occurrence the events of human history take a tangible shape. In the writings of Moses, the great leading incidents are faithfully chronicled; and the sacred narrative is borne out by various corroborative testimonies, by tradition, by geographical research, and by the remains of monuments reaching to the dispersion of man. The oldest book in the world, it is still, after an interval of four thousand years, widely accepted as the inspired word of our Creator, while it furnishes the only information we possess concerning the moral condition and progress of the early nations. Modern travel and research is continually confirming its statements, in a manner truly marvellous; and it is remarkable that the further we advance from that obscure antiquity, the

more we seem destined to learn of its history and usages.

The oldest written records of events-what may be called the foundations of the venerable fabric of history-are of a date long posterior to the early portions of the Scriptures. A wide gap of four hundred and fifty years divides them from Orpheus, who, if he ever existed, lived in the time of David, about B.C. 1040. The Hindoo Veda may probably claim the same date. Homer, the next in succession, was born about a century later ; and Herodotus, the father of history, lived three centuries after the captivity of Judah, or about B.C. 445. Hence our only guide to that lost past is the Pentateuch, which indeed goes before us, like a pillar of fire, in the wilderness of the dead world.

The erection of the Tower of Babel, on the plains of Shinar, B.C. 2245, shows that the new generation of men shared the taste of their first progenitors, in respect to building; and, by this time, they must also have been skilled in various fundamental arts, and have had some knowledge of geometry, of the principles of architecture, and of the outlines of astronomy. The avowed object of the tower was, first, to reach unto the heavens,' mean