Page:Early Reminiscences.djvu/365

 i863 3o5 whoever was the author or compiler of the first chapter of Genesis. The facts now known relative to the antiquity of the human race cannot be brought into agreement with the origin of mankind as recorded in the early chapters of that book. What has been suggested is that the first chapters of Genesis are a record, not of actual facts, but of the surmises, consolidated into legend, that were accepted by the Hebrews as explaining phenomena, stories held by them at the period when the book of Genesis was compiled. Whether this solution of a difficulty be true or false, it assuredly serves the purpose of conciliating conflicting views by mutual concessions.