Professor Lyon's Lecture.

In his lecture yesterday Prof. Lyon showed the close relationship between the first eleven chapters in Genesis and similar narratives in the Babylonian-Assyrian literature. In some cases, as the Deluge, the cuneiform account is almost completely recovered; in others. owing to the terrible fate that befell Assyrian libraries, only small fragments have yet been found. The use to which the Hebrews put this material constitutes the great superiority in the Hebrew versions. The writer of Genesis replaced polytheism by monotheism. Some things he left out, and retained only echoes of other portions. Thus, we find in Genesis a serpent which was an enemy to the Creator. In the Baby lonian form of the creation story this serpent is a dragon which wages a long war with all the gods, and is afterwards overcome by one of their number. The sacred tree plays a large part in the Assyrian sculpture and carvings, and so do the winged composite creatures answering to the Hebrew cherubim; but the account of a seduction of man by a tempter has not yet come to light. Corresponding to the ten antediluvian patriarchs of Genesis, the Babylonians believed in ten kings whose reign had extended over a fabulous period of time. The deluge story, which is an episode in the national epic, is too similar to the version in Genesis for the two to be of different origin. The ruined tower of Borsippe, called Birs Nimrud, has long been associated with the Tower of Babel. Several stereopticon views of this magnificent ruin were shown, as well as views of the Assyrian carvings representing the sacred tree, cherubim, and the fight between the gods and the dragon.