To obtain some rude idea of the time to be disposed of for evolution during the first period, let it be supposed that the whole of the time consumed in the creation and development of the earth was 300 million years, as demanded by some geologists, the first period of the six would naturally be somewhere about 50 millions of years, a period which would allow, probably, very liberal time for evolution, but could never have been consumed in creation, seeing that creation has always been looked upon as an almost instantaneous act. And if anyone is still capable of exacting that the period was a day of twenty-four hours, he has to acknowledge that at least twenty-three of them were dedicated to the work of evolution.
The second period was evidently one solely of evolution, as all that was done during it was confined to _making_ the firmament which divides the waters from the waters; an operation which could never be confounded with creation, being probably brought about solely by the cooling of the earth, which was the only means by which a separation between the waters covering the earth, and those held in suspension above it by the atmosphere, could be brought about, and must have been purely the work of evolution.
The third period was begun by collecting the waters under the firmament into one place and letting the dry land appear; which, it may be well to note, gives it to be understood that the surface of the solid part of the earth had come to be uneven either by the elevation or depression, perhaps both, of some parts of it, and next the earth was _let_ bring forth grass and trees, and in general vegetation of all kinds. These cannot be considered otherwise than as operations of evolution: there was no creation going on beyond what may have been necessary to help evolution, and of that not a word is said. Here it is well to notice that until the waters were gathered together into one place and the dry land appeared there could be no alluvial deposits made in the sea, and that till well on into this third period, that is well on for 150 million years from the beginning, there could be no geological strata deposited in it containing vegetable matter, for the very good reason that although rains and rivers may have swept earthy matter into the sea, the rivers could not carry along in their flow any vegetable matter until it had time to grow.