The Story In Genesis Does Not Match The Story In Our Genes

"A study published by 22 authors (including myself) in the scientific journal Nature Genetics in November 2000 stated the results clearly and succinctly. A worldwide sample of men, from dozens of populations on every continent, were studied using the newly discovered treasure trove of Y-chromosome polymorphisms [only the male of the human species carries the Y-chromosome]. Applying the same methods used in the earlier mitochondrial DNA studies [women alone pass along the mitochondrial DNA], a tree diagram was constructed from the pattern of sequence variation. What this diagram showed was that the oldest splits in the ancestry of the Y chromosome occurred in Africa. In other words, the root of the male family tree was placed in Africa -- exactly the same answer that mitochrondrial DNA had given us for women. The shocker came when a date was estimated for the age of the oldest common ancestor. This man, from whom all men alive today ultimately derive their Y-chromosomes lived 59,000 years ago. More than 80,000 years after that estimated for 'Eve!' Did 'Adam' and 'Eve' never meet? No they didn't, but the reason is fairly complicated, and it reveals one of the most important things to remember about the study of human history with genetic methods... Such dates do not represent the date of origin of our species -- otherwise 'Eve' would have been waiting a long time for 'Adam' to show up. They simply represent the time, peering back into the past, when we stop seeing genetic diversity in our mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome lineages... As we'll see... the age difference between 'Adam' and 'Eve' is larger than we would expect by chance, and is probably the result of thousands of years of sexual politics [or two reproductive bottle-necks in the human geneologcial tree separated by tens of thousands of years? -- E.T.B.]. It is not, though, indicative of any deep uncertainties about human evolution. [Though it might be indicative of uncertainties about taking Genesis literally. -- E.T.B.]" [Spencer Wells, The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2002), p. 53-55. (Well's book has also been made into a television series broadcast on PBS.)]

What is most interesting, above, is the way that the geneticists, have been able to minutely compare differences in the DNA from human beings round the world and determine the most likely ways those differences had accrued over time, just like examining a pile of similar but not identical "chain letters," noting which ones had certain sentences added, or changed round, or had certain punctuation added or removed, tracing the trail of changes made in such chain letters backward in time toward what earlier versions most probably looked like. If you have enough similar chain letters to compare, it's easy to see how this tracing-backward process can be done, and why it works. In fact there was an article about comparing chain-letters and how that relates to tracing back DNA patterns in SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, "Chain Letters and Evolutionary Histories;" June 2003; by Charles H. Bennett, Ming Li and Bin Ma:

IN OUR HANDS ARE 33 VERSIONS OF A CHAIN LETTER, collected between 1980 and 1995, when photocopiers, but not e-mail, were in widespread use by the general public. These letters have passed from host to host, mutating and evolving. Like a gene, their average length is about 2,000 characters. Like a potent virus, the letter threatens to kill you and induces you to pass it on to your "friends and associates"-some variation of this letter has probably reached millions of people. Like an inheritable trait, it promises benefits for you and the people you pass it on to. Like genomes, chain letters undergo natural selection and sometimes parts even get transferred between coexisting "species." Unlike DNA, however, these letters are easy to read. Indeed, their readability makes them especially suitable for classroom teaching of phylogeny (evolutionary history) free from the arcana of molecular biology. The letters are an intriguing social phenomenon, but we are also interested in them because they provide a test bed for the algorithms used in molecular biology to infer phylogenetic trees from the genomes of existing organisms. We believe that if these algorithms are to be trusted, they should produce good results when applied to chain letters. Using a new algorithm that is general enough to have wide applicability to such problems, we have reconstructed the evolutionary history of our 33 letters [see illustration on page 79]. The standard methods do not work as well on these letters. Originally developed for genomes, our algorithm has also been applied to languages and used to detect plagiarism in student assignments: anything involving a sequence of symbols is grist for its mill. [END OF QUOTATION FROM SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN ARTICLE]

Geneticists continue making the most detailed maps of the DNA of each species, and will soon be able to trace more and more of their lineages backward in time by comparing the minute differences that have accrued in their DNA as they split off from each other. That's how they were able to determine that contemporary human beings came out of AFRICA -- as discussed in the first paragraph of this article. Meanwhile, Genesis says that Noah landed in the mountains of Ararat in modern day Armenia, NOT AFRICA, and Genesis goes on to claim that people settled in the "valley of Shinar" not very far from where Noah landed, and there they built the first major "city and tower," and then (after the "confusion of tongues"), they spread to the rest of the world. So the story in Genesis does not match the story in our genes.

Another case of such research was recently reported in NEW SCIENTIST (July 24-30, 2004, "Oz Origins for Perching Birds") that said scientists had studied the DNA of 144 species of passerines (perching birds) and discovered evidence that "suggests that the passerines began diversifying about 82 million years ago, when New Zealand split from Austalia. A major split within the lineage, between songbirds and a second group, came around 65 milion years ago. The songbirds later spread from Australia through Asia, while the others, a group containing flycatchers and ant birds, spread across South America." Again, as in the case of man, no evidence that the songbirds split from the other groups anywhere near the mountains of Armenia where Noah's ark allegedly landed. So it would seem that the story of Noah's ark remains doubtful in light of an increasing array of modern day genetic comparisons.

Cheers!

Ed

Geology at Torrey Pines, San Onofre and Del Mar Formation

Photos and footnotes on fossil shells in the West Coast Monterey Shale, San Onofre, Torrey Pines State Beach.

Geology at Torrey Pines and San Onofre
Contributed by Dave E. Matson, Oak Hill Free Press

Featured below are a few of the fossil shells that I came across earlier this year.

About 45 to 50 million years ago the West Coast resembled the East Coast in that there were barrier islands with quiet, mud-filled lagoons. The climate was such that large beds of oysters flourished along with other creatures, such as small, coiled sea snails. Eons later, that mud later got converted into somewhat greenish-gray shale--the Del Mar Formation.

The first shell photo shows a nice, whole oyster fossil resting on the Del Mar Formation. The second shell photo shows the underside of an oyster fossil along with some embedded, coiled snail shells. The 4th shell photo is a closer view of another coiled snail shell. These three fossil photos were taken at the Torrey Pines State Beach, just north of San Diego.

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Photo Courtesy Dave E. Matson

The 3rd photo is from San Onofre Beach, a short walk south of the nuclear reactors. These fossils are "only" about 20 million year old and are found in the Monterey shale.

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Photo Courtesy Dave E. Matson

Geology Photo #1: Torrey Pines. At the very top, not much in evidence here, is the Bay Point Formation (~120,000 years) which consists of loosely consolidated, brown sediments washed down from the hills. The thick, sculpted strata is the Torrey Pines sandstone (~45 million years). It is probably the remains of sand from off shore, barrier islands. The Del Mar Formation (45-50 million years) which consists of layers of mudstone, shale and white/gray sandstone lying on a greenish shale, came from lagoonal muds occasionally flooded with sand from the barrier islands. The scene is similar to the coast of Texas today, which is flat and has barrier islands and lagoons.

Geology Photo #2: San Onofre. A secondary fault may be seen as a thin diagonal in the San Mateo sandstone (4-5 million years) truncated by a later layer of marine boulders of about 125,000 years of age. The brown strata on top is less than 120,000 years old, being washed down from the hills. The white, San Mateo sandstone is underlain by Monterey shale (15-20 million years). To the right, (out of sight) of the secondary fault is the main fault, the Christianitos Fault, which has been inactive for at least 125,000 years as indicated by the undisturbed layer of marine boulders above it.

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Shell Photos #1 - Whole oyster fossil resting on the Del Mar Formation.
Photo Courtesy Dave E. Matson

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Shell Photo #2 - Underside of an oyster fossil along with some embedded, coiled snail shells
Photo Courtesy Dave E. Matson

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Photo Courtesy Dave E. Matson

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Photo Courtesy Dave E. Matson

Del Mar Formation

Del Mar Formation
Contributed by Dave E. Matson

August 8, 2006

I'm including 7 new photos from my March 25, 2006 stop at Torrey Pines. Torrey Pines State Beach is just north of La Jolla, which is the northern coastal extreme of San Diego. The famous cove there is where I went snorkeling for years.

The following photo shows a minor unconformity, where angled strata meet level strata. The angled strata is the slow fill-in of our scour channel. Some of the layers lasted long enough to have developed their own community of shelled creatures. Later, the top of the angled strata was leveled by erosion, probably during a temporary retreat of the sea. The more strata was deposited.

Del Mar Formation Enlarge Image, 89 k - del_mar_formation_01.jpg Photo courtesy of Dave E. Matson

These fossils in a pebble from the Del Mar Formation at Torrey Pines, California, are 45-50 million years old. I thought the pebble was kind of artsy.

Del Mar Formation Enlarge Image, 188 k - del_mar_formation_02.jpg Photo courtesy of Dave E. Matson

Bean clams on the beach make up the lower-right photo on this page. In San Diego, years ago, I saw a dense patch of them, each clamping on to a bit of seaweed. It looked like that patch of beach was growing something!

Del Mar Formation Enlarge Image, 193 k - del_mar_formation_03.jpg Photo courtesy of Dave E. Matson

Here, we see the green shale portion of the Del Mar Formation (45-50 million years), which was once the mud of a lagoon between a low shoreline and offshore barrier islands of sand.

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Artsy pebble on sand.

Del Mar Formation Enlarge Image, 108 k - del_mar_formation_05.jpg Photo courtesy of Dave E. Matson

Del Mar Formation Enlarge Image, 142 k - del_mar_formation_07.jpg Photo courtesy of Dave E. Matson

Just south of the scour-channel strata are these spectacularly-colored strata. A dense layer of fossil shells is found in the strata at about the ankle level of the two visitors.

Del Mar Formation Enlarge Image, 123 k - del_mar_formation_06.jpg Photo courtesy of Dave E. Matson

At the Torrey Pines Nature Center overlooking Soledad Valley, which is the northern boundary of the Torrey Pines area.

Barnacles and Bay Mussels on Flat Rock at Flat Rock Point. Torrey Pines State Beach, California. The beach is part of the Torrey Pines State Reserve, a Pines State Beach, California. The beach is part of the Torrey Pines State Reserve, a wildlife preserve. There, the rare, stately Torrey pines grow naturally. Their needles are gray-green and in bundles of five.

Del Mar Formation Enlarge Image, 416 k - del_mar_formation_08.jpg Photo courtesy of Dave E. Matson

Lemonade Berry, a hearty bush, is usually found near the coastal areas. (Rhus integrifolia of the family Anacardiaceae). The fruit exudes a sticky, sour substance that can make a lemonade-like drink!

Del Mar Formation Enlarge Image, 88 k - del_mar_formation_09.jpg Photo courtesy of Dave E. Matson

On the side of Flat Rock at Flat Rock Point, Torrey Pines State Beach, sea anemones (or some other soft creatures on the side of this rock) collect shells for protection.

Del Mar Formation Enlarge Image, 163 k - del_mar_formation_10.jpg Photo courtesy of Dave E. Matson

At the Torrey Pines Nature Center, overlooking Soledad Valley, which is the northern boundary of the Torrey Pines area.

Del Mar Formation Enlarge Image, 83 k - del_mar_formation_11.jpg Photo courtesy of Dave E. Matson

Fossils

A general introduction to the history of fossil studies, religious apprehentions, how the fossil record and the field of paleontology were established.

Figure 1.1 Seventeenth century illustration of ammonoid fossils (Cornua ammonis, or "snake stones") drawn by Robert Hooke, father of microscopy and paleontology in Britain, 1703).

"In the mountains of Parma and Piacenza multitudes of rotten shells and corals are to be seen, still attached to the rocks... And if you were to say that such shells were created, and continued to be created in similar places by the nature of the site and of the heavens, which had some influence there --such an opinion is impossible for the brain capable of thinking, because the years of their growth can be counted on the shells, and both smaller and larger shells may be seen, which could not have grown without food, and could not have fed without motion, but there they could not move.
And if you wish to say that it was the Deluge which carried these shells hundreds of miles from the sea, that cannot have happened, since the Deluge was caused by rain, and rain naturally urges rivers on towards the sea, together with everything carried by them, and does not bear dead objects from sea shores toward the mountains. And if you would say that the waters of the Deluge afterwards rose above the mountains, the movement of the sea against the course of the rivers must have been so slow that it could not have floated up anything heavier than itself."
- Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1500

What is a Fossil?

We have been conditioned to connect fossils to extinct organisms, and difficult to imagine any other explanation. One definition that seems satisfactory, is "any evidence of prehistoric life". We are not only limited to direct evidence, but all indirect evidence. The state of preservation has little to do with determining whether an object is a true fossil. Dinosaur bones are direct evidence, however, many times indirect evidence are considered, such as preserved footprints in mud, fecal material (coprolites) and gastrolliths (pebbles which presumably aided in digestion), worm borings and chemical substances from prehistoric algae and bacteria, such chemicals fossils are products of metabolism and evidence of such nature, are all defined as fossils.

For understanding methods of natural fossilization, visit "How A Living Organism Becomes a Fossil".

The ancient Greeks believed giant mammoth remains to be remains of mythological giants while mystified by seashells found hundreds of feet above sea level. They wondered if the ocean once covered the land, or did these fossils form within rock like crystal. In the sixth century B.C. Xenophanes of Colophon discovered shells in a high cliff on the island of Malta, concluding perhaps the sea once covered land. The oldest known record of such belief, was by Xanthos of Sardis around 500 B.C. who believed fossils were remains from extinct animals entombed in rock. For 2000 years, the belief expressed by Aristotle (384 B.C.) remained influential, suggesting fish fossils were remains of sea animals that had swam into cracks of rocks and stranded.

From latter days of the Roman Empire, people believed in the literal six day creation and the worldwide flood of Genesis, casting confusion on the proper interpretation of fossils and rocks. Most individuals who lived during those times had limited knowledge about what lie at the bottom of the ocean. Many fossils share no resemblance to species familiar to Europeans. The living chambered nautilus was discovered in 1829, - Europeans could scarcely imagine coiled objects known as Cornua ammonis ("Horns of Ammon") (Figure 1.1), "serpent stones" -- and bullet shaped belemnites (Fig. 1.2.), were relatives of squid and octupus.

Figure 1.2 Illustration by Conrad Gesner from 1565 of bullet-shaped belemnites and crinoid columnals. These organisms resembled no known species to Renaissance Europe, Gesner included. They were presumed to be a product of falling stars due to the starlike pattern in some of the crinoids.

Even today, people who chance to pick up one, often fail to recognize these cylindrical crinoid columnals as relatives to of the sea urchin. Few people have seen the rare crinoids which still dwell on the ocean floor. Scholars once referred to them as "star stones" (Lapis stellaris or Astroites stellis) believing the star-shaped pattern in the columnal and the radial pattern in fossilized coral to be a product of thunderbolts or falling stars.

The word fossil comes from the latin, fossilis meaning "dug up". Educated men during the Middle Ages and Renaissance began to make speculative interpretations of fossils. At first the word fossil was applied to any formation found in a rock, remains of organisms as well as non-organic crystals and concretions. Some believed those formations resembling living creatures were caused by animals who had been stranded in the rock and turned to stone. Others believed they were grown from seeds or washed in during Noah's flood. Other scholars believed they might be pranks of the Devil, for the purpose of destroying faith, while others presumed supernatural origin, (lusus naturae) or "figured stones" produced by mystical "plastic forces". These assumptions may seem strange today, but during the time they were sensible for people who held the widely shared belief in a literal Genesis and a 6,000 year old earth.

Around 1500, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) acknowledged fossil shells in the Apennine Mountains of northern Italy, located far away from any coastline, represented ancient aquatic life. Unlike his colleagues, da Vinci knew it was unlikely they were washed there during Noah's flood, many of the shells being too fragile for such a journey, and impossible to have washed there by the Flood in forty days. Many of the shells were intact, and in a position which was not dissimilar to extant species living near the seashore, simply, they did not appear to be the product of transported organisms. Some of the shells beds were divided by layers of unfossiliferous strata, it did not appear to be a formation produced by a single devastating flood. Most of da Vinci's ideas remained unpublished, for they would not have been accepted at the time.

In 1565, the Swiss physician Conrad Gesner (1516-1565) authored "On the nature of fossils", De rerum fossilium. It was the first work that illustrated fossils. This, along with brief descriptions by earlier authors could be made more accurate. (Fig. 1.2). Gesner's publication were based on his own fossil collection, and those of colleagues which began the modern tradition of exchange, analysis and comparison. Correct in his comparisons of most fossils with living relatives, but Gesner concluded some items such as the crinoid columnals and belemnites were formed by mineral precipitation. Just as many of his contemporaries, Gesner interpreted from a supernatural perspective, Neoplatonic "ideal forms" and failed to explore the implications that are obvious to most of us today.
Through his publication, four main questions were raised:

1. Are fossils organic remains?
2. How did they get into rock?
3. When did they get there, -when it was formed, or afterward?
4. How was it the creature became petrified?

Answers to these questions were first offered by Niels Stensen, also known as Nicholaus Steno (1638-1686), a Dane physician. Living near the Apennine Mountains, Steno had the opportunity for a closeup firsthand look at the shells. In 1666, he dissected a large shark caught near Livorno. Upon inspection of the mouth of the shark, he saw that its teeth closely resembled fossils known as "tongue stones", latin glossopetrae which were previously considered petrified snake or dragon tongues. (Fig. 1.3) Steno now realized tongue stones were actually petrified remains of ancient shark teeth, and that fossils were a product of once-living organisms.

Figure 1.3 Illustration by Nicholaus Steno from 1669, showing "tongue stones" and their similarities with modern shark teeth.

Steno published De solido intra solidum naturaliter contento dissertationis prodromus in 1669, "Forerunner to a dissertation on a solid naturally contained within a solid". Steno's publication focused on how solid objects got inside solid objects. Steno theorized the enclosing sandstone must once have been loose sand, which was later petrified into sandstone, an idea which overturned the idea that rocks had been created during the first days of Creation and remained so, as we see them today. Steno's observations extended into further understanding of relative age of geological features, in other words Fossils encased in rock must be older than the rock which formed around them. However, crystals grow within the fabric of the rock, after the rock formed. Steno generalized the principles of superposition, original horizontality and continuity, fundamental principles in historical geology and stratigraphy. Just as the Prodromus was being published, Steno made a conversion to Catholicism forfeiting his interests in science, so the promised disseration never followed. Later, he returned to Denmark, where he lived until his death.

Around the same time of Steno's publication a British scientist, Robert Hooke (1635-1703) was coming to similar conclusions. Hooke was responsible for one of the first microscopes and the first sketches of microscopic organisms, including cellular structure, thus he became known as "the father of Microscopy". In 1665, Hooke made several observations, suggesting fossils might be a useful means to make chronological comparison of age in rocks [similar to coins aiding in accurately dating records in Rome], including the first accurate fossil drawings published posthumously in 1705 (Fig. 1.1). Hooke made the observation that many of the fossils had no living counterparts, therefore he speculated that species may have a fixed "life span". At the time, it was commonly believed the earth and all species had been created a mere 6,000 years before and all species still alive. What Hooke proposed was the first hint at the extinction of species.

Most of the ideas put forth by Steno and Hooke were rejected, until around a century later. Throughout the early 1700's, beliefs about fossils were still influenced heavily by Biblical tradition. In 1726, Swiss naturalist Johann Scheuchzer (1672-1733) described one particularly large fossil, "the bony skeleton of one of those infamous men whose sins brought upon the world the dire misfortune of the Deluge." Scheuchzer named it Homo diluvii testis, or "Man, a witness of the Flood". This early on, comparative anatomy was not advanced enough to make a clear distinction, and the fossil was later discovered to be a giant fossilized salamander. (Fig. 1.4).

Figure 1.4 Homo diluvii testis "Man, a witness of the flood", as Scheuchzer so named the fossil. Donald R. Prothero, "Bringing Fossils to Life", makes the following humorous observation, "Scheuchzer's anatomical skills were not up to his Biblical knowledge, since it is actually the fossil of a giant salamander."

Another sad event involved Dr. Johann Beringer (1667-1740), dean of the Wurzberg, Germany medical school. Fascinated with the "petrifications" that collectors had given to him, he composed a large monograph of the "figured stones". Some bore resemblance with frogs, shells and other natural objects, some with stars and other curious patterns. Colleagues whom Beringer had offended passed off the carved objects, but confessed the hoax too late to stop publication. He was ruined, and died spending his last pfennig attempting to buy back all the copies of the book.

By the mid eighteenth century, naturalistic fossil concepts prevailed. Linnaeus published the Systema Naturae in 1735, which classified all life including fossils, which were treated and named the same as extant species. At the dawn of the nineteeth century, Baron Georges Cuvier (1769-1832) made progress in the area of comparative anatomy, demonstrating how certain features; claws, sharp teeth, hooves and grinding teeth, were correlated. It is to Cuvier we owe the paleontological tradition to predict unknown anatomical structure, based on a comparison with anatomy of close relatives. Cuvier also showed how bones from mastodonts and mammoths were in actuality, an extinct elephant-like species and explorers had discovered no species like them. Cuvier became the founder of comparative anatomy and vertebrate paleontology, bringing the study of fossils away from much of the Biblical superstition previously overshadowing it. Prior to this time extinction was an unacceptable fact for it went against everything believed aobut the creation account in Genesis. For instance, as Donald Prothero states, "If God watched after the little sparrow, surely He would not allow any of his creatures to go extinct."

During the late eighteenth century, William Smith (1769-1839) an engineer from Britain, was surveying for canal excavations and made the observation that fossils reveal a pattern -each formation had different assemblage, as he wrote in 1796, "the wonderful order and regularity with which nature has disposed of these singular productions [fossils] and assigned each to its own class and peculiar Stratum." Smith became an expert at recognizing the fossils in each formation and correctly identifying the layers from which the specimens orginated. Smith used his knowledge of faunal succession in the first geological map, which was published in 1815. At the same time, Cuvier and a colleague Alexandre Brongniart were mapping the Paris Basin's strata. Though independently, these men realized there was a regular fossil succession, differing formation to formation. These discoveries eventually led to modern concepts of biostratigraphy, a means to explain earth's history.

By the time Darwin's On the Origin of Species was published in 1859, the understanding of fossil complexity had became so widely accepted among scholars, few took Noah's flood literally.

REFERENCES
Bringing Fossils to Life, An Introduction to Paleobiology, McGraw Hill Publishers, Donald R. Prothero

Paleobotany and the Evolution of Plants, by Cambridge University Press; 2 edition, Wilson N. Stewart, Gar W. Rothwell

Kingfisher Illustrated Dinosaur Encyclopedia, Kingfisher Publishers, David Burnie

FURTHER SUGGESTED READING

Adrienne Mayor's books

1) The First Fossil Hunters (Princeton 2000) explains how ancient Greek and Roman discoveries of mysterious petrifed bones of extinct dinosaurs and mastodons led to myths about griffins, giants, and monsters. Watch for "Ancient Monster Hunters" on the History Channel.
2) Fossil Legends of the First Americans (Princeton 2005) gathers exciting Native American discoveries and myths about fossils, from tiny shells to enormous dinosaur bones, with stories from more than 45 different tribes, beginning with the Aztecs & Incas.

Stephen Meyer's article, "Are Dinosaurs Mentioned in the Bible?"

Edward T. Babinski wrote: "In 1726 [Prof. J.J. Scheuchzer] mistook the skull and vertebral column of a large salamander from the Miocene of Oeningen for the "betrübten Beingerüst eines alten Sünders" (sad bony remains of an old human sinner) and figured the specimen as "Homo diluvii testis" (the man who witnessed the Deluge).

SOURCE: Dirk Albert Hooijer, "Fact and Fiction in Hippopotamology (Sampling the History of Scientific Error)," Osiris, Vol. 10. (1952), pp. 109-116.

Funny comment about the above sentence: Assertion, emphatic and immune to reason, might not be the best foundation for a new critical practice; but we also can’t tell our salamanders from sinners.

Two Short Poems on the Nature of Scientific Explanations and God and Science

PARADOX
by Clarence R. Wylie Jr.

Not truth, nor certainty. These I forswore
In my novitiate, as young men called
To holy orders must abjure the world.
'If...,then...,' this only I assert;
And my successes are but pretty chains
Linking twin doubts, for it is vain to ask
If what I postulate be justified,
Or what I prove possess the stamp of fact.

Yet bridges stand, and men no longer crawl
In two dimension. And such triumphs stem
In no small measure from the power this game,
Played with the thrice-attentuated shades
Of things, has over their originals.
How frail the wand, but how profound the spell!

---

FEAR OF GOD
by Ronnie J. Hastings, Ph.D. (1983)

Galileo was chided by the God-fearing for observing that the solar system is Copernican, not Ptolemaic.
And yet... the wanderers did and do move about the sun.

Newton was chided by the God-fearing for describing all motions with mathematics, not with divine will.
And yet...measurements in mechanics could and can be predicted with precision through calculation.

Lavoisier was chided by the God-fearing for explaining chemistry as quantative reactions, not as miracles or magic.
And yet...substances did and do appear and disappear with predictable regularity in labs everywhere.

Darwin was chided by the God-fearing for showing the diversity of life resulting from ecological factors and adaption to them, not from theistic interventions.
And yet...life had and has a single structure and has changed and does change forms in time.

Einstein was chided by the God-fearing for demonstrating the democracy of observers, not the absolute God's-eye view.
And yet...space and time have changed and do change from frame of reference to frame of reference, and the laws of nature have been and are the same for all frames.

Perhaps the God-fearing are right to fear God. If God is the source of reality, they have been fighting or ignoring God's facts for four hundred years!

Michael Denton, is now an Evolutionist

Source: Nature's Destiny. From the impossibility of evolution to the inevitability of evolution: Anti-Evolutionst Michael Denton turns into an 'Evolutionist'. A review by Gert Korthof version 3.1b 23 May 2000

Quote from the book :
"It is important to emphasize at the outset that the argument presented here is entirely consistent with the basic naturalistic assumption of modern science - that the cosmos is a seamless unity which can be comprehended ultimately in its entirety by human reason and in which all phenomena, including life and evolution and the origin of man, are ultimately explicable in terms of natural processes. This is an assumption which is entirely opposed to that of the so-called "special creationist school". According to special creationism, living organisms are not natural forms, whose origin and design were built into the laws of nature from the beginning, but rather contingent forms analogous in essence to human artifacts, the result of a series of supernatural acts, involving the suspension of natural law. Contrary to the creationist position, the whole argument presented here is critically dependent on the presumption of the unbroken continuity of the organic world - that is, on the reality of organic evolution and on the presumption that all living organisms on earth are natural forms in the profoundest sense of the word, no less natural than salt crystals, atoms, waterfalls, or galaxies." (page xvii-xviii).

---

In Nature's Destiny Denton refers to Kaufmann(1) and deDuve(2), to show that, given the right initial conditions, the origin of life and evolution is inevitable.

Can we find crucial evidence in his book which converted him to evolution ? The key passage, I think, occurs in the paragraph "The Closeness of All Life in DNA Sequence Space" of CH 12 (p276). It must have been the key insight for Denton.
It reads:

"One of the most surprising discoveries which has arisen from DNA sequencing has been the remarkable finding that the genomes of all organisms are clustered very close together in a tiny region of DNA sequence space forming a tree of related sequences that can all be interconverted via a series of tiny incremental natural steps."

"So the sharp discontinuities, referred to above, between different organs and adaptations and different types of organisms, which have been the bedrock of antievolutionary arguments for the past century (3), have now greatly diminished at the DNA level. Organisms which seem very different at a morphological level can be very close together at the DNA level." [emphasis & note are mine]

Notes:

1. Stuart Kaufmann: At Home in the Universe (1995). It is instructive to compare what Phillip Johnson wrote about Stuart Kaufmann : "....and some plausible rescuers will invite the officers to take refuge in electronic lifeboats equipped with high-tech gear like autocatalytic sets and computer models of self-organizing systems." (p170, Darwin on Trial, 1993). It is clear that there is now a gap between Johnson and Denton(1998). The most important reason however is that Denton accepts the naturalistic assumption of science, which Johnson rejects. Michael Behe wrote a few 'words of praise' at the back cover of Nature's Destiny, Johnson is absent.

2. de Duve: Vital Dust(1995).

3. Including Denton(1986) himself ! He forgets to mention himself !

Even at the ARN website you can read about Denton and Paul Nelson (of the Discovery Institute) going at it on their way to a "Mere Creation" conference: First stop, who gets in but Paul Nelson. Paul and I have known each other. Then Thane Ury (Bethel College) gets in. We start talking and then son-of-a-gun Paul says, "There is Michael Denton"--I couldn't believe it. Lean 50-ish guy with a shock of white, close-cropped hair wearing a shirt that looks like the top for a pair of long underwear. I spent two weeks one summer vacation in Montana outlining various chapters from Evolution: A Theory in Crisis just to drive out the Darwinian poisons I imbibed from my mother's milk. The biggest shock was finding he is so engaging and approachable! He and Nelson started dukeing it out right away. It was fantastic. Here I was with a bad cold, barely holding on to my name tag, fortunate to have taken all the right turns thus far—and bango, the conference starts en route. Paul says "common ancestry is an assumption." Denton says, "the such-and-such goes down and around the something else and why doesn't it just go straight across?" And Paul says, "But how do you know that the down and around isn't optimal?" I remember that point. Then Denton says, "Yeah but when you have delivered as many babies as I have you notice things." He gestures downward with both hands cupped as though he is about to deliver one. He says "Right after they are born they go like this"--he then does a grasping motion with both hands raised. In my semi-fevered state I saw a new born hominid grasping its mothers' fur--right there in the van. He gave a name for the reflex [primate grasp] but even without it I could see that he knew a thing or two about how our kind and kin are born. The conversation in the van was not really a conversation. Denton started talking and gesturing in a very distinctive fashion. He makes his points by jabbing the air with his middle finger—quite unselfconsciously. Possibly this too is a primordial rhetorical reflex with an interesting aeteology. Denton proceeded to develop an evolutionary cosmology, the point of which is that there is abundant evidence for common descent and it is equally clear that evolution is directed and programmed. Indeed Denton affirmed two things—and this is apparently the thesis of his book now under contract at Simon & Schuster--that humankind literally is the point of creation and he is the end product of a divine design. Paul seemed to just let him go, but I sensed Paul was saving up for another time.

Geological Eons, Eras, Periods and Epochs, and How Fossils Are Used

Chart of major geological eons, eras, periods, epochs and events. How fossils are used by scientists to determine its relationship with other specimens, with objective to un-ravel evolutionary patterns and origins.

Index fossils are sometimes used by Geologists to determine stratigraphic data about Earth's surface. This is true in the case of spores and pollen grains, the reproductive materials found in plants. By doing so provides the palyntologist means to determine relative age and position of rock, containing the spores. When studying drill cores, this kind of information can be useful to miners searching for fossil fuels.

Palynologists have used index fossils for practical applications, including understanding relationship between major groups of plants, specifically, gymnosperms and angiosperms.
A good index fossil is considered to be one that is easily identifiable, with wide horizontal distribution, and vertical range of approximately one million years. Traditionally, due to scarcity and difficulty in identification, plant megafossils were rarely used as index fossils. Though possessing wide geographical distribution in various sedimentary rocks, the vertical range spans millions of years. Assemblages of megafossils used as indices (or, indexes), accompanied by palynological information, scientists have been able to characterize restrictive stratigraphic units in rock units containing megafossils.

EON	ERA	PERIOD		EPOCH	Characteristic organisms and major geological events		Duration in millions of years	Began (m.y.a.)
	C E N O Z O I C E R A	QUARTERNARY PERIOD		HOLOCENE EPOCH			Last 5,000 years	0-10,000 years ago
				PLEISTO- CENE EPOCH			2.5 million years	10,000 to 1.6 million years ago
		TERTIARY PERIOD Late Tertiary Middle Tertiary Early Tertiary KT Times		PLIOCENE EPOCH			4.5 million years	2.5-7 million years ago
				MIOCENE EPOCH			19 million years	7-26 million years ago
				OLIGOCENE EPOCH			12 million years	26-38 million years ago
				EOCENE EPOCH			16 million years duration	38-54 million years ago
				PALEOCENE EPOCH			11 million years duration	54-65 million years ago
	M E S O Z O I C E R A	CRETACEOUS PERIOD Later Cretaceous Early Cretaceous		UPPER Maastrichtian Campanian Santonian Coniacian Turonian Cenomanian		76 million years duration		65-141 million years ago
				LOWER Albian Aptian Barremian Hauterivian Valanginian Berriasian
		JURASSIC PERIOD		UPPER Tithonian Kimmeridgian Oxfordian		54 million years duration		141-195 million years ago
				MIDDLE Callovian Bathonian Bajocian Aalenian
				LOWER Toarcian Pliensbachian Sinemurian Hettangian
		TRIASSIC PERIOD		UPPER Rhaetian Norian Carnian		30 million years duration		208-245 million years ago
				MIDDLE Ladinian Anisian
				LOWER (Scythian) Olenekian Induan
	P A L E O Z O I C E R A	PERMIAN PERIOD		UPPER Lopingian - Changhsingian - Wuchiapingian MIDDLE Guadalupian - Capitanian - Wordian - Roadian		55 million years duration		245-280 million years ago
				LOWER Cisuralian - Kungurian - Artinskian - Sakmarian - Asselian
		C A R B O N I F E R O U S	PENNSYLVANIAN	UPPER Kasimovian | Gzhelian		45 million years duration		280-325 million years ago
				MIDDLE Moscovian
				LOWER Bashkirian
			MISSISSIPPIAN Carboniferous	UPPER Serpukhovian MIDDLE Vis?an		20 million years duration		286-360 million years ago
				LOWER Tournaisian
		DEVONIAN PERIOD		UPPER Fammenian | Fransnian		50 million years duration		360-408 million years ago
				MIDDLE Givetian | Eifelian
				LOWER Praghian | Lockhovian
		SILURIAN PERIOD		UPPER Pridolian | Ludlovian		40 million years duration		408-438 million years ago
				LOWER Wenlockian | Llandoverian
		ORDOVICIAN PERIOD		UPPER Ashgillian | Caradocian MIDDLE Llandeilian | Llanvirnian		65 million years duration		438-505 million years ago
				LOWER Arenigian | Tremadocian
		CAMBRIAN PERIOD Late Cambrian Early Cambrian		UPPER Furongian		70 million years duration		505-540 million years ago
				MIDDLE * table below
				LOWER * table below
	P R O T E R O Z O I C E R A	VENDIAN PERIOD				--		540-650 million years ago
		PRE-VENDIAN PERIOD						650-2,500 million years ago
	ARCHAEAN 3.8 to 2.5 billion years ago The atmosphere of Earth was very different from what we breathe today; at that time, it was likely a reducing atmosphere of methane, ammonia, and other toxic gases. During this time, the Earth's crust cooled enough that rocks and continental plates began to form. Early in the Archaean that life first appeared on Earth. Our oldest fossils date to roughly 3.5 billion years ago, and consist of bacteria microfossils. All life during the more than one billion years of the Archaean was bacterial, stromatolites, colonies of photosynthetic bacteria which have been found as fossils in Early Archaean rocks of South Africa and Western Australia. Stromatolites increased in abundance throughout the Archaean, but began to decline during the Proterozoic.							2,500-3800 million years ago
	HADEAN 4.5 to 3.8 billion years ago Hadean time is not a geological period as such. During Hadean time, the Solar System was forming. Sometime during the first 800 million or so years of its history, the surface of the Earth changed from liquid to solid. Once solid rock formed on the Earth, its geological history began. This most likely happened prior to 3.8 billion years, but hard evidence for this is lacking. Erosion and plate tectonics has probably destroyed all of the solid rocks that were older than 3.8 billion years.							3,800-4,600 million years ago

CAMBRIAN SUBDIVISIONS
Cambrian is divided into three epochs ? the Early Cambrian (Lower Cambrian, Caerfai or Waucoban), Middle Cambrian (St Davids or Albertian) and Furongian (a.k.a. Late/Upper Cambrian, Merioneth or Croixan). Each of the epochs are divided into two faunal stages. Only one, Paibian has been recognized by the International Commission on Stratigraphy. Others are still unnamed. However, the Cambrian is divided into several regional faunal stages.
Source: Answers.com - Cambrian Subdivisions

	Chinese	North American	Russian-Kazakhian	Australian	Regional
Furongian		Ibexian	Ayusokkanian	Idamean	Dolgellian
		Sunwaptan	Sakian	Mindyallan	Festiniogian
		Steptoan	Aksayan	Payntonian	Maentwrogian
		Marjuman	Batyrbayan
Middle Cambrian	Maozhangian		Mayan	Boomerangian
	Zuzhuangian	Delamaran	Amgan	Undillian
	Zhungxian			Florian
				Templetonian
		Dyeran		Ordian
Early Cambrian	Longwangmioan		Toyonian		Lenian
	Changlangpuan	Montezuman	Botomian
	Qungzusian		Atdabanian
	Meishuchuan		Tommotian
			Nemakit-Daldynian

Extant organisms in their structure and distribution, reflect the composition of their environments. We assume extinct organisms also adapted to their environment in the same way. If this assumption is true, then it is possible to determine seasonal variations using growth rings from petrified wood, including paleo-environmental availability of water and temperature changes. Fossilized wood which reflects lack of growth rings, indicate a continuous supply of water and uniform temperature, just as thickened cuticles and sunken stomata of fossilized leaves indicate a lack of water, while roots and spongy stem tissue suggest a swampy or aquatic paleo-environment. With such information extracted from morphology and anatomy of fossil plants, provides in part, the basis for paleoecology and paleoclimatology. Further studies are taken into consideration, such as those on sedimentary materials which naturally occur with the fossils and, how the fossil became preserved, all play into better understanding the paleoenvironment. Specialists caution however, conclusions should never be based entirely upon extant organisms and how they interact with present environments. What we observe occuring today, is not necessarily the key to the past. (Paleobotany and the Evolution of Plants, Stewart and Rothwell, 1993; DiMichele & Wing, 1987.)

Paleofloristics, which specializes in assemblages of fossil plants, provides insight into Earth's restricted and widescale climate. On the worldwide scale, such studies have provided scientists with insight into plate tectonics and continental drift. These studies can also provide further insight into plant distribution, population, migration and significant changes in early environments. Studies on succession of plants in the geological column have became popular among paleoecologists, and also useful in studies on extant organisms and plant successions in natural history.

Successional changes in organisms throughout natural history are the basis of studies related to the evolution of life. Most paleontologists focus more on relative stratigraphic positioning of fossils, than absolute ages. It remains more important to most in the field, to determine how a fossil relates to other specimen with objective to un-ravel evolutionary patterns and origins.

REFERENCES
Bringing Fossils to Life, An Introduction to Paleobiology, McGraw Hill Publishers, Donald R. Prothero

Paleobotany and the Evolution of Plants, by Cambridge University Press; 2 edition, Wilson N. Stewart, Gar W. Rothwell

Atlas of the Prehistoric World, by Discovery Channel Books, Douglas Palmer

Kingfisher Illustrated Dinosaur Encyclopedia, Kingfisher Publishers, David Burnie

FURTHER SUGGESTED READING
Adrienne Mayor's books
1) The First Fossil Hunters (Princeton 2000) explains how ancient Greek and Roman discoveries of mysterious petrifed bones of extinct dinosaurs and mastodons led to myths about griffins, giants, and monsters. Watch for "Ancient Monster Hunters" on the History Channel.
2) Fossil Legends of the First Americans (Princeton 2005) gathers exciting Native American discoveries and myths about fossils, from tiny shells to enormous dinosaur bones, with stories from more than 45 different tribes, beginning with the Aztecs & Incas.

Stephen Meyer's article, "Are Dinosaurs Mentioned in the Bible?"

Response to 'Darwinism and the Nazi Race Holocaust'

Someone sent me the web address of an article at the Answers In Genesis site by Jerry Bergman, titled, "Darwinism and the Nazi race Holocaust," and I composed a reply:

BERGMAN (author of "Darwinism and the Nazi race Holocaust" and the Answers in Genesis website): Hitler's government relied heavily upon Darwinism, especially the elaborations by Spencer and Haeckel.

ED: Note the admission, "...especially the elaborations of Spencer and Haeckel." It's the "elaborations" of others, rightly or wrongly that most influenced Hitler, this becomes even clearer below, concerning various "Nazi scientists" listed below and their prejudicial modes of thinking that preceded their eugenics theories concerning "the Jews."

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BERGMAN: The Nazis relied heavily upon the work of Hans F.K. Günther, professor of 'racial science' at the University of Jena

ED: Note the admission, "relied heavily upon the work of Hans F. K. Günther," whose "work" consisted of "proving" the "inferiority of the Jews." Why "the Jews" you ask? Because Günther and many other Germans "knew" that the "Jews" were inferior long before Günther ever did his first "racial science" experiment (sic). In fact, many Germans believed that "Jews" were inferior for CENTURIES, because the Bible and Martin Luther told them so. So really, what DOES the Holocaust come down to? Günther's "racial science," a Jew-hating pseudoscience, based firmly on centuries of Jew-baiting and Jew-hating under the Christian cross.

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BERGMAN: Poliakov notes that many intellectuals in the early 1900s accepted telegony, the idea that 'bad blood' would contaminate a race line forever, or that 'bad blood drives out good' , just as bad money displaces good money. Only extermination would permanently eliminate inferior genetic lines, and thereby further evolution. . Darwin even compiled a long list of cases where he concluded bad blood polluted a whole gene line, causing it to bear impure progeny forever.

ED: This idea of "telegony" does not necessarily warrant "extermination" in the sense of killing people, just sterilization. I also wonder whether Darwin ever mentioned the words "bad blood" and spoke about it "polluting" a whole gene line. He probably did collect examples in which a pedigreed dog or pigeon was bred with a wild type and the children of that offspring no longer bore pedigreed offspring. But so what? Does that mean build ovens and kill Jews, homosexuals, Poles, and Gypsies? Darwin did invent a theory of inheritance that involved gemmules carried in the blood that carried physically inherited information, but it was disproven long ago. Nobody believes Darwin's theory of inheritance any more.

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BERGMAN: Hitler believed that Blacks were "monstrosities halfway between man and ape"

ED: More of Günther's "racial science" at work? Bergman does not say. But the prejudiced idea of Black's being mere savages goes back BEFORE Darwin's day. The Europeans at that time looked down upon the Blacks in Africa and Indians in the Americas for not advancing technologically as fast as they had. The Europeans had guns and steel. The Blacks still had only spears. It proves nothing of course, except that races that develop technology tend to regard the less technologically advanced races with derision, and probably underestimate their capabilities. (Imagine how advanced beings in passing UFOs feel about everyone on our planet?) As for Blacks having a "mundane genetic character" that made them prone to being enslaved, see the "Biblical views" of the president of the Institute of Creation Research in America, found at the very end of this e-mail.

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BERGMAN: Relatively few scientific studies exist which directly deal with Darwinism and Nazism

ED: Those wouldn't be "scientific" studies, those would be historical studies.

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BERGMAN: . and many evolutionists avoid the subject because evolution is inescapably selectionist.

ED: The word "selectionist" by itself means nothing. Bergman is just straining like the devil to connect everything the involves "Hitlerian, Güntherian, genocidal" selection with Darwin's theory of "natural selection" - a theory that in the biological realm, even some creationists accede to, especially the ones who admit that microevolution occurs.

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BERGMAN: One of the best reviews of Darwinism and Nazism documents clearly that Nazism felt confident that their programs of extermination was firmly based on evolution science.

ED: Just because someone is "confident" their beliefs are "based" on something does not mean it is. It merely tells us how "confident" that person was in their belief that it was. So believing one's views are "based on science" doesn't make it so. What was Nazi "racial science" really based on? Perhaps centuries of prejudiced racism? It was also based on "science" prior to the human genome project discovery that all human beings are, genomically-speaking, almost "identical twins" and that the notion of "races" is obsolete. But scientists knew that even BEFORE the human genome project which merely reinforced what they had already discovered via other types of experiments. Speaking of being "based on science," there are still Christian groups who espouse racism and who believe their views are "based on science, or at least on what they claimed was common sense," as did the Christian whites in South Africa, as did Christian slaveholders in the South of the U.S. (As I've pointed out, South Africa was a heavily Protestant Christian nation, that gave more money for missions per capita than even America, and that was during the time of their practice of apartheid, when it was also illegal to teach evolution in schools, nor did they allow the broadcast of any of Sagan's COSMOS programs that dealt with evolution. So, creationism and Christianity in South Africa went hand in hand with apartheid.) And speaking of the idea of "things being firmly based upon" other things, what about all the crazy ideas that one Christian group or another affirms are "firmly based" on the 'Bible," and which another Christian group rejects, though both claim "the Bible" is the "basis" for all their beliefs? And the fact that such disputes have ended in excommunications, riots, murders and wars? Based on the Bible, Early American Puritans were convinced that if the native Americans would not convert, then they should be destroyed like the Canaanites, without mercy, man, woman and child. Need some quotations on that? I've got references. Might make a nice article at the Answers in Genesis site, "Christianity, the Bible, and the Native American Holocaust."

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BERGMAN: An assessment by Youngson concluded that the application of Darwinism to society, called eugenics, produced one of the most tragic scientific blunders of all time: "The culmination of this darker side of eugenics was, of course, Adolf Hitler's attempt to produce a 'master race' by encouraging mating between pure 'Aryans' and by the murder of six million people whom he claimed to have inferior genes. It is hardly fair to Galton to blame him for the Holocaust or even for his failure to anticipate the consequences of his advocacy of the matter. But he was certainly the principal architect of eugenics, and Hitler was certainly obsessed with the idea. So, in terms of its consequences, this must qualify as one of the greatest scientific blunders of all time."

ED: Taken from a book titled Scientific Blunders; A Brief History of How Wrong Scientists Can Sometimes Be. No doubt the authors of a book about "science's" greatest blunders are going to play up the "science" aspect behind such blunders and ignore the centuries of religious intolerance and cultural egotism that preceded such blunders. Not to mention the charismatic ideologue, Hitler, and his ideological mass movement that carried out the exterminations proposed by their "leader." I'd say; the Holocaust was a typical case of an alpha male leading his pack of gorillas. And that perhaps a lot of Christians today are being "primed" by their ideology which teaches them to bow down to a holy book or leader, to bow down to the next charismatic leader who comes along and is able to feign both "Christianity" and "science" in the name of some obviously prejudicially based plan which he assures us will "save the world," and thereby wreck it.

Speaking of pseudoscience that is not based on Darwinism, but on a prominent creationist's reading of the Bible check out the following:

HENRY MORRIS OF THE INSTITUTE FOR CREATION RESEARCH, AND THE QUESTION OF "genetic CHARACTER."

From Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Book of Beginnings, Creation-Life Publishes, San Diego, 1976, I quote this passage: "Sometimes the Hamites, especially the Negroes, have even become actual slaves to the others. Possessed of a genetic character concerned mainly with mundane, practical matters, they have often eventually been displaced by the intellectual and philosophical acumen of the Japhethites and the religious zeal of the Semites." There is no scientific evidence for any "genetic character" basis for a disposition to "the mundane" (nor for a "genetic character" for a disposition to "philosophy or religion") in certain peoples, and no biblical basis for assuming that a general distinction of this kind is genetic either. The notion of a genetic disposition to the mundane in certain populations is an utter fabrication. But it suits Morris' view of the Biblically prophetic curse of one of Noah's three sons, which he sees as thereby being fulfilled because he has interpreted it as being fulfilled, via his fallacy of a "genetic character toward the mundane" for an entire group of people.

ENDNOTE: Morris is careful to avoid the word "race," but instead speaks of "genetic character": "Note that these three streams of nations are not three 'races.' Though some have thought of the Semites, Japhethites, and Hamites as three races (say, the dusky, the white, and the black races or the Mongoloid, Caucasian, and Negroid), this is not what the Bible teaches, nor is it what modern anthropology and human genetics teach. There are dusky and black people found among all three groups of nations. The Bible does not use the word 'race' nor does it acknowledge such a concept. The modern concept of 'race' is based on evolutionary thinking. To the evolutionist, a race is a subspecies in the process of evolving into a new species, and this idea is the basis of modern racism . "

This passage by Morris again demonstrates no knowledge of modern anthropology and genetics which are integral to modern evolution, and which teach that the notion of "race" has indeed become vacuous. But not because the Bible told them so.

Are miracles more falsifiable than neo-darwinism?

"Darwinian evolution is not falsifiable", because "if the Darwinian mechanism of natural selection of random mutations fails to make any adaptive change after millions of years, Darwinists like Mayr protect their theory from falsification by claiming that the "proper" mutations never occurred in order that natural selection could make use of them (Moorhead & Kaplan 1967, pp.63-64)".

ED: Are miracles more falsifiable than neo-darwinism? So what exactly have you gained with your argument above? Indeed, I don't see the point of arguing against neo-darwinistic investigations in favor of miracles -- as if one could find the points at which God stuck his finger into the genome and fiddled with this or that mutation, and distinguish such divine finger pushing from mutations that simply came about naturally. You DO believe that we have evidence of mutations that occur naturally, don't you? Do you also agree that the genomic distance between the human genome and that of the COMMON ANCESTOR of chimp and man, was perhaps half the genomic distance as that between man and chimp currently? And do you further agree that the known NATURAL MUTATION RATES as measured via differences in the non-functional homologous regions of the human and chimp genomes (and as cataloged during meiosis) are HIGHER than the rate of MUTATIONS that are NECESSARY to change the COMMON ANCESTOR into both chimps and humans? Ipso facto, the burden of proof lies on the side of the folks who think it was a miracle. They have to SHOW GOD'S FINGER MOVING THE EXACTLY MUTATIONS INTO PLACE, because scientists already know that THE MUTATION RATE IS HIGH ENOUGH AND THE TIME IS LONG ENOUGH TO CHANGE A COMMON ANCESTOR OF MAN AND CHIMPS INTO BOTH MAN AND CHIMPS.

It's like Newton and the question of the movement of the planets: People wanted to believe God's finger/God's angels moved the planets, but their movements were found to be mappable based on mathematical equations. That didn't disprove that angels moved the planets, and indeed, Newton himself allowed that minor perturbations in their orbits could be "fixed" by the direct hand of God from time to time. But in the end nothing came of that "direct hand of God" theory as physics advanced further in understanding even minor perturbations.

I also showed in my post that minor ADAPTATIONS DO continue to occur even in species allegedly "identical" to their distant ancestors, as evidenced by comparing ancient fossilized species and modern versions of them. The minor differences are there to be found. I also showed that instead of stasis, evidence of large scale adaptations can also be found, including species growing INCREASINGLY more adapted, via STEPS, from say the land mammals to primitive whales to modern day whales. Or from feathered reptiles to less well adapted flying reptiles to modern day birds. Some forms apparently don't remain primitive for long, there seems to be some instability while in the primitve stages and they either adapt further or grow extinct, like primitive feathered reptiles, primitve whales, and hominids, which all went extinct on the way, respectively, to modern birds, modern whales and man. While most other forms remain stable for long periods, like bacteria, jellyfish, flowering plants, coelocanths, monkeys, apes. But even the most stable forms arose as part of an ORDERLY evolution-like trajectory over time, from single cells to multicellular organisms from monkeys to primitive apes to hominids to man, etc.

Canadian Rockies: A Geologist's Paradise, National Geographic, June 1911

Charles D. Wolcott, secretary of the Smithsonian visits the Canadian Rockies. A look back to 1911, when science was first discovering the vast age of the earth, rich fossil record, and paleontology was still in its infancy.

NATURE has a habit of placing some of her most attractive treasures in places where the average man hesitates to look for them. Twenty-five years ago rumors came of a wonderful find of glaciers, forests, mountain peaks, and lakes along the line of the rugged pass through which the Canadian Pacific Railway was building.

A geological reconnaissance by Sir George M. Dawson, of the Canadian Geological Survey,outlined some of the broader geological features, and a somewhat closer study by Mr. R.G. McConnell in 1886 resulted in a more accurate description of the thousands of feet in thickness of sandstone, shale, and limestone that had been arched and broken before being dissected and laid to view by the agents of erosion which formed the canyons, cliffs, and mountains by removing grain by gain or by chemical solution the material that formerly occupied or surrounded them.

A young American, Walter Wilcox, taking his surveying instruments and camera, spent summer after summer sketching maps and photographing the scenery, and in 1869 he published the first of several beautiful volumes on "Camping in the Canadian Rockies." Later, with the development of the Kodak, thousands of pictures were taken by tourists who had little thought of the geological treasures lying all about.

The study of the glaciers was begun early by an American, George Vaux, of Philadelphia, assisted by his sister Mary, and later an expedition sent out by the Smithsonian Institution under the leadership of William H. Sherzer, of the University of Michigan, resulted in the publication in 1907 of a memoir describing and illustrating many of the glaciers.

During the past three years an expedition from the Smithsonian has been making an examination of the four miles or more in thickness of bedded rocks forming the main range of the Rocky Mountains that has been pushed eastward by the great mass of the Selkirk ranges to the west. It is a curious and instructive feature of the geology that the strata of the Rockies, although crowded eastward and thrust out over the later rocks of the plains of Alberta, have not suffered nearly as much dislocation, injury, and alteration as the apparently more massive bedded rocks of the Selkirks. The latter are crumpled, broken, and altered in about the same manner as large blocks of brittle paper would be if subjected to side pressure in a hydraulic press.

Camp Contentment Meadow, Above Lake O' Hara, At Foot of Mount Schaeffer
Photo by Charles D. Walcott

MOUNTAIN-BUILDING ON A GRAND SCALE
The study of the arched block of strata 16,000 feet or more in thickness from which the picturesque and impressive mountains and canyons have been carved has resulted in the discovery that the rocks in which the great Bow Valley is excavated form a part of the North American continental beds that were deposited in great fresh-water lakes before the waters of the ocean swept over the continent and began their task of depositing the 12,000 feet or more in thickness of rocks of Cambrian age that now contain the remains of the marine life of that period.

As the study of the formations developed it was found that in the eastward thrusting of the rocks massive limestones were often crushed and ground into fragments; in other places the thinner beds for 100 feet or more would be folded and crumbled between huge masses of even-bedded limestones that showed no traces of disturbance. In other places a series of beds, 1000 feet or more in thickness, met some obstacle which they could not crush or surmount, and were driven upward at almost right angles, forming series of sharp, ragged ridges. On the east side of the Lower Yoho Valley the limestones of Mount Ogden are lying nearly level, but on the eastern slope above Sherbrooke Lake Canyon the same beds are turned down at right angels and disappear beneath the canyon bottom. Everywhere the keen eye of the geologist will find evidence of mountain-building on a grand scale.

The panoramic photograph, taken by the author from Burgess Pass, 3,000 feet above Field, and published as a Supplement to this number of the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE, shows at a glance over 9,000 feet in thickness of bedded rocks, 6,000 feet of it in an almost sheer cliff in the mass of Mount Stephen. Many thousand feet more may be seen to the westward in Mount Denis and in Mount Vaux. From Mount Stephen the eye follows to the left across the great canyon of the Kicking Horse River to the summit of Mount Field, two miles away, where the same limestone and shale beds carrying the same fossils indicate that thousands of feet in thickness and many millions cubic yards of hard rock have been removed by erosion from between the two mountains, Stephen and Field. From Mount Field a gentle slope carries the same beds northward through Mount Wapta, where they undulate across the President Range and plunge to the westward beneath the corrugated and more readily broken Ordovician rocks of the Van Horne Range.

EARLY MARINE LIFE
All of the Cambrian rocks were deposited in waters teeming with marine invertebrate life. As far as now known, this was before the day of fish or of any other vertebrate animal; land plants and even marine vegetable life were almost unrepresented. Other animals of the sea, however, existed in great profusion, and here and there conditions were so favorable for their burial in the mud and sand of the Cambrian sea that they were preserved unbroken, and throughout all the processes of rock-making and mountain building they have escaped destruction.

In one of these favorable places the most delicate of organisms, like the jellyfish, have been exquisitely preserved and we have crustaceans of many varieties. Among these many preserve the most delicate branchiæ and appendages, and one can hardly realize that they were buried in the mud 15 to 20 million years ago and have remained undisturbed while several miles of thickness of sediment were deposited over them, changed into rock, elevated into mountain masses, and later eroded into the present mountains and canyons.

We have long considered that the trilobite (page 516) was the most highly developed animal in the Cambrian time, but last summer a crustacean was found by the author in the fossil bed near Mount Wapta that was the king of the animal world in its day (page 517). That it was prepared to asset its right to the control of the Cambrian sea is shown by the claws with which it was armed.

To the geologist interested in the volcanic rocks a great field is waiting in the Selkirks to the west, and for generations to come there will be unsolved problems for the special student in this great region of mountains, glaciers, and rivers.

SUMMARY OF GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS
In the long panoramic view the rocks seen in the distance, forming Mount Balfour, belong to the Sherbrooke formation of the Upper Cambrian, or the most recent rocks of the Cambrian section. Beginning with these and going downward, the following formations are passed through:
UPPER CAMBRIAN

• Sherbrooke formation (mainly limestones) 1,375 feet
• Paget formation (limestones and shales) 360 feet
• Bosworth formation (limestone and shale) 1,855+
  Total Upper Cambrian 3,590+

Lake O'Hara (6,664 Feet) Rests In A Bowl In The Mountains
From the lake to the top of Mount Lefroy 4,000 feet of Cambrian strata are seen in one unbroken section.
Photo by Charles D. Walcott

View Of The President Range From A Point On The Trail On The West Slope Of Mount Wapta, 3½ Miles In An Air Line North Of Field, On The Canadian Pacific Railway, British Columbia, Canada
This view shows Emerald Glacier after a light snow-storm has whitened the ice. Note particularly the two lateral moraines formed of broken-up light gray limestone (see page 520).
Photo by Charles D. Walcott

Waiting On The Burgess Trail Under Mount Wapta
Photo by Charles D. Walcott

MIDDLE CAMBRIAN

• Eldon formation (siliceous and arenaceceus limestones) 2,700 to 2,800
  This is the formation that caps Mount Stephen and may of the higher mountains.
• Stephen formation (limestones and shale) 620
• Cathedral formation (arenaceous limestones) 1,543
  Total Middle Cambrian 4,963

LOWER CAMBRIAN

• Mount Whyte formation (limestones and sandstones) 390
• Saint Piratt formation (sandy shales and sandstones) 2,705
• Lake Louise formation (siliceous shale) 105
• Fairview formation (sandstones) 1,324
  Total Lower Cambrian 4,524

SUMMARY
Upper Cambrian 3,590+
Middle Cambrian 3,963
Lower Cambrian 4,524
Total thickness of Cambrian section 13,077+

Beneath the old Cambrian sea-beach now forming the base of the Fairview formation there is a great series of sandstones and sandy shales of quite a different character. These rocks formed the land area which was submerged by the Cambrian sea that wore them away more or less in its advance over the continent.

These older rocks are supposed, owing to their character and the absence of marine fossils, to have been deposited in fresh water. They are referred to a series called Algonkian, and are divided into two formations:

• Hector formation (sandstones and shales-gray, black, greenish, purple in color)... total thickness.. 1,302
• Corral Creek formation (sandstones)...1,320

THE WASTING AWAY OF THE MOUNTAINS
The breaking down of the mountain summits by the action of rain, frost, and ice, so as to form strong pyramids and ridges, is constantly going on. This is well shown by the photograph of Mount Huber, on page 518.

A Cool September Morning At 7,000 Feet Above Sea-Level
Photo by Charles D. Walcott

An illustration of a long summit ridge is given by Mount Daly, where every summr storm leaves a fresh coating of snow. I well recall stepping off that limestone onto the snow, thinking it hard and secure, and dropping in up to my armpits within a few feet of the rock. We were glad to paddle our way back and follow the rocky ridge for miles around to get back to camp.

Some of the deep canyons were filled up for 1,000 feet or more by dirt, gravel and boulders washed down from the sides of the mountains, probably during the great Glacial period. Upon the withdrawal of the ice this accumulated material was rapidly cut away, but occasionally masses of it are left high on the sides of a mountain, and often most fantastic forms result from its erosion where the finer beds of gravel and clay are hardened and protected above by blocks of sandstone and limestone. One of the most noteworthy examples is that of the so-called Hoodoos, on the slope of Mount Vaux, 18 miles west of Field.

Fragments Of A Colony Of Marine Animals On A Slab Of Black Rock, With Many Trilobites (Dark) And Shells Of The Sidney Crab (Light), Whose Claws Are Shown On Page 517
These creatures and other animals, like the delicate jelly-fish, have been preserved many millions of years while sediment several miles deep was deposited over them (see page 511).
Photo by Thomas W. Smillie

The King Of The Animal World 15 Million Years Ago; Discovered By Mr. W. Alcott
The Spiny claws of the Middle Cambrian crustacean (Sidneyia inexpectans), shown as a light patch in the center of the figure on page 516 (see page 511).

View Of Mount Huber, Showing The Erosion Of The Massive Cambrian Limestones Above The Quartite Sandstones
View taken from a low ridge of Lake O'Hara, six miles south of Hector, on the Canadian Pacific Railway, British Columbia, Canada (see page 514).
Photo by Charles D. Walcott

Cooling Off After A Hard Climb Up Through The Limestones
Panoramic view, at 9,000 feet, of the south face of Mount Wapta from the summit of Mount Field, 4,600 feet above Field, on the Canadian Pacific Railway, British Columbia, Canada.
Photo by Charles D. Walcott

The Author Ready To Take A Panoramic View From Summit Of Mount Field
Photo by Sidney S. Walcott

TAKING THE PHOTOGRAPHS
The panoramic photographs were taken with the Cirkut camera that is used by newspaper men and others for photographing processions and obtaining panoramic views of buildings, railway lines, etc. For use in the mountains several minor changes were made, so that the instrument could be used successfully under such adverse conditions as strong winds, hands and fingers numbed from cold, and often very insecure foundation for the tripod. As it is necessary to have absolute stability and the camera-bed level, the securing of perfect negatives is difficult.

The camera consists of the ordinary 6½ by 8½ outfit, with a panoramic attachment which is 10½ inches square by4 inches in thickness. When the latter is used the tripod head is a 12-inch graduated circle with the revolving bed above A ratchet, driven by springs, moves the camera around the circle, the speed being governed by fans. Our lens is a Bausch and Lomb Zeiss Protar, Series VII.

The long panoramic view had an exposure of one-tenth of a second over each part of the film. The film moves past a vertical half-inch aperture from right to left as the camera is revolving from left to right. With this instrument a view can be taken 8½ inches in height and of any desired length up to 10 feet. Two persons can readily carry the outfit anywhere that one can ordinarily climb. Under unusually difficult conditions the camera can be drawn up by a rope.

Often in the Canadian Rockies days will pass in which the atmospheric conditions are unfavorable for an extended view--dust blown in the plains, smoke from forest fires, or the indefinate summer haze and cloudy weather interfering. The best conditions usually occur just after a heavy storm of either snow or rain has cleared the air.

One really great panoramic view and a half dozen fine smaller views is a successful season with the camera when it is used as an adjunct to hammer and compass in geologic work.

From the vicinity of the Burgess Pass camp the views were most beautiful and varied, and changed from hour to hour during the day and from day to day with the varying atmospheric conditions. Emerald Glacier, directly facing camp (page 513), was always attractive, whether in the bright sunlight, the gray light of early morning, the shadows of sunset, or when snow and fog were sweeping over the range, giving only now and then a glimpse of the ice and cliffs. The light-colored moraines on either side of its foot and the dark rocks afforded a beautiful setting for the glacier. Across the Yoho Pass the cliff of Mount Wapta stood in bold relief, with a steep slope of broken rock on the western side and a huge bank of snow on the eastern side of its south ridge.

Rising back of camp was the beautiful cliff of Mount Burgess, a favorite haunt of the mountain goat. At its eastern foot on the narrow ridge is the point where the great panoramic view was taken. Far below and almost at the foot of the great cliff is Emerald Lake, a spot famous for its scenic beauty. Our camp in the forest just below the ridge was visited quite frequently in September by heavy snow squalls that gave a welcome opportunity for a day's rest, reading, and cleaning up.

Our camp at Lake O'Hara was in a beautiful mountain meadow at the foot of Mount Shaffer. Morning and evening the views of the surrounding mountains were most inspiring. At this elevation (7,000 feet) snow squalls were not infrequent on the higher summits above, and on July 17 snow fell at the camp most of the day. From a slope of Mount Odaray, Lake O'Hara, resting like an emerald in a bowl of mountains (see page 512), reflected the glaciers of Mounts Lefroy and Hungabee.

Camping in the Canadian Rockies is a relatively simple affair if one is accustomed to going about with saddle and pack animals for conveyance. It is not difficult to obtain good camp outfits with horses and men, and much of the most beautiful scenery can be visited without riding on a trail or leaving wagon roads. Firewood and good water are well distributed and grass for the horses usually abundant.

OUR MOUNTAIN PANORAMA
NO ONE would be more surprised and delighted with Mr. Walcott's beautiful panoramic view, which is published as a Supplement to this number, than the American scientist whose discoveries gave a practical value to Daguerre's invention of photography, and the 100th anniversary of whose birth was celebrated last month. It s only 72 years since John William Draper in New York took the first photograph of a human face, but the progress in the photography art since then is amazing.

Mr. Walcott's panorama is the most marvelous mountain view that has ever been published, and is remarkable not only for its exceeding beauty, but also because of the many lessons in geography learned by studying it.

Readers of this Magazine who have attempted to take photographs in high altitudes can appreciate the combination of patience and skill required to secure a panorama like our Supplement. Weeks usually elapse before the weather is favorable, and then the slightest error of judgment may make the exposure a complete failure.

Perhaps equally difficult is the engraving, printing, and handling of 100,000 copies of 9-foot picture. For the success of this part of the publication the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE takes pleasure in acknowledging its indebtedness to the Matthews-Northrup Works, of Buffalo.

A few copies of the panorama have been printed on heavy art mat paper suitable for framing, and may be obtained at the office of the National Geographic Society at 50 cents per copy.

SCENES IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES
THE scenes in the Canadian Rockies, published on pages 522 to 530, are all from photographs by Rev. George Kinney, of Keremeos, B.C., Canada, who, with his companion, Duncan Phillips, has the distinction of being the first to ascend to the summit of Mount Robson, the highest mountain yet discovered in the Canadian Rockies.

Mount Robson is situated in the heart of the Rockies, some 50 or more miles north of Yellowhead Pass and hundreds of miles from civilization. The mountain can be reached ony by pack-train after long weeks of strenuous endeavor through trackless forests and muskeg.

A Shoulder Of Mount Vice-President, Overlooking Emerald Lake, Near Field, British Columbia
The upper falls in the photograph are about 200 feet high.
Photo by Rev. George Kinney

Takakkaw Falls (1,200 Feet), In The Valley Of The Yoho, British Columbia
Fed by the great Daly Glacier, which is backed by a snow-field of many square miles in extent, the Takakkaw Falls leaps full fledged over a cliff 1,200 feet high, thus forming the crowning wonder of the marvelous Valley of the Yoho, near Field, B.C., in the Canadian Rockies.
Photo by Rev. George Kinney

Members Of The Alpine Club Of Canada Ascending Mount Vice-President
A difficult piece of rock-work. Under the care of expert guides the members thus qualify for active membership.
Photo by Rev. George Kinney

Mount Pinnacle and Sentinel Pass, Near Paradise Valley, British Columbia
This splendid peak, rising out of Paradise Valley like a jeweled needle tipped with pearl, stands side by side with Mount Temple, in the Canadian Rockies, and overlooks the celebrated "Valley of the Ten Peaks."
Photo by Rev. George Kinney

Mount Peelee And The Yellowhead Lakes: Canadian Rockies
Yellowhead Pass, sentineled by Mount Peelee and the Yellowhead Mountains, offers for the transcontinental railroads the lowest and easiest gateway through the Canadian Rockies. Gigantic Douglas firs make picturesque the shores of the lakes in this region.
Photo by Rev. George Kinney

Mount Wapta, Near Field, British Columbia, And The First Camp Of The Alpine Club Of Canada
Photo by Rev. George Kinney

Two Rope Parties Of The Alpine Club Of Canada Crossing The Great Snow-Field On The Summit Of Mount Vice-President, Near Field, British Columbia, At Over 10,000 Feet Altitude
Photo by Rev. George Kinney

Mount Robson (Nearly 14,000 Feet Altitude), King Of The Canadian Rockies
As the tourist on the Grand Trunk Pacific will see it, from the mouth of the Grand Forks, on the Fraser River. This monster peak, towering over 10,000 feet above Lake Kinney, in the valley below, at an average angle of over 60 degrees, was finally captured, in 1909, by two Canadians, Rev. George R.B. Kinney and his companion, Donald Phillips. It is the highest mountain yet discovered in the Canadian Rockies.
Photo by Rev. George Kinney

The north face of Mount Robson rises abruptly in a series of precipitous cliffs, rank on rank, to the very skies. At its base the Grand Forks River, swiftly flowing from Berg Lake, leaps a cliff as high as a Niagara and, plunging in a succession of superb falls through a gorge over 3,000 feet deep, sweeps through the "Valley of a Thousand Falls" on its way to the Fraser.
Photo by Rev. George Kinney

Climbing The Ice-Cliffs Of The East Side Of Mount Robson; Canadian Rockies
Dr. A.P. Coleman, L.Q. Coleman and Rev. George R.B. Kinney working their way up the fearful ice-cliffs of the east side of Mount Robson in their unsuccessful attempt to climb the mountain in 1908. Leaving their camp at tree-line, for 14 hours they fought their way up those treacherous walls of ice amid constant dangers from hidden crevasses and roaring avalanches, but only attained an altitude of 11,700 feet.
Photo by Rev. George Kinney

Looking East And South From Mount Robson; Canadian Rockies
This view was taken from the east side of Mount Robson at an altitude of over 10,000 feet, high up on the crumbling cliffs from which the great East Glacier flows. From this altitude the snow-capped peaks to the south spread out like the surface of a rugged plain.
Photo by Rev. George Kinney

East Side Of Mount Robson, Canadian Rockies, From Timber Lake
Looking from the east, Mount Robson, in the Canadian Rockies, rises out of one of the most beautiful valleys in all the world of alpine scenery. Six mighty glaciers, the least of which measures not less than a quarter of a mile wide, flowing from his rugged sides and those of the mountains opposite, pour their turbulent streams into the quiet waters of Berg Lake. This lake received its name because of its surface being constantly dotted with huge icebergs that plung into it from Tumbling Glacier midway its length.
Photo by Rev. George Kinney

The Big Glacier On The East Of Mount Robson
This mighty glacier, flowing from a huge snow-field on the east side of Mount Robson and curving in a wide crescent around the base of Mount Rearguard, is a mile wide and five miles long. The glacier forms a watershed, part of its waters flowing into the Pacific and part into the Arctic seas.
Photo by Rev. George Kinney

Surface Of The Big East Glacier Of Mount Robson
The crevasses of this glacier are in some places several hundred feet deep, while its lateral and terminal moraines are thrown high on every side, and a splendid medial moraine marks its course.
Photo by Rev. George Kinney

Mount Robson And Berg Lake From The Northeast: Canadian Rockies
So frightfully steep are its rugged sides, and so high does it rise out of its valleys (over 10,000 feet) and so frequent are the severe storms of the region that of all the expeditions that tried to capture Mount Robson, Mr. Kinney's, in 1909, was the only one that ever reached its summit. Even then he and his companions had to sleep several nights on its lofty snow-covered ledges and nearly perished.
Photo by Rev. George Kinney

REFERENCES
The Complete National Geographic, 111 Years; 1888-2000

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