Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1877-06-15
Moses Refuted.
New Yo.k Times.

New Yo.k Times.
A new and violent blow has been
struck at the Mosaic account of
creation by the discovery of a ex-
tremely important fossil in a coffee
sack at Baltimore. In the center of
this sack was found the skull of a
monkey. There can be no doubt as
to the facts. The coffee was of the
variety called Rio, and the skull was
perfectly preserved. Let us dwell
for little upon the meaning of this
discovery as interpreted by the prin-
ciples of geology. The coffee-sack
was - (say 12a) inches In diameter
and tour feet high. The skull,
which lay in the middle of it, was
therefore two feet below the surface.
10 suppose that it was violently
forced into the sack, after the latter
was full, would be eminently un-
scientific. No one imagines that
the fossil birds of the Old Red
Sandstone dug down in that locality
through the superintendent strata.
Nothing is more universally conced-
ed than that fossils are always found
where they belong. The animals
whose remains we find in the rocks
of the paleozoic, the meso-Gothic and
the Syro-PhGnician strata, belong re-
spectively to those several systems.
The fossil monkey skull was there
fore deposited in the coffee.sack
when the latter was half full, and
the two feet of coffee which rested
upon 1t was a subsequent deposit.
Now, it follows from this premise
that monkeys existed during the
early part of the Rio coffee pc
Rod. 1t is the opinion of must
geologists that the Rio coffee period
succeeded the tertiary period, and
Immediately preceded the present
period. Now, no tertiary monkeys
have yet been found; but the Balti-
more discovery shows that monkeys
existed as early as the middle of the
Rio coffee period, 4 date which is
far caller than any which has hither-
to been assigned to them.
We are now in position to inquire
what is the last period of time which
must have elapsed since the skull of
the Baltimore monkey was the
prop erty of live and active
slmian. The answer to this ques-
ton must be sought by ascertaining
the rate at which the coffee is de-
posted. 1t is the opinion of Mr..
Huxley, based upon a careful exam
ination of over 800 garbage-boxes,
that coffee is deposited in ground
condition at the rate Of an inch in a
thousand centuries, but the deposi-
ton of unground coffee is almost in
finitely slower. He has placed bags,
coffee-mills, and other receptacles in
secluded places, and left them for
months at a time, without finding the
slightest traces of coffee in them.-
Although Huxley does not hazard a
guess at the date of deposition of un-
ground Rio coffee, Prof. Tyndall
does not hesitate to say that it is at
least as slow as the rate of deposi-
ton of tomato-cans. Let us suppose,
as we are abundantly justified in do
ing, that 3O,OOO,OOo of years would
be required to bring about the depo-
sition of stratum of tomatocans
one foot thick all over the face Of
the globe, an equally long period
must certainly have elapsed while a
foot of unground coffee was ac-
cumulating over the skull of the
Baltimore monkey. We thus ascer-
tain that the monkey in question
yielded up his particular variety of
ghosts and became a fossil fully
3O,oOo,oOo of years ago. Probably
even this enormous period of time is
much less than the actual period
which has elapsed since that monk
ey's dccease, and we may consider
ourselves safe in assigning to his
skull the age of 5o,oOo,ooo of years
besides a few weeks and months.
In the hight of this amazing revela-
ton, what becomes of Moses and his
5000 years? 1t will hardly escape
notice that he nowhere mentions
Rio coffee. Obviously, this omission
is due to the fact that he knew
nothing of it. But if he was unac-
quainted with one of the most re-
cent formations, how can we sup
pose he knew anything about the
elder rock-the metamophic and
steroscopic strata! And yet it is
this man, ignorant of the plainest
facts of geology, and of its very
simplest strata, who boldly assumes
to foil us all abOnt the creation.