Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1906-07-14
Some Curious Blunders
Of Early Biologists.

r. HE last annual report NJ tho
United states National Museum
contains contribution to the
history Of American geology
more than 500 pages in length. i IS
written by Dr. George ?. Merrill ana
tells the story of the rise and prog
r,ss " our geological studies from 1873
to the present
Few persons know how little prelim-
inary training our pioneers On geology
had. how few books were accessible
to them, and how complete was in,,il
| lack Of information with which the
! geolosist of today begins his .areer
| Dr Merrill calls attention 60 many
| Of their errors and eruditles' not 10 D'-
| uile Them hut 90 show how in those
DAYS geological science CROPPED almost
/ blindly toward the truth.
A few examples may be- given here
~ the frequent bewilderment of lhefe
observers as they studied me compI,N
,henoDena Of the rocks They were
much perpleNei, for example hN w
rlaclal drift scattered over the north
oru third Of this country II was TWO
generations later that this DRIFT was
proved 60 have been carried southwark
by glaciers Benjamin De Wit in l''5
wrote to the Philadelphia academy
that he had found many varieties oI
stone on the shores Of Lake ontario
He said % was impossible 10 believe
that So many kinds OF stone should
have been formed by nature ln on,
place and out u the same knd OF
earth
They must have been conveyed there
by some extraordinary means hg
thought some mighty CONFUSION oft
nature. as an earthquake or perhaps
the bursting Of vast lake pouring Is /
waters over Lowell attitudes. had proc
duced this confusion and disorder in
the rucks
Prof Amos Eaton tried 20 account !
Tor the masses ~ granite and yeuit' |
weighing from one 90 so toms which /
he had found scattered along the Cone
nccticut river lie could hnd no s''
luton unless az enc time the valley was
filled up so as Co make d descent /
from the Ches, srdC'd range 20 granite |
ana syenite down which tlosc ffdg-
mcnis gradually advanced
In 1890 n. n Hayden explained tho /
phenomena of glacial drift ou tho /
theory that az one time the earth |
changed the position of its axis s'
that the sun rapidly melted the icr I
caps Of the polar regions. drowning I
the lower ATTITUDES with a tremendous I
~ The polar waters upon 4
which floating Zee brought the boudcrs
that are scattered over our northern D
domain.
when our countrymen began their /
study Of field geology some ~ The
leading European geologists ver.
teaching that "a granite core character
lied aH mountain ranges and ihat /
the remains ~ the mammoth and other
large animals found On siberia were I
transported there boy foods from the
region % the equator Benjamin
Franklin independently evolved the
theory that the Interior of the earth |
90 molten matter on which !
the outer portion or crust nOatel
lie said b. had seen oyster shells
mixed in the stones" which Indicated
an elevation ~ tie land above sea
level and this he conceived could not
take place II the earth was solid
Whoever thinks OF Thomas jefferson /
as a paleouiologist2 But no heat 81 |
politics no fresh denunCiatlons of him.
self and his policy. prevented him nom !
carrying on his geological studies even |
In the White House re sent for more ]