Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-08
LIVED IN NOAH'S TIME
RACE OF PEOPLE ON THE AMERI-
CAN CONTINENT.
Theme Of Lecture at the Y. n. c. A.
by Prof. g. Frederick
Wright.

1t was demonstrated last night that
race of men existed on the North American
continent at the time that Noah was build
ing his ark; people. it was declared, who
were DESTROYED at the time of the breaking
up Of the glaciers that covered the northern
part of the United States.
These statements were made in the course
| of lecture given at the Y. NJ. c. A. last
| night by Prof: G. Frederick Wright of
Oberin College, who ranks high as a
geologist and authority on topics concern
ing the glacier period of the earth's de-
velopment.
Prof. Wright spoke on the topic Geo
logical Combinations Of the Old Testament
History" He took up some of the stories
| tod in the Old Testament, usually pro-
| nounced as impossible and declared to be
| myths, and showed them not only to be pos
sibities, but probabities-as much fact as
| the San Francisco earthquake will seem
| the same number of years from now that
| the crossing of the Red Sea is back Of the
/ present period
i Prof. Wright first took up the story in the
! Bible Of the seven years of feast and the
seven years of famine along the Nile. That
| this probable at that time and that
| Joseph could foresee the years OF famine was
| shown, according to Prof Wright, by phe-
| nomena which English engineers recently
| had to meet They found that certain
| character of dirt and debris was collected
| near the headwaters of the Nile, and that
| every few years this would form a/cOmplete
dam. Until the waters thus held back rose
sufficiently to find new channel, there was
| a water famine below. English engineers
were compelled to find way out of this
| difficulty a few years ago. Joseph, Prof.
| Wright declared, probably saw this many
| thousands of years ago.
Red Sea Incident.
| AS for the crossing of the Red Sea by
followers q ker de-
clared that it was easily explainable. The
recent discoveries in connection with the
difference in water levels on the great lakes
| have helped the theory. 1t is found that
when the wind, for instance, blows down
| Lake Erie the level of the water at Buffalo
will rise as much as seven feet, and when
| the wind blows up the lake the level rises
at Toledo In the biblical story and in other
accounts of the crossing of the Red Sea, it
is stated that strong east wind blew AT
that time the Red Sea covered larger ter
ritory than it does at present, and where
the Israeltes are said to have crossed the
water was five feet deep. A strong east
wind could easily have carried the water to
the other end of the Red Sea, leaving dry
lana for Moses and his hosts.
AS to the falling of the walls of Jericho
the speaker said that that was easy to be-
lieve after reading the accounts of the San
Francisco earthquake. The only part IN
informed Joshua in advance of what ne
was to do at the time.
Modern phenomena, with which many
are familiar, indicate the truth of the story
regarding the destruction of Sodom and
Gomorrah The speaker told of the drill
ing of oil wells and of the huge gushers
that were sometimes discovered. when peo-
pie ran from the vicinity in terror for their
lives and all fires were extinguished for
miles around. Could it not be possible and
probable, asked the speaker, that an Oil
well was SUDDENLY discovered while drilling
IL, oft
and birthstone fell on the city, and this is
an excellent description of a great, gushing,
burning oil well, spreading the oil for miles
around.
Noah and His Ark.
How the flood was possible, when Noah
and his family alone were saved,~was the
subject which occupied much of the atten-
ton of the speaker and which led to an in
teresting story. He first took up discus
sion of the proof of the existence of an
antediluvian man, both in North America
and in Asia. BY taking up briefly the gla-
cial period in the earths formative period,
he showed that all over this continent a
'loess'' or deposit of dirt had been left
by the glaciers on top of the hard earth's
crust. This has been proved by study of
geology. Some years ago some peculiar
shaped instruments were found in the
ground around Trenton, and Investigations
Indicated that they were weapons used by
Later discoveries near Lansing, Mich,
developed the site of prehistoric viii
lage with burnt stones, etc. And only a
few weeks ago. near Topeka, Kan, similar
discoveries We're made underneath the
"loess." That there was great destruction
of life, both human and animal, at that
time was also shown by these discoveries.
Bones of animals and traces of the human
species were unearthed. In Europe many
discoveries of that kind have been made
The carcass of a mastodon, practically pre-
served in the ice and snow of northern Rus
sia was recently found and Is now in the
St Petersburg Museum.
Mighty Flood Results.
The breaking Of the glaciers made a
mighty flood of waters as the ice cakes,
one mile high and spreading over terri
tory covering most of the northern hemi-
sphere. melted 1t is estimated. after care
full compilations of figures, that all the wa
ter from the glaciers of the North Ameri
can continent would raise the level of the
sea 300 feet Add to that the waters of
the glaciers in Europe and Asia and the
flood must have been remarkable. Such,
Prof Wright declared, was the flood that
swept Noah and his ark.
AS a further probability that the Bible
story of the flood is true, the speaker point
ed out that the dimensions of the ship
given in the good book-about $50 feet long.
SO feet wide and 30 feet high-are similar
to those of our modern ocean greyhounds,
much like the Great Eastern. which was
the levathan of the ocean when 1t came to
| this country.
prof. Wright retires from his work at
Oberlin College next year a Carnegie
pension and after that he expects to devote
| all his time to the study of the questions
which, he says. are gradually solved in ia