The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-08-05
BY ERNEST AAEckEL.

In order to obtain a clear idea and
firm conviction of this cosmic evo-
luton by natural law. the eternal
birth and death OF millions of suns
and stars, one needs some mathemati-
cal training and lively Imagination, as
we'll as a certain competence in as
tronomy and physics. The evolution
airy process is much simpler, and more
readily grasped in geology. Every
shower of rain or wave Of the sea,
every volcanic eruption and every peb-
BILE gives us a direct proof of the
changes that are constantly taking
place on the surface of our planet.
However, the historical significance of
these changes was not properly appre-
ciated until 1922, by Karl Won Hoff of
Gotha, and modern geology was only
founded in 1880 by Charles Lyell who
explained the whole origin and COM
position of the solid crust of the
: earth, the formation of the mountains,
and the periods of the earth's develop
ment, in connected system by nat
, ural laws. From the immense thick
ness of the stratified rocks, which con-
tain the fossilized remains of extinct
organisms, we discovered the enor-
nous length-running into millions of
years of the periods during which
these sedimentary rocks we're depos-
tied in water. Even the duration of
the organic history of the earth-that
fst IN ha Itrrf x1ynf 70
plant and animal population of our
planet was developing itself be
put at more than a hundred million
years. These results of geology and
! paleontology destroyed the current
legend or the six days work of per-
sonal creator. Many attempts were
made, it is true, and are still being
made, to reconcile the Mosaic super
natural story of creation with mod
ern geologyt All these efforts of be-
levers are in vain. We may say, in
fact, that it is precisely the study of
geology, the reflection it entails on
the study of geology, the reflection it
entails on the enormous periods of
evolution, and the habit of seeking the
simple mechanical causes of their con-
slant changes, that contribute very
considerably to the advance of en-
lightenment. Yet in spite of this Tor,
possibly. because of this), geological
Instruction is either greatly neglected
or entirely suppressed in most schools.
It Is certainly eminently calculated lin
connection with geography to enlarge
the mind, and acquaint the child with
the idea of evolution. An educated
person who knows the elements of
geology will never experience ennui.
He will find everywhere in surround
ing nature, in the rocks and in the
water, in the desert and on the noun
tains, the most instructive stimuli to
reflection
The evolutionary process in organic
nature is much more difficult to grasp.
Here we must distinguish two differ
emit series of biological development,
which have only been brought into
proper causal connection by means of
our biogenetic law (1S66); one series
is found in embryology Tor ontogeny),
the other in phylogeny Tor race-devel-
opment). In Germany evolution" al
ways meant embryology, or a part of
the whole, until forty years ago 1t
stood for microscopic examination of
the wonderful processes by means of
which the elaborate structure of the
plant or animal body is formed from
the simple seed of the plant or the
egg of the bird. Until the beginning
of the nineteenth century the erro-
tSee for instance. Moses and Geology.
or Harmony Of the Bible with Science"
by Samuel Kinns (1SS2). In this work
the pious Biblical astronomer executes
the most incredible and Jesuitical ma
neuvers in order to bring about an i'm
possible reconciliation between science
and the RibIical narrative