Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-22
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

ID avn
Now comes DR.. Austin H. Clark of
the Smithsonian Institution with
theory which bears" the monkey mar
ket so panicly that monkeys can be
bought UP for a penny a pair and are
no longer quoted on margins. Tney
cease to be indispensable stock In
anthropological contests for the survival
of fits. If DR.. Clark can hold fast 10
his doctrine as tenaciously as most
fundamentalists have chung to their no
ton that Darwin was very wicked IN
making monkeys out Of us all, he Will
go back into cavedom while others climb
the trees. He denies that mankind
has improved upon his forefathers--
which will rifle flappers OF today ana
make him unpopular with smart youths.
Poor DR.. Clark! And he was such a
promising anthropologist!
Older and more conservative sclentls.S
feel very sorry for him. In the 1mpul-
siveness of youth unrestrained he has
swallowed the bait of theory 20 years
old-bait, hook and sinker. WHO'S
monkey now?" Where Darwin found
one survival of the fittest and descent
from one creation, DR.. Clark finds four
major creations with four lines OF
descent. HE who makes two blades
grow" etc. A 'blade" is youngster.
What has DR.. Clark proved? He pre-
sents a theory. Theories are legion.
This one is nearly two decades old.
Other scientists are content to stay Oar
winian and remain "long" on monkeys.
Blood is thicker than water" They
protest against breaking home ties.
* y 4
This column is a sort Of connecting
link" between the technical scientist
and the imam O. the street" Its
function is to interpret words like
"pterobranchiates" and "cephalochor-
dates" into just plain untechnical
"buqs." and to explain what the SCI
enlist tried to tell about. Sometimes
the writer does not know ana olten.
times the scientist is in the same boat
as shown in the painting Of the little
child helping to row.
Last Sunday, DR.. Grenfell, the med
ical missionary of Labrador, who Is
himself a scientist, described the out
standing characteristic Of science dur.
ing the last Is years as being great
modesty; 1t frankly confesses that the
farther we delve into the mysteries OF
creation and of the machinery OF this
verses, the mightier it becomes.
Not long ago q scientist of Columbia
| University was QNoted as saying that
In the galaxy, Of which the sun and
earth are members, there are 10000, 900
other suns and planetS-and this is
only one of unnumbered galaxies-but
the following week, in lecture by DIR.
Abbot, secretary of the Smithsonian
institution and specialist on the sun.
he stated that the number Of stars In
our own galaxy is between 10000, 600
and 10000, 000-or was it billions?
Thereupon q devout member OF the
church where the lecture was delivered
rose to say that all this revelation OF
| the majesty and infiniteness OF creation
only strengthened his faith IN the ex-
istence of a Creator OF infinite power
and infinite wisdom. True science
never conflicts with true religions,
though theories do.
II y y
The shocking feature Of Dr. Clark's
theory overlooked by anti-evolutionists
Is In the opening paragraph OF his
article in the last number OF the GUAR
terly Review Of Biology, showing that
he lacks the courage to defy evolution
entirely. He writes:
"Creationism, or the idea that living
things have at some time In the past
been created substantially In the same
form as that in which we know them,
has at the present time almost wholly
given way to a belief In evolution. q
doctrine which assumes the gradual
DEVELOPMENT, step by step, or all the
widely varying forms Of life from an
original simple structure.
"Creationists and evolutionists, alike,
have erred in considering life as a
thing apart from the inorganic world,
manifestation not measurable In
terms which otherwise are Of universal
application. This Is far from true.
Just what life is, we do not know"
y +
eve do not know?" Will science
confess so frankly? When DR.. Abbot
was telling about the sun, he too found
a limit to science. For example. the
sun gives of heat and light which
amounts to an average OF one horse
power per square yard, all over the
earth. Yes, and the same horsepower
radiates not only over this little speck
of surface-the earth, mere dot In
the immense globe of space described
by the same $4,000 00-mile radius
from the sun-but for every square yard
of space at the surface or the globe
of this radius from the sun there
comes q horsepower. and 1t has been
flowing out from the sun constantly
for untold ages, yet science cannot dis
cover that the sun has lost one iota
of its weight or substance.
Where does the sun get its supplies
OF Tel to make up for what it Is pour
ing out into space through millions
and billions Of years?
Against the walls OF the National
Museum, there rest several heavy
meteors which had been floating
through space, until they hit the earth.
It has been suggested that the greater
gravity of the sun catches many such
meteors, but even so, their total weight
must be insignificant. as compared with
the constant outflow of light and power
from that great furnace. Light Is
substance, and it flies out into space
until 1t Is so attenuated by its fanlike
expansion Of radiation from its start
ing point, that it is lost in darkness.
But then 1t remains matter, and, ac-
cording to science. 1t is used in the
creation of new worlds, for matter
never ceases to exist. How did 1t be-
gin? The same mineral elements as
those found in our, own soil and rocks