January, 1938 



EVOLUTION 



Page Fifteen 



I 



Fundamentalist Follies 



CLERICAL EMBRYOLOGY 



By E. T. Brewster 



T'S old stuff; but it turns up again, 

 quoted by the Bible {Ex) -Cham- 

 pion, that is now a portion of Chris- 

 tian Faith and Life {Apr. 1931, p. 

 182). 



"There are radical differences be- 

 tween the embryos of vertebrates and 

 invertebrates. Worms and other ar- 

 ticulates in embryo lie doubled back- 

 ward around the yolk, while all ver- 

 tebrates are doubled in the opposite 

 direction. According to the theory 

 that the embryonic condition is a re- 

 capitulation of the stages of organic 

 evolution, this fundamental fact of in- 

 vertebrate embryology ought to have 

 been preserved by the vertebrate. 

 Evolution gives no account of this re- 

 versal of position by the vertebrate." 



Of course, it is not true that "all 

 vertebrates are doubled in the oppo- 

 site direction" — as any bright under- 

 graduate who has begun embryology 

 could have told the two Doctors of 

 Divinity who are perpetrating this par- 

 ticular piece of Fundamentalist non- 

 sense. The most important branch of 

 the vertebrates for us, namely the 

 higher mammals, have almost no yolk 

 to their eggs and so can't double round 

 it either way. 



Neither do most "invertebrates." 

 The fact is, what our D.D.'s, follow- 

 ing the zoology of a century ago, lump 

 together as "invertebrates," really com- 

 prises no fewer than fifteen of the great 

 divisions of the animal kingdom, each 

 of them equivalent as a system to all 

 the vertebrates together. So there is, 

 naturally, nothing whatever that can 

 be predicated of "the embryos of in- 

 vertebrates" beyond the not very illu- 

 minating fact that most of them do 

 reproduce in some way. Most "inver- 

 tebrates," like all mammals, have mi- 

 nute eggs with no yolk mass. Nat- 

 urally, they do not "double round" 

 what does not exist. 



Nevertheless, certain "worms and 

 other articulates," in particular, the in- 

 sects, really do "lie doubled backward 

 around the yolk" — unless one prefers 

 to call it that the "articulates" double 

 frontways, and that such vertebrates as 

 double at all, bend the wrong way. 

 ^ But who except a Fundamentalist 

 ^ has ever supposed that the vertebrates 

 are descended from any insect.' What 

 point, then, in the way either doubles 

 round its food supply? 



Both the insects and the vertebrates 

 are, indeed, supposed to be descen- 



dants of a common ancestor. But all 

 evidence goes to show that this com- 

 mon ancestor was very much too primi- 

 tive a creature to have provided his 

 offspring with any sort of ample food 

 supply. His embryos, if they had yolk 

 masses, might puzzle "evolution". But 

 they did not. So why bother? 



Both vertebrates and insects, then, 

 start from an ancestry with small 

 eggs. The embryos themselves have 

 evolved along with the adults. Both, 

 quite independently, have evolved 

 large eggs with abundant yolk. Why, 

 then, should anybody but a Funda- 

 mentalist D.D. expect to have the two 

 doubled round their food-supplies in 

 the same way? 



Funnymentals 



"I believe what I was taught, and I don't 

 think that I ought to think." Argument of 

 a Fundamentalist refusing to subscribe. 



"Evolution is a fraud. It is a blank un- 

 proved theory, unsupported in fact. It is 

 illegal to teach it in tax supported schools. 

 Under the common law it is blasphemy." 

 Rev. L. S. Hoover, at Free Methodist 

 Church, Ithaca, N. Y. 



"The Christian Church must repudiate 

 the most subtle and monstrous lie that the 

 devil has ever thrown into the face of the 

 Son of God, and drive the whole diabolic 

 spawn of evolution into the nethermost 

 depths of hell where it belongs, when finally 

 the Angel of the Apocalypse puts the lid 

 upon the pit and bottles up the whole pes- 

 tiferous tribe, there to await the final judg- 

 ment of an insulted God." Rev. Levi Bird, 

 quoted by San Antonio Bible Institute. 



Boners From Exams 



Isostasy is the place where earthquakes 

 come from. 



The chief argument against the nebular 

 hypothesis is that it would make the sun 

 revolve around the earth every few minutes. 



Food that is not used leaves the body as 

 a foetus. 



The law of recapitulation: Animals are 

 recapitulated by immigration. 



Mosaic vision was the vision Moses had 

 in the wilderness. 



Darwin was a very famous man because 

 he discovered the science of relativity and 

 wrote a book on it. 



Cuvier made a careful study of all ele- 

 phants extant, and proved that they were 

 totally different from fossil shells. 



Bricks and Bouquets 



"I consider EVOLUTION a cheap, nasty 

 little magazine, and one that would militate 

 against frank and open discussion of any 

 problem. I am most sorry that it is going 

 to be revived. As for some of the names 

 on your staff, I have watched them for 

 years, trying to prove that they are an im- 

 provement on the ape, and I haven't found 

 that they have established their cause." 

 William Procter. 



"I enjoyed the first number of the new 

 series. If future numbers will carry the 

 same message and adhere to a similar high 

 standard, the journal is bound to succeed." 

 Wm. C. Darrah. 



"You are one of the best examples of 

 perseverance I have ever met, and we need 

 you to inspire us when skies are dark and 

 faith is weak. May success crown your 

 efforts." Oswald Schlockow. 



"I recently received EVOLUTION--Got 

 a glimpse of it only, when some thirsting 

 soul also glimpsed it and put it in his 

 pocket. He has good judgment, may it do 

 him oodles of good." W. T. DeCoster, 

 M.D. 



"Congratulations on your resumption of 

 the publication of EVOLUTION. Wish you 

 all the success you deserve." Theodore C. 

 Ahell. 



"Am glad you did not pussyfoot in nam- 

 ing the mag. Evolution is an established 

 fact, and there is no use beating around the 

 bush when speaking of it. Seems to me if 

 you had more of the criticisms and carping 

 allusions from ministers and others it would 

 make more popular reading. Take a good 

 healthy whack at them like Ingersoll used 

 to do. Some of them can call names, but 

 they can't really answer the evidence for 

 evolution." A. L. Faunce. 



"Please do me a favor and discontinue 

 sending EVOLUTION. To my ethics it 

 is very disgusting and anarchistic. Who- 

 ever had the audacity to send you my name 

 must be some poor simple minded creature, 

 whose weak mind was easily turned by the 

 absolute rot and fairy tales contained in 

 your magazine. Here's to your complete 

 failure." Mrs. John Borkosky. 



"I am very glad that you are again able 

 to take up your fight against ignorance and 

 superstition. Never was such a fight more 

 necessary than now." Harrington Johnston. 



"EVOLUTION should be placed in every 

 school and library, as well as in the home« 

 I sincerely hope for the success of your 

 efforts in placing before the people the facts 

 disclosed by research, and helping to break 

 down the prejudice which is so prevalent." 

 Elza E. Hadley. 



