266 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LV, No. 1419 



assailed by eminent authorities as "atheistic," 

 since "it drove God out of His universe and 

 put a law in His place." 



The conflict between geology and Genesis 

 as to the days of creation and the age of the 

 earth lasted until the middle of the last cen- 

 tury, and students of Dana's geology will re- 

 call the reconciliation between the two which 

 that great man devoutly undertook. But, by 

 the ultra-orthodox, he and other Christian 

 geologists were denounced as infidels and as 

 impugners of the sacred record. It took three 

 hundred years to end this conflict, if it may be 

 said to be wholly ended now, but certainly no 

 intelligent person now believes that the earth 

 was made just 5,926 years ago and in six literal 

 days. 



And now comes Mr. Bryan in this twentieth 

 century of enlig'htenment preaching a new 

 auto de fe, attempting to establish an inquisi- 

 tion for the trial of science at the bar of the- 

 ology! He proposes to proliibit the teaching 

 of evolution by fine and imprisonment, to 

 repeal a law of nature by a law of Kentucky. 

 He proposes to gather into the fold of his 

 narrow theology all existing public and private 

 schools, colleges and universities and to allow 

 evolutionists and agnostics to found their own 

 schools. In view of the fact that, with the 

 exception of a few sectarian institutions, all 

 our colleges and universities are dedicated to 

 "the increase and diffusion of knowledge among 

 men," that for a generation at least they have 

 turned away from the teaching of dogmatic 

 theology to the cultivation of science, litera- 

 ture and art, that they have during this period 

 received great benefactions for the expressed 

 or implied purpose of carrying on this work 

 in the spirit of freedom to seek, to find and to 

 teach the truth as God gives men to see the 

 truth — in view of these considerations it may 

 well be asked whether it would not be more 

 fitting for Mr. Bryan to establish his own 

 institution for teaching his own views of sci- 

 ence and theology, as Dowie, for example, did 

 at Zion City, rather than to attempt to convert 

 existing institutions to that purpose. 



Scientific investigators and productive schol- 

 ars in almost every field have long since ac- 

 cepted evolution in the broadest sense as an 



established fact. Science now deals with the 

 evolution of the elements, of the stars and solar 

 system, of the earth, of life upon the earth, of 

 various types and species of plants and ani- 

 mals, of the body, mind and society of man, of 

 science, art, government, education and reli- 

 gion. In the light of this great generalization 

 all sciences, and especially those which have 

 to do with living things, have made more 

 progress in the last half century than in all 

 the previous centuries of human history. Even 

 progressive theology has come to regard evo- 

 lution as an ally rather than as an enemy. 



In the face of all these facts, Mr. Bryan and 

 his kind hurl their medieval theology. It 

 would be amusing if it were not so pathetic 

 and disheartening to see these modern defend- 

 ers of the faith beating their gongs and firing 

 their giant crackers against the ramparts of 

 science. ' 



Edwin Grant Conklin 



NOTES ON WOODS 



WEST INDIAN BOXWOOD 



Thekb has been much confusion regarding 

 the identity of the so-called West Indian box- 

 woods. One of the first on the market was the 

 "amarillo" of Venezuela, Aspidosperma Var- 

 gasii DC (Apocynaceje), but this has been 

 very largely superseded by the "zapatero," 

 Casearia prcBcox Griseb. (Samydaceae or 

 Flacourtiacese). A third, the "baitoa" of San 

 Domingo, appears on the market in consider- 

 able quantity, though it is inferior in quality 

 to the other two. It has just been determined 

 that this wood is produced by Phyllostylon 

 brasiliensis Capanema ( = P. rhamnoides 

 Taubert = Samaroceltis rhamnoides Poisson) 

 of the family Ulmaceae. It occurs not only in 

 Hispaniola and eastern Cuba but also in Brazil 

 and Argentina. The important distinguishing 

 features of this wood are as follows: (1) About 

 half of the vessels are filled with calcium car- 

 bonate. (2) The wood fibers are supplied with 

 a thick gelatinous layer. (3) The vessel seg- 

 ments, wood parenchyma strands and some of 

 the rays are in horizontal seriation. The 

 "ripple marks" are not always distinct in the 

 wood but are readilv visible on the surface of 



