702 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LV, No. 1435 



geology (the only ones to be reviewed in this 

 article) are: 



First: What he terms the "New Catastro- 

 phism," which turns out to be nothing more 

 than the Old Catastrophism embodied in the 

 Noachian Deluge. 



Second: A literal creation of material things 

 (the sidereal universe with its parts appar- 

 ently in different stages of development — its 

 nebute, hydrogen stars, metallic stars, carbon 

 stars and dark stars) ; and all animate things 

 (trilobites, nummulites, graptolites, ammonites, 

 sigillaria, the fishes of the Old Red Sandstone, 

 the large reptiles of the Mesozoic, the mam- 

 moth and the mastodon, the one-toed horse and 

 the three- toed horse, and man) all at one and 

 the same time just as set forth in the first 

 chapter of Genesis. 



While not committing himself to any esti- 

 mate of the time back of the present when all 

 this took place, it is evident that he leans to a 

 "short chronology"; for in Chapter IX of his 

 Fundamentals of Geology he argues for a 

 catastrophic instead of a uniformitarian rate 

 for the deposition of strata. In Chapter I of 

 his "Q. E. D." he refers to the study of the 

 phenomena of radioactivity as having "thrown 

 a good deal of doubt upon the older estimates 

 of the age of the earth," but he fails to inform 

 his reader that such study has revealed the 

 necessity of postulating a long succession of 

 atomic transformations, and has enormously 

 extended the length of geologic time. 



Realizing that if there has been a geological 

 succession of life on the earth 

 "then some form of genetic connection between 

 these successive types is the intuitive conclusion 

 of everj' thinking mind, even though the recovery 

 of these connecting links may prove impossible, ' ' 

 and his Genesis account, which he is out to 

 defend at all hazards, goes by the board, he 

 flatly denies that there has been any geological 

 succession, and sets himself to the task of en- 

 deavoring to prove the astounding thesis "that 

 all fossils are of the same age and none of 

 them older than man." In doing this he shows 

 wide familiarity with geological literature, 

 quoting largely from the most eminent authori- 

 ties in this country and in Europe. Any one 

 reading these writings of Price, which possess 

 a certain charm of literary style, and indicate 

 on the part of the author a gift of popular 



presentation which makes one regret that it 

 had not been devoted to more laudable purpose, 

 must constantly marvel at the character of 

 mind of the man who can so go into the litera- 

 ture of the subject and still continue to hold 

 such preposterous opinions. 



The position of superiority he arrogates to 

 himself is amazing : With his solicitude for har- 

 monizing his views with those of the Bible so 

 palpable, one of his eyes, at least, being always 

 "kept on Genesis," he still has the face to 

 accuse all "other geologists" of being biased, 

 charging that they hold to a belief in geological 

 succession "solely on the strength of the infalli- 

 bility of a theory" (elsewhere referred to as 

 the onion-coat theory of Werner) "invented a 

 hundred years ago in a little corner of western 

 Europe." 



So much under the spell of this old Wer- 

 nerian hypothesis are geologists still (excepting 

 himself), that, according to Price they "invent" 

 unconformities and faults to explain breaks 

 and repetitions in the life succession. 



Price especially endeavors to find "mare's 

 nests" in the "alleged" great thrust faults of 

 the earth, impugning the competency or integ- 

 rity, or both, of the distinguished geologists 

 who vouch for their existence : as that of Heim 

 and Rothpletz for the great Glarus overthrust 

 in the Alps, that of Geikie for the great over- 

 thrust in Scotland, that of McConnell, Camp- 

 bell and Willis for the great overthrust along 

 the eastern front of the Rockies in Canada and 

 northwestern United States, and finally that of 

 Hayes for the niunerous overthrusts in the 

 southern Appalachians. 



Professor Price also thinks he has found an- 

 other geological "mare's nest," one that ought 

 to confound these believers in a geological suc- 

 cession, in the fact: 



"That the rivers of the world in cutting across 

 the country, completely ignore the varj-iug ages 

 of the rocks in the different parts of their courses, 

 and act precisely as if they began sawing at them 

 all at the same time. ' ' 



Evidently the conception of a superimposed 

 rivei', disclosing old buried structures as it 

 deepens its channel, so easily understood by any 

 high school student of physiography, is beyond 

 the mental grasp of the author of "Funda- 

 mentals of Geology." 



This then is the man who, while a member 



