Geological Aspects of Evolution 9] 
question of the origin of the nebulae or stars that are taken as 
the starting point in these hypotheses remains unanswered. To 
the thinking individual, this is satisfactorily explained as the work 
of an eternal God, who knows no beginning or end. 
The origin of life. To the advocates of materialistic evolution, 
the origin of life is their most perplexing problem. There, is 
scarcely a scientist today who believes that life originated on 
some distant heavenly body and immigrated to the earth during 
an early stage of its history. Complex compounds such as con- 
stitute living matter can exist only within a narrow range of 
temperatures. It is unlikely that such compounds could with- 
Stand the journey through space, or the probable early high tem- 
perature and atmosphereless stages of earth history. The essential 
chemical constituents of living matter or protoplasm are among 
the earth’s most common elements. Speculation has included the 
most likely place for the synthesis of protoplasm to take place. 
Some favor the surface waters of the ocean. Others consider 
that the pore space of sedimentary rocks would contain the proper 
concentration of required substances. But, spontaneous genera- 
tion does not take place in nature, nor have inorganic substances 
been changed into living matter in the laboratory. Many non- 
Catholic scientists find the materialistic interpretation of life and 
the universe unsatisfactory. To me it seems reasonable that mat- 
ter as well as the universe and life originated through the creative 
and conservative power of an omnipotent eternal God. Under this 
Concept, evolution is a process, a method. And God has the 
Power to utilize this method if He so wishes. 
Evolution and the geologic record. The principle of evolution 
has been intimately interwoven with stratigraphic geology since 
William Smith in 1799 announced that the fossil assemblages of 
One geological formation differed from those above and below. 
Once the vertical range and sequence of fossils are established, 
the relative position of rocks can be determined by their fossil 
Content. Superposition is the criterion of age. Any rock is con- 
sidered younger than the one on which it rests, provided there 
is no structural evidence to the contrary, such as over-turning 
