HISTORY OF EVOLUTIONARY THEORY: 2

Here is this remarkable history, from the turn of the century on down to 1950. It is clear that evolutionary theory is a myth. Repeatedly, men have tried to find evidence for it, but to no avail. This is science vs. evolution—a Creation-Evolution Encyclopedia, brought to you by Creation Science Facts.

Page numbers without book references refer to the book, HISTORY OF EVOLUTIONARY THEORY, from which these facts are summarized. An asterisk ( * ) by a name indicates that person is not known to be a creationist. Of over 4,000 quotations in the set of books this Encyclopedia is based on, only 164 statements are by creationists.

1900 TO 1950

*Hugo de Vries (1848-1935) was a Dutch botanist, and one of the three men, in 1900, who rediscovered Mendel's law of heredity.

One day, while working with primroses, he thought he had found a new species! He theorized that it had come into existence as a "mutation." This was the beginning of the "mutation" craze by evolutionists, as the cause of trans-species changes (which no evidence ever showed as occurring).

But, with the passing of decades, it was found that mutations are always harmful and cannot, and do not, produce new species.

De Vries, of course, did not know all that, and he reported his primrose discovery widely. But, in 1914, *Edward Jeffries discovered that de Vries' primrose was just a variety of primrose and not a new species.

For much more on the failure of mutations to produce evolution, read Mutations.—pp. 27-28.

*Sutton and *Boveri independently discovered chromosomes and the linkage of genetic characters in 1902, only two years after the rediscovery of Mendel's research. This was the beginning of major research which would later result in the discovery of the DNA code, which locks each species within itself.—p. 28.

*Morgan and *Muller. *Thomas Hunt Morgan pioneered in showing that genetic determinants were present in a definite linear order in chromosomes and could possibly be mapped. He was the first to work with fruit fly research.

Also working in America, *H.J. Muller pioneered in using X rays to induce mutations in fruit flies.

See Mutations for much more on genetics, X ray research, and mutations.—p. 28.

Neo-Darwinism. "Darwinism" was the teaching that "natural selection" by itself had produced evolution. But scientists discovered that it accomplished nothing. The truth was that there were natural variations within species, but no changes across species.

Therefore many scientists switched to "neo-Darwinism," the theory that mutations produce the cross-species changes.—p. 28.

Scopes Trial. A major turning point, in America, occurred in the summer of 1925. *John Scopes, a young high-school football coach, was paid by the ACLU to be the defendant in a lawsuit to test the anti-evolution law of Tennessee.

The entire story is told in detail our book The Scopes Trial
.

Fraudulent evidence, personality attacks, ridicule, embarrassing press coverage, and a general carnival atmosphere were used to effectively coerce Tennessee and later other state governments into withdrawing opposition to evolution. Yet, in reality, evolution never even began to win its case at that Dayton, Tennessee, trial.—pp. 28-29.

George McCready Price (1870-1963) was the leading creationist writer of the first half of the 20th century. He eventually taught at four colleges and was president of a fifth, but still gave much time to researching and writing reports against evolution. In all he produced 38 books and numerous magazine articles.—p. 29.

*Trofim Lysenko (1893-1976), an ardent evolutionist in our day, has his name covered with infamy. Rising to power in the Soviet Union in the 1930s, he controlled all scientific research. Only that which agreed with a Marxist version of Darwinism was acceptable. Any scientist even hinting at disagreement or carrying out unapproved research was slain. Hundreds died.—p. 29.

*Austin Clark (1880-1954) was a zealous evolutionist on the staff of the Smithsonian Institute. He authored several books and about 600 articles in five languages. A foremost spokesman for evolution, he analyzed the situation so thoroughly—that he decided evolution could not possibly produce the widely different species!

So he invented a variant theory, which he named "zoogenesis." In his 1930 book, The New Evolution: Zoogenesis, he theorized that every major type of plant and animal had earlier separately sprung into being from dirt, seawater, or whatever! The impossible miracle of that first change from nonlife to a living creature, according to Clark, had happened repeatedly, not once, as taught by traditional evolutionists.

Evolutionists hardly knew how to withstand this attack on their theory, for it came from one of their own.—pp. 29-30.

American Humanist Association. In 1933, the AHA was formed, and immediately began working closely with the ACLU. "Humanism" is the 20th century name for "atheism." They have changed their name, but not their views or their objective: to blot out religion and God from everyone on earth. Many well-known people have been members of the AHA.—p. 30.

*Richard Goldschmidt (1878-1958) was unusual. Few men have so dedicated their lives to vindicating evolution, as did Goldschmidt. He spent 25 exhausting years breeding the gypsy moth, trying to induce evolutionary change. But he found himself up against a solid wall. Any changes which occurred were, within a few generations, erased either by extinction or by moving back toward the norm.

By 1940, Goldschmidt could take no more. He published a paper which constituted one of the most powerful attacks on evolution ever produced. And it came from an expert who had tried in every way to induce cross-species change.

Goldschmidt's theory was that, once every so many millennia, a new species ("hopeful monsters") just sprang (in German, "saltated") into existence. This was the saltation theory.

According to this theory, one day a mother rhinoceros produced an elephant. Another time, an oak tree produced an acorn which grew into a pine tree.

Goldschmidt was asking for even bigger miracles than *A.H. Clark had proposed in his "zoogenesis" theory!

The scientifically accurate thrashing Goldschmidt gave to Darwinism (natural selection theory) and neo-Darwinism (mutation theory) combined with the idiotic foolishness of his hopeful monster theory—left evolutionists dazed. What could they say?

For an in-depth analysis of this totally impossible theory, see Mutations.—pp. 30-31.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

To the NEXT PAGE to conclude with Part 3 of this three-part article. It will unveil this history from 1950 on down to the present.