"Johnny's Visitor"
EVOLUTION (continued) species by a process of evolution. Charles Darwin and his followers sought in vain for evidence of the transmutation of one species into an other throughout the whole realm of natural history. But Darwin had to admit that “when we descend to de tails we can prove that no one species has changed . . . nor can we prove that the supposed changes are bene ficial, which is the groundwork for the theory.” This same search continues but without success. The history of life on the earth, as revealed in the geological record, is therefore the deciding factor. No ar tificial juggling of plant or animal life under controlled or laboratory con ditions can do away with the infalli ble record of the rocks. Neither fossils nor other geological studies show any evidence of mutations by natural means. As a matter of fact, the creation of mutations by means of chemical ac tion is only an exaggeration, by means of artificial stimulation, of a phenome non well recognized in nature which is known as polyploidy — this is when chemicals are induced to make plants of unusual size or vigor. It is important to remember that polyploidy, although it results in the individual plant be ing much larger, does not bring about any fundamental change of form. It only magnifies the characters which already exist. “Until breeders can produce a new species of plant otherwise than by polyploidy, their experiments must be deemed unfavorable to the evolution theory. Experiments indicate that plants, as a whole are more plastic than animals, but that the extent to which a plant type can be modified is strictly limited.” It is a well-known fact that hy brids, that is a cross between two dis tinct species, such as the mule, are sterile, or else reproduce a receding type which soon dies out. Thus nature has placed an insuperable barrier to the creation of new species. It is well- known also that wild species rarely,
A tiny sin crept softly in through Johnny's open door; " I'll only stay a little while," it whispered, "and before I do you any harm at all you can get rid of me. And nobody will ever know that I've been here, you see!" Now, Johnny was a foolish boy, so he believed the sin. And let it make itself a home when it had entered in. He closed the door, and no one knew that it was there at all; " It cannot harm ," so Johnny thought; " it is so very sm all!" But soon the sin began to grow— a horrid growth, indeed! It made of Johnny's boyish heart a thing on which to feed. It cast out everything beside, and gained and gathered strength. T ill Johnny was its wretched slave, as all men saw at length. Too late poor Johnny bade it go, "W hy should I leave you, pray This is my home; you let me in And here I mean to stay," The sin replied, and tighter yet it clung and spread, and grew. Friend, letting in the smallest sin lets in destruction, too! — J. C. Brumfield if ever, inter-breed naturally, and when they can be induced to cross, the re sults almost invariably end in an ab sence of sterile offspring. Mendel’s law of heredity, although somewhat modified since its original definition, is still held as substantially true. According to this law, variations are due simply to recombinations of characteristics already present in the April is FORWARD BY FAITH for Biola Please pray for the -much needed CAMPUS EXPANSION PROGRAM 8
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