' e . L j Science and the Bible¡b y Bolton Davidheiser
BIOLA OFFERS A CHR IST IAN RETIRAI. CENTER IN AR IZON A
HERBERT HOOVER AN D PIERRE de MAUPERTU IS
T his is written upon hearing of the death of Herbert Hoover, -a man much maligned while President of the United States. As more facts about t ha t time and subsequent times become known to the public, there is no doubt that the esteem in which his name is now held will in crease, while some who have been held in high esteem will be found to have been unworthy of that honor. Fame and recognition are fickle. Lamarck, the great French botanist and zoologist, was buried in a com mon trench with others too poor to afford a proper grave. It was not until rivals for Darwin were sought that Lamarck’s genius was recog nized. In 1911 three men made what has been called the worst journey in the world and faced almost certain death on the Antarctic Continent to obtain some eggs of the emperor pen guin for scientific study. Only one of the men lived to return to England, and when he took the eggs to the British Museum, he was told that if he did not leave, he would be taken into custody by the police. Martin Luther King, who belongs to a mul titude of Communist front organiza tions, recently received the Nobel Peace Prize. Norman Vincent Peale, who preaches positive thinking in stead of the gospel of Christ, has been pronounced “ clergyman of the year.” Pierre Louis Moreau de Mauper- tuis was a scientist of extraordinary genius and accomplishment, but to day it is difficult to find his name in a history of science. He antici pated Charles Darwin in a remark able way a century before Darwin published his O r i g i n of Species. Bentley Class of the John Hopkins University says, “With certainty he must be ranked above all precursors of Darwin.” Darwin realized that a great weakness in his theory resulted from the fact that he did not know how characteristics are inherited. Gregor Mendel discovered the basic laws of heredity, for which he did not re ceive recognition during his life time, although he has since received great acclaim for this accomplish ment. Bentley Glass credits Mauper- tuis with d i s c o v e r i n g “ virtually every idea of the Mendelian mechan ism of heredity” a century before Mendel. Another weakness in Darwin's JANUARY, 1965
theory was the fact that he had no answer to the question of how he reditary differences arise. Two gen erations later Hugo de Vries pro posed the mutation theory, which, together with Darwin’s natural se lection, has become the foundation of the modern theory of evolution. Mau- pertuis described evolution by mu tations and natural selection, and furthermore he realized that most mutations are injurious, a f a c t somewhat embarrassing to the evo lutionists. At a time when Newton’s law of gravitation was under attack, Mau- pertuis provided the first convincing proof of its truth through a brilliant piece of work in which he showed that the globe of the earth is flat tened toward the poles. His greatest achievement was his “ principle of least action,” a mathe matical principle which is even more basic than Newton’s law of gravita tion. He had a quarrel with a mathe matician who said that Leibnitz had advanced the principle first, although there was no evidence for this. In this quarrel Voltaire, after a friend ship of 20 years, during which he had written flattering praises of Maupertuis, took sides against him and piled invective and ridicule upon him so effectively that his reputation was ruined. The reputation of Herbert Hoo ver was t emp o r a r i l y smirched through the dissemination of un truths and in other ways by some who desired temporary applause for themselves. Hoover was a God-fearing man. Whether he ever accepted Christ as his personal Saviour is a matter which is now between him and the Lord. On the other hand, Bentley Glass says that the reason Mauper tuis worked out his theory of evolu tion was because he had considered, and desired to refute, the argument for the existence of God from the ap parent order and design seen in na ture. There no doubt have been great heroes who perished unrecognized, and there are humble soul-winning clergymen who go unacclaimed. Some people enjoy adulation for a season and are then forgotten, while others become famous only after they are deceased. Christians are not to seek greatness, but are to do their best for the glory of God. See Matthew 20:25-28 and Romans 12:10.
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