The California Collection/TheCaliforniaCollection.cdr/his065/evidenc2.arj/EVIDENCE.002

Text File | 1990-12-04 | 6KB | 126 lines

   3. FOSSIL RECORD

    Charles Darwin stated, in his Origin of Species, "The geolog-
ical record is extremely imperfect and this fact will to a  large
extent  explain why we do not find intermediate  varieties,  con-
necting  together all the extinct and existing forms of  life  by
the  finest  graduated steps. He who rejects these views  on  the
nature  of  the geological record, will rightly reject  my  whole
theory."

 Now,  130 years and billions of fossils later,  we  can
rightly reject the view of an incomplete fossil record or of  one
"connecting together all . . . forms of life by the finest gradu-
ated steps."

Out of the millions of fossils in the world, not one
transitional  form  has  been found. All known  species  show  up
abruptly  in the fossil record, without intermediate forms,  thus
contributing  to the fact of special creation. Let's take a  look
at  Archeopteryx,  a fossil that some evolutionists claim  to  be
transitional between reptile and bird.

    Archeopteryx is discussed in evolutionist Francis  Hitching's
book, The Neck of the Giraffe - Where Darwin Went Wrong.   Hitch-
ing speaks on six aspects of Archeopteryx, following here.

    (The  following  six  points are quoted from  Luther  Sunder-
land's  book,  Darwin's Enigma: Fossils and Other  Problems,  pp.
74-75,  the  facts of which points he  gathered  from  Hitching's
book.)

     1. It had a long bony tail, like a reptile's.

          In  the  embryonic stage, some living  birds  have
     more tail vertebrae than Archeopteryx. They later  fuse
     to become an upstanding bone called the pygostyle.  The
     tail  bone  and feather arrangement on swans  are  very
     similar to those of Archeopteryx.

     One authority  claims
     that  there is no basic difference between the  ancient
     and modern forms: the difference lies only in the  fact
     that  the caudal vertebrae are greatly  prolonged.  But
     this does not make a reptile.

     2. It had claws on its feet and on its feathered  fore-
     limbs.

        However,  many living birds such as the  hoatzin  in
     South  America, the touraco in Africa and  the  ostrich
     also have claws. In 1983, the British Museum of Natural
     History displayed numerous species within nine families
     of birds with claws on the wings.

     3. It had teeth.

        Modern  birds  do not have teeth  but  many  ancient
     birds did, particularly those in the Mesozoic. There is
     no  suggestion that these birds were transitional.  The
     teeth  do not show the connection of Archeopteryx  with
     any  other animal since every subclass  of  vertebrates
     has some with teeth and some without.

     4. It had a shallow breastbone.

        Various modern flying birds such as the hoatzin have
     similarly  shallow breastbones, and this does not  dis-
     qualify them from being classified as birds. And  there
     are,  of course, many species of nonflying birds,  both
     living and extinct.

        Recent  examination of Archeopteryx's  feathers  has
     shown that they are the same as the feathers of  modern
     birds  that are excellent fliers. Dr. Ostrom says  that
     there  is  no question that they are the  same  as  the
     feathers of modern birds. They are asymmetrical with  a
     center  shaft and parallel barbs like those of  today's
     flying birds.

     5. Its bones were solid, not hollow, like a bird's.

        This idea has been refuted because the long bones of
     Archeopteryx are now known to be hollow.

     6. It predates the general arrival of birds by millions
     of years.

        This also has been refuted by recent paleontological
     discoveries.  In  1977 a geologist from  Brigham  Young
     University, James A. Jensen, discovered in the Dry Mesa
     quarry of the Morrison formation in western Colorado  a
     fossil  of an unequivocal bird in Lower Jurassic  rock.

     This  deposit is dated as 60-million years  older  than
     the  Upper  Jurassic  rock in  which  Archeopteryx  was
     found.  He first found the rear-leg femur  and,  later,
     the  remainder  of the skeleton.

     This was  reported  in
     Science  News 24 September 1977. Professor John  Ostrom
     commented,  "It  is obvious we must now  look  for  the
     ancestors  of  flying birds in a period  of  time  much
     older than that in which Archeopteryx lived."

   And  so it goes with the fossil that many textbooks set  forth
as the best example of a transitional form. No true  intermediate
fossils have been found.

   In  a letter to Luther Sunderland, dated April 10,  1979,  Dr.
Colin Patterson, of the British Museum of Natural History, wrote:

   "...I  fully agree with your comments on the lack of  di-
    rect illustration of evolutionary transitions in my book.
    If  I  knew of any, fossil or living, I  would  certainly
    have included them. You suggest that an artist should  be
    used  to visualise such transformations, but where  would
    he get the information from? I could not, honestly,  pro-
    vide  it, and if I were to leave it to artistic  licence,
    would that not mislead the reader?"

   Just  think  of it! Here is a man sitting amidst  one  of  the
greatest  fossil collections ever and he knows of  absolutely  NO
transitional  fossils. So convincing I believe this quote  to  be
that it will sum up this discussion on fossil evidence.