ABSTRACTS
CROWDING AND ASEXUAL REPRODUCTION OF THE PLANARIA,
DUGESIA DOROTOCEPHALA
E. N. SMITH
Crowding clearly reduces the fissioning rate of the planaria, Dugesia dorotocephala. This reduction seems to be the result of some water soluble substance and is not the result of slime, oxygen depletion, or carbon dioxide increase. At densities below 2.0 planaria per 100 ml. of water, reproduction is not affected by crowding. If planaria do not reproduce at their maximum rate all the time, but only reproduce to replace losses, then the effect of intraspecific competition and natural selection is reduced. Supposedly, without natural selection there would have been no evolution. If planaria living today in a protected environment can turn their reproduction off when a certain maximum but healthy density is reached; then it is quite conceivable that in the perfect creation before the Fall these animals could regulate their own numbers without the necessity of outside predation, starvation or disease.
GENETIC ENGINEERING: A BIOLOGICAL TIME BOMB?
DUANE T. GISH
Claims are being made that man will be able to eliminate genetic defects and eventually "control his own evolution" by a combination of eugenics and specific alterations in his genetic material. While eugenics, or controlled human breeding, is possible, its beneficial effects would be limited or doubtful, and its practice would be socially unacceptable by the majority of the population. In vitro fertilization with subsequent in utero implantation of the resultant blastocyst may some day be possible, but success may be limited, and the method most likely would be fraught with many dangers for the developing embryo. Insertion of healthy genetic material into cells that are genetically defective would have limited benefit even if successful, and the results would more likely be disastrous rather than beneficial. While correction of faulty genes by "genetic surgery" may be theoretically possible, insurmountable technical difficulties will almost certainly forever prevent its use. The idea that man may someday be able to alter specific human characteristics and thus "control his own evolution" is seen as science fiction rather than as serious science.
THE BIBLE, RADIOCARBON DATING AND ANCIENT EGYPT
RONALD D. LONG
In the mid-1960's Egyptologists and radiocarbon chronologists were in an awkward predicament while attempting to reconcile differences between historical and astronomical data by means of C14 determinations. Evidence derived from radiocarbon dating did not match with what experts in the history of the ancient Near East had reasoned was the astronomical basis for Egyptian dynastic history. Specimens sealed to certain years B.C.E. by means of the chronology based on astronomical anchor points, related dates through the radiocarbon method which did not match the accepted dating system. Differences were often in the magnitude of centuries. Archaeological, methodological, and geophysical explanations for the discrepancies were sought. No answers were forthcoming. What was overlooked and should still be employed is an historical and Biblical explanation. Nevertheless, dendrochronologists and geophysicists did arrive at, what was believed to be, some physical reasons for the discrepancies. Beginning with de Vries, and continuing under Suess, Ferguson, et. al., the claim was made that a recalibration of C14 dates is possible which verifies accepted and "astronomically" founded Pharaonic chronology. On the other hand, it was also asserted that this supported the accuracy of the dating technique. Radiocarbon dates without calibration do not verify and support the ancient history of Egypt as it is taught today. In Egypt a general calendrical date could be assigned to an object assuming the historians were correct in their reconstruction of history. With the tree-rings of the bristlecone pine (Pinus aristata), however, near absolute calendrical dates corresponding to ancient Egyptian times could be checked by radiocarbon dating. That is, near absolute calendrical dates were utilized with the assumption that the dendrochronologists counted the "annual" rings precisely. Calendrical or true age of the tree rings did not result in the same age as that gained from C14 analysis. Dendrochronologically dated tree rings revealed problems, therefore, which when combined with other investigations demonstrated the fact that some of the foundational assumptions of C14 dating were invalid and needed restating. From recent research, the following facts have become known: production of C14 by cosmic rays has varied due to a (modulation of the galactic cosmic ray flux, b) changes in exchange rate between the atmosphere and the oceans, c) changes in the earth,s magnetic dipole moment, and d) world-wide fluctuations in atmospheric concentration of radiocarbon. In addition, dendrochronologically dated tree-rings from trees of the southern hemisphere do not generate the same true or calendrical age and radiocarbon age relationships as that related by radiocarbon dated tree-rings of bristlecone pine. It is now an admitted possibility that the amount of radioactive C14 available to living organisms may vary with altitude, and that "dead' tree-rings may absorb C14. We are left with pre-calibration C14 dates for Egypt which, in fact, closely match the correctly correlated Egyptian-Biblical chronology.
THE GENESIS KINDS AND HYBRIDIZATION: HAS MAN EVER CROSSED WITH ANY ANIMAL?
FRANK L. MARSH
In the opinion of some, basic types of organisms have hybridized in the past, and certain modern races of men have resulted from a man-beast cross. A review of pertinent literature shows that it abounds with unreliable reports on the crossing of plants and of animals. With regard to man, modern anthropologists and geneticists agree in the opinion that human beings have never crossed with any animal. Genetically the morphological differences between two basic types of organisms result from their different DNA'S. The pattern of the nucleotides in the hereditary material determines the basic type of the organism. In order to hybridize, individuals must have the same general DNA pattern. All relevant laboratory data indicate that if the general DNA patterns are different, then a chemical incompatibility exists between these basic types which makes true fertilization, and resultantly hybridization, impossible. In the light of modern findings, the fact that, according to Genesis 1 and 2, all basic types existing on the earth have been present since creation week, guarantees to Bible belivers that every basic type of organism, including the human type, is 100% pure type in all its generations.
THE CREATIONIST AND CONTINENTAL GLACIATION
WILLIAM A. SPRINGSTEAD
This is a review of both catastrophic and uniformitarian writings about numerous facets of glaciology. While the author discusses literature covering many viewpoints, he concludes that the data have best fit with a monoglacial action of reduced scope following the flood of Genesis.
SHOULD MACROEVOLUTION BE TAUGHT AS FACT?
RAYMOND C. TELFAIR II
The title question of this article is examined in light of evidence from morphology, classification, natural selection, mutation, biogeography, and anthropology. The author concludes that evolution theory is inadequate and certainly cannot be considered as a "fact." The author did not have the objective of thorough discussion of special creationism, but numerous "leads" to creationist literature are supplied during review of each topic.