ABSTRACTS
Why Did God Create Poisons and Toxins?
JERRY BERGMAN, PH.D.
The problem of toxicity is considered. It is concluded that many myths exist about the subject of poisons and toxins. A major one is that a dichotomy exists between poisonous and nonpoisonous chemicals when actually nothing is toxic in small levels, and all chemicals are toxic in high amounts. Further, most all chemicals which have a high level of toxicity have an important function in life, and because compounds can be used in a harmful way does not negate their importance when used appropriately. It is not the compound that is the problem, but the use.
Carcharodon megalodon: Is This the Antediluvian Great White Shark?
CARL R. FROEDE, JR., B.S., P.G.
Sharks represent an interesting problem for uniformitarian paleontologists. They suddenly appear fully formed in the Devonian Period with no apparent ancestors. One shark species in particular, Carcharodon megalodon, is known from its abundant teeth found in rocks which "date" to the uniformitarian Miocene. Some scientists have suggested that the "modern" great white shark (i.e., Carcharodon carcharias) might represent the same shark species as C. megalodon. However, serious questions remain regarding whether these were the same species of shark. While C. megalodon and _C. carcharias_ are clearly within the same genus, they likely should remain as separate species. Many young earth creationists believe that during the Antediluvian timeframe both mankind and animals had longer lifespans than at present. Carcharodon megalodon, like the dinosaurs, are believed to have grown continually until they were killed, either during the catastrophic conditions associated with the Flood event, or they eventually died from old age (possibly post-Flood). Longer periods of growth, proposed for the antediluvian timeframe, could have allowed C. megalodon to grow to its maximum size potential. Other environmental factors might still allow for the possibility that a living C. megalodon might be found in the oceans of the planet.
Mid and High Latitude Flora Deposited in the Genesis Flood, Part II: A Creationist Hypothesis
MICHAEL J. OARD, M.S.
A creationist hypothesis for mid and high latitude paleofloras, including the fossil "forests" on Axel Heiberg Island, is presented. This hypothesis is an extension of the floating log mat model during the Genesis Flood. One ramification of this hypothesis is that most of the "Cenozoic land sediments likely were deposited in the Flood and not the post-Flood period. Several other applications of this model are presented.
Nine New Species and a New Genus of Dominican Amber Ants of the Tribe (Cephalotini Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
GIJSBERTUS VIERBERGEN AND JOACHIM SCHEVEN, PH.D.
Fossils of Cephalotine ants are frequently encountered in Dominican amber. Of 22 specimens examined, 18 belong to species not known from the Cephalotine fauna of today. Four specimens could not be identified to the species level. Five species of the genus Zacryptocerus are described as Z. alveolatus n.sp., _Z. integerrimus_ n.sp., Z. obscurus n.sp., Z. pseudo-aztecus n.sp., and Z. squamosus n.sp., together with four species of the newly raised genus Exocryptocerus (_E. elevatus_ n.sp., E. serratus n.sp., E. truncatus n.sp., and E. jansei n.sp.). The Cephalotine fauna of the Carribean of today is poor in regard to the past and consists of only four well-defined species. This low number indicates a depauperation of the ant fauna and possibly the whole insect fauna in the Carribean. Most likely this depauperation was caused by a geological and climatical change before or shortly after the Flood.
’Pithecanthropus IV’: A Human Evolutionary Ancestor or an Artificial Reconstruction?
PHIL L. DAVIDSON, M.A.,
[[ In 1939 the remains of an early "hominid" were discovered in Java. These remains have been interpreted as representing an intermediate form betweenAustralopithecus and Homo erectus. However, statistical and morphological data show these remains to be an artificial combination of disparate (dissimilar) skeletal elements.