dubois@uwmacc.UUCP (Paul DuBois) (04/17/85)
This is the first of four articles I am posting for Ray Miller. News is not escaping from his site, apparently. ---- /* Written 9:35 pm Mar 4, 1985 by miller@uiucdcsb in uiucdcsb:net.origins */ /* ---------- "Stepping through time ..." ---------- */ Most people on this net have heard of the Paluxy River human & dinosaur prints discovered in Glen Rose, Texas. Furthermore, anyone who has been reading this since last year has seen the discussion on cross-sectional lamination lines which eliminate the possibility of erosion & hoaxes. (I mention this only because it is clear we've had a few new people join net.origins recently.) Further, evolutionists should note that creationists would attribute the prints Mary Leakey found in Africa not to Australopithecus, but rather to humans. (Why not? It's just a different conclusion drawn from the same data which is consistent with the facts.) And, of course, I posted the Pravda article last week about the horse prints, which is equally damaging to the evolutionary model. (I've also got a "Moscow News" article ready to go, Yosi notwithstand- ing. He, of course, thinks the Soviets & creationists are in cahoots together. No doubt after reading what follows, he will claim it was planted 143 years ago for little ol' me to come along & find it, and that there is an abolition- ist and creationist conspiracy. Right.) But I digress. Now for the main part: The other day, I was in our library scanning books written prior to the Civil War. The purpose was find evidence of parallel reasoning in the support for slavery & abortion. (March 6 is the anniversary of Dred Scott.) You know, things like "If you don't want to own a slave - fine. Don't tell me what I can't do with my own property." Or "I'm personally opposed to slavery, but I don't want to push my religion on others." Naturally, these types of quotes were easy to find. Anyway, as I was reading J. S. Buckingham, "The Slave States of America," Vol. 2, (London, Fisher, Son, & Co., 1842), pp. 95-96 I ran across something which totally shocked me! Now before you read this, I agree in advance that the book is not a science textbook. Nevertheless, in light of all of the other evidence of similar finds, it is at least very interesting. To continue, the author is telling of his travels through the slave states. He was currently visiting one of the universities in Georgia, when he gets side- tracked with the following discussion: "In possession of one of the professors, but not belonging to this collection, we were shown a slab of stone, which contained the distinct impress of a human foot, a little larger than the ordinary size, and with the toes spread wide apart, as if the individual had never worn either sandals or shoes. [... He then goes on to describe the location of the prints' discovery ...] On the topmost surface of this, is a long line of footsteps impressed in the stone, to the depth of half an inch; the impressions being of the right and left foot alternately, and at just the natural distance measured in a walking pace. Besides the impressions of the feet of adults, there are those of children made in the same manner, and also of unshod horses; there being in one case a slide of a horse's foot, as if slipping along on a greasy substance. [... This is followed by a further description of the prints, how they were thought to have been uncovered, etc. He also discusses the possibility of carving by Indians:] ... but, besides the difficulty of conceiving such a labour to be executed by the Indians, I may state, that as far as a very close inspection of the stone would allow me to judge, there was not the least trace of the marks of a chisel, or any other instrument, on the surface of the stone. On the contrary, it bore all the appearance of a plastic substance, impressed with human feet not more than one-eighth above the present natural size, and differing only from the impressions of modern feet, by the toes being more widely spread, as if never confined by shoes or sandals Not far from this, there had recently been dug up the bones of some huge animal, much larger than those of any mast- odon or mammoth hitherto discovered." One final note. This book was written 3 years before Texas was admitted to the Union, and about nine decades before the Paluxy River prints were first noted by the residents of Glen Rose. A. Ray Miller Univ Illinois /* End of text from uiucdcsb:net.origins */
keithd@cadovax.UUCP (Keith Doyle) (04/22/85)
[.......................] >"In possession of one of the professors, but not belonging to this collection, >we were shown a slab of stone, which contained the distinct impress of a human >foot, a little larger than the ordinary size, and with the toes spread wide >apart, as if the individual had never worn either sandals or shoes. [... He >then goes on to describe the location of the prints' discovery ...] On the Ok, I give up, where were they located? Keith Doyle # {ucbvax,ihnp4,decvax}!trwrb!cadovax!keithd
cjh@petsd.UUCP (Chris Henrich) (04/24/85)
[] From an article submitted by Paul DuBois on behalf or Ray Miller: [Mr. Miller found this related in a book published in 1842. The author was talking with a professor at a university in Georgia; the professor showed him a rock with some apparent fossils of human footprints.] >... it bore all the appearance of a plastic substance, impressed with > human feet not more than one-eighth above the present natural size, > and differing only from the impressions of modern feet, by the toes > being more widely spread, as if never confined by shoes or sandals[.] > Not far from this, there had recently been dug up the bones of some > huge animal, much larger than those of any mastodon or mammoth > hitherto discovered." I do not think this narrative is evidence that humans were contemporary with dinosaurs. Let us stipulate that there is no deliberate fraud or false remembrance in the story. The problem is that we do not know the relation between the stratum which contained the fossil footprints and that which contained the fossil bones. Nor do we know what the fossil bones were. Regards, Chris -- Full-Name: Christopher J. Henrich UUCP: ..!(cornell | ariel | ukc | houxz)!vax135!petsd!cjh US Mail: MS 313; Perkin-Elmer; 106 Apple St; Tinton Falls, NJ 07724 Phone: (201) 758-7288