----- Original Message ----- From: "sheba" <[email protected]>
<snip> > Search for the truth. > > > I found the following at http://sudman.home.netcom.com/noevidence.htm > > > The "Peppered moth" (biston betularia) example > > > The "peppered moth" (biston betularia) example is commonly used as > evidence for the theory of evolution. Almost all college > biology textbooks talk about it at some point. Not mine. > It happened in England during the 1840's through 1895. Before 1848, > ninety-eight percent (98%) of peppered moths were > white. Many more of the white moths survived; they blended in with the > trees much better than the black moths did. Then, in > 1848, the black moths started increasing, until in 1895, there were > ninety-eight percent (98%) black moths! What caused the > sudden increase? > > If we look at this closely, we find that there was no evolution > involved! What actually happened is that the pollution increased. > This killed the white likens on the trees and turned the trees black. > Predators could see the white moths better than the black > moths, therefore more were eaten. When the pollution was reduced, the > white moths were again less visible than the black > moths, and everything returned to how it was before. There was no actual > > change in the moth, only in the ratio of black moths to > white moths, therefore evolution did not take place. Although it is true > > that the peppered moth experiments conclusively prove > the theory of natural selection (which isn't a debated theory anymore), > they don't show evolution, since there was no actual > change in the gene pool of the moths. Evolution is driven by natural selection. If white moths are eaten before they reach sexual maturety then the genes that code for white moths are eventually lost. The fact that the ratio of the frequencies of the genes that code for white and black are altered, and that is evolution. Individuals cannot evolve, only populations evolve. This most basic law is lost on the author above, and if the creationist arguement is founded on logic as found on this page, it is doomed to remain an act of faith. > Cris Colby (pro-evolution) > comments in his Introduction to Evolutionary Biology, "The > increase in relative abundance of the dark type was due to natural > selection. The late eighteen hundreds was the time of > England's industrial revolution. Soot from factories darkened the birch > trees the moths landed on. Against a sooty background, > birds could see the lighter colored moths better and ate more of them. > As a result, more dark moths survived until reproductive > age and left offspring. The greater number of offspring left by dark > moths is what caused their increase in frequency. This is an > example of natural selection." Precisely. > The whole example is full of holes anyway. For one thing, peppered moths > > don't even rest on trees during the day! They were > laboratory-bred moths. As Dr. Carl Wieland comments, "The moths filmed > being eaten by the birds were laboratory-bred ones > placed onto tree trunks by Kettlewell; they were so languid that he once > > had to warm them up on his car bonnet (hood)." Dr. > Wieland also comments, "And all those still photos of moths on tree > trunks? One paper described how it was done - dead > moths were glued to the tree. University of Massachusetts biologist > Theodore Sargent helped glue moths onto trees for a > NOVA documentary. He says textbooks and films have featured 'a lot of > fraudulent photographs'." > > > What, pray tell, is scientific about this? :) So why pick a fraud as an example to debunk? What is scientific about that? BTW, disproving evolution doesn't prove creation... For God to exist doesn't require creation, but a literal belief in the bible does. > > Maureen Ivan. > > > > -- The silver-list is a moderated forum for discussion of colloidal silver. To join or quit silver-list or silver-digest send an e-mail message to: [email protected] -or- [email protected] with the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the SUBJECT line. To post, address your message to: [email protected] Silver-list archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]>
