The NY Times in its "On This Day" section on its website reproduces the news story on the final day of the Scopes trial on which, by mutual consent of the defense and prosecution, John Scopes was found guilty of violating the Tennessee law prohibiting the teaching that man was descended from lower animals (i.e., Darwin's theory of evolution). It makes for interesting reading and provides a somewhat different account of the events from, say, the movie "Inherit The Wind" (which, of course, is a dramatic work and not a factual reporting of events). To read the article, go to:
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0721.html#article One of the more significant quotes provided in the article is the following by Clarence Darrow: |"I think this case will be remembered because it is the first case |of this sort since we stopped trying people in America for witchcraft, |because here"- and he thundered out the last words- "we have |done our best to turn back the tide that has sought to force itself |upon the modern world of testing every fact in science by a religious |dictum. That is all I care to say." Previously, I provided a link to a website that was making available a short-lived journal "Evolution" which was started in response to the Scopes trial. See: www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/cain/projects/ejn There a couple of articles on the website (one by Joe Cain) on the history of the journal as well as a little on the public response to Scopes trial which might be of interest to folks. -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
