A New Discovery | AdventAI

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Apr 24, 1879

"A New Discovery."

DR. HOPEWELL, in his lecture on "The Bible and Science," relates this amusing but most instructive anecdote. In various parts of the county of Durham, and indeed at many points all round the coasts of England, there are submarine forests; trees which once grew on the dry land on the borders of the sea, now sunk beneath its surface, covered at high water, but exposed in part or altogether at low water. Some twenty years ago the great dock on the Tyne was made, and many trees and horns of ancient animals were found embedded in the silt of Jarrow Slake. One of these was standing upright, but was without its head. Its top had evidently been cut off; there could not be any mistake about the fact.

Sir William Armstrong, the late Robert Stephenson, and Mr. Harrison, the North-eastern Company's engineer, were greatly interested. It was concluded that some woodman of very ancient times had cut the tree, and that it was a most striking evidence of the extreme antiquity of the human race. In haste Prof. Owen, the renowned paleontologist of the British Museum, was sent from London. One Sunday morning was spent by all these gentlemen wading in the slush and mud, inspecting this wondrous relic. Their conclusion was unanimous. The next morning a friend of mine, to whom Prof. Owen had sent his card with the expression of a wish to see some horns from the same site, was present also. He asked Prof. Owen to what conclusion they had come. The professor replied that they were all unanimous, and that the evidence was most satisfactory. My friend said, "You have not been inspecting an old cut, at any rate, for I had some pieces cut off that tree a few days ago, and have them now at home." The assembled company declared it was impossible. My friend assured them of the fact, and said, "Have you seen the man who first uncovered this tree?" They said they had not, and Prof. Owen was at once struck with the importance of having that man's evidence. The man was sent for. My friend told him what the man would tell him, for my friend knew all about it, and, beside that, would never have been so deceived, for reasons I could give, even if he had not known the true history; but I will let Prof. Owen tell the rest in his own words. He told the story himself at Leeds some years afterward, and this is what he said. After giving his account of the portion of the story I have already related, and saying that he had been told that the navy who first uncovered the tree had himself cut the head of it off to lay down a sleeper for the tramway, he says:--

"This man was sent for, and on his arrival he declared that the tree pointed out was the one he had cut." Prof. Owen goes on to say--and we should mark this--"It was endeavored to be explained that that was impossible, as the place had not been excavated before," (it had got covered up again since the excavation); "but looking," said Prof. Owen, "with supreme contempt upon the assembly of geologists and engineers, the man persisted in the identification of his own work, and exclaimed, 'The top of the tree must be somewhere;' upon which," says Prof. Owen, "I offered half a crown to the first navvy who would produce it. Away ran half a dozen of them, and in a few minutes they returned with the top. Never," says Prof. Owen, "had I so narrow an escape from introducing 'a new discovery' into science, and never had I a more fortunate escape."--Sel.