The End Hi there, I'm glad you stopped in.
I was just planting some seeds in this flat so I could have some flowers for the garden this summer.
But speaking of seeds, did you ever stop and take a close look at any funny little dried up things? Never think that anything would ever grow from them.
But then did you ever stop and wonder where this entire earth of ours came from in the first place? Well, it's a story that's always fascinated me and I'd like to tell it to you.
But not knowing just how to start a story, I guess I'll begin by, just like so many others do, by saying, once upon a time, long, long ago, in fact, many millions of years ago, the sun and the earth and the stars and the moon, as we know them today, did not exist.
Instead, there was but a vast expanse of space, space reaching out in all directions beyond anything we today can comprehend or even imagine.
Infinite space.
And in all this space was nothing.
Nothing but a plan, but a very definite overall plan of events that were to take place throughout time to come.
A plan for the creation of the sun and the stars and the moon and the earth, and a plan for the creation of that greatest miracle of all, life.
This story starts with the appearance out of nowhere of great clouds of various gases.
They began drifting toward one another with ever increasing speed.
Vast charges of static electricity were created, and suddenly with the fury of a gigantic tornado that began whirling around and around.
As they traveled down through space, they whirled faster and faster, thus creating the force of gravity.
Gradually, as this force grew stronger, the outer extremities of this whirling mass began to draw in toward the center.
Pressure developed, and with this pressure came heat.
Pressure and heat so terrific that finally the entire mass burst into flames and continued to burn for millions of years more.
Slowly though, it began cooling down as vast amounts of heat were radiated off into space.
Now whether or not the earth and other planets in our universe were small parts of the sun cast off by centrifugal force, or pulled away from the central mass by the gravity of a passing star so that they could cool down much faster than the main body of the sun, or whether each was created separately along with all the other stars in the heavens cannot definitely be stated.
But it does seem certain that our earth has gradually cooled down from a great concentration of burning gas, cooled down to a ball of red hot molten mineral and rock.
The outer surface has continued to cool and form a solid crust, which shriveled and cracked and heaved as this cooling and shrinking process went on for many more millions of years.
Luckily though, all the original gases that went into this conglomeration did not mix into one single element, but instead they retained their original identity so that today we have many different minerals without which life could not exist.
Luckily also, these gases did not all liquefy and solidify at the same temperature, but instead some still remained in their gaseous form so we have the air we breathe.
Some within today's present range of temperatures are liquid so we have water, while others have turned to solid and we have rock, the very earth itself, rock containing different minerals that make them all the different colors of the rainbow.
Some are yellow, some white, others black, and others red, like these out in the Painted Desert in Arizona.
Do you suppose that all this could be just luck or happenstance, or do you think it's part of an overall plan? Well, one way or the other, the progress of development goes on.
The air carries moisture from the oceans to fall as rain over the solid rocks, to form lakes large and small, and to form rivers that flow from all parts of the land, swirling and churning as the waters rush on, eroding the rocks and carrying minute particles of all the different minerals that originally went into this earth of ours, down from the mountains, through the valleys, and back into the ocean again.
The wind made waves and the moon created tides.
Ocean currents continued to churn the waters until finally the exact mixture of minerals and chemicals came together with an impact that created the greatest miracle of all, life.
A single cell, but a living cell, a minute plant that could eat and live and grow.
It could create more living cells by the simple process of dividing in two, each part continuing to grow, for it contained life.
Another of the big steps forward was the emergence of plants out of the sea to take root on dry land and adapt themselves to varying conditions.
This was a gradual step that required many more millions of years, but it went on slowly and deliberately.
The first land plants just fringed the oceans where they were constantly splashed by waves and covered by the tide and remained out of water for short periods at a time.
One of the most primitive of these strictly land plants was the lichen.
These very small plants have microscopic, hair -like roots that secrete an acid that actually dissolves the rock as they grow.
When rocks have been covered with lichens, they will crumble easily compared to bare rock.
Thus these most primitive plants hasten the weathering and decomposition of rocks, producing soil for other plants to come.
From the earliest invention of cell division plants that came out of the oceans, the process of further development began.
In some unexplained way, new and more complicated forms of plants appeared.
We call one of these early plants a horsetail, even though they started to grow long before there were any horses on the earth.
An interesting thing about these first land plants, though, was that they begun to produce spores as can be seen at the top of this one.
The spore is a single cell that drops from the parent plant or is carried by the wind to some new location.
Wonderful as this new development was, the spore had its shortcomings, as it was vulnerable to the adversities of weather and climates.
Spores will grow well provided the moisture conditions are just right, but in this respect alone the spore was limited as to where these plants could travel.
In the swamps and marshes where conditions were right, the growth of the spore plant was unusually prolific.
Ferns and horsetails grew to 100 feet or more in height.
The lush green growth of these spore plants, the most luxuriant growth the world has ever seen, was at its height 200 million years ago.
And while these plants continued to grow, developing great jungle -like forests of giant horsetails, club mosses, and tree ferns, other events of tremendous importance were also taking place.
A few types of primitive creatures had begun to move around in the waters.
The amoeba was one of the first single -celled animals that could change its shape by putting forth long lobes, and in this way could move about.
It could also envelop other microscopic particles and slowly absorb them for food.
The amoeba, like the first plants, also reproduced by cell division.
Then, just as plant cells grouped together, so did animal cells.
Tentacles developed that could reach out for food.
But also these animals developed a new method of reproduction.
Instead of dividing in half, they developed a form of budding.
Here a sort of bud starts growing, which finally breaks off and continues to grow.
Next, other microscopic creatures that did not look much different from some of the earliest plants began to move around much faster.
But through the disciplined process of creation, step by step, just as plants had developed their roots, stems, and leaves, some of these little creatures, after hundreds of thousands of generations, began to look different.
They had little whip -like petals and could move about still faster.
But this movement required much more energy, and to supply this energy fast enough, a radically new system of eating and digesting food had to be developed.
Here was something entirely new and different, another great stride forward.
But things did not stop now.
The little petals continued to develop into more streamlined fins.
And with this greater speed and necessity for food came eyes and gills, the skeleton structure of bone, and above all, a brain to regulate these radically new innovations of life.
The brain and its intricate nervous system, primitive as it was in this early form of fish life, was truly a marvel of creation to behold.
Here again, though, different forms and shapes of fish appeared.
Nature was generous with color, all sorts of color combinations.
Some were red, some yellow, others black, or plain white.
Just as plant life came out of the oceans, also out of the oceans came animal life.
Not overnight, not in a year, but again through the changes that took place through the force of time.
How did this happen? The pioneer that led this land invasion was an ancient ancestor of our present -day scorpion, and was able to become an air -breather because of his exceedingly simple, cooked lungs, which needed only slight modification to become efficient users of oxygen.
While the appearance of early forms of fish and insects during the era of spore plants naturally had its significance in later developments, the spore plants themselves that were growing at this time played an important part in our modern civilization, for it was the layer upon layer of these early plants that grew and fell that built up the deposits of plant material that compressed during the next 200 million years into coal.
While the great coal -making era was dominated by spore plants, there is evidence that some seed -bearing ferns and trees did grow during the carbon swamp period.
But it was not until after the great swamps dried up that the development of seeds really got underway.
Maybe nature was put to it to find other ways to propagate plants, as the conditions prevailing in the warm, moist swamps changed to those of windswept hills.
One of the earliest seed plants was the cycad.
Its seeds are called naked seeds and grow on an exposed stalk.
As they ripen, they merely fall directly to the ground beneath.
But instead of a single cell spore, they are a complete embryo of a new plant supplied with a quantity of concentrated food and all wrapped up in a weatherproof covering so they can retain their spark of life over long periods of drought or cold weather and be ready to sprout when the right time comes.
The pine was the first of the true coniferous softwood trees.
Moreover, its seeds represented a big improvement over those of the cycad, which merely dropped to the ground when ripe.
The pine cone develops as a small embryo the first year on the new growth.
The second summer, it continues to grow larger and larger.
When the seeds are ripe, the cone opens and out they come, ready to sprout the third year.
But look, something new has also been added.
The seeds are equipped with a little wing, so the wind will carry them further than the cycad seeds that just fall to the ground.
Quite an improvement, but this is just the beginning.
More modern plants have developed other ingenious ways of spreading their seeds.
Plants like the dandelion and the cottonwood tree have a little parachute arrangement that carries them much farther.
The touch -me -not and a number of other plants produce their seeds in a pod that builds up with spring tension as the sections of the pod dry out.
And finally, it bursts right open, shooting the seeds 10 to 15 feet.
As animals appeared on the earth, some seeds were given barbs like these birds that catch in the fur and get a free ride.
The tumbleweed, though, grows like a ball and sprinkles its seeds across the countryside as it breaks loose and is blown along by the wind.
The wild oak, though, is more energetic and self -sufficient.
Its seeds were given legs that are activated by changes in temperature and humidity.
And these seeds start out walking on their own, as seen through fast -motion photography, until they lodge in some place where they can start growing.
However, along with all these improved methods of distributing seeds came improvements in the design of the seed itself.
More modern seeds are placed in a regular seed container, such as the pods of peas, beans, various types of nuts, berries, and fruits, all of which are the result of encasing seeds within the intricate parts of the newly created flowers.
Here again was something entirely new, flowers of all shapes and sizes.
And again, nature was generous with color.
There were white flowers, red flowers, yellow, and black flowers.
Along with all these flowers came new forms and shapes of insects that were attracted by the brilliant colors, the pleasant perfumes, and the sweet nectar.
But nature did not put color and perfume and nectar into the flowers to attract insects without a very definite purpose.
And this was to use the insects to carry pollen from one flower to another.
The change conditions in the earth's surface that brought about the end of the coal -making era also brought about great changes in our climatic conditions.
The warm ocean currents of the Pacific no longer flowed through the Hudson Bay region to the Arctic Circle.
The vast swamps and shallow seas dried up, and in addition to this, a new series of mountain ranges began forming in the west.
The result of all these tremendous changes in the earth's surface was to make the weather much cooler over what is now the entire United States and Canada.
The winters grew colder, and the snow began piling up deeper and deeper in the land known today as Labrador.
The weight compressed it into ice, solid, clear, cold ice a mile high.
The tremendous pressure began squeezing it out at the bottom, and so a great glacier was formed.
It is hard to imagine the vast size of the great glacier that began spreading out in all directions.
But on and on it crept, pushing its way along across Canada, covering New England, scooping out the Great Lakes, and rounding off mountains.
So much ice and snow was accumulated in building the great glacier that all the oceans of all the world were lowered by 250 feet.
Boulders embedded in the ice left scratches even in solid granite, scratches which helped us follow the great glacier's course.
As the ice melted away, these boulders were left strewn across the land, and in many places still remain right where they were deposited thousands of years ago.
In the state of Washington today, the Grand Coulee represents the greatest example of canyon excavation by glacial floodwaters in the world.
This huge chasm in places nearly five miles wide and a thousand feet deep was carved by the greatly swollen Columbia River when its original channel was blocked by immense continental glaciers.
The rock in this area is volcanic in origin, and the walls of the Grand Coulee reveal the many lava floods that covered that part of the country.
For nowhere in the world today has evidence been found of greater lava floods ever having appeared on the face of the earth.
Partway up the Grand Coulee can be seen dry falls.
The water once flowing over these falls would have made a hundred Niagara's, but today there remain only a few small lakes in the bottom of the old riverbed.
Beautiful Yosemite Valley in California is believed to have been carved by the action of a glacier gouging out a valley previously established by streams and sculpturing the impressive cliffs and domes from solid granite.
Colorful Zion Canyon in southern Utah is not unlike glacier carved Yosemite Valley in size and shape, but in formation it had a very different history.
It was comparatively late in the last period of geological time that gradual but tremendous movements in the earth's crust in this region made possible the cutting of Zion Canyon.
As the low -lying broad country was slowly raised to several thousand feet, the steady but relentless process of erosion by the waters of a mountain stream carved the sheer canyon walls.
Not far away from Zion Canyon are the many unusual promontories, pinnacles, and spires of Bryce Canyon.
These were carved by the action of many small streams and the brilliant colors and hues are due to the great irregularity and variety of the sands, mud, and other sediments from which these rocks were made.
But the greatest spectacle of all is the Grand Canyon of Arizona, where probably no place in the world presents a more interesting resume of the earth's history that can be seen written in the rocks of this region.
Rocks of all colors and characters, the dark rocks at the bottom of the canyon were formed during the first period of geological time, rocks that have been twisted and bent under great heat and pressure and in which no evidence of life has ever been found.
Above these are rocks of the second geological period of history and show less bending and twisting but do contain traces of some of the earliest forms of plant life.
And with each additional stratum of rock, new and higher forms of both land and marine life are evident, for everywhere can be seen rocks of different origin, some from the drifting sands of prehistoric time, the sediments of ancient seas, the deposits from early rivers, as well as great flows of lava.
All of which tell the story of changing conditions and climate, the formation and erosion of rock, the story of life itself that existed during these early periods of time.
Here is some ripple rock, revealing the ripples left in the sands by waters long since dried up, and fossils of every description the world over help unfold the story of the development of the earliest forms of life.
On February 2nd, 1943, 300 miles west of Mexico City, a farmer was working in his cornfield when he felt the earth tremble beneath his feet and saw fire coming out of the ground behind him.
The story goes that he was unable to beat it out with his hat and ran for help, but meanwhile a new volcano was born, Paracutene Volcano, and since then smoke, cinders, ashes, and lava have continued to pour forth, building up this present cone.
It has covered the countryside for many miles with black volcanic ash, to depths of five and six feet in places.
It has sent forth streams of red -hot molten lava, burying everything in its path.
Here, miles away, is the steeple of a church that is all that can be seen now of what was once a town of 10 ,000 inhabitants.
Here today, our lava flows in the making, and here today can be heard an echo of the days of Pompeii, of Mount Paley, and Kilauea.
In the beginning, God created the heaven, the earth, and every living creature that moveth, and he saw that it was good.
But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
For a thousand years in thy sight are but yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
These quotations from the Bible emphasize indeed that a day to the Lord is many years in comparison to man's day.
It must be thought of as representing an infinite period of time rather than 24 hours.
Thus the many years required for the creation of the earth as seen in the eyes of man are but a few days to the Lord.
Just as we have seen how some spar plants also have developed seeds, so also have there been similar transitions in animal life.
Here is the duck -billed Pilatepus, a small aquatic mammal that lays eggs but also nurses its young.
It has a bill like a duck, thick dark fur of an animal, and five webbed toes, whereas most reptiles and birds have but three.
We have seen plants of every color and description, all kinds and colors of fish, reptiles, birds, and animals.
We have seen the succession of ever higher forms of life that have lived supreme in their time.
Today it is man, men of different colors.
Is there any reason to believe that present man will always represent the highest form in the development of life on this earth? Or in time to come will some still more advanced creature look back on present man as merely a transition animal or stepping stone in the process of development on our changing world? Maybe man's future development will come in further advancement of his mind, or possibly his soul.
Have you ever stopped to realize what a comparatively short time man has existed on this earth? Here imprinted in the stone of a French cave is the footprint of primitive man left there in the soft mud about 15 ,000 years ago during the time of the last great glacier.
The story of modern man is one of incredibly fast development and can well be illustrated by the lifespan of a single giant sequoia tree, one of the oldest living things in the world today.
This giant tree is estimated to be about 4 ,000 years old.
This would mean that it started to grow about the time that Jacob, son of Abraham, led his people and their flocks from the land of Canaan to seek refuge in Egypt.
During the life of this single tree, many empires have risen and fallen.
The Egyptian, Roman, Greek, and others that today are classified as ancient history.
Why have all these empires crumbled? Why cannot man maintain what he has achieved? The answer is not easy, but the same social and political trends seem to have prevailed with each empire's decline.
The general philosophy of men changed from that of each individual supporting the state to that of the state caring for each individual.
More and more people were added to government payrolls, leaving fewer and fewer supporting government.
Taxes rose to high proportions.
The cost of governments became too great.
Historians also tell us that in addition to an increasing amount of graft, bribery, and political corruption, that other trends preceding the fall of these ancient empires were the breaking up of the home as a family unit, together with the tendency to ignore the church.
But though empires rise and fall, this big tree lives on.
Perhaps this calendar will help explain the relative time of the various geological periods of the earth's history.
If the time since the earth's beginning until today was represented by one year, then the accumulation of the various gases would have taken place during the month of January.
February would have represented the burning period, and March the formation of a thin outer crust.
By April, the surface would have cooled sufficiently to permit water to fill the oceans.
In May, the most primitive one -celled plants and animals would have made their appearance.
During June, continued great crustal disturbances, volcanic activity, and formation of some of the oldest mountain ranges.
July would have seen the first blue -green algae.
Seaweed began to grow in August.
In September, two -thirds of North America were still underwater.
During October, there was further great volcanic activity, and important deposits of copper, gold, nickel, and silver were laid down.
The great coal -making period took place in November.
The first week in December was the age of reptiles.
Birds appeared during the second week, and the Rocky Mountains and first modern plants during the third.
By December 26, mammals were dominating the earth.
Twenty -seven, elephants.
Twenty -eight, the Alps were formed.
Primitive man appeared on the 29th and showed considerable development by the 30th.
On the morning of the 31st, he was already using simple stone implements.
By afternoon, he had begun using bronze, and by evening, iron.
At five minutes before midnight, the last glacier melted away, and modern man was developing rapidly.
One minute before midnight saw the end of the Egyptian Empire.
Thirty seconds later, the Roman Empire was falling, and in ten seconds more, Christ was born.
The clock is now striking midnight, and only five seconds left.
Columbus discovers America.
One second left.
The Declaration of Independence is signed, and during this last second of the year, man has built our present civilization, has cut down our forests to make lumber, has taken coal and minerals from the earth to build our great cities, ships, automobiles, streamliners, and airplanes.
New inventions are coming in split -second succession.
We are entering the Atomic Age.
Well, that's the story of our changing world, and I hope you've enjoyed it.
But there are a couple of other thoughts that I'd like to leave with you, and one is that astronomers estimate today that there are about as many other stars in the heavens as there are grains of sand on all the shores of all the oceans of our earth.
And when you stop to think that our sun and the planet circling around it would represent just one of those little grains of sand, what do you suppose might be going on in the way of life on some of the planets circling some of those other grains of sand? And then, too, at the rate things are developing on this earth of ours, as I've tried to show you in that calendar and the clock, what do you suppose might take place, not necessarily in the next million years or even the next thousand years? But at the rate things are happening on this earth, what do you suppose may take place within the balance of our own lifetimes? It's something to really stop and think about.
Well, glad you stopped in.
I hope to see you again sometime.
Guess I better get on and planting my seeds.
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