A friend of my ex-wife - a bit of a bible-thumper - used to insist to
me that Darwin was very confused. Of course, by implication, his
theories likewise. I guess she meant to indicate Darwins crisis of
faith. Einstein helped invent the bomb, and he didn't like it much
either.
Roger
On 11/5/05, David Bircumshaw <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> A little while back I was reading Ursula Vaughan Williams pleasant biography
> of her husband Ralph ('Rafe'). Now RVW was an off shoot of the
> Wedgewood-Darwin clan and, when a child, 'Great Uncle Charles' used to send
> him these very amusing letters (they, btw, give a very good picture of what
> a likeable fellow Darwin could be, despite being a neurasthenic in later
> life. It was his chumminess got him the job on the Beagle.). Anyhow, at one
> point a young Rafe gets very perplexed as his contemporaries at kiddies
> school have been telling him that (Great) 'uncle Charles' is a 'terrible
> man' who doesn't believe in the Bible. He approaches his grandma on this who
> tells him not to worry as 'Uncle Charles believes in God and that we all
> come from apes whereas the Bible believes in God and that we all come from
> Adam. It's the same thing. But the way Uncle Charles says it is so much
> nicer.'
>
> (Quote there not verbatim - I haven't the text to hand - but that's the
> gist)
>
> Best
>
> Dave
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Douglas Clark" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Friday, November 04, 2005 7:03 PM
> Subject: Re: Epigenetics
>
>
> > .
> > >
> > > For Knut: One study showed that it is in puberty when the sperm are
> being
> > > formed in the young male body (around 9 years old) and in the female
> body
> > > when the eggs are being formed that the effect is marked. But it seems
> to
> > > be more general in that.
> > >
> > The theory is that tags are attached to the DNA of the eggs and the sperm
> > giving instructions as to which genes are to be switched off (or on?).
> Thus
> > males and females have differing effects when a switch is applied.
>
--
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