"Why, these men would destroy the Bible on evidence that would not convict a habitual criminal of a misdemeanor. They found a tooth in a sand pit in Nebraska with no other bones about it, and from that one tooth decided that it was the remains of the missing link. They have queer ideas about age too. They find a fossil and when they are asked how old it is they say they can't tell without knowing what rock it was in, and when they are asked how old the rock is they say they can't tell unless they know how old the fossil is."
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Lawyers from IllinoisPoliticians from IllinoisUnited States presidential candidates, 1920United States presidential candidates, 1912United States presidential candidates, 1908
Original Language: English
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As quoted in "Osborn States the Case For Evolution", in The New York Times (12 Jul 1925), p. XX1; the tooth was misidentified as anthropoid by Osborn, who over-zealously proposed Nebraska Man in 1922; the tooth was shortly thereafter found to be that of a peccary (a Pliocene pig) when further bones were found. A retraction was made in 1927, correcting the scientific blunder.
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William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan (19 March 1860 – 26 July 1925) was an American lawyer, statesman, and politician. He was a three-time Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States, and famously supported Tennessee's Butler Act against the teaching of evolution at the Scopes Trial of 1925.
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