The Defense
Experts
Fay Cooper Cole
Dr. Cole was an anthropologist from the University of
Chicago. He was prepared to testify that the effective study of anthropology
depends upon an understanding of the doctrine of evolution. In his affidavit,
Cole detailed the history of man, using the discoveries of the bones of
beings as far back as 1891 (Java Man). Using such examples, Dr. Cole reasoned
that man has taken on many variations over time, and that human development
would be difficult to explain without referring to the various similarities
in the animal kingdom.
Cole noted that numerous muscles and organs in the
human body that he argued have no apparent physical uses (i.e. muscles
behind the ears). He argued that at sometime in the development of man,
these "useless" parts had a function.
Witherton C. Curtis
Dr. Curtis was a zoologist at the University
of Missouri. The defense believed he would make a good witness because
he tended to emphasize the spiritual rather than the material influences
of science. Curtis said in his affidavit that evolution should be defined
as the doctrine of how things have changed in the past, and how they are
changing in the present. Dr. Curtis claimed that the doctrine of evolution
could be divided into three categories: cosmic, geologic, and organic.
Curtis argued that evolution is a necessary instrument in the search for
answers to important cosmological, geological, and biological questions.
Charles Hubbard Judd
Charles Hubbard Judd was the Director of the
School of Education and head of the Department of Education at the University
of Chicago for sixteen years prior to the Scopes trial. He was prepared
to testify that the public school system would suffer if legislatures prohibited
instruction about evolution. Mr. Judd asserted in his affidavit filed with
the court that it would be impossible to carry on the work in most of the
departments of higher learning of the State of Tennessee without teaching
the doctrine of evolution as the "...fundamental basis for the understanding
of all human institutions."
Jacob G. Lipman
As a specialist in the studies of various types of soil,
Mr. Lipman was prepared to testify there is a direct relationship between
the soil and plants and animals in the evolution of organic life. Lipman's
affidavit suggested that without the doctrine of evolution, agriculture
could not provide an effective service to mankind: "The material of plant
and animal bodies is used over and over again, and the processes of decay
must go on in order that the carbon, nitrogen, sulfur phosphorus, lime,
and other elements locked up in the bodies of plants may be released for
the countless generation of living things....Man has learned to use this
knowledge to improve his condition, and in following the laws laid down
by the divine Creator, he has been able to form more perfect forms of plant
and animal life."
Kirtley F. Mather
Kirtley Mather was serving as the Chairman of
the Department of Geology of Harvard University at the time of the Scopes
trial. He offered extensive testimony on how geologists are able to accurately
tell the history of various animal and plant life by discovering and researching
fossil remains. He testified that in many of the rocks they find, there
are fossil remains of both plant and animals that are as old as the rocks
from which they are found. Mr. Mather then traced out a chronological time
line of the oldest rocks and the fossils found.
Mather argued that evolution is not trying
to replace religion, but merely serves as another approach to finding out
how mankind and the rest of the living world came about.
Maynard M. Metcalf
At the time of the trial, Dr. Metcalf was engaged
in private research at Johns Hopkins University, specializing in zoology.
Speaking in support of the doctrine of evolution, Dr. Metcalf offered some
rather strong opinions: "Teaching in any field that deals with living things
is disgracefully, yet criminally, inadequate if it omits emphasis upon
evolution...Such teaching would be criminal malpractice just as truly as
would be a physician's failure to following established sound methods of
treatment because of fear of persecution by ignorant neighbors." Metcalf
contended in testimony presented without the jury being present that, "The
fact of evolution is as fully established as the fact that the earth revolves
around the sun."
Wilbur A. Nelson
As the state geologist of Tennessee, Wilbur Nelson
was prepared to relate his testimony in the Scopes trial to the
surrounding regions of Tennessee and the Mississippi River Valley. In his
affidavit, he asserted that Tennessee could not have taught geology for
ninety-seven years prior to this trial without stressing the doctrine of
evolution as a foundation for this field of study. Geology, he testified,
is the study of the earth and its age, along with the rocks and buried
life contained therein. He argued that the theory of evolution was an important
tool for geologists attempting to determine the age of the earth and length
of geologic periods.
Horatio Hackett Newman
Professor Newman was a zoologist at the University of
Chicago. In his affidavit, he argued that science does not allow any intermediate
positions. He believed that you must choose between the changing world
(i.e. evolution) or fixity and unchangeabilty. "Once you admit a changing
world,...you admit the essence of evolution." Newman suggested that evolution's
triumph over other theories of creation depends upon its strength, coherency,
and abundance.
