Cal
19th May 2004, 06:43 AM
Guyot, Arnold [Henri] (1807-1884), who in 1855 began the first systematic instruction in geology at Princeton, was born at Boudevilliers near Neuchatel, Switzerland. He obtained his doctoral degree at Berlin with a dissertation on ``Natural Classification of Lakes.'' Between 1839 and 1848 he taught physical geography and history at the Academy of Neuchatel. In 1848 the Academy was closed, and at the suggestion of his friend Louis Agassiz, he came to the United States. He gave a series of lectures at the Lowell Institute in Boston titled ``The Earth and Man,'' which became the basis for a highly successful text of the same name, recently reprinted (1971) by the Arno Press. In 1854 he was appointed Professor of Geology and Physical Geography at the College of New Jersey (Princeton) and the following year began what is now the Department of Geological and Geophysical Sciences.
The National Geographic Society named it’s prestigious annual award after him called the National Geographic Society’s Arnold Guyot Memorial Award. In 1856 he founded what is now the Princeton Museum of Natural History and continued to contribute specimens to it until his death at the age of 78. He was the first incumbent of the Blair Professorship of Geology, the second oldest endowed chair at Princeton. Three Mt. Guyots -- in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, on the North Carolina-Tennessee line in the Great Smoky Mountains, and the Colorado Rockies -- were named in his honor, as were the Guyot Glacier in southeastern Alaska and the Guyot Crater on the moon. The great flat-topped seamounts that characterize many parts of the ocean floor were named ``guyots'' in his honor by Harry H. Hess. And of course there is Guyot Hall.
Few memorabilia remain of Guyot's life. At Princeton there are forty-six cloth wall hangings that he used for illustrative materials in his classroom. In Guyot Hall is the field toilet kit he carried on his mountain explorations. In Guyot Hall also are his handwritten labels of the glacial erratic stones he collected in the 1840s in Switzerland, the specimens themselves being long gone. In front of Nassau Hall stands the Guyot boulder, a glacial erratic given to Princeton by Arnold Guyot's former students at the Academy of Neuchatel.
Guyot Hall at Princeton was named for Princeton's first professor of geology and geography, Arnold Guyot (http://etc.princeton.edu/CampusWWW/Companion/guyot_arnold.html), was given to the University by the mother of Cleveland H. Dodge 1879.
Cal
19th May 2004, 06:51 AM
Prof. Arnold Guyot, of Princeton College, who has had no superior as a scientist in America, says in his last work (published in 1884) on “Creation, or the Biblical Cosmogony in the Light of Modern Science:” “The conclusions of the so-called modern, higher criticism, whose object is to shake the faith in the authenticity of the book of Genesis, have often been fully refuted by more competent men than their authors. The best explanation which science is now able to give of the creation of the universe and the earth, is also that which best explains, in all its details, the first chapter of Genesis, and does it justice. Whatever modifications in our present view of the development of the universe and the globe may be expected from new discoveries, the prominent features of this vast picture will remain, and these only are delineated in the admirable account of Genesis. The same divine hand which lifted, for Daniel and Isaiah, the veil which covered the tableau of the time to come, unveiled to the eyes of the author of Genesis, by a series of graphic visions and pictures, the earliest ages of creation. Thus, Moses was the prophet of the past, as Daniel and Isaiah and many others were the prophets of the future.”
Guyot also said, "The entire globe is a grand organism, every feature of which is the outgrowth of a definite plan of the allwise Creator for the education of the human family, and the manifestation of His own glory." Arnold Guyot, Physical Geography (New York and Chicago: Ivison, Blakeman and Company, 1885), 121. By 1870, only eleven years after the publication of Charles Darwin's (1809-1882) On the Origin of Species, Guyot, a professor at Princeton University, was one of only three prominent American naturalists who rejected Darwin's thesis. The other two were Louis Agassiz (1807-1873) of Harvard University and John Dawson of McGill University.
In the 1850s, the College of New Jersey (Princeton) created a chair of geology and geography for the eminent Swiss scientist Arnold Henri Guyot. His deep Calvinist theology and piety, together with his masterful accomplishments in his field, was a significant influence on his colleagues over at the seminary, who quickly took advantage of his proximity, inviting him to lecture regularly at the seminary on matters of science and theology.
Cited approvingly in Hodge's Systematic Theology (I:573), Guyot blended his developmental hypotheses with a healthy dose of catastrophism, insisting that while the truths of Scripture were not intended to teach scientific details, they would not contradict, nor be contradicted by, the truths of science. The presence of such godly scientists as Guyot enabled the Princeton theologians to confidently assert that scripture and science were ultimately harmonious.
As Creator of the universe, God prepared continents and peoples for the spread of the Gospel. Arnold Guyot, a French Professor of physical geography and history at Neuchatel, Switzerland in 1849, called the earth, "a Masterpiece of Divine workmanship", and its purpose, "the abode of man, the scene of his activity, and the means of his development".
Guyot stated that God created seven continents, each unique and designed with a specific purpose in mind. He called Asia the "Continent of Origins" and Europe the "Continent of Development" because it was in Europe that the Indo-European race developed most of the major discoveries in science, mathematics, and in other areas. Europe was suited by structure, climate and peoples for the accomplishment of God's purpose. The numerous aberrations of the coastline with its abundant bays and inlets were conducive to shipping and trade. The many mountain ranges separated one race from another so that a mosaic of nations developed, each with their own individuality, while the temperate climate was conducive to the growth of vigorous and industrious peoples.
Like Australia, North America was also reserved by God for a special purpose. Like Israel and Britain, the United States of America was founded on biblical principles. The three northern continents: Asia, Europe, and North America, are called the Continents of History. The three southern continents: Africa, South America and Australia, are known as the Continents of Nature; and Rosalie Slater; has called the seventh continent, the Antarctic, the Continent of Science.
Australia is also known as the Continent of Antiquity because it preserves ancient plants and animals, many found nowhere else in the world. It is the most isolated continent, surrounded completely by water. Unlike Europe, there are few indentations of the coastline conducive to settlement. Another factor unfavourable to settlement in Australia is the low rainfall. The Australian Alps along the east coast form a watershed for the few rivers. The main river, the Murray, forms the boundary between Victoria and New South Wales. Other important rivers are the Darling, the Lachlan and the Murrumbidgee. Most of the population live on the fertile east coast. The interior of the continent is desert, presenting a challenge to the early explorers.
God sovereignly decreed that the continents would be placed and shaped as they are. In Year 1, we read about the ideas of Arnold Guyot, Christian Geographer, who taught at Princeton in the 1850s and identified the northern continents as “the Continents of History.” He wrote, “These continents trace the Westward course of the Gospel with the Christian Idea of Man, as it found soil favorable to its development.” He postulated that the Northern Hemisphere contained the continents that glorify God as the Continents of History, and that those of the Southern Hemisphere glorified God as the Continents of Nature.
Guyot also noticed that the Bible most often spoke of things moving “from the East to the West.” Here are a few examples: Joshua 1:4, Joshua 11:3, 1 Chronicles 7:28, Psalm 103:12, Psalm 107:3, Isaiah 43:5, Ezekiel 48:2-8, Matthew 8:11, 24:27, Mark 16:20, and Luke 13:29. Guyot saw Christian History as moving through the Northern Hemisphere and defined the continents as follows: ASIA: the continent of origins (Genesis 2:8), EUROPE: the continent of development (Acts 16:9–15), AMERICA: to become the continent of “the most complete expression of Christian civilization.” (Psalm 72:8) Guyot went into some detail, saying that the eastern coast of North America (that was closest to Europe) was rich in easily accessed, natural harbors, gently sloping land that was easily farmed, and a temperate climate.