BLACK SMOKERS

 

We are told that BLACK SMOKERS were unknown until 1977…….or were they?

Scientists first found hydrothermal vents 2,500 metres under the Pacific Ocean in the Galapagos Rift off the coast of Ecuador. Sea water at ~2 degrees C is drawn down to be heated by volcanic magma to ~460 degrees as a supercritical fluid, rich in hydrogen sulphide and acidic as vinegar. The minerals deposited form chimneys up to 20 metres tall and unique microcosms of life develop around them, including giant clams and tubeworms 3-4 metres in length.

By the way, it was recorded in the Jewish Scriptures at least 2,400 years ago that God challenged Job: “Have you entered the springs of the sea?” from the Hebrew word: nebek, meaning ‘fountain’.           

As they say: “Out of sight, out of mind” but no…..not unknown.

Acknowledgements:   The author of ‘Job’                  
wikipedia.com                                                                                  
Photo credit: flickr.com 

PATHFINDER OF THE SEAS

Whoever is this guy...smiling benevolently from his memorial in Richmond, Virginia?

Matthew Fontaine Maury (14 Jan 1806 – 1 Feb 1873) is known as the ‘Pathfinder of the seas’, being regarded as the father of modern oceanography and naval meteorology after founding the scientific study and charting of ocean currents and prevailing winds.       

He was superintendent of the U.S. Naval Observatory from 1844 to 1861 and was honoured post-humously by interment between Presidents Monroe and Tyler in Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery and induction to America’s Hall of Fame.

Even today, NASA’s Aquarius - Sea Surface Salinity program using Argentina’s SAC-D satellite, pays tribute to Maury and his contribution to oceanography and meteorology.

So what is that book beside his left leg? Surely it must be a navigator’s handbook or science textbook. Well, here’s a clue - a quote from Maury: 

"…reason assures us that they move in obedience to some law of Nature, be it recorded down in the depths below, never so far beyond the reach of human ken; and being a law of Nature, we know who gave it, and that neither chance nor accident had any thing to do with its enactment."

Whoever is he talking about?...who enacted a law of Nature in the depths?

We find Maury’s efforts to chart the world’s ocean currents were motivated by this:

“…and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea.”

Hang on….that sounds like the Bible which is not supposed to be scientific!                 
Yes, in fact Psalm 8.  So what about this one?

“Thus saith the Lord, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters.”     Isaiah 43

…or this…

“The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.”   Ecclesiastes 1

Do you think perhaps young Matthew (meaning ‘gift of Jehovah’) was well named by his parents when you consider how much time and fuel ships (and aircraft) have been able to save thanks to charts from Maury and his successors?

Next time you buy an imported product or travel overseas, spare a thought to Maury and that Bible of his, with those scriptures written some 2,500 years before his charts were made. Despite all the hi-tech engineering, we’re still very much at the mercy of the world’s winds and currents.

Acknowledgements:                                                                                                                                                                     
icr.org   
wikipedia.org                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Photo credit: www.popscreen.com

 

 

 

Doctor Death

“Madam, this is Dr. Death the obstetrician assigned to assist with your delivery.  Kindly ignore his bloodied hands and coat - it is now 1845 and according to modern medical science, this demonstrates he is eminently qualified to consult having just conducted autopsies on several women who died from childbirth. As it is claimed, ‘doctors are gentlemen and gentlemen’s hands are clean’ and of course ‘cleanliness is next to prudishness.’
After all, what's a bit of blood and guts between doctor and patient...Doctor knows best dear."
        

Well you and I should be grateful Dr. Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (b. Budapest, Hungary 1818) sacrificed his professional reputation in 1847 by insisting medical students coming into the maternity ward of Vienna General Hospital from the dissecting room must first wash their hands in chlorinated lime solution.



Dr. Ignaz. P.Semmelweis

Was he onto something here?  The mortality rate due to puerperal fever plummeted from 30% to 2% and Semmelweis published his findings as “The Etiology, Concept and Prophylaxsis of Childbed Fever” in 1861 – only to be mocked by his peers.

In 1865 Sir Joseph Lister conducted the first antiseptic operation, later receiving honour as Queen Victoria’s surgeon and elevation to baronetcy, while poor Semmelweis died shunned and forgotten in a mental asylum at the age of only 47. His findings were subsequently confirmed by French scientist Louis Pasteur.  

Should medical science have known better? If they had opened their Bibles and read Numbers chapter 19 they would have found:

“He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days…and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even.”

But isn’t this just Jewish ceremonial law? Why should medical science take any notice of religious mumbo-jumbo in the Jewish Tanakh?                                           

From 1347 on, the Black Death ravaged Europe to take the lives of about 30 million people - approximately 1/3 of the population, but the Jews suffered much lower losses from disease because of their social isolation in ghettos, and their personal and domestic hygiene. Instead they suffered massive revenge killings, being accused of contaminating the village wells while discreetly sourcing their drinking water direct from springs.

I wonder where they learnt their standards of hygiene? 

*Many thanks to my dear friend ‘Uncle Bob’ Bryce, Port Macquarie, NSW.* (retired Perth City Fire Commander)

Acknowledgements:                                                          

en.wikipedia.com                                                   

World Book 2005