90 years ago today - Feb 9, 1931

Sterling Talmage, professor of geology at the New Mexico School of Mines writes to his father, Apostle James E. Talmage: "You ask 'how Price is held in the opinion of geologists in general.' As far as I can tell (and it seems to be the unanimous opinion of those who know his book, at least so far as I have talked with them), he is considered as a theological fanatic, who has gone off on a tangent that most geologists seem to find funny. I never heard his book discussed-without the element of comedy being dragged in. All of Price's arguments, in principle at least, were advanced and refuted from fifty to a hundred years ago. They are not 'new.' His ideas certainly are not 'Geology.' WITH THESE TWO CORRECTIONS, the title remains the best part of the book." In a discussion on evolution before the Quorum of Apostles, Joseph Fielding Smith had used George McCready Price's book THE NEW GEOLOGY and presented Price (professor of geology at a small parochial college in the Midwest and author of early science-bashing, creationist books) as an authority on geology. Talmage, a supporter of evolution, wrote to his son for 'ammunition' to use in the debates with Joseph Fielding Smith.