MacRae & Myers: THE CHOICE IS YOUR'S!

Ed Conrad (edconrad@prolog.net)
15 Nov 1996 14:12:26 GMT

Out of courtesy to possible newcomers -- in the dark about the
controversy which has been raging since last March -- a bit
of information follows:

The dynamite was ignited by Ted Holden when, as part
of HIS home page, he posted:
> http://access.digex.com/~medved/conrad/conmain.htm
which is entitled:

> PETRIFIED HUMAN/HOMIND
> AND OTHER LARGE ANIMAL
> BONE IN CARBONIFEROUS STRATA

This page was prepared totally by Ted, but it permitted
me to have my own say in the matter at
> http://www.access.digex.net/~medved/conrad/contest1.htm
which is entitled:

> MAN AS OLD AS COAL

Just recently, Ted added two color photos I had sent him, of what I
claim is a petrified human skull embedded in -- and protruding from --
a boulder which had been extracted from between anthracite veins
near Shenandoah, Pa., during a surface-mining operation.

The boulder is mentioned deep into Ted's home page and can be called
up for viewing by turning to:
> http://www.access.digex.net/~medved/conrad/skulla.jpg

A second photo offers a comparison with the contour of a human
skull and can be seen at:
> http://www.access.digex.net/~medved/conrad/skullb.jpg

I should like to note that both Andrew MacRae of the Univerity of
Calgary and Paul Myers of Temple University have home pages of their
own concerning some of this subject matter.

Their material can easily be found by using Netscape.

Since I have never prepared a home page --- and, quite frankly, don't
know how to do so -- I was never in a position to include references
to the home pages of either Andrew MacRae or Paul Myers on the pages
that, loosely translated, are mine.

The bottom line in the controversy so far -- at least I think so -- is
the insistence by Andrew MacRae and Paul Myers that their microscopic
evaluation of the cell structure of a few of my specimens they had
examined does not reveal the presence of Haversian systems.

I have kept telling them that they can look 'til they're blue in the
face because they'll never see the structures surrounding the
Haversian canals as is clearly evident in non-petrified bone.

They don't seem to get the message that, quite simply, the process
of petrification has caused the surrounding structure to disappear,
leaving only the Haversian canals as the proof that the rock-like
objects are bone.

A comparison of photos of the cell structure of non-petrified bone and
the cell structure of one of my specimens can be seen at:
> http://www.access.digex.net/~medved/conrad/c2.jpg

Additionally, a comparison of the interior surface features of
non-petrified bone and one of my specimens -- taken with a scanning
electron microscope (SEM) -- can be viewed at:
> http://www.access.digex.net/~medved/conrad/bones.jpg