[donh]

would observe the relationship between certain geological structures and the likely presence of oil, without necessarily subscribing to a theory of remote origins which is not directly useful to their quest.

I suppose that's possibly true, much as you might assume that because there were a hole in the fence, and the cat had feathers hanging from his mouth, and some of your chickens were missing--that space aliens teleported your chickens to another dimension.

[Mrs. Don-o]

You wrote: "I suppose that's possibly true, much as you might assume that because there were a hole in the fence, and the cat had feathers hanging from his mouth, and some of your chickens were missing--that space aliens teleported your chickens to another dimension.

Good one, donh --- that raised a smile :o)

But if, say, you don't have a cat, just like you don't have an inconceivable number of finely gradated intermediate forms down there in the geologic column amongst the prokaryotes --- but you do have the feathers, the hole, the missing chicken, etc.--- a perfectly reasonable response might be, "Maybe the chicken escaped on its own. Or maybe it was grabbed by (1)a fox, (2)a snake, (3)a dog, (4)a cat or (5)a small boy. Bottom line, I don't know."