Journal: Bible and Spade (Second Run)
Volume: BSPADE 17:1 (Winter 2004)
Article: Red Algae Theories of the Plagues
Author: Brad Sparks

BSpade 17:1 (Winter 2004) p. 17

Red Algae Theories of the Plagues

Part 2 of 3

Brad Sparks

Hort’s Twelve Fatal Scientific Errors

Scientific errors in the Hort theory of the Ten Plagues of Egypt are glaring (Sparks 2003). Hort’s postulated blanket of thick red Nile silt was so dark she claims it caused the pitch-lack Plague of Darkness, when blown into the air. It never occurred to Hort that it would first cause an underwater Plague of Darkness. Before the silt ever got into the air it would have done the same thing in the water, blacking out the sunlight needed for photosynthesis by the algae, thus killing the algae outright. Hort cannot have both her silt and her algae at the same time.

Likewise, by requiring that the algae plague take place during the flood season Hort self-destructs her own theory, as it is the one time of the year when field studies prove that—due to the silt blotting out the sun and other algae-destroying effects—the Nile is completed clear of algae. It is quite unfortunate that Hort did not do the basic research to uncover this fundamental fact of Nile biology. The other major algae-killing property of Nile silt is flocculation, the process of mud particles sticking to algae and sinking, and there are still several additional Nilotic effects that kill algae as well. Because Hort’s theory requires both the algae and the silt that kills the algae, her theory is logically and scientifically self-destructing.

Many of Hort’s errors rise to the level of fatal flaws, entirely disproving her thesis, and the rest certainly shake, if not shatter, our confidence in the quality and reliability of her investigation. It takes only one broken link to destroy the chain of scientific evidence for a theory. Here there are at least 12 fatal scientific blunders by Hort. In each case the basic information on the Nile or the general scientific principles was known or available as of 1957–1958 when Hort published her paper:

1. Season Wrong.

2. Algae-Killing Nile—No sunlight, No Photosynthesis, No Algae.

3. Algae-Killing Nile—Algae Stick to Silt (Death by Flocculation).

4. Silt Color Wrong—Brown not Red.

5. Habitat Wrong—Hort Algae Never Found in Nile.

6. Algae Color Wrong—Green not Red.

7. Harmless Hort Algae—Non-Toxic, Non-Polluting.

8. Red Tides in Oceans, not Rivers.

9. No Fish Kills.

10. Algae-Killing Nile—Destructive Physical Force.

11. Algae-Killing Nile—Turbulence Disrupts Stagnant Algae.

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