THE DOGMA OF EVOLUTION 



rate of deposition and of erosion, and the intensity of 

 the forces involved. Such estimation, which in fact 

 amounts almost to mere guessing, eliminates the pos- 

 sibility of what are usually classed as catastrophic 

 actions or any sudden change in the surface condi- 

 tions. Since the time of Lyell, geology has adopted 

 the unif ormitarian hypothesis which assumes that the 

 physical and chemical actions of today are the guides 

 in estimating all previous times. It is, in truth, an un- 

 avoidable hypothesis; but, at the same time, it works 

 havoc if it is applied as a criterion of time, because 

 we are practically certain that we do not, and never 

 can know, the state of the earth in remote times. At 

 the height of the evolutionary enthusiasm, geologists 

 indulged in the practice of translating the thicknesses 

 of different strata into time and published chronolog- 

 ical tables of the age of the earth and its epochs. In 

 turn, these purely fanciful figures were taken seriously 

 by propagandists of the new theory and the impres- 

 sion was given the thinking public that science could 

 establish prehistoric chronology. Such chronological 

 tables have been abandoned by conservative geolo- 

 gists who now limit themselves to establishing the 

 thickness of the various strata, in restricted localities, 

 in hundreds of feet and of arranging them as far 

 as possible in the order of their deposition. But 

 the older vicious habit still persists, and we still find 

 in histories of science and in popular accounts of evo- 



c 1483 



