Art. II. — The Maintenance of Energy. 

 By RoBT. Abbott, Esq., Licensed Surveyor. 



[Read April 12, 1888.] 



In course of a conversation with Mr. J. P. Thomson over 

 twelve months ago, I mentioned to him that I lieJd different 

 views respecting the nature and causes of volcanic action, and 

 of elevation and subsidence, to those usually accepted. Mr. 

 Thomson was then good enough to ask me to contribute a 

 paper to your Society setting forth these views. I have since 

 been collecting materials. The theories I hold depend 

 almost entirely on the action of a force which I venture to 

 think has not received the attention it merits. I propose 

 to devote this short paper chiefly to the consideration of the 

 form of energy in question. 



It has frequently been said by geologists that discussions 

 regarding the origin of the earth are outside the province 

 of their science. It is difficult to conceive on what 

 grounds this statement rests. How are we to understand 

 the laws which regulate volcanic action, elevation and 

 subsidence, earthquakes, and other kindred phenomena 

 unless we know how the solid earth was formed ? Everything 

 must depend on this. 



One of the most noteworthy facts brought before students 

 of astronomy and geology is the extraordinary discrepancy 

 in the evidence presented by the two sciences respecting the 

 age of our planet. Geologists are almost unanimously of 

 opinion that at least something like one hundred millions of 

 years must have elapsed since the first appearance of life on 

 our globe. Astronomers would limit tiie age of the sun 

 himself from beginning to end, to some such period as thirty 

 millions of years. Whatever opinions may be formed 

 regarding the theories which follow, it must be borne in mind 

 that those now received are admittedly incompetent to 



