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  ANNUAL 
  REPORT 
  SMITHSONIAN 
  INSTITUTION, 
  1922. 
  

  

  and 
  marked 
  time, 
  losing 
  not 
  a 
  little 
  of 
  the 
  free 
  natural 
  pace 
  it 
  should 
  

   have 
  retained. 
  

  

  But 
  in 
  time 
  this 
  great 
  antagonist 
  was 
  neatly 
  flanked 
  from 
  an 
  

   unexpected 
  quarter. 
  Certain 
  physicists 
  and 
  chemists 
  discovered 
  that 
  

   they 
  had 
  a 
  decaying 
  atom 
  on 
  hand. 
  They 
  keenly 
  watched 
  its 
  rate 
  of 
  

   decay 
  and 
  soon 
  came 
  to 
  see 
  that 
  if 
  atoms 
  take 
  as 
  long 
  to 
  grow 
  as 
  

   some 
  of 
  them 
  take 
  to 
  die 
  off, 
  there 
  should 
  have 
  been 
  time 
  enough 
  for 
  

   this 
  little 
  ball 
  of 
  atoms 
  to 
  get 
  together 
  — 
  and 
  plenty 
  of 
  energy 
  as 
  well. 
  

  

  So, 
  too, 
  astronomers 
  began 
  to 
  see 
  that 
  the 
  making 
  of 
  globular 
  

   clusters 
  and 
  stellar 
  galaxies 
  required 
  time. 
  If 
  60,000 
  suns 
  have 
  time 
  

   to 
  come 
  together 
  and 
  work 
  themselves 
  into 
  a 
  steady 
  state 
  while 
  yet 
  

   they 
  are 
  suns, 
  the 
  getting 
  together 
  of 
  our 
  little 
  earth 
  may 
  be 
  merely 
  

   a 
  negligible 
  matter 
  after 
  all. 
  And 
  so 
  a 
  new 
  order 
  of 
  things 
  has 
  

   arisen. 
  The 
  tandem 
  is 
  a 
  vexed 
  tandem 
  no 
  longer. 
  We 
  now 
  have 
  a 
  

   fine 
  four-horse 
  team: 
  Astronomy 
  and 
  physics 
  at 
  the 
  front, 
  leading 
  

   off 
  at 
  a 
  great 
  pace; 
  biology 
  on 
  the 
  pole, 
  steadying 
  the 
  team; 
  and 
  

   geology 
  plodding 
  on 
  as 
  the 
  old 
  original 
  wheel 
  horse. 
  

  

  THE 
  GEOLOGIC 
  PROBLEM. 
  

  

  Now, 
  I 
  must 
  hasten 
  to 
  warn 
  you 
  not 
  to 
  expect 
  much 
  of 
  the 
  old 
  

   wheel 
  horse. 
  He 
  has 
  grown 
  stiff 
  in 
  his 
  paces, 
  and 
  his 
  paces 
  are 
  not 
  

   what 
  they 
  should 
  have 
  been. 
  Kelvin 
  checked 
  him 
  too 
  high. 
  A 
  

   reasonable 
  check 
  should 
  have 
  given 
  him 
  good 
  form 
  and 
  some 
  sense 
  

   of 
  restraint, 
  but 
  checked 
  too 
  high, 
  he 
  took 
  to 
  short 
  mincing 
  steps. 
  

   As 
  a 
  result 
  he 
  is 
  in 
  poor 
  shape 
  to 
  swing 
  into 
  the 
  great 
  pace 
  of 
  the 
  new 
  

   leaders. 
  It 
  is 
  too 
  much 
  to 
  expect 
  him 
  to 
  recover 
  his 
  natural 
  step 
  at 
  

   once, 
  but 
  he 
  will 
  in 
  time. 
  For 
  the 
  present, 
  he 
  will 
  need 
  a 
  touch 
  of 
  

   the 
  whip 
  now 
  and 
  then 
  to 
  make 
  him 
  keep 
  pace. 
  Let 
  this 
  be 
  gentle 
  

   and 
  considerate, 
  because 
  of 
  his 
  age 
  and 
  his 
  past 
  service, 
  but 
  let 
  it 
  

   be 
  persuasive. 
  

  

  REPRESENTATIVE 
  GEOLOGIC 
  TIME 
  ESTIMATES. 
  

  

  It 
  is 
  a 
  simple 
  matter, 
  theoretically, 
  to 
  use 
  the 
  rate 
  at 
  which 
  sedi- 
  

   ments 
  are 
  being 
  laid 
  down, 
  or 
  solutions 
  gathered 
  into 
  the 
  ocean, 
  as 
  a 
  

   divisor 
  to 
  find 
  the 
  time 
  required 
  to 
  lay 
  down 
  the 
  whole 
  column 
  of 
  

   sediments 
  or 
  the 
  whole 
  accumulation 
  of 
  the 
  salts 
  in 
  the 
  sea. 
  Practi- 
  

   cally 
  there 
  are 
  serious 
  difficulties. 
  In 
  the 
  first 
  dozen 
  years 
  of 
  this 
  

   century 
  four 
  notable 
  estimates 
  were 
  made 
  in 
  this 
  way 
  by 
  able 
  geolo- 
  

   gists 
  — 
  two 
  Americans, 
  Clarke 
  * 
  and 
  Becker 
  ; 
  2 
  two 
  British, 
  Joly 
  8 
  and 
  

  

  1 
  F. 
  W. 
  Clarke, 
  "A 
  preliminary 
  study 
  of 
  chemical 
  denudation," 
  Smithsonian 
  Misc. 
  Coll., 
  

   lvi, 
  no. 
  5 
  (1910) 
  ; 
  "The 
  data 
  of 
  geochemistry." 
  

  

  2 
  George 
  F. 
  Becker, 
  "The 
  age 
  of 
  the 
  earth," 
  Smithsonian 
  Misc. 
  Coll., 
  lvi, 
  no. 
  6 
  (1910). 
  

   * 
  J. 
  Joly, 
  " 
  An 
  estimate 
  of 
  the 
  geological 
  age 
  of 
  the 
  earth," 
  Trans. 
  Roy. 
  Soc. 
  Dublin, 
  

  

  VII 
  (1899), 
  pp. 
  23-66; 
  "The 
  age 
  of 
  the 
  earth." 
  Phil. 
  Mag., 
  6th 
  ser., 
  Vol. 
  XXII 
  (1911), 
  

   pp. 
  359-380. 
  

  

  