THE AGE OP THE EARTH. IS 



College, Dublin, in his Manual of Geology, published in 1865,, 

 p. 82, says : — 



"The hifiiiite time of the geologists is in the past ; and most of their 

 speculations regarding this subject seem to impli/ the absolute infinity of 

 time, as if the human imagination was unable to grasp the period of time 

 requisite for the formation of a few inches of sand or feet of mud, and its. 

 subsequent consolidation into rock." (This delicate satire is certainly not 

 overstrained.) 



" Professor Thomson has made an attenijit to calculate the length of 

 time during which the sun can have gone on binning at the present rate,, 

 and has come to the following conclusion : ' It seems, on the whole, most 

 probable that the sun has not illuminated the earth for 100,000,000 years, 

 and almost certain that he has not done so for 500,000,000 years. As for- 

 the future, we may say with equal certainty, that the inhabitants of the 

 earth cannot continue to enjoy the light and heat essential to their life 

 for many million years longer, unless new sources^ now unknown to us 

 are prepared in the great storehouse of creation." 



I said that in the sixties and I repeat it now; but Avith 

 charming' logic it is held to be inconsistent with a later state- 

 ment that the sun has not been shining 60,000,000 years ;. 

 and that both that and this are stultified by a still closer 

 estimate which says that probably the sun has not been 

 shining for 80,000,000 years ! And so my efforts to find some 

 limit or estimate for Geological Time have been referred to 

 and put before the public, even in London daily and 

 weekly papers, to show how exceedingly wild are the 

 wanderings of physicists, and how mutually contradictory 

 are their conclusions, as to the length of time which has- 

 actually passed since the early geological epochs to the 

 present date. 



Dr. Haughton further goes on — 



" This result (100 to 500 million years) of Professor Thomson's, although, 

 verii liberal in the allowance of time, has offended geologists, because, having 

 been accustomed to deal with time as an infinite quantity at their disposal, 

 tfiey feel naturally embarrassment and alarm at any attempt of the science- 

 of Pliysics to place a limit xipon ilieir specidations. It is quite possible 

 that even a hundred million of years may be greatly in excess of the 

 actual time during which the sun's heat has remained constant." 



§ 5. Dr. Haughton admitted so much with a candid open 

 mind; but he went on to express his own belief (in 1865) thus : 



" Although I have spoken somewhat disrespectfully of the geological 

 calculus in my lecture, yet I believe that the time during which organic 

 life has existed on the earth is prai;tically infinite, because it can be shown 

 to be so great as to be inconceivable by beings of our limited intelligence." 



Where is inconceivableness in 10,000,000,000? There is 

 nothing inconceivable in the number of persons in this room, 

 or in London. We get up to millions quickl}-. Is tliere any- 



