22 THE EIGHT HON. LOED KELYIK, G.C.V.O., ON 



increasing temperature, wliicli would shorten the time since 

 consoHdation, it would be quite inadvisable to publish any- 

 closer estimate. 



§ 20. All these reckonings of the history of underground 

 heat, the details of which I am sure you do not wish me to 

 put before you at present, are founded on the very sure 

 assumption that the material of our present solid earth all 

 round its surface was at one time a white hot liquid. The 

 earth is at present losing heat from its surface all round 

 from 3^ear to year and century to century. We may dismiss 

 as utterly untenable any supposition such as that a few 

 thousand or a few million years of the present regime in 

 this respect was preceded by a few thousand or a few 

 million years of heating from without. History, guided 

 by science, is bound to find, if possible, an antecedent 

 condition preceding every known state of affairs, whether 

 of dead matter or of living creatures. Unless the earth was 

 created solid and hot out of nothing, the regime of con- 

 tinued loss of heat must have been preceded by molten 

 matter all round the surfoce. 



§ 21. I have given strong reasons* for believing that 

 immediately before solidification at the surface, the interior 

 was solid close up to the surface : except comparatively small 

 portions of lava or melted rock among the solid masses of 

 denser solid rock which had sunk through the liquid, and 

 possibly a somewhat large space around the centre occupied 

 by platinum, gold, silver, lead, copper, iron and other dense 

 metals, still remaining liquid under very high pressure. 



§ 22. I wish now to speak to you of depths below the 

 great surface of liquid lava bounding the earth before 

 consolidation ; and of mountain heights and ocean depths 

 formed probably a few years after a first emergence of 

 solid rock from the liquid surface (see § 24, below), which 

 must have been quickly followed by complete consolida- 

 tion all round the globe. But I must first ask you to ex- 

 cuse my giving you all my depths, heights, and distances, 

 in terms of the kilometre, being about six-tenths of that 

 very inconvenient measure the English statute mile, which, 

 wdth all the other monstrosities of our British metrical 

 system, will, let ns hope, not long survive the legislation of 

 our present Parliamentary session destined to honour the 



* On the Secular Cooling of the Earth, vol. iii, Math, and Fhijs. Papers^ 

 %% 19-33. 



