HUMANITY IN GEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE 549 



The calculations of astronomers and physicists have, of course, a pro- 

 found interest for geologists, and we may be gratified if their results accord 

 with ours. But we must be forgiven if we regard them as giving but 

 uncertain confirmation, or negligible denial, of our own deductions. Too 

 often in the past century did the physicists attempt to limit the duration 

 of the world, and of the solar system, within impossibly small scope, 

 basing their conclusions on the elusive and superficially convincing 

 principles of mathematics. Doubtless their arithmetic was beyond cavil ; 

 but the premisses were inevitably incomplete and even inaccurate. 

 The hoary imposture of the accuracy of the ' exact ' sciences still deludes 

 mankind, through the wildly illogical belief that a rigidly logical argument 

 must reach a correct result whatever errors may have existed in the 

 premisses on which it is based. Nevertheless, however askance we may 

 look at the current theories of Astrophysics, we can recognise with satis- 

 faction, that their bearing on time is consistent with the conception of 

 the world's duration deduced from geological facts. 



Three considerations that are inspired by our present knowledge of 

 geological history may be emphasised here. In the first place, the human 

 race, though of far greater antiquity than our forbears taught, has existed 

 for a minute fraction of the time during w"hich the world has been essenti- 

 ally like it is to-day. Indeed, the ' human period ' requires the myopic 

 vision of an archaeologist ; it is too near and too small to focus clearly 

 on a geologist's retina. Secondly, the world was a ' going concern,' with 

 successive waves of prolific population, for vast periods of time before 

 the appearance of mankind. Thirdly, and perhaps most significantly, 

 throughout the whole sequence of these incalculable ages, physical, 

 chemical and biological laws have remained the same. A rhythmic 

 orderliness pervades the trivial and ephemeral details of the earth's 

 history — without it all scientific endeavour would be in vain. 



This is a very different view from that prevalent but a few generations 

 ago ; and since it is, as far as it goes, demonstrably true, the old ideas 

 must be wrong. They served their purpose in the childhood of mankind ; 

 but now that we are growing into intelligent adolescents, with a glorious 

 prospect of new truths to be learned, they are out of date and must be 

 put away. It is grievously hard to discard a disproved theory, but 

 much more difficult to get free from the philosophical deductions that 

 sprang from it. When the theory is based on self-esteem, and the 

 philosophy designed to justify conceit, conversion becomes painful 

 in the extreme. Some, blinded by prejudice, employ the childish ruse 

 of denying the truth offhand, in the pathetic hope that truth is destructible. 

 Others, more circumspect but even less respectable, ignore the facts 

 even when they see them, or pretend that they have no bearing on their 

 philosophy of life. Others again, intellectually convinced but emotion- 

 ally hide-bound, strive to force the old beliefs into the new container. 



Most of us believe, and almost all pretend, that the world, and indeed 

 the Universe, was devised expressly for our convenience. Perhaps a 

 thief may consider that the trinkets he purloins were made for him to 

 steal ; but was that the jeweller's original intention ? One can but 

 gasp at the effrontery of a person who considers, for example, that the 

 Coal Measures were laid down in far-seeing preparation for human needs. 



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