13.6 



SCIEXCE- GOSSir. 



the earth's shape from that of a perfect sphere 

 would have been far rut re marked than at present- 

 Even suppose the world to have yielded somewhat 

 as it spun down to its present speed of rotation, 

 yet its shape would not alter to suit the diminished 

 ed — there would always be some "lag." Now, 

 as a matter of fact, the present shape of the world 

 is exactly what it should be were the earth a per- 

 fect fluid, rotating at its present speed. Conse- 

 quently the world must have solidified quite 

 recently — so recently, in fact, that the earth has 



- had time since to appreciably diminish its 

 speed of rotation. 



Lord Kelvin continues : " We may safely con- 

 clude that the world was certainly not solid 5.000 

 million years ago, and was probably not solid 1,000 

 million years ago." 



•• The fact that the continents are arranged 

 along meridians rather than in an equatorial belt 

 affords some degree of proof that the solidification 

 took place at a time when the diurnal rotation 

 differed but little from its present value." 



Lord Kelvin's second argument is even more 

 conclusive : " The ' Doctrine of Lniformity ' in 

 geology, as held by many of the most eminent 

 British geologists, assumes that the earth's surface 

 and upper crust have been nearly as they are now 

 in temperature and other physical qualities during 

 millions of millions of years. Bat the heat which 

 we fount), by observation, to be now conducted out of 

 the earth yearly is so great that if the action had 

 been going on with any approach to uniformity for 

 . ,000 million years, the amount of heat lost out of 

 the earth would have been about as much as can 

 heat by 100 c C. a quantity of surface rock of 

 100 times the earth's bulk. This would be more 

 than enough to melt a mass of surface rock equal 

 in bulk to the whole earth. No hypothesis as to 

 chemical action, internal fluidity, effects of pres- 

 sure at great depth, or possible character of sub- 

 stances in the interior of the earth, possessing the 

 smallest vestige of probability, can justify the 

 supposition that the earth's upper crust has re- 

 mained nearly as it is. while from the whole, or 

 from any part of the earth, so great a quantity of 

 heat has been lost." •■ This conclusion suffices to 

 sweep away the whole system of geological and 

 biological speculation demanding an ' inconceiv- 

 ably ' great vista of past time, or even a few 

 thousand million years, for the history of life on 

 the earth, and approximate uniformity of plutonic 

 action throughout that time." 



Dr. Allen says : "It is not customary nowadays 

 to regard nebulae as masses of hot gas.'' Is he 

 aware that there is only one theory generally 

 accepted among physicists to account for the 

 origin of nebulae ? namely, that they are produced 

 by the impact of two colliding suns. The vast 

 crash instantly generates a temperature of many 

 hundred million degrees Centigrade, and resolves 

 ihe colliding bodies into rapidly extending masses 



of incandescent vapour, which go to form the 

 nebulae of space. There is an important paper on 

 cosmical evolution in " Phil. Mag.'' August, 1900. 

 by Prof. Bickerton. 



Dr. Allen remarks : " The deoxidation and sub- 

 sequent oxidation of carbon involve a very great 

 accumulation and dispersion of energy, whereat the 

 change* in the silicate* involve a comparatively 

 small transfer of energy? (The italics are mine.) 

 May I ask his authority for this remarkable state- 

 ment ? 



The reduction of the silicates involves the ex- 

 penditure of a very large amount of energy, so 

 large that metallic aluminium will not reduce their 

 silicon. although it reduces most known oxides. 

 Conversely, their formation is attended with a great 

 evolution of energy. 



Again, he considers that at high temperatures 

 his so-called '• Energy Traffic " would be carried on 

 more readily by other elements than silicon. Is 

 he not aware that carbon and silicon belong to the 

 same family of elements, and most strongly re- 

 semble each other I If the lighter element can 

 carry on the function at low temperatures, why 

 not the heavier at high temperatures ? 



The universal element at high temperatures is 

 neither phosphorus nor iodine : it is silicon. This 

 element, so passive and inert at ordinary tempera- 

 tures, awakes to a new life at a white heat. It 

 enters into the most astonishing combinations, and 

 displaces almost all known acids from their com- 

 binations with bases. In a word, it becomes the 

 universal element. Bearing in mind this sur- 

 prising activity, no consideration regarding "the 

 chemistry of the silicates as known to us '" need 

 deter us from attributing to silicon " dynamical 

 properties " at a high temperature. 



I am doubtful, from Dr. Allen's remarks, whether 

 he believes it to be my opinion that at ordinary 

 temperatures such bodies as the silicates are 

 capable of performing vital functions. My theory 

 states that silicon compounds are only capable of 

 acting thus during the " transitional range "' of 

 silicon, i.e. at a red or white heat. 



Again, he considers it sufficient to explain the 

 presence of silica in all living matter by briefly 

 announcing " its chief function is to give rigidity 

 to the framework." This may be so in some of the 

 grasses : but such an explanation will not for an 

 instant hold in the case of living animal proto- 

 plasm. 



To attribute specific functions to an element is 

 not to explain its presence. Nevertheless, be the 

 function of silica what it may, this in no wise 

 affects the theory that silicon once completely re- 

 placed carbon in all living matter, but that at 

 ordinary temperatures it has been completely re- 

 placed by carbon and remains merely as an inactive 

 sediment. If this sediment could be put to a use- 

 ful purpose by imparting rigidity to the frame in 

 some forms of life, the silica would linger longer 



