19051905.] 427 



those on whose lands these various objects of interest were 

 (Applause.) 



Mr. Patterson, after the lecture, voiced the feelings of the 

 audience in saying how interesting the lecture had been. Mr. 

 Deane, Mr. Alex. Milligan, Miss Andrews, Mr. Gough, F.G.S., 

 and Mr. W. H. Milligan all spoke of the value and interest of 

 the paper. 



Mrs. Hobson having replied, the proceedings closed. 



AGE OF THE EARTH. 



A meeting of the Geological Section was held in the 

 Museum, College Square, on Wednesday, February 14th, when 

 the Chairman of the Section (Mr. G. C. Gough, B.Sc, F.G.S.) 

 gave a talk on the "Age of the Earth," the President of the 

 Club (Mr. W. H. Phillips) being in the chair. 



After a rapid review of the nebular hypothesis of the 

 formatioh of the earth, Mr. Gough explained how Lord Kelvin, 

 from the rate of cooling of the earth at the present time, 

 calculated many years ago that the earth's age must lie between 

 twenty and four hundred millions of years. Later from more 

 accurate data, he reduced these limits to somewhere between 

 twenty and forty millions. All his calculations, however, fall 

 to the ground since the discovery of radium, as there appears 

 to be enough present in the earth's crust to^ supply all the heat 

 given off by radiation. 



After a reference to the tidal retardation caused by the 

 attraction of the moon, mention was made of Professor 

 Joly's calculation of eighty to ninety million years from the 

 amount of salt present in the ocean at the present time. Turn- 

 ing to the ways in which geologists can calculate the age of the 

 earth, it was pointed out that we had approximately fifty miles 

 of stratified rocks, each layer of which had been built up grain 

 by grain. This process was a very slow one, and the least 

 period of time that would satisfy most geologists was a hundred 

 million years, others thinking it required even longer. Then 



