Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-10-01
HOW OLD Is THE wORLDe
Fascinating Study That is Slowly Flu,
dating . Great Mystery.

A Fascinating Study That is Slowly Eluci-
dating Great Mystery.
From the San Francisco Call
At the recent meeting Of the British Associa-
ton a discourse was delivered by the new presi-
dent, Sir Archibald Gerkie, on one of the most
interesting problems in modern science-the
age OF the world. Over a century has elapsed
since James Hutton wrote his Theory Of the
Earth, which was the first attempt to formu-
late chronology Of creation in accordance
with the discoveries of science; since then
knowledge has made vast strides, and his fol-
lowers have access to a mass Of infor-
nation which he did not possess. Playfair
and Kelvin improved upon his work, and now
Gerkie and the school to which he belongs
have gone beyond them. biologists have as
certained that the rate at which erosion takes
place can be measured; by applying their scale
to the documentary rocks they have formed an
hypothesis as to the time which has elapsed
since erosion began. To put the proposition
In simpler language. the surface Of the globe 10
constantly wearing away under the influence Of
water and wind. The portions which are worn
OF are carried down to the sea or into houows
where they are deposited and form sedimentary
rocks. II we can ascertain how long il takes to
form sedimentary rock We can figure out
when the process Of wearing away and rede-
posting began.
Sir Archibald states that on q reasonable COM
putation the Strained rocks attain an average
thickness Of 900 feet The material of
which they consist was oil washed down from
high planes. deposited and left to strstify. By
the inspection of river banks it is found that in
places the surface Of the land which has been
carried down as sediment in rivers has been re-
duced at the rate of o foot in 100 years
while in other placed, where the land was more
stubborn or less flexible. it has taken $500
years to lower the surface one foot. The
deposit must be equal to the denudation. Thus
we find that while some of the sedimentary
rocks have grown q foot in $50 years, others
have taken 6 800 years to rise that height. Thus
the period Of time that was required to build
up loo. 900 feet Of sedimentary rock has varied
according to locality from $4,000, 900 years to
$50 900 900 years. 1t follows that the active
work.of creation lasted for Cycle intermediate
between these two figures. The cycle varied
with endless succession Of periods Of disturb
ances by volcanic force aud glacial action and
the frequent submersioh of dry land, alter-
mating with the emerging Of continents out Of
the seas. These may have retarded the growth
Of sedime ntary rocks, but they cannot have
accelerated il.
A study of fossils teaches the steady uni
formity with which the work of creation pro-
ceeded. Since man,began to observe there has
been no change in the forms of animal and
vegetable life. A few species have disappeared:
not one new species has been evolved Not only
do we find the fauna and flora Of ancient Egypt
as depicted on monuments which are probably
5000 or 10 ,000. years old identical with those
which are found in that country today, but
shells which inhabited our seas before the Ice
age and grew in an ocean whose bed overlap the
Rocky mountains are precisely the same species
that are found in the Bay OF Monterey and the
waters OF the Chesapeake. 1t is evident that
there has been no essential change in the con-
ditions Of life since these animals and these