Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-04-13
THE AGE OF THE EARTH,
AZ a Matter of Fact IT is Impossible to De
t-rInire It.


t-rInire It.
The Geological Society held a meeting in the
assembly hall of the Cosmos Club last night to
discuss - LIE Age OF the Earth IL was a
h.ghiy scientific discussion Amounting in teen
meal terms and abstruse mathematical caleua-
tons. which. @hie probably perfectly inteiiisi-
be to lie Gec.ogl>tE present. oer.a.n:y filed
the iaymen hearers with ave and wonder.
There was one point. however. which was
made PERFECTLY ! lain 10 the layrlen. point
reached finally by each speaker. v no. after waa-
GeriEg through mIZe OF scientific theories,
pOstGla:sB and suppositi0ns. woCnd up with the
naive confession that the age OF the earth could
Tot be accurately estimated after all; tia. !: was
all suDIositlCa NlSed Upon theory. and the
suit III each ejaculation derends pretty much
upon VIVA. b"sls you start ont with. the result
varying from "a. eco 900 TO 100. eos 900 wears
but that after al we don't know anything about
the age OF the earth. anyhow.
Aud that was all the satisfaction the laymen
go- gu. Oh the discussion.
Prot. G.. X. GLIDER. opened the symposium.
Re said there are seven elements in the caIcu-
ia1On OF the earth age. and they fol-
lows: First. pTe;cieutIfc cosmogOIies; second,
cooI1g OF the SIN: third. cooling OF the earth:
fourth, tidal reformation: fifth. other astrO-
noTnical events; sixth. sedimentation; seventh.
life.
At this point Prof Gilbert mounted his Pc
gasus and scared high into the realms of sci
entific theory and ma thematical calculation.
and here the reporter parted company with
him. for the reporter 5 mind not beng euu:c sped
with the eagle piniOns of deductive reasoning
which starts with Il microcosm and evolves Il
universe, he was compelled to lie lew to the
ground. When the speaker touched earth
again IL was with the statement. that Sir William
Thompson concludes the age of the earth TO be
about 1000 600 years, while another author
ity. Prot. Kelly, believes that it hardly exceeds
"a, 900 coo years-and there you are; we don't
know anything about the age of the earth. any
how.
Prof. Newcombe came next. but in rather
cautious and hesitstIng manner. He was will
ing to concede that the earth is very old-no
doubt about that. But just how old-wel
that's another thing. He said that any reason
able attempts to nix the age Of the earth are
founded upon dubious hypothesis, the most
dubious of which Is the astronomical hypoth-
esis. 1t Is founded upon the belief that the
laws of nature were just the same ages ago as
they are now: but as a matter of fact we don't
know anything about the age Of the earth. any
how.
Prof Hardness said that in calculations of
this kind one gets along well enough with
known facts up to a certain point until the sup
ply of facts give out and it IS necessary to use
assumptions. and then the troubles commence
which finally result in the confession that we
don't any thing about the age of the earth, any
how.
Prof. Magee acknowledged that il is char
acteristic of the human mind to reach out fog
the unfathomable and deal with things of which
we know very little, and the subject under
consideration comes in this category. He said
the mathematical calculations upon this point
are simply a juggling with figures. After this
frank statement Prof. Magse proceeded to lead
his hearers over some rock bottom arsuments-
he is a geologist-but brought up at the same
jumping of place which the other speakers had
reached-that We don't know anything about
the age OF the earth, anyhow.