Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-05-25
YEARS OF THE EARTH
THIS WORLD OF OURS COUNTS THEM
BY THE MILLIONS.
Various Calculations by Which the
Famous Scientists Have Endeav-
Ored to Figure Out the Age of the
Planet Upon which We Live.

ny w the
Famous Scientists Have Endenv-
ored to Figure Out the Age of the
Planet Upon which We Live.
The time has admittedly gone by for
attempting to reconcile the facts of
nature" to use a recognized phrase,
with the chronology of the Bible, which
makes the age of the world rather less
tnan 6,00O years.
indeed, in the Egyptian rooms at the
British museum the visitor can see for
himself objects which go back to an
TO 1000 years B. c., and great is the
wonder produced on the minds of those
who first make their acquaintance.
In that same department, among the
mummieS. there is what is in many re-
spects the most striking of the exhibits
in the departmental body of a man
who belongs to the stone age. 1t lies
in IN accurate representation of the
peculiarly shaped grave in which it
was found, and it has been in cOnse
quence somewhat irreverently nick
named by the habitues Of the museum
1.-THE man in the pie dish"
The particular interest in that corpse,
which men. women and even children
look upon without the least thought or
suggestion of the fear or horror usual
" insepara BILE from death, is that it is
unQuestionably the oldest exhibit in
the museum, and scientists have been
rather struck by the fact that the au-
thorities of the great institution in
Great Russell street have not, so to
+oI.a y, hot
labeled that exhibit as dating from
$4,000 Il. G. Thus with one single
stroke of the pen Bishop Usher's Bib
lical chronology is multiplied by about
nine. and it may be that an even high
er number would be required to satisfy
the requirements of the age of that
particular specimen.
How long has the earth been a planet
capable of supporting not only human.
but all forms of life?
In an address Lord Kelvin once de
livered on the subject he gathered to-
gether the opinions of various scientific
men which cannot but be of interest
20 every thinking being. Darwin. in
his Origin of Species,' stated that,
lin all probability far longer period
than 300O00.000 years has elapsed;"
while later on, in the same book. he
wrote: He who can read Sir Charles
Lyells grand work on the Principles
of Geology which the future historian
Will recognize as having produced
revolution in natural science, yet does
not admit how incomprehenSiDly vast
have been the last periods OF time. may
at once close this volume"
L, ~, II,
William Thomson-later made an at
tempt To calculate the length OF time
during which the sun has been burning
at its present rate, and in that connec-
ton he wrote: 1T seems on the whole
most probable that the sun has not
Illuminated the earth for 100,000,000
years and almost certain that it has
not done so for 500,000000 years. AS
for the future we may say with equal
certainty that the inhabitants of the
earth cannot continue to enjoy the
light and heat essential to their life for
many million years longer unless new
now unknown to us, are pre-
pared in the great stOrehouse of crea-
ton"
1t is a remarkable evidence of the |
acute perception of Lord Kelvin'S !
mind, as of the rare provision of his |
intellect, that the last words-''unless |
new sources, now unknown to us, are |
III the great storehouse of |
.reation'- should have been added to |
hat remarkable sentence.
AS an example Of the very eXtraor-
linary range of time given to the age |
IF the earth, consider the following |
from Professor Jukes' STU
Tents Manual of Geology" He wrote: |
Mr.. Darwin estimates the time re-
luired for the denudation of the rocks
If the weald of Kent, or the erosion of
pace between the ranges of chalk hills
.nown as the north and south downs,
It 300,000,000 years. 1t may be posi-
de. perhaps, that the estimate is n
hundred times too great, and that the
eal time elapsed did not exceed 3000,-
100 years; but. on the other hand. it is
nSt as likely that the time which |
Ictually elapsed since the first COM
of the erosion till it was
Yearly as complete as it now is was
eally a hundred times greater than
is estimate, or 30O,0O0OOO years"
Professor Phillips in lecture at the
University of Cambridge considered
he rate of erosion between the ranges ,
# the north and south downs to be
ather one inch a year than Darwin's
Stimate of one inch in hundred
ears, SO that on mere geological
rounds he reduced the time to about
hundredth. Calculating, however,
he actual thickness of all the known
geological strata of the earth he came
o the conclusion that life on the earth's !
urface may probably date back to be-
ween 3S,000,O00 and 96.O00,O00 years.
Professor Sollas of Oxford, working
n new principles applied to the strait
led rocks, reduced this time very con-
iderably, for he wrote, 80 far as
an at present see, the lapse of time
ince the beginning of the Cambrian
ystem is, probably less. than 100000
ears. even when computed on an as