Durango semi-weekly herald., 1906-02-26

world rather less than 5000 years.
Indeed. in the Egyptian rooms at
the British museum the visitor can
see for himself objects which go back
10 an authenticated period long ante
cedent to 1000 years B. C., and greet
is the wonder produced on the minds
of hose who first make their acquain- |
lance In that same department.
among the mummies, there is what
t. In many respects the most striking
T.. II exhibits in the department
tae body OF a man who belongs to
the stone age. 1t lies in an accurate
representation of the peculiarly
shaped grave in which II was found,
and IT has been, in consequence. some
what irreverently nicknamed by the
habitues Of the museum the man In
the pie dish"
The particular interest in that
corpse which men. women and even
children lock upon without the least
thought or suggestion of the fear or
horror usually inseparable from death
lis that it Is unquesticnably the old
est exhibit in he museum; and sci
entists have been rather strgck by
the fact that the authorities of the
| great institution in Great Russell
| street have not taken the bull by the
horns. and boldly labeled that exhibit
as dating from 10000 b. c. Thus,
| with one single stroke of the pen,
Bishop usher's biblicsl chronology
is multiplied by about nine, and it
may be that an even higher number
would be required to satisfy the re
quirements of the age OF that particu-
lar specimen. n
How long has the earth been Il
planet capable of supporting not only
human hut all forms of life?
In an address Lord Kelvin once de
livered on the subject he gathered to-
gether the opinions of various scen-
tific men, which can Yt but be of in.
terest to every thinking being. Oar
win, in his 30 O.igin of Species" stated
that, "in all probability. a far Longer
period than 3o0,000,o00 years has
elapsed" while later on. in the same
book. he wrote: He who can read
Sir Charles Lyell's grand work on the
Principles of Geology. which the fu
tHre historian will recognize as hav
ing produced revolution in natnra
science, yet does not admit how in
comprehensive vast have been tho
past periods of time. may at once
close this volume.
When the Sun Dies.
Lord Kelvin himself--then Prof
William Thomson-oyer forty years
ago, made an attempt to calculate
the length of time during which the
sun has been burning at its present
rate. and in that connection he wrote
1t seems on the whole most prob
able that the sun has not Illuminated
the earth for more than 10000 .00(
and almost certain that ii has MOI
done so for 100000 900 years. AS fol
tHe iuturt, we may say WIN euua
certainty that the inhabitants of the
earth can not continue to enjoy tn,
light and neat essential to their life
for many million years longer, unles.
new sources, now unknown to us, arj
prepared in the great storehouse o
creation"
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-'un
less new sources, now unknown to us
of creation should have been adde'
to that remarkable sentence.
AS an example OF the very extraor
dinary range of time given to the az,
of the earth, consider the following
statement from Prof. Jukes STU
dents Manual OF Geology" He wrote
MIR. Darwin estimates the time re
Quired for the denudation of the rocks
of the weald of Kent. or the erosion
/ of space between the ranges of chall
3 hills known as the north and soutt
Downs. at 30O.OOO,0OO years. 1t may
be possible. perhaps, that the estimat,
is a hundred times too great, and tnat
the real time elapsed did not exceed
100000 years; but, on the Other
hand, it, is just as likely that the
time which actually elapsed since the
) first commencement OF the erosion
, till it was nearly as complete as ii
l now is was really hundred times
greater than his estimate, or 10000,
100000 years.
Prof. Phillips, in lecture to the
University of Cambridge. considered
the rate of erosion between the ranges
of the north and south Downs to be
rather one inch year than Darwin S
estimate OF one inch in a hundred
years, SO that on mere geological
grounds he reduced the time to about
"A hundredIn Calpulating h.,,.,.o,.