The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-09-04
ny JOHN ELFnErIt WATKINS.
How old are you, MADAME"


Silence on the part OF the woman
the same old impcnctrablc, sphinx-like
silence.
White the census man has been ,en-
acting this little scene with thousands
OF her American daughters, q learned
committee of government savants have
been repeating 1t with old Mother
Earth herself, but, unhappily, they have
not had the law on their side to make
the old dame answer up or go to jail
Instead, they have had to gauge her
years by examining anew her time
worn teeth, by measuring the depth OF
her wrinkles, by Analysing the fluid or
her arteries. Thus they nave revised
all previous estimates of her span OF
life.
They say that she Is about twice as
old as Lord Kelvin found her when he
last looked her over, q bakers dozen
of years ago, but moi nearly SO aged
as the great Darwin thoughe her.
Not above 70.000,000 nor below 55.-
100000 years" is their verdict, and
how are you going to contradict them?
They are two OF the governments
most learned scienhsts--Professor
Frank Wigglesworth Clarke, chief
chemist of the United States Geological
Survey, and DR.. George II. Becker, ge-
ologist, OF the same institution. Both
Professor Clarke being q cheYallcr OF
the Legion of Honor a medalist and
member OF learned societies abroad,
and DR.. Becker u PHI ID. of Heidelberg,
who has toured the world, examining
the diamond fields OF South Africa,
hiking with our soldiers in the trop-
zeal jungles to study the mineral re-
sources of the Philippines. and viewing
Mother Earth from every quarter u
the compass.
Whnt tho Old TheoIosians Found.
The old theologians told man that
his planet was 5000 years old. and
they reckoned 1t from the lives OF
the patriarchs. Look In your Bible
to-day and you will probably find the
creation OF the world dated at 1900
d. c., this on the authority OF the
Roman abbot, Dennis the Less or OF
James Usher. the Anglican archbishop.
But these scientists say that our
footstool is 10000 times as old as the
theologians taught--that earth became
earth some 10000 times as far back
as the time of Jesus OF Nazareth. But
how do they estimate 1t?
There have been many methods used
in the past for solving the yexed
problem. 1 once read that theological
Literature preserves 132 different
schemes for estimating the age OF the
Jesus. Doubtless there have been
many more methods devised by sc.en-
lists. since generation ago, when
they began to burn the midnight oil
over the matter, and 10 sew seeds
of doubt in the minds of the good
people who implicitly believed that
the deluge took place 1000 years after
the creation. and that Christ was born
1000 years after the deluge.
How They Did 1t.
Now this is the method by which
Clarke and Becker make their new
calculation: They estimate the rate
at which the earth's suface matter
is being worn away by rain. rivers.
frost. ice and winds. and with this
factor figure out how long 1t has
taken those forces to leave our globe
ago Sir Archibald Gelkie calculated
that at their present rate OF wearing
away from the natural agencies tho
British Isles would be leveled down
TO the surface OF the sea in about $780,
100000 years and by reversal of his
process the American scientists come
10 their conclusions.
Professor Clarke estimates that about
5000, 100000 tons OF the surface mat
ter OF the entire earth Is being worn
per annum. Europe shows the greatest
wear. losing each year one hundred
tons per square mile and Asia ranks
second with eighty-four tons Then
comes North America, losing seventy
nine tons; South America. losing hfty
tons. and, finally. Africa, losing fofty-
tour tons
Our continent. North America. is
being worn away at the rate OF 474,-
100000 tons per year. He also estt-
mates that the rivers of the world
are annually washing 2.755. 600, 900 tons
of salty matter into the ocean. Other
scientists have attempted to estimate
the age of the ocean by dividing it's
total salty matter by this amount
annually carried into 1t by rivers, blu,
Professor Clarke corrects their figures
by taking certain other processes into
consideration. In the first place he
estimates the amount of the salt that
is being lifted from the sea as spray
and blown inland, part OF it returning
again into the ocean and part Of It
being retained by the soil. He also
goes so far as to account for the
amount OF salt washed into the ocean
in the sewage of cities, the refuse
of chemical manufactures, etc.-over
100000 tons per year. estimated In
terms OF common salt
A Bridge of Salt to the Moon.
A total amount of salty matter In
the ocean, he says. would, If concen-
trated, measure 100000 cubic miles.
In other words. you could manufacture
out OF ocean water enough of this
salty matter to build bridge to the
moon one mile wide by twenty milos
high. II you set these big cubes in
rows they would form about the
equator band ono mile high and 200
miles wide! Another step is to esti-
mate the total amount OF rock in the
earth's crust which has been peednd
to thus salt the ocean. and another
is to figure out the time required to
wash the METRE accumulation into the
ocean,
Our land surface is wearing down
4at the rate of foot in $4,000 years,
he finds. while Europe suffers tho same
damage in $4,000 years. and South
America an equal amount in 1880
years. The average rate at which the
earth's land area as o whole is being
leveled off he calculates as 1 foot in
t2766O years