The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-08-02
NOW WE KNOW ALL ABOUT IT.


NOW WE KNOW ALL ABOUT 1T.
1t Is really remarkable how exact
Science is. 1t does not take anything
for granted. IT is practical. 1t meas
ures the sun in his course and fixes
the orbits of the stars; 1t makes the
lightnings obedient to human COM
mand; it ploughs the oceans with
great ships and conquers the upper
deep with it's genius. No heights are
so lofty that it cannot scale and no
depths so profound that it cannot
fathom. 1t was said ages ago that mo
man can find out that God maketh
from the beginning to the end; but
the writer of that fine phrase was not
scientist. He little knew what a
comprehension or understanding Of
facts or principles" would do for the
increase of worldly wisdom. The an
thropologists have proved beyond their
own questioning that man, who has
been described in poetical phrase as
made in the image OF God" is really
ton, that it has taken millions Of
years to evolve. The alleged mir
acles" have been rejected---the loaves
and fishes, the case of Jonah, the
draught of fishes, the raising of Laz-
arus and all the rest---because they
do not stand to reason and the poky
old times and ignorant old ways of
the world before It got wisdom are
| much derided.
The accuracy with which Science has
established its contentious as to the
! age OF the earth is just now attract
| ing great attention. AS long ago as
| 1852, Lord Kelvin, admittedly one of
| the most eminent of the learned men
| of all time, first discussed the age of
| the earth considered as cooling body.
J and excited the sorrow and indigna-
| ton of the biologists and evolutionists
| by his revolutionary views upon the
| subject. More mature study we are
now informed, has convinced the
scientific world that there is no neces-
sary discrepancy between Kelvip's &c
10 400 million years. with probable
| 90 million, and the conclusions OF
| biologists or paleontologists." Will
| the aid of Carl Burns, Clarence King
| introduced in 1898 "the importan
! criterion of tidal stability. and reached
| the conclusion that "a million year:
| cd rnn1itinNS' - a
! Kelvin accepted this result and PLACED
! the limit at 20 and 40 million years
! Judging by the maximum thickness Q
| the sedimentary rocks and the time
rate of their deposition, De Lapparen
estimated that it must have take
from CT to 90 million years for tn
| making of the earth. and after =
most careful investigation" estimatin
the lapse of time since the base Q
the Cambrian, which Is 27640,00
years and making allowance for tn
/ Algonllian, a period OF 17,50O,O0O year
Charles D. Walcott, the present Secrt
tary OF the Smithsonian Institute
and one of the most eminent of pre-:
ent-day scientists, has figured IT o.
that the maximum age of the cart
would be about 7o.o00,ooo years"
About two hundred years ago Et
mund HALEY, the great astronome
devised a method Of determining q
age of the ocean from the amount
salt it contained, which was We
clever thing for him to do. IN 1879,
Joly made it quite clear that the oce'
was from so to 90 million years OF az
and,ost wear IVY. j. Sollas who ma
a most searching inquiry into the su
, ject, placed the age OF me ocean .
tween. so million and $50 milli
, years"
IN our own country, Frank Wiggle
worth Clarke and George T. Beck
!, ~ he United States Geological Surv,
have followed the subject with consi
: cradle interest. They have pbserv
the problem from the chemical POI
az view, that is to SAY. Frank WI
j ellsworth Clarke has recently issu
! LA preliminary study Of che1ni