SYNOPSIS.
| Post-Tertiary. |  | Tertiary or Cainozoic. |  | Mesozoic. |
| Pliocene. | ||||
| Miocene. | ||||
| Eocene. | ||||
| Cretaceous. |  | Secondary or Mesozoic. | ||
| Jurassic. | ||||
| Triassic. | ||||
| Permian. |  | Primary or Paleozoic. | | Paleozoic. |
| Carboniferous. | ||||
| Devonian. | ||||
| Silurian. | ||||
| Cambrian. |
The precise chemical action upon the elements composing these various geological formations at different remote periods, is no doubt difficult to ascertain. That there always has been some chemical action going on, and that it is continually going on, is certain. How and to what extent we can judge only from the experience of actual observation in the laboratory.
Mr. Crale remarks: “The whole surface of the land is exposed to chemical action of the air, and of the rainwater with its dissolved carbonic acid, and in colder countries the frost. The disintegrated matter is carried down the slopes during heavy rain; and, to a greater extent than might be supposed, especially in arid districts, by the wind; it is then transported by the streams and rivers, which when rapid deepen their channels and triturate the fragments.” Darwin says: “If the theory be true” (speaking of the time elapsed since the Cambrian lowest formation) “it is indisputable that before the lowest Cambrian stratum was deposited, long periods elapsed, as long as, or probably far longer than, the whole interval from the Cambrian age to the present day; that during these vast periods, the world swarmed with living creatures. Here we encounter a formidable objection; for it seems doubtful whether the earth, in a fit state for the habitation of living creatures, has lasted long enough. Sir W. Thompson concludes that the consolidation of the crust can hardly have occurred less than 20 or more than 400 million years ago, but probably not less than 98 or more than 200 millions of years. These very wide limits show how doubtful the data are; and other elements may have hereafter to be introduced into the problem. Mr. Crale estimates that about 60 million years have elapsed since the Cambrian period, but this, judging from the small amount of organic change since the commencement of the glacial epoch, appears a very short time for the many and great mutations of life, which have certainly occurred since the Cambrian formation; and the previous 140 millions of years can hardly be considered as sufficient for the development of the varied forms of life which already existed during the Cambrian period.”
It seems almost impossible for an ordinary mind to grasp the magnitude of the figures, the span of life being so short. Yet some idea may be formed when we compare the age of this earth’s crust formation, the hundreds of thousands of years that passed in the evolution of man, and the brief space of time that has elapsed since he has become enabled to give an account of himself.
As regards the thickness of the earth’s crust, Professor Ramsey has given the maximum thickness, from actual measurement in most cases, of the successive formations in different parts of Great Britain; and this is the result:
| The Paleozoic strata (not including igneous bed), | 57,154 | feet. |
| Secondary, | 13,190 | feet.,, |
| Tertiary, | 2,240 | feet.,, |
making altogether 72,584 feet; that is, very nearly thirteen and three-quarters British miles. Büchner in his work on “Force and Matter” states: “The so-called coal formation alone required, according to Bischoff, 1,000,177 years; according to Chevandier’s calculation, 672,788 years. The Tertiary strata required for their development about 350,000 years; and before the originally incandescent earth could cool down from a temperature of 2,000 degrees to 200, there must, according to Bischoff’s calculation, have elapsed a period of 350,000,000 years. Valger calculates that the time required for the deposit of the strata known to us must at least have amounted to 648,000,000 years. I quote these figures simply to show how difficult it is, and the labor required, to form even a proximate idea as to the period of time that must have elapsed for the formation of the various strata known.
That all animals were not created at once is certain beyond all cavil and dispute. The development of the various forms of life was an exceeding slow process, and lasted very many thousand centuries. That the earth’s crust was not at certain stages of formation in a fit condition either to receive or to maintain the higher types of animal life, is well known. And we know that man’s remains are found only in the uppermost surface of the earth’s crust. Max Müller says in his “Testimony of the Rocks”: “It was not until the earlier ages of the Oölite system had passed away, that the class of Reptiles received its fullest development. And certainly very wonderful was the development which it did then receive. Reptiles became everywhere the lords and masters of the lower world. When any class of air-breathing vertebrates is very largely developed, we find it taking possession of all three terrestrial elements—earth, air, and water. Last of all, the true placental mammals appear, and thus, tried by the test of perfect reproduction, the great vertebral division receives its full development.” Agassiz’s “Principles of Zoology” says: “We distinguish four ages of nature, comprehending the great geological divisions, namely:
“1. The Primary, or Paleozoic age, comprising the lower Silurian, the upper Silurian, and the Devonian. During this age there were no air-breathing animals. The fishes were masters of creation. We may therefore call it the Reign of Fishes.
“2. The Secondary age, comprising the Carboniferous, the Trias, the Oölite, and the Cretaceous formations. This is the epoch in which air-breathing animals first appear. The Reptiles predominated over the other classes, and we may therefore call it the ‘Reign of Reptiles.’
“3. The Tertiary age, comprising the Tertiary formation. During this age terrestrial mammals of great size abound. This is the Reign of Mammals.
“4. The Modern age, characterized by the appearance of the most perfect of created beings.”
The majority of mankind trouble themselves but little whether progress is made in any one of the branches of science or not. Man has no time to think seriously of anything except to provide food for his family. The priest does his thinking, and he is made to contribute part of his labor to support the holy man who does the thinking for him. All he knows is that his soul or his spirit, his hereafter, and his God are well cared for, and he pays for it. Yet every man ought to understand that all his rights, civil and political—all the freedom he enjoys—he has to thank science for procuring and securing.
“Shall it be seriously objected to the application of the sciences to philosophical problems that its results are not agreeable? That the truth is not always agreeable, nor always consolatory, nor always religious, nor always acceptable, is as well known as the old experience of the almost total absence of reward, either external or internal, provided for its exemplars. What this or that man may understand by a governing reason, an absolute power, a universal soul, a personal God … is his own affair. The theologians, with their articles of faith, must be left to themselves; so of the naturalists with their science; they both proceed by different routes.… The same bloody hatred with which science was once persecuted by religious fanaticism would revive now, and with it the Inquisition and Auto-da-fé, and all the horrors with which a refined zealotism has tortured humanity would be resorted to, to satisfy the wishes of the theological cutthroats. A man in advance of his age beholds the struggle of the contending parties from a high point of view, and sees in the eccentricities of this contest merely the natural and necessary expression of the opposing elements which agitate our time. No one can doubt that truth will finally emerge the victor. It certainly will not be long before the battle becomes general. Is the victory doubtful? The struggle is unequal; the opponents cannot stand against the trenchant arm of physical and physiological Materialism, which fights with facts, that everyone can comprehend, while the opponents fight with suppositions and presumptions” (Büchner).
“Science and faith exclude each other” (Virchow).
Fools still cling to faith; wise men find the truth in science.
Note.—Baily’s “History of Astronomy,” Part I, page 31, § 124, and Part II, pp. 33, 39, maintains that India has existed as a nation, as the records show, 4,320,000 years. The Indians divide this time into four principal periods: First period, that of innocence or simplicity, 1,728,000 years; second period, 276,000; the third period, 864,000; and the ages of misfortune about 422,000—Cali-yon-gan period. Similar statements are made by Cicero (“De Divinat,” I, 19), concerning the Chaldeans: “Condemnemus, inquam, hos aut stultitiæ aut vanitatis aut imprudentiæ qui 470 millia annorum ut ipsi dicunt monumentis comprehensa continent.”