The Age of the Earth

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 29, 1910

The Age of the Earth

MANY idle predictions have been made regarding the age of the earth. Scientists, so-called, have differed widely in their calculations, each contradicting all the others, and each in turn changing his own estimate. The absurdity of these theories is well illustrated in the following, taken from one of our exchanges:—

How old is the earth? This is the subject of a brief but interesting discussion in the Christian Herald, which deducts from it a sound moral. The Herald says that Lord Kelvin, half a century ago, put forth the opinion that the age of the earth might be anywhere from 20,000,000 to 400,000,000 years; but late in life he cut his maximum estimate down to 40,000,000 years. Seventeen years ago, Dr. Walcott, of the Smithsonian Institution, reckoned that our globe is probably 70,000,000 years old. Professor Joly, eleven years ago, estimated the age of the sea at 80,000,000 years; while Solas quite lately reckoned that “old ocean” had rolled over its sandy bed for a period anywhere between 80,000,000 and 150,000,000 years. And now our geological survey professors, having found the problem of the earth’s antiquity wholly beyond their skill, have resorted to scientific guessing, like all their forerunners. They “guess” that this world of ours has been in existence somewhere between 55,000,000 and 70,000,000 years.