THE EXACTNESS OF A SCIENCE.
By Editor
THE American Association for the Advancement of Science recently met at Madison, Wis. Prof. C. D. Walcott, of Washington, D. C., read a paper on "Geological Time," as indicated by the sedimentary rocks of North America. In the report of the Scientific American of September 2 he "conceded at the outset that it is uncertain and is in conflict with the teachings of some other sciences." Charles Lyell "assigned 240,000,000 years as the required length of geologic time; Darwin claimed 200,000,000 years; Crowell, about 72,000,000; Geikie, from 73,000,000 upward; Alexander Winchell, but 3,000,000; McGee Upham, and other recent authorities claim from 100,000,000 up to 680,000,000." This is only a matter of difference between 680,000,000 and 3,000,000, near enough, we suppose, for scientific accuracy, sufficient at least to justify the rejection of the Biblical record of creation! Professor Walcott distributed geologic time as follows: Cenozoic age (including Pleistocene), 2,900,000 years; Mesozoic, 7,240,000 years; Palezoic, 17,500,000 years; Algonkian, 17,500,000 years; total time of sedimentary rocks, 45,500,000 years. Says the Scientific American: "In commenting on this table it should be said that the data for Archean time are doubtful. Also there are no sufficient data from the duration of animal life to fix geologic time back of about 10,000 years." Wonderful science! which asks us to turn from the inspired records of the Bible expressed in words so plain as to admit of no construction, not to what God has written in the rocks, but to man's uncertain interpretation of what God has written there! We yet prefer the records of Genesis, the record of God's power, of man's sin, and of the redemption which is in our Lord Jesus Christ.