Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
it. Based on rainfall rates, he calculated that the second day must have lasted ten thousand
years to build up the primordial seas. His concluding estimate was that the world must be
about 75,000 years old to have cooled to its present temperature. This time, when Buffon
included this estimate in his
Introduction to the History of Minerals
in 1775, he escaped
theological condemnation.
Three years later, Buffon expanded on the idea of an ancient Earth in his
Epochs of
Nature
. He argued that the days of Creation were figurative and corresponded to geological
ages, while cautiously refraining from publishing his own opinion that the world was mil-
lions of years old. The first of his great epochs saw the formation of Earth and other plan-
ets. During the second epoch Earth's rocky interior consolidated, releasing volatile sub-
stances to create the atmosphere. During the third epoch, about thirty-five thousand years
after the planet formed, continent-covering seas deposited stratified rocks, coal, and marine
fossils. Rushing currents circulating on the bottom of this great sea carved modern topo-
graphy. Volcanoes became active in the fourth epoch. He offered Siberian fossil elephants
(mammoths) as proof that even the poles enjoyed a tropical climate during the fifth epoch.
In Buffon's sixth epoch the modern continents formed as the intervening land collapsed to
form ocean basins. Finally, the arrival of mankind ushered in the world we know roughly
six thousand years ago.
Although he did not grant Noah's Flood any place in his geologic history, Buffon did
point out that there was no conflict between Genesis and geology if one did not take the
days of Creation literally. He thought, just as some theologians had argued, that Genesis
was written for uneducated people and should not be interpreted literally on matters per-
taining to earth history. It was never intended to convey scientific truths.
Again, the church remained silent, torn by internal controversy over how to interpret
Genesis. Unlike Galileo, this time Buffon escaped censure because influential theologians
were themselves toying with the notion of an old Earth. Catholic opinion in France was
divided about how to interpret Genesis. Even those in positions of authority were now will-
ing to consider the idea that the six days of Creation might refer to geological ages.
Among Buffon's correspondents was Joseph Needham, the first Roman Catholic priest
elected to Britain's Royal Society. In embracing Buffon's view that each day in the week
of Creation represented more than twenty-four hours, Needham pointed out that even sixty
