Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
Burma, poverty and unemployment and the struggle to develop
the Durham department - Holmes found it di~cult to believe
that now, at last, he had finally made such a success of his life.
Although not particularly a royalist, he could hardly fail to be
flattered at being appointed by the King. Holmes took up the
appointment with gusto and by October he and Doris were fully
ensconced in Edinburgh.
In keeping with tradition, shortly after Holmes' arrival at the
department in Edinburgh, notices were sent out inviting the
public to a lecture to be given by the new professor. It was an
auspicious occasion; three hundred city dignitaries and promi-
nent members of the University attended Holmes' lecture enti-
tled 'The Age of the Earth'.
In his opening words Holmes paid homage to James Hutton,
Edinburgh's greatest geological son whose outstanding achieve-
ment, Holmes considered, was his realisation of the Earth's
high antiquity. It seemed fitting that Holmes was now walking
those same streets, tramping those same hills, and able to
observe those same rocks that had caused Hutton to come
to the conclusions Holmes could now confirm - the great age
of the Earth.
Figuratively
'turning over some of the rocky pages in which
the history of our islands is written'
, Holmes described Britain
to his audience as it had been in the geological past, moving
seas and continents around the globe as easily as computer
graphics do today. Never looking directly at his audience, but
just over their heads, he gave them the impression he was
actually seeing the ancient views he described: icy blue glaciers
creeping over the land; seas ringed by golden shorelines,
advancing and retreating. Volcanoes puncturing the scene like
bursting corpuscles; bubbling flows of lava flooding the
countryside. Jungles shrieking with primitive wildlife; seas
