Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
English cleric John Milner (1628-1703) who published the topic
A Defence of Archbishop Usher in 1694. Examples of misquotation
of Ussher's work abound elsewhere in the literature. William Brice
of the University of Pittsburg at Johnstown, a town in central
Pennsylvania chiefly remembered for the terrible loss of life in the
floods of July 1889, published a wonderful piece of scientific detection
in 1982 in the Journal of Geological Education, in which he quoted a
number of the mistakes in the factual reporting of Ussher's work:
*
'Creation had taken place on the twenty-sixth of October, in the year
4004
BC
, at nine o'clock in the morning.'
*
'October 29, 4004
BC
'
*
'In 1654 ... Ussher announced with great certainty that ... the world
had been created in the year 4004
BC
'
We can add to these Stephen Jay Gould's contribution. He published
an essay with the derogatory title 'Fall in the House of Ussher' in
Natural History in November 1991:
*
'Ussher ... had the audacity to name the date and hour: October 23
at midday.'
There was even a mind-boggling error published in the Irish Times
editions of 22 October 1996, the 6,000th year from Ussher's date of
Creation. One of its journalists informed its readers that 'an early tea
would be advisable' as the world was going to end that evening at
6 p.m. Ussher never predicted when the Earth would end.
To give Gould credit, he does not castigate Ussher for his calcu-
lation but heaps praise on the Archbishop's shoulders for his chronol-
ogy which is 'within the generous and liberal tradition of humanistic
history, not a restrictive document written to impose authority.'
Ussher was a man of considerable scholarship and ability, and his
chronology was based on many years of study of the biblical texts,
Mediterranean texts, calendars and other sources. He arrived at his
conclusions following lengthy explanations. To be certain of what
Ussher wrote it is necessary to consult the actual volumes that he
