Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
4
Falling stones, salty oceans,
and evaporating waters: early
empirical measurements
of the age of the Earth
In the latter part of the seventeenth century in England and on the
Continent there emerged scholars prepared to argue against the var-
ious sacred theories of the Earth and to discuss the possibility that the
Earth was older, possibly immeasurably older than these theories
would allow. The link to the biblical texts was weakening and two
men in England, in particular, demonstrated or suggested that scien-
tific observations and scientific experimentation could produce
empirical data from which to deduce a number in years for the age of
the Earth. Today one of these men is little known even within scien-
tific circles, whereas the second remains very well known on account
of his prediction of the timing of a returning celestial object.
EDWARD LHWYD
Oxford has long been a centre of learning, with its many colleges,
spires, dons and students. Today, students bicycle at speed from lod-
gings to lectures, dodging tourists and thinking about their next meal
or assignation. On Cornmarket Street stands the small church of
St Michael at the Northgate. Here, as we shall see, one might expect
to find a memorial to the first geochronologist that has attracted my
attention. This church, the Saxon tower of which dates from the
eleventh century, is the oldest building in Oxford. How many cycle
past and never enter its doors? Probably hundreds every day. If any one
of these stopped, parked his bicycle by the entrance and walked inside
he would find no fitting memorial. Instead, he would need to remount
his bicycle and make his way to the splendid masterpiece of Victorian
Gothic architecture, the Oxford University Museum of Natural History
