III

Of the _three_ general postulates or _a priori_ assumptions of this
curiously out-of-date mediæval science, namely, (1) Uniformity, (2) the
Cooling globe theory, and (3) the theory of the Successive Ages, the
first two have already been examined and found wanting by other
investigators, and have been allowed to lapse into a sort of honored
disuse, though their memory is still reverently cherished in all the
text-books of the science. The "Challenger" Expedition dissipated most
of the myths that had long been taught regarding the deep waters of the
ocean; and Professor Suess has disposed of the closely related myth
about the coasts of the continents being constantly on the seesaw up and
down. These two discoveries, with others that might be mentioned,
dispose of Lyell's theory of uniformity. Lord Kelvin and the other
physicists dissipated the idea of a molten interior of the earth. Hence,
because these other false hypotheses have already in a measure been
disposed of, as well as for the sake of brevity, I shall here discuss
only the _third_ of the prime postulates of the current system of
geology, namely the theory of Successive Ages. And when we have adjusted
this aspect of the science of geology to the facts of the rocks as made
known to us by modern discoveries, we shall find little in this science
out of harmony with the older view of a literal Creation as taught in
the Bible and as already confirmed by the other branches of science
which we have been examining.

There are _five_ leading arguments against the reality of these
successive ages. Four of them must be dismissed here by a brief summary
of the facts as we know them to-day, referring the reader to the
author's larger work, where detailed evidence is given for each. The
_fifth_ series of facts I shall give here in more detail, though of