Scepticism in Geology. By " Verifier." (Murray.)—A good deal of
modern geology, according to " Verifier," is made up of delusions and superstitions, and among these the theories as to the great and per- manent effects of earthquakes, and of the capacity of running water, frost, and ice to carve out mountains and valleys hold a conspicuous place. If " Verifier " is right, all evidence and all common-sense point to a diametrically opposite conclusion, and the present configuration of the earth's surface can be explained only by the exertion of a power which worked by processes with which we are not in the least familiar. The Scandinavian peninsula has been believed by geologists to have been slowly and gradually rising, but " Verifier" contends that Sir Charles Lyell's calculations, based on certain measurements of the Baltic shoree, really contain conflicting elements, and are in their very nature utterly uncertain. He himself, it seems, admitted that some of the observed phenomena are explicable only on the hypothesis of alternate risings and ainkings of the ground. " Verifier" makes much of the recent discovery of the Zambesi Falls, which, he thinks, prove decisively the impotence of water to cut through rock, as at one point the stream is turned at a very sharp acute angle, which would not be the case had the water possessed the power of working its way through the wall of reek confronting it. Geologists, we suppose, are well able to take care of themselves and of their theories, but like many other people, they now and then strike us as being dogmatic in proportion to the inconclusiveness of their reasonings. It is just as well that they should from time to time be subjected to a severe cross- examination, though we dare say that they would come off better than " Verifier" thinks. "Verifier," in fact, laughs them and their theories to scorn. But it seems to us that he now and then himself ventures on a statement which he would be puzzled to verify. How, for instance, does ho know that "the turf-clad barrows on Salisbury Plain have preserved their original surface and outline for thousands of years "?- Is he, again, justified in condemning as a vast fallacy the idea that our world is still capable of physical improvement, and "is undergoing changes day by day " ? How would he " verify in this case ?
Previous page
