On this theory, it must, ten millions of years
ago, have had twice its present diameter, while less than twenty
millions of years ago it could not have existed except as an
immense nebula filling the whole solar system. We must bear in
mind that this theory is the only one which accounts for the
supply of heat, even through human history. If it be true, then
the sun, earth, and solar system must be less than twenty million
years old.
Here the geologists step in and tell us that this conclusion is
wholly inadmissible. The study of the strata of the earth and of
many other geological phenomena, they assure us, makes it certain
that the earth must have existed much in its present condition for
hundreds of millions of years. During all that time there can have
been no great diminution in the supply of heat radiated by the
sun.
The astronomer, in considering this argument, has to admit that he
finds a similar difficulty in connection with the stars and
nebulas. It is an impossibility to regard these objects as new;
they must be as old as the universe itself. They radiate heat and
light year after year. In all probability, they must have been
doing so for millions of years. Whence comes the supply? The
geologist may well claim that until the astronomer explains this
mystery in his own domain, he cannot declare the conclusions of
geology as to the age of the earth to be wholly inadmissible.
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