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The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky -- Vol. 2 [[Vol. 2, Page]] 709 SCIENCE AND OCCULTISM MAY YET AGREE. [[This page continued from previous section ]] C . S UPPLEMENTARY R EMARKS ON E SOTERIC G EOLOGICAL C HRONOLOGY. It seems, however, possible to calculate the approximate duration of the geological periods from the combined data of Science and Occultism now before us. Geology is, of course, able to determine almost with certainty one thing -- the thickness of the several deposits. Now, it also stands to reason that the time required for the deposition of any stratum on a sea-bottom must bear a strict proportion to the thickness of the mass thus formed. Doubtless the rate of erosion of land and the sorting out of matter on to ocean beds has varied from age to age, and cataclysmic changes of various kinds break the "uniformity" of ordinary geological processes. Provided, however, we have some definite numerical basis on which to work, our task is rendered less difficult than it might at first sight appear to be. Making due allowance for variations in the rate of deposit, Professor Lefevre gives us the relative figures which sum up geological time. He does not attempt to calculate the lapse of years since the first bed of the Laurentian rocks was deposited, but postulating that time as = X, he presents us with the relative proportions in which the various periods stand to it. Let us premise our estimate by stating that, roughly speaking, the Primordial rocks are 70,000 ft., the Primary 42,000 ft., the Secondary 15,000 ft., the Tertiary 5,000 ft., and the Quaternary some 500 ft. in thickness: -- "Dividing into an hundred parts the time, whatever its actual length, that has passed since the dawn of life on this earth (lower Laurentian strata), we shall be led to attribute to the primordial age more than half of the whole duration, say 53.5; to the Primary 32.2; to the [[Vol. 2, Page]] 710 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. Secondary 11.5; to the Tertiary 2.3; to the Quaternary 0.5 or one-half per cent." ("Philosophy," p. 481.) Now, as it is certain, on occult data, that the time which has elapsed since the first sedimentary deposits = 320,000,000 years, we are able to infer that the: -- ROUGH APPROXIMATIONS. Primordial lasted 171,200,000 years. Laurentian Cambrian Silurian Primary lasted 103,040,000 years Devonian Coal Permian Secondary lasted 36,800,000 years Triassic Jurassic Cretaceous Tertiary lasted 7,360,000 years (probably in excess) Eocene Miocene Pliocene Quaternary lasted 1,600,000 years (probably in excess). Such estimates harmonise with the statements of Esoteric Ethnology in almost every particular. The Tertiary Atlantean part-cycle, from the "apex of glory" of that Race in the early Eocene to the great mid-Miocene cataclysm, would appear to have lasted some 3 1/2 to four million years. If the duration of the Quaternary is not rather (as seems likely) overestimated, the sinking of Ruta and Daitya would be post-Tertiary. It is probable that the results here given allow somewhat too long a period to both the Tertiary and Quaternary, as the Third Race goes very far back into the Secondary Age. Nevertheless, the figures are most suggestive. But the argument from geological evidence being only in favour of 100,000,000 years, let us compare our claims and teachings with those of exact science. Mr. Edward Clodd,* in reviewing M. de Mortillet's work " Materiaux pour l ' Histoire de Homme, " which places man in the mid-Miocene period,** remarks that "it would be in defiance of all that the doctrine of evolu- [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Knowledge, March 31 , 1882. ** And who yet, in another work, " La Prehistorique Antiquite de l ' Homme, " some twenty years ago, generously allowed only 230,000 years to our mankind. Since we learn now that he places man "in the mid-Miocene period," we must say that the much respected Professor of Prehistoric Anthropology (in Paris) is somewhat contradictory and inconsistent, if not naif in his views. [[Vol. 2, Page]] 711 SECEDERS FROM DARWINISM. tion teaches, and moreover, win no support from believers in special creation and the fixity of species, to seek for so highly specialized a mammalian as man at an early stage in the life-history of the globe." To this, one could answer: ( a ) the doctrine of evolution, as inaugurated by Darwin and developed by later evolutionists, is not only the reverse of infallible, but it is repudiated by several great men of science, e.g ., de Quatrefages, in France, and Dr. Weismann, an ex -evolutionist in Germany, and many others, the ranks of the anti -Darwinists growing stronger with every year;* and ( b ) truth to be worthy of its name, and remain truth and fact, hardly needs to beg for support from any class or sect. For were it to win support from believers in special creation, it would never gain the favour of the evolutionists, and vice versa. Truth must rest upon its own firm foundations of facts, and take its chances for recognition, when every prejudice in the way is disposed of. Though the question has been already fully considered in its main aspects, it is, nevertheless, advisable to combat every so-called " scientific " objection as we go along, when making what are regarded as heretical and "anti-scientific" statements. Let us briefly glance at the divergences between orthodox and esoteric science, on the question of the age of the globe and of man. With the two respective synchronistic tables before him, the reader will be enabled to see at a glance the importance of these divergences; and to perceive, at the same time, that it is not impossible -- nay, it is most likely -- that further discoveries in geology and the finding of fossil remains of man will force science to confess that it is esoteric philosophy which is right after all, or, at any rate, nearer to the truth. ------- PARALLELISM OF LIFE. [[First Column]] S CIENTIFIC H YPOTHESES. Science divides the period of the globe's history, since the beginning of life on earth (or the Azoic age), into five main divisions or periods, according to Haeckel.** [[First Column continued on next page]] [[Second Column]] E SOTERIC T HEORY.