Revolutions in the Earth: James Hutton and the True Age of the World

Phoenix, 2004 12mo (19.5 cm), X, 245 pp. Printed wrappers (wrappers slightly dusted). "In 1650, theologian Bishop James Usher announced that the world was created on October 23, 4004 BC. This date had been carefully calculated by totaling all the ages and reigns of the monarchs recorded in the Bible. In the late 18th century, gentleman farmer James Hutton set out to prove him wrong. At Siccal Point, a Scottish sea cliff, Hutton noticed the inclined layers of sandstone: the deepest strata could only have been formed at the bottom of a long-vanished ocean. Hutton’s concept that the world was much older than claimed by Usher was blasphemy-- but it was also one of the defining moments in scientific history, forming the framework for Darwin’s theory of evolution and shaping our modern view of the world. " (from the blurb)