British Geologists' Changing Perceptions of Precambrian Time in the Nineteenth Century
Time as a physical and metaphysical phenomenon underlies the development of ideas about the Precambrian in the nineteenth century. In Britain there was a strong philosophical tradition concerning the nature of time which was closely tied to science, especially the physical sciences. A clash developed between the physical and the earth scientists about the nature and duration of time, particularly where the age of the earth was concerned. As the rocks of the lowest part of the geological column were identified and mapped, the geologists' perceptions of the Precambrian, its duration and ultimate age, changed. This occurred while using what many physicists thought of as false and lax concepts of the physical nature of time.