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Deep in unfathomable mines Of never failing skill He treasures up his bright designs And works his sovereign will The way in which the world came into being, and the time of this important event, have of course been the subject of frequent speculation down through the ages. The issue reveals an interesting schism between oriental and occidental philosophies. The Hindus, for instance, have long maintained that the Earth has existed for thousands of millions of years. In sharp contrast to this, we have the views of Archbishop Ussher and Dr Lightfoot, who, in the middle of the seventeenth century, made a systematic scrutiny of the Bible. They found that a consistent chronological sequence could be established and were able to announce that creation commenced promptly at 9 am on Sunday, 23 October, in the year 4004 BC. The remarkable fact is that this result continued to be taken seriously until not much more than a hundred years ago. And there are many who still believe it. The various scientific methods that have been brought to bear on the question during the past century have successively increased the estimates of the age of the Earth and its neighbouring planets. One can now state, with reasonable confidence, that the solar system is about 6000 million years old. This makes it between a third and a half the age of the Universe itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]