Abstract
George Young's first geological work, A Geological Survey of the Yorkshire Coast was highly praised by contemporary geologists of his day as a thorough and valuable contribution to geological knowledge of Yorkshire in north-eastern England. During the 19th century, as is still the case today, the geological arguments for the age of the earth resulted from assumptions about the past, rather than the facts. Young was very careful to separate the facts from the assumptions, and powerfully argued from the geological evidence and scriptural record that those proposing an ancient age for the earth were misguided.