Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1875-12-03
THE ORIGIN OF LIFE.

Professor Proctor on tho Theory of
SpOntRnt Gus generation Life
From Other WOTIds-InfIuenCe of
HeAI.
To the Editor of the Tribune:
SIR-Professor Proctor's determine
ton to take the same side with men like
Tyndall, Darwin and Huxley, in their in
depreciation of nature, has been fully and
satisfactorily explained by Mr.. Proctor
himself in his letter to the Tribune. You
very rightly remarked, while comment
ing on it in an editorial, that ut is clear
that the fierce opposition aroused against
the views of Professor Tyndall, especially
after his Belfast address, had much TO
do with awakening Professor Proctor 8
sympathies." " Science has gained a
strong champion through the persistent
study Of logical mind 1t has this ef-
feet on almost all men who get familiar
with nature by untiring efforts to reach
the truth about phenomena One OF
your correspondents On Thursdays Tri.
bune) has already stated that almost all
the eminent teachers and experimenters
in the science of nature are supporting
the theory OF evolution as first advanced
by Lsmarck, GeoHrey St. Hilaire, and
Goethe, and lately so clearly expouuded
and so nobly defended by Darwin, Hux-
ley and Haeckel. The chief point, in
regard to which there is some diversity
of opinion, is the question of the origin
of life. Professor Proctor has in his
first lecture declared that he is willing to
believe in spontaneous generation, while
in his second lecture he makes no men.
ton Of this interesting point of human
inquiry. This belief in spontaneous
generation 10 shared in by a great many
scientists;. for, although Pasteurs exper.
iments, and especially those Of Max
Schultze, have apparently disproved
spontaneous generation by Bastian' g
processes in our times, it is thought nee,
essary to postulate this supposed form
of generation in order to explain the
first origin of life.
The supposition generally accepted il
| that the conditions necessary for spon.
taneous generation existed just at the
close OF that period Of chemical and
physical commotion so often referred tc
as deducted from Kant-Laplace's theo
ries, viz: the fluid state of this planet
Now, this theory, although an admirable
monument Of human thought, is not as
yet established beyond a doubt; on The
contrary, excellent chemists-such as
geologists rarely are--have brought in
controvertible proof that certain bodies
on our earth have never been in moi
ten condition, and that the composition
Of many minerals does not support the
theory of their having been produced by
plutonic processes. The merits of La.
places theory | will not now discuss
only take the liberty to point to the fact
that there is q, minority--in numbers al
least-of scientists who do not admit the
possibility of living matter having ever
l.originated from dead matter, and there
fore do not believe in spontaneous gene
ration at any time, however remote
Their views / will briefly state; All
living matter in the universe has de.
scended from other living matter exist
ing before, so that life exists since the
the universe exists, l. e., both forms oil
matter, living and dead, organized and
inorganic, are infinite in time as
they are in space. This hypothesis has
had the support Of many eminent men
such as Arago, Humboldt, Quinet; and
among living men it is supported by
HeImholtz, Ehrenberg, Richter, and Sill
William Thompson. A most remarkable
fact in connection with this theory is thai
it has been the FesIlt Of deep thought
on the subject with many Of those emf
nent men independently of each other
Richter was the first to publish this view
doing so while reviewing Darwin's "0ri
gin Of Species" in German medical
monthly in 1865. Cir William Thomp
son, without having read or heard of it,
declared before the British Association
| in Edinburgh, in 1871, his CONVICTION
that this theory, which was the result Of
his own reflections, was not at all in op
position to accepted principles oI
science. The hypothesis referred to in'
vaIidates the old question about the be-
glnnlng, ana uOeb BrehS eerVlce W
science by dispensing with such idle
questioning. One Of these observers
fhrenberg, widely known for his skill in
handling the microscope, hgs shown thai
the great ascending equatorial Rir-cur
rent carries with it smallinfusoris sposes
and ashes, from South America and
Africa, and deposits them in Centra
Europe. The curious phenomenon o.
"red snow" not unfreQuently observed
on the Alps, is caused by BILLIONS Of such
infusoria being deposited on the spow.
These minute germs and spores, the ex
istence Of which in immense numbers in
the dust Of our atmosphere the micro
scope has revealed, are carried upward
aud may Goat so far with the different
ascending currents that they enter the
uppermost strata Of our atmosphere
and by coming gradually in contact will
the cosmic atmosphere, may be slipped
OF, as il we're, from the rapidly revolyinl
sphere and wander into space. Thel
NAV then come within the zone of at