The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1875-12-04

NrV NuRk, NONtHuCI -V'' luASAhpl
"" determination to take the SAM
H,, yi,b men like Tyndall, Darwin ant
g,ey in their Interpretation OF nature
lux" Sn Mlly and satisfactorily explain
ah i, Mr. practor himseliin'his letter Il
q "E-5snt You very rightly remarked
". lii, g,mmrptiug on it in an editorial
lu,I /. clear that the fierce opposition
I- against the views OF Prof, Tyn
i ig ,r.perialy after his Belfast address
IlI mich 10 do with awakening Prof
s,' .ympathies.' Science hasgaine(
', ,,,r, champion through the persistent
.,jg"i a logical mind. 1t has this etleCl
WV, .',,imo.taII men who get familiar with
q, by untiring efforts to reach the
,."S anon, phenomena. One OF your cor
s.,'Dnients lin Thursdays Tribune has
i,l,Iy stated that almost all the eminent
, '.s agdevperimenters in the sCieuCC
j,,n,re are supporting the theory OF ev'
.,aon a, tir.t advanced by Lamarck,
G.'Irry 81. llilaire, and Goethe, and
I,,,iy "a clearly cxpounded and so nObly
,.sold by Darwin, Huxley and Hack
The chief point, in regard to which
+.r /. some diversity OF opinion, is the
'rs,,ion Of the origin Of life, Prot. Proc
t,.,bg. in his first lecture declared that
10 /, willing to believe in spontaneous
,,5fr,,ion, while in his second lecture he
g,ke, no mention OF this intesesting
%iol Of human inquiry, This'belief in
imDtaneon, generation is shared by q
,,a,l many scientists, Tor. although Pas.
lr9,, experiments, and especially those
d Max Schnlt7e, have apparently dis
o,oyci spontaneous generation by Bas-
ian. processes in our times, it is thought
Necessary to postulate Unsurpassed form
y grnrration in order to explain the first
origin OF life,
Tbs supposition generally accepted is
that the conditions necessary for spOnta.
Noon, generation existed just at the close
Of that period Of chemical and physical
connection 50 often referred to as dcduCed
FROM Kant.Laplace's theories, viz the
bnid state Of this planet. Now, this the.
or although an admirable monument
If human thought, is not as yet estab.
i,bel beyond doubt. On the contrary,
excellent chcmists-such as biologists
rarely arc-have brought inContrOverti.
Bic prooi that certain bodies on our earth
have never been in u molten condition,
lnl that the composition Of many miner.
81 does not support the theory Of their
having been produced by plutonic pro-
Ce.,e,. The merits OF Laplace's theory
| will not now discuss. | only take the
liberty to point to the fact that there is
minority-in numbers at least-Of sci.
EMIT. who do not admit the possibility
Of living matter having ever originated
from dead matter, and therefore do not
believe in spontaneous generation at
any time, however remote. Their
view. | will briefly state: All living
mltter in the universe has descended
from other living matter existing
before 80 that life exists since the
universe exists, /. g, both forms Of
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
Ango humboldt, Quinet; and among
living menit il supported by llelmbOltz,
Ehengerg, Richter, aud Sir William
Thomson. A most remarkable fact in
connection with the theory Is that 1t has
been the result Of deep thought on the
subject with many OF those eminent men
independent Of each other. Richter was
the Grst to publish this view, doing 80
while reviewing Darwin's "Origin OF Spe-
Cic,' in German medical monthly in
1865. Sir William Thompson, without
having read or heard Of II, declared be.
fore the British Association in Elinburg,
in 1871, his conviction that this theory,
which WAS the result Of his own reileC.
tion', wasnol Mt all in opposition TO &c.
cepcd principles Of science. The by.
pOlhcsis referred to lnvaliiates the old
question about the beginning, and does u
great service to science by dispensing
with such idle questioning. One Of
these observers, Ehrenburg, widely known
Tor his skill in handling the microscope,
has shown that the great ascending
equatorial air.current carries with Il
small iniN'oria, spores, and ashes, from
South America and Africa, and deposits
them in Central Europe. The curious
phenomenon Of "rcd snow" not unfre.
qaeUtly observed on the Alps, Is caused
bybiliOns Of such infusoria being depOs-
tied on the snow. These minute germs
andpores, the existence Of which IN i'm.
men'e numbers in the dust Of four atmOs.
phere the microscope has revealed, are
carried upward, and may lloatso far with
The different ascending currents that
they enter the uppermost strata Of our
atmosphere, and by coming gradually In
contact with the Cosmic atmosphere, may
be '.ppcd Off ns it were, from the rapid.
IyfevOlying sphere and wander into
space. Thcymay come within the zone
Of attraction Of another heavenly body, n
PIanct, a comet, Of an acrolitc. II this
oody Is habiiablC, the germs, both animal
ADD vegetable, will become active again,
,al develop according to the laws Of evo.
luton.
One ls not able to prove with absolute
certainty that our earth has been popula.
ted in this manner with living beings.
treat probability Is, however, given to
'hl' view by peculiar property to the
meICOrileS and acrolites that fall on our
earth. This popularity was first discov.
e'edby WhOler, and has been found to be
present in many other instances. These
Teicoric showeru, these specie Of "cosmic
la'l contain carbon. There arc in
closed in their interior masses similar to
mold, Thus ii was with the meteorite
That fell near the KOba in Hungary, now
IN Keichcnbach's collection; and the
'lale traces Of organic matter are found
III one from Orgneil in France, and an
T ,iShe Iron BOkehart at the Cape Of Good
Hope. The most extraordinary case on
record, however, ia that Of q meLcoric
shower which tell in Sweden, in 1870;
me black pieces, consisting almost ex.
Cla,lveIy otmold, could be easily collect.
co. because they happened to decend on a
',9oE'ield. We know that mold Is always
!! result Of some organic process, that
living particles play the efficient part in
y t!nPtoduction. The proof Is thus eStab-
i"Ocd Tor tho fact that organic masses ex.
~, " IN co'mlc space. The late Edgar
VlInet say
ii 1e Is OF cosmc nature. II wNndrrS abon,
,.a'n The universe; II pcnelratcs everywhere II
gitlh had tiEcn shape, ami ii viii ontlve it. Tho
N. lDlk up The germs Of all future beings from
~. Niae mae, and equally In distant space, the
INV, XIV o. oistnr beings are sircwn about aud will
t% s,., 4, 'oon rs they And favorable ground,
'''a Tue lowest type up Unreasonable beings