New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-12-21
TIE GENESIS OF LIFE.
A,rrrER FROM RICHARD A. PROCTOR,
. prp,y TO "rAU SIGMA "-rAnLY CONDITIONS Al
TIE FOLKS.

strove 10 show that science had had us o'iE'n !"
bicb lattudes if no, actually aroundthc North foo'
Of crursc he was unable 10 tud tho s'ightes' oN'-
dance of any old system of astronomy IN WHICH 'no
various relations correspondent to poc-S'ar hc"iy
ovo,hc,a What singular conditions would exist,
by the way. Mt North polar observatory ht s"oh
a station the ordinary form of telescope, with its
.or,,o., and borizontai axea would he m cqua-
,,r,a, s,mnlv because the vertical axis would be
,,sc,ed toward the pole of the heavcns.l All Baiiiy
.o,ia o,tcnpt 10 show was that the Astronomical
,cc,rds Of old times seem 10 retain traces OF sys-
.e,, ,f astronomy belonging TO higher latitude
Tho, any uassine through the Assyrian, Egyptian
aud Indian regions to which the origin ~ as'ron-
omy has usually been assigned. He showed some
s,iJence In favor Of latitude 900 north ~ having
bcen tha, to which early astronomy belohgen,
,bansh the evidence ia have shown IN npperdix
A. ,a my treatise on Saturn aud its system , was
vs nearly az decisive az he SURPASSED Now ~ "
e,y ~ sioWn that astronomy, when later hah wa
staf sehees ~ lati,udes considerably sonthoi oe'
tad N,nefs ,hftpn W that hiahet la'itndes
ha,lis's maiA eahlehtiHA=lhht the pbatps' I"
e,y,i,Sstian had hean saathwa,d=weald have herh
s,ronaiy oanh,mei, Traced bach flWn no. north
a. iOs sni 10 h0a north, science aud civilization
,oulj he foilowed, independently at aplnaleNhlhhNp
further north still until at length the OLD Atlantis
might in imagination he set around the North f"'u
itself This would Suggest 10 our medeFh students
Of the mast who 90 beyond the origln OF clNl''Ha-
tiou ia the origin of life ITSELF that all LIE came
from the North Pole
But If the North Polar regions early presented
conditions suitable for tine beginning OF lie upon
thls earth il would seem reasonable TO conclude
that the South Polar regions would have been
,onally favorable for the first forms OF He TAU
y,cma N his interesting and suggestive letter in
.l.nro nraS
che Southern Polar regions originally
aorc suitable than the northern for HES COM
Mencement. He conceves that life had begun
,o,nd the Sonth Pole and progressed some distance
toward the equator before life began round
the North Pole He appears to base this opinion
nm the actually existent relation between the po-
s;ton of the earth's axis and that the direction oil
the time of apses-as asst onomers pcaslncly term
the major axis of the earth's orbit His words on
this point are these: f the relative position OF the
earth to the sun al the beginning OF organic lie on
this planet was about the same as II is now and we
have no astronomical indications to the contrary
either the first suitable temperature, and conSe-
onenily the first vegetable and animal life on the
earth occurred at or near the poles and ia'er, III
this inquiry it must he taken into consideration,
among her things, that the South Pole ut the time
If its midsummer in the oarth's perihelion, is
thrae milllon miicS ucireI INC sun WIZ
North Pole at the time OF its midsum-
mar in the eartb's apheliOn.' so Tar
"a can be Judged his whole argument is based on
this consideration and falls to tne ground II tins
consideration srciecei In an able edt oria article
IN the same number of The TnBUNE which con-
tains Eau Signals" letter. it is pointed out that
this view may not he generally conceded Ill the
scientific world" nay that lit Is a scientific fact
that the earths per.helion is changing with the
lapse of ages AMI it Is not entirely safe to assume
that its relative position to the sun Is the same TO-
day rs il was when the beginning OF organize ne
o,clrrel." These remarks are oay open to eNcep-
ton as implying that th re may be some doubt re-
spectng the validity of "Tai Signals position IN
this respect As matter OF Tact astronomy wou'"
not only be unwilling to conccie " Tau Slgmas
vewbut would nphltcally reject II. It's not only
scientific fact that the earts perIlelion Is chang
inc with the lapse of ages, bat absolutely certain
toot the relation now existing between the apscs
and tho sostic,s has been reversed and rcreversed
several times since life began upon the earth. Not
70 Use techaical expressions the earth rs now
nearest the sun u few days after the mdw!nter OF
the northern hemisphere, which of course Is the
midsummer OF the southern hemisphere. mus,
whereas the effect of varying distance from inc
san partially cDrrects the ciicts OF varying sonar
elevation with in the North these effects are IN
tensifeJ for the inhaotantS of the southern hcml-
spherc We drlwnclrer by l.5oJ,oOo miles to
the cent raj fi,e in midwinter and recede "a many
miles from the fire III mdsu nmer the c1tlre range
OF distance beng about 3,000.0oo miles; IN the
southern hemisphere they draw nearer TO the lire
II summer and rcccie from It in the winter Bat
this only for awhile. In a few hundreds of thou
sands OF. years which in problems relating the
genesis of life are oIly as second our northern
Lcmisohcrc will behave as the southern hemisphere
does now and vice versa Not ONLY 50, bat the
range of distance, on whicl "Iau Sig mas" case in
like manner dcpsn Is, unl,rgoas great varat oas.
IL has bee mlIv timoS IN tis past, an Will nc In
the fiIie ma n less than II Is nov: whiic again IL
has in the past often besn far grc,er thtn 1T pres
cn,. have bei0r. me picture of the carths orbit
which originally drew for an illustration 10 nv
orticlc o, astronomy IN the encyclopaedia. III which
the orbit of the earth $4,000 years ago. a. "A iimC
waen il had very nearly il greatest possible cccen-
trlcitv is represented instead of tn, ccccntriciy
being as now only about olc-siXtieth, 1t WITS at
,ha, time more than twelfth Of the mcan distance
IL other words lstcal OF the earth ranging about
1909 900 mllss Oh eithcf side fiber mean distance
she ,cl rang ii abolt S.0JJO0J miles from and
toward the sun. making total RAG of distance
Of about 10 OJO 900 miles. At that time then, VT
mach more rem Iria ole varieties OF climate must
have existed on the earth than new. Taking the
distance when the earth furthcst from the sun,
at her inca dis from the sun, and at her leas,
distance at %, % aud q, the supplies Of solar
heat when the earth was situate were as 10, 20,
and 81, or-aelr!y clDugh-as ,, q aud l. 80 that
when the earth was III perhclion she received 40
Per cent more heat than when she was iii aohcion.
/: so CHANGED that then, now the time OF nearest
apprJa n TO tn, sal occIrre IN Inc winter no ltn5
of the northern hemisphere tabont December in
stead of January Il but that relation has several
times been reversed since and had beel several
times reversed before
nav here, in passing, co rect Gu error which il
repeated III nearly ali text books of astronomy.
/ deed have never scel the correct statement in
my work snaciailv deyotcd to that science |. il