New-York tribune., 1884-11-28
crJGv vJrTCJc .NTNUY

The origin of life on the planet is the chief
study of the science of the day. The very
curious and interesting letter which we publish
on another page locates the primOrdial germs
mt the South Pole. The assumption is certainly
entirely reasonable that the beginnings OF life
would dcpcnd upon chemical conditions and
would appear wherever on the face OF the earth
the first suitable temperature might occur.
These beginnings, this correspondent urges,
would be at the poles rather than NJ the equator
or the tropics, for the reason that there the
inherent heat of the. molten or fluid world
would be least ::replenished by the heat Of the
sun; and these would be ut the South Pole
rather than Mt the North Pole, because Oh ac-
count of it's aphcliOn winter and pcrihclion
summer it would have greater extremes of TOM
perature that is to say, the belt cnyoopng the
South Pole would be the first area that would
DC cool enough to admit of organized life. Tho
conditions which wero at first friendly to the
genesis of life would subsequently become hos
tile, and the range of life permitting tcmpera-
ture and climate, when the sun had become tho
only source of heat, would be gradually modi-
| fled and contracted from the poles toward the
tropics and tho equator. The loss of heat at
the poles which first promoted life would event
ually drive it toward tho equator; but tho
primOrda germs were there and In the
beginning ut the South Pole rather than ut the
North Pole.
This letter carries the same lines Of reason
ing long way further to explain the
glacial period. the greater prcpondcranoe of
land in the northern hemi sphere AMI the con-
stant predominant flowing Of water soil, air
and magnetism from the south to the north.
The type OF the glacier is represented to have
been tho first slight frost that occurred ut the
South Pole after the liquid fiery earth had
begun to cool. As the process of cooling won't
on, the northern and southern glaciers ex-
tended from the poles almost or quite to tho
tropics, and WITHIN these two great hemispherical
glaciers an open. circummundane, annular
sea would be formed, fed and frozen alternately
on either side. The Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
must have been frozen and gorged to the
bottom rs far rs the tropics, and in the
intermediate annular sea glaciers and icebcrgs
from north and south jostled against ono
another and left their marks on the prmcval
mountains. These are very large scientific con-
ceptions, and are not to BE- accepted without
serious reservations. Indeed, the fundamental
assumption upon which this ingenious writer
bases his entire argument. namely, that the
present diverse perihclion and aphcion in
nnenccs have continued since tho earth first
found its orbit and there was beginning Of life,
may not be generally conceded in the scientific
world. Indeed, it is scientific fact that the
earth's perihelion is changing with the lapse of
ages, and it is not entirely safe to assume that
its relative position to the sun Is the same to-
day as it was when the beginnings OF organized
life occurred, or that the action OF moro intense
upon moro equable polar conditions, under dis
similar perihellon and aphclion influences, has
remained constant.
While tho writer's conclusions are not to DO
accepted without serious discussion, his lettor
is an Interesting ono and We bespgpk for 1t
careful consdsrntIon. No Intelligent reader
can fail to perceive tho important bearIng
which the letter has upon. scientific invosLisa.