The Cecil Whig., 1884-02-09
Where did Life Begin +?
BY REV. DAVID COLE, II. u.

Ms Is the title OI Drief monograph
from the pen Of Hon. G. Hilton Sclibner,
of our city, formerly Secretary of State.
1t is issued 10y the Scribners. and is me-
chanicaliy attractive.
The title of the book does not sug-
gest its subject of inquiry, though it
might be difficult TO find another equally
short form of words that would i'm
prove it. The author valves the 1ues-
tion whether life is u creation or de-
velcpment. Every one sees that life
exists. The inquiry OF the book is not
"Whence did it Gomez but "Where on
earth did it first appear?' Was it at
the poles, or at the equator, or at some
intermediate point? And if we can find
out where it first appeared, how was it
thence over the eartiIs The whole argu-
ment is coniintd to he tlora and fauna,
mere line or two at the close being
given 10 the life OF Il man. To this last
| shall refer further on.
To put the argument in popular
iOiih' IL - lHlS. ue tditu was, lOf III
indefinitely long period, molten mass.
No life, Of which we have any kno VI
edge, could lave sustained its heat
Lille never could have appeared upon it,
until, in its progress of cooling, it came
down to temperatures which life could
endure. AT the moment when it reached
this point of reduction as to its heat,
the flora aud fauna appeared. Cooling
set il. of course, from the poles, and has
ever stree been moving from them
southwark or northward toward the
equator. 1t would have been very rapid
Il there had been no external influence
at work to retard the effect produced by
the constantly progressing radiation of
heat No sooner would the point of re-
duction from extreme heat at which life
is possible have been reached than the
temperature would have passed below
this point, and life would again have
been as impossible for the cold as it had
prey iGusly been for the heat. But the
iaIib4iN VI ti!to plcSSSS '" "dS, from lluS
to time, so regarded by the compensa-
tlon of solar heat, as to maintain upon
each parallel, III the process Of cooling, a
period OF daptation 10 life sufficiently
long for life'S hcalthiHl and vigorous de-
velGpment. After time however, not
wlthstanding its all sufficient lingering,
this period would give way, and it's de-
parture would leave upon the parallel
cold which would radically chauge the
character of, or stint, or destroy tie
iiic it had net driven away.
The theory of Mr. Sclibner. then. is that
tie life found on tie land aud in the
seas of ON planet first appeared at the
poles, and moved from these southwark
and northward to the equator. The form
OF the earth. lie thinks. sustans his
theory. The corrugation of its surface
is not prominently eastelly and westerly,
but motthellF and Snutlerly 10 east
elIy aud westerly mi -srations, this CORFU
Cation presents inSuperable obstacles,
bat to northerly and southeriy move
mentS it affords the most favorable con-
ditionS And in the fact that the fcra
and fauna Of beth hemiSpheres, notwith-
standing the difference of their hemis
phcric features, SO much resemble each
other, he finds further confirmation of
his view. Life beginning oa the land
around the North Pole, driven or luled
southwark in time by increasing cold or
the need Of food, would pass down along
all the meriGians into America, Europe
and Asia alike. And, though under
different conditions, it would assume
different notifications on the different
sides of the globe. it woulu yet retain
enough of a common character to betrav
TIE c0nlmnnueSS of its origin. In the
process Of the migratory movement,
| maHy living tribes of fora and fauna
nerisaed. many others, begin too feeble
"r ind"icnt to move with the rest, be-
ramc stiHteti and inferior, while others
stu, remaining behind, developed,
through a superior vitality, a growing
h:i'i!ness. took on physical develop
ments that especially titteG them to en-
dure the deepening rigors Of the Arctic
| climate. ana were the leaders Of the
hardy tribes now found within the
f.igii zone. Mr.. Scribner informs us
that all this Las been going on-that it
is not speculation, but fact.
1t is the passaee-see pages 81 and 80
in which the author cautiously sug-
s,estS that the ancestry Of man may have
been some animal with a thumb, and
that this ancestry may have shared the
Arctic homo i'll which he supposes the
flora and fauna first appeared. | say
cautiously suggests" for Nr. Scribuer
speaks Of this as IA vague and very de-
duct've SnppoSition, for which nothing
is claimed beyond possibility or bare
probability My mind revolts at this.
The Bible does not leave the question of
tie ancestry of man, or the question
when human life first appeared Oh the
earth, an open question at all. IL di-
rectly states that God formed man ply.
sicaliy, mentally and spiritually perfect.
And it locates him at the very outset on
the banks of the Euphrates. And it
holds him to the vicinity Of this starting
aoint down to the dispersion at Babel,
enc hundred years after the food
1t not only gives no reason for suppos-
ing that the human race is more than
about 5000 years old, but on the contra
ry, affords the most positive proof that
its age is not far from this. am obliged
to accept all sensible and proved positions
that underlie the claims of cvolutionists.
There has been, and is, a constantly pro-
crossing evolution in the conditions of
the fora aud fauna, in the conditions of
the physical earth, and even in the con-
ditions of the human race, since their re-
spectiEe eXistences began. But any theo-
ries that trace the origin either of plant
OF animal life to matter or matter pro.
cesSeS, and especially any theories that
BEGIN human life h,ck ,f 11.,, ,r ,,,,-