New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-04-10
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
THE GARDEN OF EDEN.

r.
,.,.n,or roITND The Cradle of the Human Race e az
the North Pole study Of the tre LII" d. Presi
BY wnLn S :: w nApiversity, i2mo PIP. XIV. 5o5
Houghton, Miiin q 70 .er., of a
Ono would be glad to speak respectfully OF
treatise which shows, as this does sinceri'S'
try. extensive reading and no small measure -
cenu,ty. but it is vitated by such ihiirni''''
logic that it is impossible to treat IL as ie"'
tr'hut;on 70 science. Dr. Warren's besetting STU Is
extending his conclusions 10 cover maV'"is NV
VOWED in his premises. He begins an areuhien'
.ar.f,llv and marsbals an array of facts 10 sup
wort A. 4. Int suddenly we detect him injecting
sunnosit,on and treating 1t as an estabnsheu H''n
and then after n few pages he recurs TO MS oae'"
syl,orism with the remark, ave havos proVou
so and SOL when he has not proved tho poi"'
assumed it, Thus must always TURN p"oA W
verify his recapitulations. We cannot u us' NM
stato his own case We are far from imagining that
he is conscious of this fault. Ii proceeus IN pau
from his firm persuasion OF tho 'ruth vi mo 9
pothescs in part from an imperfect UNDERSTANDING
of tbe nature of evidence-and that is weakness
of Judgment otherwise indicated by MS copious
references to medley of good, bad and lndihoren'
on,hor,;os in which the most respectable hlstor-
JAMS and investigators touch cioo"S WIN Va"
fanciful dreamers.
Several writers before Dr. Warren have maih-
tanned that animal and vegetable lie Dee"n
within the Attic circle whore, Mt remote seo''si
cal perlod the climatic conditions were more iA'oi
able than on any other part OIL the gooo' anu
many have admitted that this theory acpoun''
more easily than any othor for the courses 'y
which the forms of life seem to have been disperSeu
over the earth as we'll as for the paleontoiosy VI
the Arctic regions, so far as we know H. 1ran'ihe
that the whole globe its first consolidation was
heated to a very high tempcrture, and that inc pro-
A. pola fhara m
been time when the Arctic was most favored
and fertilo recion while the lower ATTITUDES were
too hot TO sustain life If Low we suppose (what
biologists hold to be probable) that there existed
saw in the miocene period-a North Po'ar
continent since submerged, that continent Is
the spot where life wculd naturally bave ncguh
In point of fact the Arctic does abound with FOSSIL
remains of extinct organisms showing fhat IN
remote ages 1T gave birth to gigantic forms OF
plants reptiles and beasts. and presented all the
phenomena of luxuriant growth. Inc tropical
oxuberance of It's fauna and flora is associated by
DR. Warren with a peculiarly delightful climate
Not only was the miocene Polar continent more
temperate than the lower zones. but it was blest
above them all with Astounding light The long
Arctic night he holds to be bctlon OF tne
physicists. During the months III when the sun ~
below the horizon. the darkness is so shortened Dy
twilight and dawn. and so often lnVaoed ny the
aurora borealis that in reality the Pole has hardy
any night at all-at the utmost not more than Two
months out of the twelve. That is, DR.. warren
counts no time as night unless it is perfectly dark,
and makes the violent assumption that the DIVISION
of day and night 1t exists at the Poles is more
favorable to life than the arrangement established
anywhere else.
Having reached this position. and quoted some
opinons in support of 1t, DR.. Warren leaps to the
- " Ax.arn nnf 40
and estimates of scientific authorities, we have at
the Pole. in the age Of the first appearance of the
buman race a temperature the most equable and
delightful possible; and with this we may well be
content, Later in summarizing a part OF his
argument. he makes the statement little stronger
declaring that there is scientifically accepted
evidence that at the time of the advent OF man the
climate at the Arctic Pole was all that the most
poetic legends of Eden could demand" And hnally
his dlctum assumes the still more positive form that
according to all procurable data" the now lost
miocenc continent surrounding the Arctic Pole was,
g at the era of mans appearance" the one spot on
earth where the biological conditions were the most
favorable possible. Here is remarkable illustra-
ton of the falaciousness of DR.. Warrens methods
to which we referred at the beginning OF TINS
notice. Passing over tho improved and unprovable
statement about tho "equable aud delightful
climate" of the miocenc continent, pray where does
DIR. Warren get the news that the era of the most
favorable possible biological conditions at the
Pole was also tho era of mans first appearance
That is an essential part of his arguments Tut 1t is
not established by any of the authorities whose
q views and estimates he has averaged" what
ever that process may be); it is pure hypothesis,
not included in tho Doctors premises but bursting
forth all unheradcd. in his conclusion. The era OF
mans appearance is unknown. few pal9ontolo-
gist. have indeed tried to push it back to the
tertiary period, which would include the supposed
miocene Polar continent; but this claim Is at
best conjecture, not generally credited, ana
based upon highly unsatisfactory researches.
The French Association for the Advance
ment of the Sciences made q careful examlna-
ton of the case last year, and its opinion
was decidedly against the claim The Oldest traces
of human existence SO far ackno wledged belong to
the quaternary, most recent, geological period
and MANY authorities regard it as extremely prob
lematical whether these traces be assigned
to SO remote an age as the glacial period which on
our authors theory came after the submersion of
the supposed Polar Eden. Hence although the
records are too scanty to permit of saying abso
lutely that man had not come into being at the
miocene period, we cannot ignore the fact that
geology 80 far furnishes evidence that he had
appeared at that remote time, while the preponder-
ance of scientific opinion is heavily against the
hypothesis OF such an antiquity for the human race
Thus them of the points which DR.. Warren
presents as a summary of the preliminary portions
of his treatise namely: l, That there Is scientf-
cally accepted evidence that at the time of the
advent of man tho climate at the Arctic Pole was
all that the most poetic legends of Eden could
demand; 2, That this locality was the cradle of
the flora and fauna of the world; and 3. That the
latest photographers aud anthropologsts are slowly
;%of ri Arcttc