Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-04-11
WHERE DID LIFE BEGINs
An Interesting Discussion of Very In
terestfns Subject

teresting Subject.
President Warren. of Boston, thinks he
has succeeded in solving the problem as to
where animal and vegetable life COM
menced. His researches, he says, have led
him to fix that pom, at the North Pole.
The doctor sustains his theory with much
energy and with surprising array of evil
dence, and this in turn throws much light
on the most vital of the current problems
of biology, terrestrial physics ancient COS
mology, comparative mythology, primeval
history, scientific anthropology, and He
brew and ethnic traditions. He claims to
have given to the work the study of many
years, He says the poles were first fitted
. produce life, which consequently COM
menced at the northern and southern eX-
uemities of the globe, developing indie
pendently. but TO certain extent CORE
spondingly, since conditions were similar.
BY the secular cooling of the globe the
poles ultimately became untitled to sup
port life and such forms as did not perish
III the changes of the earths surface slowly
migrated toward the equator, changing in
the course OF ages, and ultimately giving
rise 10 a fauna, which, over most of the
globe. consists of a mixture of northern
and southern forms.
Many facts derived from the northern
hemisphere lend support to this theory.
and the southern hemisphere has recently
added new facts which tell in the same
direction. The animals OF the northern
hemisphere are still almost identical
throughout the worlds circuit. The same
families and even the same species Of mann
mails and birds are common 70 the north OF
the Old World and of the New. To give q
few examples, the elk or moose, the rein
l,o No 1,-, l,of ,N
of Europe and Asia, are specifically identi-
cal with those Of America. The bison of
America is closely allied 70 the aurochs of
Europe the brown bear CT Europe to our
own grizzly, the stag 70 the wapiu or elk,
and so on.
Remains Of mammals now regarded as
tropical, such as the elephant, hippopota
mus, rhinoce-os, hyena, lion, etc, are COM
mon in the tertiary strata OF temperate and
even arctic regions. This is proof OF
southern migration when climate changed.
In the southern point of South America, in
desolate Patagonia, have been found mann
malian remains which tend to show that
the tertiary fauna Of Patagonia preceded
that of the Argentine republic. to the north
of Forms Of the pampas are there, but
are somewhat more generated, as though
older. Hooker has shown that seventy
seven species OF plants are common to
South America, New Zealand and Tasma-
MIA. 4 small family Of fishes (GHltrid&)
and the marsupialia kangarOos, wUmbat,
Opossum. ETC. are Australian and South
American.
y sort of submarine plateau connects
Staten Island part Of the Terra del Fuego
archipelago with South Georgia and other
antarctic lands, and II seems not unlikely
that a great antarctic continent once exist
ed the remains Of which are australia,
New Zealand, etc, ON the one hand. and
Patagonia on The other. II Australia the
marsupialia multiplied, and spreading
northWard. mingled with the bOreai fauna
that had been driven southwark. In South
America the marsupialia did not greatly
multiply, though they spread, after the up
| heaval OF the Isthmus of Panama, into
North America, where they are represented
| by the Opossum.
| The edentata sloths, arnadillos, ant
eaters and their relations) first appeared in
| Patagonia III the miocene period, and,
| spreading .northward, became the charac-
! terstic animals of South America. Eden
| tates the aard-vark or Cape ant-eaJers, and
| the pangoiins or scaly ant-catersl occur also
in Africa, which was probably once con-
nected southwark with the ancient antarc-
| tic continent.
| In many eases The animals Of northern
| origin, which are the more numerous, can
be distinguished from the southern, but in
other cases We cannot distinguish them
since on the one hand, animals which ma,
turalists place in the same family on ac-
count OF resemblances in structure may
very possibly have had distinct ancestry
and on the other hand the northern forms
which evidently predominant, have moi
only varied greatly in the course Of ages
but have penetrated far toward the south
err extremitieS Of the continents. As re-
| CARDS the Northern Hemisphere the re-
| semblances between the fishes, insects anC
moIlusca Of the Old World and the New
are even more striking than those Of the
| higher animals.