The Anaconda standard., 1898-01-20
THE WHENCENESS OF IT
DIR. Silverman Searches for the
Origin of Our Race.
OLD EARTH HOT STUFF
But 1t Cooled or Some Time Ago suf-
fciently 20 Let Life Appear and
Have It's Crack in the Eter-
nal Razzle Dazzle.

The Unity club held another interest
ing meeting last evening. which was
largely attended The feature Of the
evening was paper read by Or. James
A. Silyerman on the subject, The
Origin of Our Race. synopsis of
which is as follows.
II have been asked to talk to you this
evening, and TO bring up a subject for
discussion. AS you have at former meet
ings discussed the destiny of our race
and its history, | have decided to take
up tonight the most plausible theory
Of its origin, and TO discuss with sou
v here we came from. one Of the first
laws we learn in natural philosophy Is
that all matter is indestructible, and
from this we can deduCe the converse
that no form Of matter can be obtained
from nothing; therefore, we know that
all matter that now exists has always
existed and will always exist, although
il may have changed its form many
times. Natural philosophy also teaches
us that matter may take three forms,
viz. Solid, liquid or gaseous, ana that
the unit Of all the forms is the atom.
An atom il the smallest particle Of amy
element that cannot be further subdi-
yided. and is SO small tnat it cannot ne
seen by the most powerful microscope
Two or more atoms make moleCule.
which are held III position by a force
called cohesion. Ali forms Of matter
when heated expand, that is, the mole
eules are further separated and when
cooled contract on have the molecules
brought closer together. These mole
eules are constantly IN motion. Win
these preliminary remarks we are ready
to proceed with our theory. Try T.
imagine a time when from some un-
known cause all matter in the universe
was in a gaseous form and all the plan-
cts formed one large heated body of
gas When the cause Of the heat was
removed this immense body Of gas be-
gan to cool ana t. contract, As the
cooling process continued chemical com
bination took place, according to the de
gree of heat and other circumstances,
forming the forms of the elements ana
their combinations which we now find
until a large round semi-solid mass
was formed. which was surrounded by
an atmosphere of gas. This mass was
extremely hot and was by a cause not
definitely known set in motion. revolF-
ing upon its axis, and either through
internal conNulsiunS or centrifugal
force, or both, large masses BECAME de-
tached and were hurled into space, stop
ping ait distance Of the inverse proper
tion TO the size Of the mass with that
of the original mass, which we call the
sun and held there by Il force which Is
called gravity. The force Of gravity,
together with the force which hurled
them from the sun caused them 70 ro-
tate about the sun. forming the solar
system. III took millions of years foI
the planet we call the earth Ia cool sur
I ticently ia support life. In similar
i manner We're living things formed, the
+ elements Of which they are formed COM
/ bining when al the proper temperature
/ for their combination. The principle Of
/ ali living animals is protaplasm. better
/ iSnowB to you In the form Of the white
/ of an egg, only this Is inanmate pro-
toplasm. Ali animals are composed Of
i mpriads Of cells of this pr0toplasm
i which itself IS formed Of the following
! elements Carbon. oxygen, nitrogen,
1 hydrogen and sulphur. these elements
/ being ia a gaseous form and free al the
time when all elements were SO Gem
j bined under the proper conditions Of
temperature and conditions forming the
+ first living cell upon the earth. VT
have noW Il cell for the smallest ami
NAL which is Identical with that first
cell. which is called the amoeba. Let
] us now examine this amoeba under the
4 microscope and see what we can learn
/ In The first place it measures about
! 10000 of an inch in diameter. Upon
! examining il we find that il possesses
j all the functions Of men except that 81
/ sight and speaking. il eats digests
i moves. feels, hreathes, etc, aud has the
j power Of reproducing itself Man is sim
ply an animal of myriads Of cells like
/ this. each performing all Of its func
tiuns. but having one particular fnne
ton developed better than the rest, thus
the cells for sight perform all Of the
j functions but have the function Of see
ing more developed. and the cells f9I
digestion have that function developed
tp greater degree than the rest, Se
these cells perform each Of the othe
functions because they are necessary L