Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1907-03-18
LIFE SPONTANEOUS.
{ Is the Inevitable Outcome Ct the
CooI;no of a Globe.

5tf Is the lheVttap:et OGtCotIle u siS
Cooling of a Globe.
So far as we have evidence. life Is an
inevitable outcome of the cooling Of
globe, provided that globe is sufficient
" large. for life did not reach this
earth from without. No fanciful mete-
.orite bore it the seeds which have since
sprouted and overrun its surface. Me-
'teorites gave it life, indeed. but In the
more fundamental way in which all
natures processes are done, by supply
ing it with matter only from which by
evolution life arose. OF this we are
absolutely certain from the fact that
while meteors were falling upon it in
any numbers they We're forming its
mass, the full heat Of which had not
yet been evolved by their impact and
subsequent condensation. The heat
that thence ensued was excessive,
many fold greater than sufticed to kill
any germs that might have come to 1t
!, housed in the meteorites themselves.
Thus the action due the meteorites
after. they came must have annihilated
any organici possib Utilities they may sha yes
: broug s. .Tarfiving5
ssiaffer the heat had waned enough to
make survival possible found life al
ready started. since protoplasm formed
the moment cooling permitted of it.
The proof that life was here spon-
taneously evolved appears at every
stage in its history not only in its ori-
gin, but at every step of its progress
upward where marked departure oc-
ours from its previous course. 1t and
the environment are observed to have
changed together. Two short parallel
columns, the one showing the changes
that have occurred in the habitat, the
other those supervening in, the habitat.
will make this not simply clear, but
striking. As effective as the well
known deadly parallel Of oratorical ut
terances. this life giving one reaches
the same certainty through the proba-
bilities disclosed.
Occasion of this vital parallelism oc-
ours at the very start Indeed, we
may go back Of this and note agree
ment before the start, for until the
conditions were such as could support
life no life appeared. This IS the first
coincidence. Another follows on its
heels with the dawn both of conditions
fit for some existence and Of that eX-
istence ITSELF The waters were its
birthplace. No other portion of the
surface could then have offered it q
home, and nowhere except in the sea
is it then found.
The sinultaneity of each new birth
and each new cradle crops up again
when new field arose by the making
of the land AS soon as this was suit
able plants appeared to take possession
of it and from that time on neglected
more and more tie sea.
Tie. fourth parallel is found in the
significant fact that the edible plants
and the plant eaters made their debu.
Oh the scene together in miocene times
the World having got along withou!
both before that epoch. This entry
hand in hand, so to speak, De Lap
parent, the great French geologist, Goes
not hesitate to link logically and to re-
gard the one as the necessary compile
,-ment of The other. If this were not the
case, there is certainly no reason why
they should appear at the same instant
Of time. Food evokes its eater in fact
as definitely as in phraseology.
The last of this procession Of coinci-
dences, man, came on the globe Mt the
time when the cooling of the globe rem
dered his own extension possible at
the least expense to himself. His brain
allowed him to take advantage of con.
ditions less intrinsically favorable than
other animals could endure. his mind
clothed his body and gave him fire, and
with these two products he sailed
forth into q world where antagonists
were chiefly climatic, with which he
was fitted TO cope.
Thus all along the line yTe perceive
that life and its domicile arose togeth-
.er. The second is necessary to the
first, and the first is always sufficient
to the occasion. The coincidence of
the possibility and its seizure, Of the
posse and the esse, seems to be gen
eral principle Of evolution. Endless
variation is constantly in progress, and
this variation takes advantage of any
opportunity so soon as 1t occurs. Life
but waits in the wings Of existence for
its cue to enter the scene the moment
the stage is set.-Professor Lowell In
Century Magazine.
HIf the Eye Is Maimedr--
Necessity gives to the eye precious
nnrpar nf seeing and In the same WAY