The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-11-13
Are We Simply Vermiii1a
Crawling Over the Earth


When M. Bergeret declared that
organic life is only yermin crawling
on the surface of this snblunar globe.
he had just been cruelty hurt IN his
home life, and many times the meta
physics of the most sage philosophers
are optimistic or pessimistic accord
/ ing TO their state of mind. So Is
Mr. Bergeret, at the moment when he
made this pessimist'c declaration had
c~-,ht sight OF the features OF Nine.
de Gromance, there Is no doubt but
that he would have expected at least
some mammals.
The truth is that nothing Is moro
worth studying than the problem OF
life with the many enigmas IT offers
to science. OF course, we arc bound
to consider 1t. DIS geology shows It to
be u very unimportant accident in
the evolution of the earth, but II is
nevertheless exceedingly interesting to
try to investigate how 1t first orig
mated.
Powerful thinkers. from Kant to
Lord Kelvin, have declared that this
germs OF life may have been brought
here by aeroliths from some distant
world. but how this transmission was
carried out remained unknown, and
1t was besides considered likely that
tile empty space with Its extremely,
low temperatures that prevail between
the stars, were an absolute obstruc-
ton to the propagation OF living
beings.
Recent experiments. however, have
given new impulses to these ideas
TINT recently had hardly emerged from
the imposing, but vague domains OF
speculation.
The effect upon great many bac-
peratures near the absolute zero we
now know 1t not destructive, but
merely tends to preserve them. rho
cold and the vacuum only serve TO sus-
pend animation Indefinitely few
hours. When, therefore. they are de-
posed In some atmospheres after years
~ wandering tnrcug space, they in
stantly and with all their innate, vigor
begin their termination. Does NOT
this in many respects remind one OF
the fairy tales OF the Sleeping Beauty
in tho woods?
The interstellar space Is. therefore.
a milleu favorable to the transmission
of life.
AS to the way in which tho micro
organism may be transmitted from one
IN regard to the action of light per-
nit us to conceive very simple So
luton. The sun attracts and holds in
Its mighty dependence only bodies OF
very considerable magnitude. When
the volume decreases the repulsion,
which the solar rays are known to
exert, becomes predominant. and This
action prbably also explains tho tails
of comets
AS for tho Infinitely small bodies
the diameter of which Is only very
small fraction of millimetcr, tho
light of the sun drives them indefinite
~ into space until they, conglomcrated
with other cosmic dust, are again at
tractcd by celestial bodies.
Melancholy spirits see In this Soma
to what happens in society
where the poor and small are driven
out of the sunshine into cold and
darkness, but do not think that !
nature follows the doctrines Of Met
szche In this for the cause Of the
phenomenon I have just described is
due solely to the electromagnetic
action of light, as tha illustrious Max
well has shown
1t Is thus understood how 1t has
been made possible for life to be
transmitted from one solar system |
to another. 1t is only necessary that
N some distant part of the sky, near
sirius or even further away, there has
axisted some planet whose atmosphere. |
Ike ours, contained micro-organlsms
These Organisms have then been sent
put upon their long lethargic voyage |
~ the action OF the rays OF the neigh !
boring sun, and 1t does not seem un- !
reasonable to suppose that the first !
germ of life has como to our earth |
n this manner.
Is It possible, however, that a simple |
Micro organism. having found favor |!
lble place to terminate. may end In |
the rich and varied plant |
and animal life of the earth? This !,
question the evolutlonists unhesitating-