Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1922-07-02
A Cross Sectional Cut of the Nagaya Meteorite,
Showing Brown Coal of Undoubted
Vegetable Origin

coal. as we'll. Peat and coal, as you know,
are Of vegetable origin. Furthermore, in
some OF these meteoritcs traces OF water
have been found and In others oxygen.
These discoveries imbedded in the stony
masses form a message compact, uncquivo.
Cal and startling. They show not only that
life exists somewhere "out there" in the
world they have been torn from. hut also
that the world "out there" must have been.
In some respects, like our own
The cr!noids. sponges and corals, much
like the same formation we still have or
. this earth today. prove that this other
world possessed an ocean; the peat and
coal, that it had vegetation and probably
forests; the water anu oxygen, that IL DOS.
scssed an atmosphere.
Where rolled the world OF which the
metcorite was n part? What ruled it,
creatures comparable to man. lower forms
higher forms, or strange shapes produced
by processes OF evolution unknown to us
here? And what happened to that world?
Such things can be guessed at only
AS TO what its life forms were. two
things seem reasonably sure. One Is that
they rescmbled in some degree those we
know on earth. This is indicated by the
similarity OF tire crinoid fossils to our own
crinoid forms. and by the presence OF
water and oxygen showing that the condl-
lions were to some extent like our own.
The other thing we can believe with rea-
sembled our forms in some respect they
differed widely In others. for the condi.
lions In which they underwent their long
evolutionary processes must have been
alike in some ways. different in others
The artist who has made the large draw
ing on this page gives you an idea of what
YOU might expect IL you visited another OF
these Inhabited planets. You would prob
ably see forms which reminded you of
things You had seen on earth, 'uG weirdly
and Enthusiastically different as in a night
mare or fairy-tale. You would almost GER
tanly see forms OF life that resembled 10
some eXteRt our vegetables-living things
fastened by their roots-and living things
with power OF locomotOn that would re-
mind you in fantastic way Of our own
animals fou might or mig not need the
helmets and oxygen tanks which the artist
has provided his men IN the dra%ing-de.
pending on whether the atmosphere was
like our own or different from it, Some
kind Of atmosphere there would have to
be. else there could be no life. The exact
detail, of course, is purely imaginative.
The most extraordinary and most dis
cussed single meteorite that ever came to
earth Is the famous "Knyahlnya"-so called
from the name of the Hungarian town near
where 1t fell. 1t Is also known as the Hahn
meteor because of the exhaustive study
of it made by DIR. Otto Hahn. geologist and
physicist OF the University of Vienna. Ac-
cording TO his views and those OF other
German scientific men. this mcteorite was
largely composed Of fossil animals and
plants. This, of course. was in past gen.
Grafton. The greatest minds Of tho nine.
teenth century were divided on this blazer.
On IL and other aidcrItcs Lord Kelvin
based HIS hypothesis that all llfo was orig.
inally brought TO this earth from other
planets In meteor forms which brought not
only f0ggllg but living germ cclls.
have no brief to hold for Hahn or hid
n,oisori,c. In that particular case the sub.
jsCt was, and Biill is. controversial. Many