8
THE BATTALION
This is all just a way of saying,
dear brothers, that the one button-
eers will gently sway (Joe Cor man
adds—at so much per sway) to the
weird strains of the latest popular
tunes. Mr. J. J. .J Gorman will be
mounted on his fiery hobby horse at
the entrance, and all those who en
ter will be expected to leave all
care behind, and also $1.50 each.
A DISCUSSION OF THE
THEORIES CONCERNING THE
ORIGIN OF LIFE
by
Mike T. Halbouty
Man with all of his limitations, has
throughout long ages been asking
whence came the earth, his home,
and the sun and stars in the can
opy of the heavens above, but the
most imploring and baffling ques
tion that he has always asked and
will continue to ask is “just what is
the origin of life?” This question in
baffling man has baffled science as
a whole, and, as yet, we have only
theories to satisfy our immense im
aginations on this unsolved ques
tion. Yet through all the intricate
maze of living forms there is a cer
tain unescapable community of fun
damental structure and functions
that compels the realization of the
inherent oneness of all life. People
in general do not realize that man
is a part of one great organic sys
tem, each part of which has some
relation to the whole. But, no, man
looks upon himself as the center of
all creation, and firmly denies to be
long to any system than that of his
own—standing out in the limelight
with all of his glory.
’Tis true that man is glorious but
other organisms before him have
been formed and have lived in a
kingdom of their own, but man can
hardly conceive that his ancestors
were of a lower form than himself.
He then begins to refer to scientif
ic literature for information and the
theories of the origin of life greets
him with an air of mysticism; but
what does he find concerning the
answers to his questions ?
The first theory pertaining to
life’s origin was that known as the
Theory of Special Creation, which is
the literal interpretation of the Mos
aic account of creation set forth in
the first chapter of Genesis—a sim
ple story beautifully told, derived
from the Hebrew tradition and well
stuited to the state of knowledge of
the times and of the people for
whom it was written. This account,
strictly interpreted, has been the
teaching, not alone of the Hebrew, but
of the Christian church authorities
for many centuries, although the
increase in zoological knowledge
made it harder and harder to recon
cile with observed facts, until,
strained almost to breaking, it had
to give way to the doctrines of
evolution. The scientists as a whole
completely denounced this concep
tion of Special Creation but not the
general public for a large majority
held on to it and even today there is
a large number who still have faith
in the story so beautifully told. This
theory will probably never be de
nounced by all, for as long as the
family in homes stand so will the
theory. The. theory is taught in the
homes and not by scientific books
and when the family breaks so will
the theory. The student coming to
college has this theory of Special
Creation in mind and upon studying
science meets with the obstacle of
either changing his doctrine that he
absorbed at home or look at his
scientific work from different angles,
and if he does the latter he becomes
handicapped in his work. Many stu
dents change; some are in doubt as
to what to believe, and others do
not change.
The second theory was derived
from observations made by the first
natural philosophers. They believed
that life arose spontaneously out of
such non-living materials as water
and air, or from the interaction of
earth, air, fire and water. Lowly
creatures of all sorts were thought
of as arising suddenly out of pre
viously non-living materials, with
out any particular cause, i. e., spon
taneously. This idea is called Abio-
genesis (Spontaneous Generation)
and has been held persistenty and
is still believed by some to hold good
for the lowest organisms; but the
vast majority of scientists have
abondoned this view. This idea was
declared early in the sixteenth cen
tury and some of the basics for the
belief of this theory now seem ab
surd to the people of today. Frogs
were believed to come down with
the rain and that a black horsehair,
if left for some time in a watering
trough, will transform itself into a
wiggling thread-worm. Mice were
“known” to have developed from
a dirty cloth and a piece of cheese
secluded in a dark corner. Even scien
tists firmly declared that fishes were
spontaneously engendered in water
and that many animals are the pro
ducts of fermentation. All of this
was believed, and the idea of Abio-
genesis was firmly declared to be
absolutely basic.
The above theory was believed un
til 1680, when a great scientist by
the name of Redi performed a classic
experiment which showed the fal
lacy of this popular conception. He
had frequently observed the stages
of decay in meat and had noted that,
long before maggots (a soft bodied,
grublike, footless larva of an insect
especially a form living in decaying
matter) appeared in it, flies hovered
around and sometimes alighted upon
it. Then, he wondered if the mag
gots could be the progeny of the flies.
Redi placed a piece of paper over a
piece of meat and this prevented the
flies from reaching it. The meat
putrified as usual, but no maggots
appeared. He then placed a fine
gauze over the meat which allowed
the odors of decay to pass out which
attracted the flies. The gauze did
not allow the files to fall through
and, therefore, crawled over the
gauze. The maggots were hatched
on the gauze and the meat remained
free of them. This proved once for
all that maggots are not spontaneous
ly generated on meat and so conclu
sive was this experiment that it prac
tically broke down belief in sponta
neous generation. This belief was
further denounced by scientists when
bacteria were discovered to be float
ing in the air and that these bacteria
were the very life that would trans
form themselves into another form—
which did seem to arise spontaneous
ly. With the passing of this theory
the origin of life was still unsolved.
Darwin founded the fnew theory
that is now accepted by the world of
science to-day. His book of “The
Origin of Species” briefly declared
that living organisms originate from
pre-existing organisms. From this
the theory of evolution was derived.
That sufficiently describes the theory.
These theories, though they may
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1928 Isaac
Walton Ises
Poetic Mow
Bingham, Maine
Jan. 81,1928
When you’ve planned a trip for
fishing,
And you’ve spent a lot of kale.
Bet the whole of your vacation
On some advertiser’s tale
And you fish a lake of beauty
Hidden in a land of dreams,
Where the air is clean as sunshine
Haunted by songs of crystal streams.
Comes the moment when you’re
casting
And a smasher hits your line,
Then you play him like a gamester
With the battle going fine,
Till a snag, a yank, and silence
And the line is hanging slack,
While you grit your teeth and whistle
And reel the fishline back.
Take the pipe and fill with Edgeworth,
Light her up and learn to grin
Then by gum you are elected
To the Club of Try Agin!
A. R. M., Jr.
Edgeworth
Extra High Grade
Smoking Tobacco
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WM. L POWERS ‘
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(Next to Dixie)
DRUGS, SUNDRIES,
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DRINKS,
CANDIES
TOASTED
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FINE ?
CIGARS,
AND BUTTER
SANDWICHES, f
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seem to us like gropings in the dark,
are in reality the earnest attempts
of man to lift the veil of the unknown.
Has he succeeded? No matter how
hopeless the solution of a problem
may seem .there /are always men
who enjoy in making a bold attempt
to solve it.
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