PRESENT STATE OF THE PROBLEM 69 



scious beings who could undertake interplanetary journeys. 

 This sort of suggestion is, however, more reminiscent of 

 science fiction than of a serious scientific hypothesis. The 

 facts which are at present available to science convince us of 

 the absolute impossibility of viable germs traxelling to the 

 Earth through space. 



It is interesting to note that, in spite of his ardent belief 

 in the possibility of interplanetary travel, the outstanding 

 Russian scientist and inventor K. Tsiolkovskii"''' nevertheless 

 categorically denied the possibility of this sort of artificial 

 transport of microbes. When he died in 1919 he left a manu- 

 script entitled The origin of plants on the terrestrial globe 

 and their development. In it we may read " My work has 

 shown that it will be possible to devise means whereby any 

 living thing may be artificially transmitted from the Earth 

 to another planet and back safely, but mankind is not 

 proceeding very fast tovvards the realisation of this possibil- 

 ity." However, he goes on to say that this form of transport 

 of life ' with the help of reason ' could not have occurred, 

 for no traces had been observed suggesting that at any time 

 or place there have been such highly developed beings 

 deliberately visiting the Earth. Tsiolkovskii wrote in con- 

 clusion: " This means that life did not reach the Earth from 

 the planets even with the help of reason." 



Thus we see that the theory of the eternity of life, like 

 that of spontaneous generation, is in radical contradiction to 

 the observed facts. While travelling through interstellar 

 space with nothing to protect them from the lethal radiations, 

 not only would the germs of life be inevitably destroyed. 

 but even their internal structure would undergo profound 

 alteration in a comparatively short time. We must therefore 

 reject the hypothesis that the germs of life reached the Earth 

 from somewhere else and must seek the source of life vvithin 

 the confines of our own planet. 



