84 life's beginning on the earth 



tered through the universe. This theory is that life and 

 evolution depend on the dropping of such germ cells upon 

 a planet like the earth at a time when conditions are favor- 

 able for germination. The germ cells are assumed to be 

 carried from planet to planet and from solar system to solar 

 system by so-called radiation pressure, which is a propelling 

 force exerted by the rays of the sun or of other celestial 

 bodies. In a laboratory experiment this pressure can be 

 demonstrated by the propelling of dust particles. An in- 

 fluential propounder of this hypothesis was the late Svante 

 Arrhenius of Sweden (1859-1927), a noted physicist and 

 Nobel prize winner. (See his book, Worlds in the Making.) 

 He assumed that life could never have arisen anew. But 

 as we have seen such an assumption is hardly warranted. 

 Arrhenius states his opinion in that book that "life is 

 eternal like time and space." This is hard to comprehend, 

 since life must have arisen somewhere if the earth was in- 

 capable of producing it. 



The panspermic theory is nevertheless widely accepted. 

 Emphasis is laid on the often-demonstrated fact that cells 

 of various types withstand the lowest known temperature, 

 hence can stay alive in the extremely cold interstellar space 

 of the universe. Quite recently Dr. A. Goetz of the Cali- 

 fornia Institute of Technology has again demonstrated this 

 extraordinary resistance of cells against cold, particularly 

 yeast cells. His finding was announced in numerous daily 

 papers all over the United States, on April 12, 1938, as 

 evidence for the assumption that life might have reached 

 the earth from another planet. We may just as well assume 

 that life arose first on the earth and then was transferred to 

 other planets. But if it is true that life first arose outside 

 the earth, the question of its origin presents the same prob- 

 lem; the scene is merely shifted. 



It also seems difficult to comprehend why cells of any 

 type should be considered the beginning of life Cells are 



