Where did Terrestrial Life Begin?

Abstract

THE question raised by Dr. Macfie in his letter in NATURE of January 26 concerning the place of origin of life on the earth is not one which directly concerns the meteorologist, but Prof. J. W. Gregory's comments upon it seem to call for discussion from the meteorological point of view. Dr. Macfie suggests that in the gradual cooling of the earth mountain-tops would first reach a temperature to make them habitable for human life, while the sea would for further centuries remain above the critical temperature. Prof. Gregory feels hesitation in accepting the conclusion reached that life would first be found on the mountains, considering that while “the mountain summits would have stood like islands above a sea of hot mist … any wind would have at times submerged the mountain summits beneath the lower atmosphere, and they would have been subject to violent fluctuations in temperature and moisture which would have been unfavourable to primitive life.”