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Yale University Press, New Haven, Published date: 1922. Hardcover; 208 pp; approx. 23 cm. Fourth printing. Illustrated with black and white photographic plates, halftone illustrations, and in-text figures. In good condition. No dust jacket. Original green cloth boards with gilt lettering on spine; light nicking and fraying to cloth at corner tips and at head and tail of spine; light fading to edges; light overall scuffing and soiling to covers; binding sound. Previous owners name and address stamped on front free endpaper, and a small previous owners bookplate pasted on front pastedown. Interior pages lightly toned, with heavier toning to endpapers; pages otherwise unmarked. Scientific symposium volume presenting lectures delivered before the Yale Chapter of the Sigma Xi during the academic year 1916-1917, bringing together leading early twentieth century American scientists to address earth history, evolution, climate, and civilization. Contents include: Preface by Richard Swann Lull; The Origin of the Earth by Joseph Barrell; The Earths Changing Surface and Climate by Charles Schuchert; The Origin of Life by Lorande Loss Woodruff; The Pulse of Life by Richard Swann Lull; Climate and the Evolution of Civilization by Ellsworth Huntington; Index. [From Preface] The scope of the combined essays is of necessity very broad, ranging as it does from a conception of the universe to the trend of modern civilization. Thus the first chapter deals not alone with the genesis of the earth but of the parent solar system, and, the earth having been established, its history is traced until the time of its becoming a fit environment for the abode of life. The second lecture deals with the changing lines of demarcation between land and sea, the rise and growth of continents, the formation and severance of land-bridges, and the climatic changes which are recorded for geologic time. The physical environment once established, Professor Woodruff tells what we know and do not know of the origin of life. This is largely an academic discussion of the several theories which have been advanced to account for the evolution of lifeless into living matter, for from the nature of the problem evidences of direct observation are not available. The lecture on the pulse of life attempts to link up cause and effect; to find those forces which are responsible for the more or less rhythmic accelerations of evolution shown by the fossil record. The main cause is found to be climatic change, which in turn has as a chief controlling factor earth shrinkage and the consequent warping of the crust discussed in the second lecture. The pulse of life applies not alone to the evolution of animals and plants, but also to mankind. How climatic changes have influenced the growth of civilization and the formation of racial characteristics of mentality is set forth in the last lecture, that by Doctor Huntington. In so far as possible, these essays are the fruits of the original research of their several authors, which in certain instances are set forth here for the first time. The treatment of the entire subject and the marshaling of the facts thus assembled are entirely new.
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