Do We Catch Diseases from Other Planets as we Whirl Through Space?

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XL, Issue 4, 25 January 1908, Page 6

Do We Catch Diseases from Other Planets as we Whirl Through Space?

Never has a more startling theory been laid before scientists than that living germs fly from planet to planet, and perhaps even from the planets of one star to those of another. Professor Svante Arrhenius, whose discoveries in the realm of biology and other - sciences have made him famous, has for a long time been collecting evidence in favour of his theory, and now announces that the action of the great comet which swept past us recently confirms his belief in “ Panspermy,” or the

crossing of inter-planetary space by genii life. Instant objections to this astonishing theory rise in every one’s mind. In the first place, the enormous distance makes it seem impossible that there would be any force strong enough to drive a germ from one planet to another. If an express train could be run without stopping to our next door neighbour, Mars, it would take about 150 years and more than 70,000 million years to the nearest star, which happens to be in the constellation of Centaur. But the big comet proved that there Is a force which drives little particles of spot from the nucleus out into space at a rate approaching the speed at which light travels. Whether this force is the repulsive force of light or electric repulsion is still under dispute. The particles of soot are larger than some bacteria, and the force, whatever it is, could drive a germ from the Earth to Mars or from Mars to the Earth in twenty days. But the awful cold of interplanetary space, the “ absolute zero ” unknown on earth, would freeze them to death during the journey, one would think. But it has been shown that cold does not destroy many kinds of bacteria. In fact, it preserves them I y stopping all vital processes, so that tney cannot grow old and die, as they do in the presence of warmth. Professor Arrhenius says: "It has been demonstrated that intense cold is not injurious to all germs. Macfayden kept scores of bacteria at —*2oo deg. C. ( —338 deg. F.) for six months, without injuring them appreciably. Probably the the effect of cold is preservative rather than destructive. The diminution and ultimate loss of germinative power is certainly due to slow chemical changes Now the rapidity of chemical processes decreases very quickly as the temperature is lowered. “In the case of those vital processes that have been investigated, a fall of 10 deg. C. (18 deg. F.) reduces the speed of reaction in the ratio of 5 to 2. The loss of vitality in interstellar space, at a temperature of —220 deg. C. ( —364 deg. F.) would therefore be more than one thousand million times less rapid than the loss at 10 deg. C. (50 deg. F.); so that a journey of three million years through space would be no more injurious than a single day of exposure to terrest iai spring temperature. In the journey between the Earth and Mars the temperature would be a trifle higher owing to the of the sun, but the trip would occupy at most only a few months, and the germs could survive. Another fact not commonly known is that sunlight has no germicidal properties unless air or other gas is present. Duclaux has shown that germs in a vacuum are not injured by sunlight. As there is no air in space the sunlight would be harmless to the flying bacteria. If, then, germs can traverse space, what an appalling chain of possibilities are involved! Not only does the Earth infect all the other planets with consumption, typhoid, and all the other scourges and plagues, but these and others, perhaps never known to man before, may drop from the sky at any moment. Perhaps the superstition of the ancients which connected comets with pestilences was not unfounded. If tubercular germs cross space they would probably come in greatest quantities from Venus, where the climate is hot and moist, and probably not from the sun-baked surface of Mars. Jupiter, too, seems to be moist, but probably is still too hot for germs to thrive. The dry, dusty face of Mars may foster other germs, such as that of cerebrospinal meningitis, which descended upon us three winters ago from no one knows where. But if we are indebted to Mars for any of our plagues, it is safe to say we more than even the score. The Martian people, older than we, and so far advanced that their canal digging surpasses anything human beings could do, have doubtless long ago cleaned up their planet and made it everywhere more antiseptic than the most immaculate spots on our world. One can imagine the Martian Board of Health wishing they could get at us with scrubbing brushes and sterilising outfits until we would cease infecting the universe with our diseases.