Breathing with the Earth
259
today, into the region of the Van Allen belts. The earth would then have
had an electromagnetic resonator of two concentric spheres—the upper
atmosphere and the surface. Today, as in the past, the earth's pulsing
magnetic field combines with the solar wind to induce large currents in
the Van Allen belts. In the Precambrian era, however, the fluctuations
of current in the Van Allen belts in turn would have generated huge
currents in the nearby ionosphere. Since the earth's metallic core is an
excellent conductor, the ionospheric currents would have coupled to it,
producing an enormous and constant electrical discharge through the
atmosphere and into the earth. Moreover, since the distance around the
core at that time was roughly equal to 1 wavelength of electromagnetic
energy at 10 cycles per second, or about 18,000 miles, this discharge
would have pulsed at 10 hertz throughout the resonant cavity, which
encompassed the whole atmosphere and surface. Besides directly provid-
ing electrical energy, this discharge would have produced abundant
heat, ultraviolet radiation, and infrasound (or pressure waves), all of
which would have fostered varied chemical activity.
Such a dense and electrically supercharged atmosphere undoubtedly
would have produced great quantities of amino acids and peptides. As
they came together in the air and water, linking chainwise to form pro-
teins and nucleic acids, the vectors of electromagnetic force would have
favored spiral shapes twisting in one direction or the other, depending
on whether the reaction occurred in the Northern or the Southern Hemi-
sphere. In 1981, W. Thiermann and U. Jarzak found some direct evi-
dence for this theory by synthesizing organic compounds in a steady-
state magnetic field. Changing the orientation of the field gave them
high yields of either D or L forms.
It may be possible to run a further check on the Cole and Graf hy-
pothesis at one place in the solar system—the Great Red Spot of
Jupiter. This permanent hurricane, whose eye could swallow the earth,
continually emits prodigious electrical discharges through an atmosphere
much like the one proposed for Precambrian times. It may be synthesiz-
ing organic compounds and energizing a transition to life even now.
On earth, all entities formed within the 10-hertz discharge—and all
of their descendants—would resonate at the same frequency or show
extreme sensitivity to it, even after the original power source had been
disconnected. The 10-hertz band would remain supremely important for
most
life-forms,
as indeed it has.
As already
noted,
it's the
primary
frequency of the EEG in all animals, and it can be used to restore normal
circadian rhythms to humans cut off from the normal fields of earth,
moon, and sun. William Ross Adey of the Loma Linda VA Hospital in