The birth of the Sun some 4.6 billion years ago gave life to Earth. The first 700 million years of Earth's 4.6-billion-year existence had been described as the Hadean period, after Hades (the ancient Greek name Hell). Geologically speaking, it was also known as the "dark ages". "In Greek mythology," it was explained, "Hades was a dark, cold, mysterious place...Before 4 billion years ago, the Earth would not be recognizable for the pale blue world that we are familiar with today...The oceans, with a much higher concentration of iron than our contemporary oceans, would look a dark greenish-blue, and these oceans would have bathed hundreds of small continents akin to New Zealand or the Japan arc." Carl Sagan added, "For at least the first few hundred million years of Earth's history, there was a permanent, very thick cloud of fine debris surrounding the planet."
Life forms emerged during Cambrian times (some 542 million years ago). The evolution of life saw living organisms moved from the sea to freshwater and finally on land. Carl once made the observation, "If life could get going only after sunlight reached the surface of the primitive Earth, then there’s several hundred million years less time for the origin of life...On Mars where we know from old channels there was running water at the same time the origin of life was happening on Earth – maybe there was enough time for life to start there as well."
In July 1858, Charles Robert Darwin's theory on man's origin, 'The Origin of Species' was published. It was said man was a relative of the ape. Julian Huxley made the comment, "The Earth was not created; it evolved. So did all the animals and plants that inhabit it, including our human selves, mind and soul as well as brain and body. So did religion." Loren Eiseley wrote 'Darwin's Century'. He observed, "Darwin was pretty sure the age of the Earth was greater than the physicists had guessed. He was ahead of his time."
In 1983, traveling through space in time was explored in the Marvel Production of 'Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends' when beings from another world in the year 2593 crash-landed on "Early Earth". In the episode, 'Spidey Meets The Girl From Tomorrow', writer Dennis Marks revealed the girl from tomorrow had no immunity in her body to any kind of disease on "Early Earth" when she became ill. It was pointed out, "Palm-reading is hardly the most reliable method for predicting the future. But as an aid to medical diagnosis, it is proving invaluable."
Charles Darwin's cousin Francis Galton founded 'dermatoglyphics', a study of palm and finger markings to interpret a person's physical and psychological conditions. "Palm prints are fully determined in the first 4 months of life in the womb," it was explained. "Mental illness, retardation, certain birth defects, even a tendency to criminal behavior – all these, and more, will show up in an individual's dermatoglyphics."
