从天文观测和生物节律论证古生物钟的可靠性

关于地球自转的速度,两百多年以来,天文学的观察计算积累了大量数据。1960年,Munk和MacDonald总结了前人的工作,肯定了地球自转角速度的长期的减慢。他们说:古生代开始的时候自转角速度比现在大得多;那时一天只有21小时。 天文学上这一论断是否正确无误,地球物理学无法验证。古生物学异军突起,找出了不容置疑的事实,有力地支援了天文学的重要发现。地球物理学家Runcorn(1970)表示欢迎。他说:“古生物学前来拯救地球物理学家”。

RELIABILITY OF THE PALEONTOLOGICAL CLOCK AS VIEWED FROM ASTRONOMICAL DETERMINATIONS AND BIOLOGICAL RHYTHMS

The rate in the change of the number of days in a year during the last 5×108 years as revealed by the paleontological clock is wholly in agreement with the results of long-term astronomical determinations. This points to the reliability of the paleontological clock. The latter takes its origin from the biological rhythms. According to exponents of the school of endogeneity, the rhythms vary widely in periodicity and consequently the paleontological clock would scarcely be reliable. The exponents of the exogenous origin of the rhythms seem to favor the reliability of the clock, but the hypothesis of exogeneity fails to explain its multiplicity. The present paper tries to elucidate the origin of biological rhythms in terms of dialectical materialism and the nature and significance of the clock can thereby be borne out.