History of Westchester County, New York, Vol. I
Often organizingaud always connected with one or more literary circles, he has not suffered his love of learning to be stifled by the cares and responsibilities of his profession or the routine of daily labor. To him is due the credit of establishing the Bancroft Society of New Y^ork, and also " The Society o) Pundits," a literary circle, which for many years continued its meetings, and embraced in its membership some of the brightest men and women of the city which he had made his home. He was also for many years a trustee of the Bible Union and also of the Rochester Theological Seminary.
The profound problem of the origin of life upon our planet has engrossed the attention of the greatest minds in the world of science, but still remains a question to which there seems no reply. Next to this comes the inquiry as to the place of its first manifestation, the determination of which would appear equally hopeless. Devoting his leisure time and thought to this and kindred subjects, Mr. Scribner has embodied his theories and the results of his investigations in a monograph entitled " Where did Life Begin?" This work, which appeared in November, 1883, immediately attracted the attention of the investigating and scientific public. It is a carefully prepared and forcibly written treatise, having for its object the establishment of the theory that all life, both vegetable and animal, must have had its origin within the polar circles, and further, that by the cooling of the earth's substance, and the consequent lowering of surface temperature at the poles, all organic life has been gradually driven to the temperate and to the equatorial regions. To express an opinion as to the truth or fallacy of this theory would in this place be presumptuous, but it is sufficient to say that the hypothesis has not only been well received by the press and scholars, but has been the means of turning the attention of men of science to a closer consideration of the subject, and the discoveries that may follow may far exceed the most sanguine expectations of its author.