The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-04 00:00:00

MAILS DUE.

Auslralia and Mauritius, via Southampton ..Apr. 18.
via Marseilles .. Apr. 12.
Limn and Cape Verde, by British packet. Apr. 6.
Cape of Good Hope, Ascension, and Sr. Helena.. Apr. 1.
China, Penang, and Singapore, via Southampton. Apr. 4.
via Marseilles ...Apr. 21.
Falkland Islands
Gibraltar, via Southampton Apr. 4.
India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via Southampton Apr. 4
via Marseilles Apr. 12.
India (Bombay), via Southampton
via Marseilles Apr. 4.
Portugal.... ......
Malta, Egypt, and Aden, via Southampton Apr. 4.
via Marseilles ..Apr. 4.
Newfoundland ..Apr. 1.
Oporto and Vigo
U. S. and British N.America, by Brit. packet.... Apr. 1.
__ ...

.
by U.S. packet -
by Canadian packet Apr. 3.
W.C. of Africa, Madeira, and Teneriffe .. Apr. 10.
Bahamas, via New York Apr. 9.
Mexico
All parts of West Indies, including Chili, Peru, I Apr. 16.
California, and British Columbia..

THE MOON—IS IT INHABITED ?—AS soon as we
get a glimpse of the mountain ranges, volcanic
caters, and vast plains of our satellite, the natural in-
quiry is—ls it inhabited P The re is a sufficient general re-
semblance, at the first glance, to prompt the inquiry; but—
Does minuter inspection countenance the hypothesis? We
have not the more obvious proofs of habitableness. We do
not find cities, ramifying streets, or such diversities of
colour as would indicate cultivated districts, though we
have telescopic power to diecover such traces if they ex-
isted. If peopled with beings like ourselves, we might natu-
rally expect single buildings, which would be quite dis-
cernible by the telescope; for in the moon blocks of stone
could be raised by one man, that would require, in this
globe, the united energies of six. Here, structures are very
limited in magnitude by the tendency of the weight to crush
the stone ; but there, from the lightness of the materials,
the range would be much wider. No such buildings, how-
ever, no trace of cities, no proofs that the soil has been dis-
turbed by the plough, or that yellow harvests alternate
with green fields, have been discovered. There is no neces-
sity, however, that the inhabitants should be after the
type of man's &Ally constitution; we can conceive intellect
united to a very different corporeal organisation ; and we
know that there is a very wide range, even in this globe, in
the conditions necessary to sustain life. Still we must start
from some essential conditions of life in this globe, if we are
to make our argument one of analogy. No doubt it may be
said that God could, in the case of the planetary bodies,
make life dependent on totally different conditions. This
is true, but is a totally different question from that of
analogy. The question is one, not of possibility but of proba-
bilit, and the probability is to be derived :from the existence
of conditions in the moon similar to those on the earth.
While ignorant of the absence of air and water in the moon,
the many other points of similarity would afford some pre-
sumption, now that the essential conditions of life on our
globe are found to be wanting. If it be held that life may
be sustained by totally different means, then the hypothesis
is best sustained by finding points of difference instead of
similarity.—God's Glory in the Heavens.