The Plymouth pilot. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1851-1852, 1851-10-29
ARE THE STARS INHABITED?


For one moment, let me glance at the
nature of one quesiion--of all the most
interesting; that which concerns the prob
able existence of life through the spaces
whose contents we have reached. The
problem is perhaps equivalent 20 this
Are we, without passing into extrava-
gance, entitled to assume that forces,
which enter SO essentially into the con-
stitution of our earth, are not confined
within its constitutions? Take an illus
tration the vast power Of gravity. Be-
fore science raised the veil from the dis
tart, we knew it only in the fact of the
fall of a stone, or in the rOundness of a
drop of water; no1U we have followed it
through the complex motions of the moon,
and through the order of the entire sys-
TEN. 1t pursues the comets through the
abysses; it governs the orbits of the doub-
lie and triple stars; it guides the sun in his
path through the skies; ay and even those
stupendous evolutions of ornaments, du-
ring which the stars cOngregate into
dazzling clusters, or arrange themselves
in galaxies. Boundless the sphere of his
force; and shall an energy yet nobler,
more subtle. probably with root much
more profound, be fancied so week, so
feeble, so dependent on circumstances.
that only in our world, or some one like
it. it is free to work out its wonderful
products? Look at its history in that
very earth. In the chalk cliffs, in cav
erns unseen by the sun, in marshes that
to man are desolation and death, life yet
teens and rejoices-its forms growing in
adaptation to their conditions. Long
years ago, the old ttiboite swarmcd in
our ocean, and the large eyed Ichthyo-
saur dashed through their waters. These
are gone; bit plastic nature, ever form
ing with ceaseless activity. has, by the
most mysteriously Of her actions, brought
up pew forms to play their parts among
her vast scenes. Through space, as
throu ,h time, she is doubtless working;
and--with all their joys and sorrows--
evolving far mightier results than dead,
inorganic worlds. see this in the blush
of the morning, which beams on all these
globes. and there, too. awakens the glad
creatures from their repose. l see it in
the downfall of evening, tina. speaks of
refreshment from toll; but also of the
living time of activities not fitted for the
sun. l see it in the progress of the earth,
and in its course, through much conflict,
towards perfection; for its rocks and
stones tell not only of change, but of the
struggles OF its creatures 10 become l.hhed
to something higher. Yesl We worlds
wondrous and innumerable, that shine
aloit, and shower around us your many
mystic influencies, We, too, the abodes of
sentence suited to your conditions; ay,
and of intelligence, different far differ
ent from ours, and in states of approach
to the divinity of all possible gradations;
but of which every constituent-every
creature of Whatever kinds pressing
like the bud in spring, and
stretching with longings that are unut-
terabe towards the infinite and the eter-
nal.-Professor NichoL.
From Syria we have accounts Of the |
massacre Of forty five Christians, in Ar /
nena. A number of Mussulmen at
tempted to pilage the government bank.
The banker resisted the assailonts, who |
eturned in great numbers. and. it is re-
ported, murdered every Christian thhy
net.