The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1854-06-09
PLURALITY OF WORLDS.

| an unwarrantable and heretlcal speculation.
The stars were "patines of bright gold" with
which the floor of heaven was "thick inlaid."
But the progress of astronomy, which has de-
tected the presence of vast and distant orb,
wherever the sky is spotted with drop OF
light, has carried with it the speculation that
each planet is inhabited as our earth is, and
that every fixed star is the centre of a popu-
lous system Of satellites kindred with our
own. The conception Of peopled universe
has become the moral glory of astronomy;
and if it should be disproved, doubtless the
majority of reflective minds would feel, at
first, that the majesty of the armament was
stricken The greater importance that would
be given to the intelligent dwellers in this
planet, would not atone, probably, for the
forlorn isolation of our mother earth, when
conceived as patiently measuring her orbit
amid an unsocial and empty armament.
But the general belief in the populousness
of the heavens has begun to be questioned.
An English writer has recently impeached it
in a work entitled "The Plurality of Worlds"
Messrs, Gould g. Lincoln of Boston, have
reprinted the volume in excellent style, and at
moderate cost. 1t is very subtle and mas.
ierly, and, in some parts, a very brilliant book.
The supposition that all the solid globes in
space must be inhabited, the author considers
is dissipated by the examinations of the moon,
which is proved to be an airless, waterless and
blasted orb. The general prejudice being
thus rebutted, the writer subjects the nebule
and the motions and appearances of those of
the fixed stars which have been scrutinized
by powerful telescopes, to most rigid ex-
animation, which, he thinks, warrants the be-
lief that they are vapory and inchoate masses,
instead Of solar centres Of solid planets-thin
clay of celestial systems which God is slowly
fashionng, perhaps for future habitations, on
| His creative wheel.
The great planets beyond Mars and the
Asteroids present characteristics of watery
and cloudy balls, wholly unfit for the habita-
ton of intelligent beings. Within the path
of our world, the globes, he argues, are too
hard and hot to be seats Of life. The earth,
he contends, is the border ground of the
whole system, where all the conditions of
life, gaseous, solid and fluid, are in equilibri-
um, making it the domestic hearth for ration
al life. The whole chapter on the Solar Sys-
tenn is one of the most 81 ilful and fascinating
pieces of conjectural logc, pressing all the
known facts of science bo harmony with a
startling theory, t',qt If S..s ever beon cur for
tune to meet. II may not convince n cool
and cautious reader, but it will make the au-
thor's theory respectable; it will challenge
admiration of his powers; and it surely will
present the most recent discoveries Of As
tronomy in fresh and vivid light In this re-
spect, as giving new expression to the
prominent features Of astronomical science,
the work is of great value.
Large apd powerful use is made of the
revelations of Geology to buttress the writer's
hypothesis against objections. That science
shows us by what inconceivably slow pro-
cesses our planet has been prepared to be the
abode of man. Space was stained at first,
perhaps, with formless continent of nebu-
lous mist, which, by slow cycles, was reduced
and defined on the vast canvass Of the Eciptlc
to the outline of globe. Following the in
dications of geology, we see this sketch elabo-
rated through ages, by pencils of light and
brushes of storm, from a palette furnished
with sea and flame, till it became fit for the
first representatives of sentient life. And then
the artistic processes go on, laying in stratum
after stratum of rock, each witnessing a new
development of the picture in splendor, till
the air is tinted right, and the sea finds its
place, and the mountains stand up in majesty,
and the most delicate instruments of Infinite
Art lay finish of verdure over the picture,
and the glorious scene reveals itself as the
background for the form of man, whose life
and training are to give meaning to it all.
Now if such inconceivable ages are ex-
hausted in developing the earth before intelli-
gent life appears on it, the author maintains
that it is not an impeachment of Providence
to believe that other worlds are in process of
formation which as yet forbid sentient and
rational existence upon them. And even if
they are never to be inhabited, he contends
that they may fulfill purposes as worthy as
the SUBMITS of the Alps and Andes do now
on our globe, which are the subimest features
of our earth, and yet can never be colonized
by man.
But we simply wish to call attention to the
book itself. 1t is producing quite stir in
England, and will amply reward careful
reading by the originality of its theme, the
vigor of its treatment, the reverent tone of its
thought, and the new interest it imparts
through the original grouping of well attest
ed facts, to the magnificent science of AS
tronomy.
rSy- IL was remark of the celebrated
savant Cuvier, that "mankind is composed
of hammers and anvils, and that it is much
better to be hammer than an anvil"
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