Litchfield enquirer., 1872-09-19

I ting the fnvorableneSs 0f[ filb 4ch0rnical
 constitution elemental of ppoxiiAat atel4all
 of those globes that form with, the earth iintegrd parts of bur soIar systeha, how dtstaiad xthe phyiicaf sgifroundi 6s asl mod ern astronomy ipterprets them?s InGeloaest proximity to the sun wheels Mercury: in
 Q mass not more than one-fifteenth tkak of the earth, soircling around thas suIllin less ] than three of lour months, and rotating on
 his own axis m time but few minutes
 longer than our own day. Owing to the
 sccentricity pf his orbit the amount of
 heat and light he receives from the sun is
 and ten times as much as that which
 reaches the. earth. Even under the most
 favorable of the positions of Mercury. the l sun blazes in his skies with disc nearly
 five times larger than that which it offers l to the y observer. on the er earth. These certainly are not peculiariitiies which
 would encourage the belief that any ] creatures resembling those with, which we are familiar could, subsist upon this globe. | We know too little of the inclination of
 Mercury's equator to the plane of his orbit
 to judge much of the nature of his short
 seasons; but with the hish angle usually claimed, it must be admitted that .no-to' us known-form of life could possibly ex-i ist. But the climatic c0ntiitfons naav rer- haps be modified, rendered. 1t inayfbe. moEs dense;ss or peEhaps there r may be recognized ssin the polar regions, places. says Proctor, ''suitable for organic ex.. istences, while the equatorial and neirh-, boring regions are z0nes of fire whose dan gers the brayest Mercurials, the very Liy- mgstones of the planet, wonM not dare to face. "i sfA at'~ss1s sftsde9f 9f'ss1 . -4eAe Had Venus moon she maight, really be considered the twin sister of Terra. but of her climate it is difficult to say whether her polar, her equatorial, or her arctico-l
 tropical regions, would be best adar5ted
 for life. The terrofssof her polar regions
 are more and greater, far than those of
 our earth. During their -sImzaer, day
 after day, the sun pOurs down his rays
 with an intensity mora than tWo-fold great
 or than, our tropical sun as mid day. r, tDnr-, ing the long night of the Venus polar re- 8ions he is far below the horizon, and,
 unless auroral splendorsa light up the skaes, an intense da1kness heiehtenss fhe-
 horrors of the tseyerest, cold In, her equatorial regions are two summers. when
 the sun daily rises to point oyer head, and the climate may besaid toeorrespondn to that of our tropies. Between the aea--
 sons he, passes away alternately to. the
 northern and southern skies. Hence, at the. 'vernd equinox there is summer
 warmer than, onr tropical snmnaers; fifty SIX days later summer solstiee, with weather experiencing to our temperate
 spring, succeeds, but with very short nights; after the same interval s.aother
 terrific summer, followed, by the winter, solstice with short days and A cold even
 more terrific than that of polar reeiions.
 Could terrestrial races survive such wide
 ranges of temperature spassedl oyer in such short interyals?e Butthese estimates of climate are based on the .snpposition.
 or rather the assertion of some astrono-
 mers that the axis of Venus meets the plane of her orbit ct an angle of fifteende-, grees. Ii as IS claimed by many. her
 axls has somewhat the same inclination as that of the earth, then her climatic chang es would be almost essentially fhei same m kinds nayhap modified in ,desx-e by
 her closer proximity to the sun. In this
 last case We might reason from annalo0y that she was inhabited by beings approx-L mating. in some characteristics at least, to the dwellers upon earth. The spectro-
 scope tells us that the. atmosphere is not unlike our own in composition, and that
 itcontains aqueousyapo mingled through out the ocean of mixed oxygen and nitro
 Mars is aptly styled the .a.ni miniature mature of
 our earth" Favorably situated ir some respects for close teloscopic scr1tiny.gwe
 knew more of his climate than of those of
 our associated planets. His surface even has been mapped, and the distribution
 of land and water studied. On his sur
 face and in his interior physical changes, ] are taking place on grand scale. Water evaporates from his oceans and rivers
 clouds form in his atmosphere, and rains
 descend upon his surface. | In the light of what the spectroscope tells us, we may. safely pronounce his, poles to be, indeed
 siowy and icebound. Thus is temper ed his climate as is ours here Being in most respects is freduced counterpart, of the earth, we might without violence to neighborings extfact ctefrestial planet the abode of forms, the scene of vitality. not
 much differing from those of the earth.
 There, as here, minute differences of phys- ical surrounding would induce differences
 in external forms butas we are to x6ivest
 ourselves of the view that the earth con-. tains all the possible manifestations of life, we may be prepared to realize that neither physical nor chemical difficulties which forbid life are thus far known to- exlst ln. Mars et s0siyssu .aS,s rg,gi si v Why should g planet like our earth. so inferior in size to Jupiter, be psopled, ! and the latter roll on through space < desert waste ?sd Would not an argument based solely on ecoHomy in natural ope-z rations people this giant of our solar sysla tenn, even if all the associated elobes were hahisless asA Rightly named is this Yaong
 ster among planets. With volume more than twelve hundred times -gxeater than
 that of the earth, what forces must be in-
 hefent m his system ssTs we contsm- plate the enorm0us sfapiditysw which
 his Yast hnlkfwhirls round upon its axis,
 or mace the stately, motion, with which he
 sweeps onward on his orbit, or measure
 the influences by which he swayss his mo-
 ble family sof, satellitaa, waBafea equally. impressed with the feeling that here we have the prince of all the planets. the orb
 which, of all others in the solar scheme. Hsnggests to us Conceptions Of the n0blest
 forms of life. ," But mere volume and
 weight are not arguments .fayorine the
 habltabihty of q planet, any more than of . sun, however much they may be suggest i've of speculatiou in that edifection. But
 these alone, unaided, and.not guided by exact knowledge, tend much to lead sis. towards the grotesque or hidsous co that
 1t may be well Co enquire what are the physical conditions of sJ1pitsf, favorable
 or fatal to the existence of flifsi asswa1 .un-
 derstand and comprehend it. j; His year is nearly twelve of ours; his seasons ara. as- ;
 Economically, but one, and that oa pefpet-
 ual spring gtsBeigns allloser rfaca. His
 belts are believed tqu ipdicats very ex-
 cessive vapor ladened atmospere, and this moaify his eli5nafe 6ond diti6nsl greatly.
 belts, So numerous san and so rapid. are suy. gestive of disturbances rom forces other than those originating in fthe snn. They point t0 the le0nclusipn that sJupiter is still glowing mass, ubb1ing and seeth- ling with it's pfimeval fires, sending up tenormous icloudsnassesr which a0atfhefn in-