The Hickman courier., 1872-06-08
Among the Stars.

In a,little while there will be no mys-
terry left anywhere in the visible creation.
/ The telescope is unveiling the skies, the
/ microscope is counting the atoms, and
the spectroscope Is revealing the compo-
sition of worlds and suns. Science is
driving Imagination out of her old
realms, and the muse has taken fight be-
fore the storm of facts which is pelung
this generation. Men are troubled about
the destruction of old systems to which
their fathers pinned their faith, and chill
dren are mourning our the wrecks of
pleasant traditions which lie strewn in
their peculiar domain of fairyland. 1t
has been stated by some poet philosopher
that the line of beauty is a curve, and
that the most essential element of beau
ty is mystery. The world is now making
a straight line for facts, and the beauty
of mystery is gradually fading before its
eyes l is like a child tearing to pieces
plaything in eageruess to comprehend
Nj. r. a Proctor has been after the
stars again since be published his famous
book, "Other Worlds than Ours" and
has more fully developed bis theory that
the superior planets in our system have
partially solar character He has paid
Jupiter a flying visit and discovered a
hurricane going on there among the
cloud belts, driving at the rate of $50
miles per hour for six weeks, over an ex
tent of Jovian territory equal to the
whole surface of our earth Nothing
terrestrial that we know of could stand
such strain as this minute. 1t would
in an instant whirl the world into heap
of rubbish, and then blow the rubbish
away like chaff. In examining into the
causes of such an atmospheric convul
sion, Mr.. Proctor concludes that one Of
the conditions must be the great heat of
the body of the planet itself. This he
ascertains to be equal to the temperature
of red~hot iron, too warm for any life of
which we can have the least conception.
The astronomer then concludes that Ju-
piter was not made to live in, and that
the province of the planet is to give light
and heat to his satellites, and make them
comfortable dwelling places. Jupiter,
therefore, shines partially by his OVID
light, as we'll as that of the SUP, and per-
forms q sort of double duty in the solar
system in nourishing and keeping his
satellites in good order for the life they
bear. Mr.. Proctor IS of the opinion that
the. superior planets are most likely
quasi-suus sources of heat and light
for the satellites which circle them. The
inference is that if life exists at present,
at least, in the Jovian aud Saturnian sys
TENS at all, it must be on the satellites,
not on the planets themselves, which are
probably as uninhabitable to beings, like |
ourselves, as the sun.
Accepting this theory, and following 1t
to its inevitable conclusions, it appears
that it is the smaller worlds for which |
the great globes are made; and that the
mailer the world the brighter and fairer
the life it contains. 1t may be supposed
that as the seasons are shorter and changes |
quicker, therefore life must be inteuser
and more rapid, though in many respects
smaller in scale than on our own little
planet. Certainly the big places of the
universe seem absolutely untitled for any |
life sharing the smallest analogies to our
own: they are therefore supposed to be
subsidiary to the life of the smaller
spheres, and the great globes from the
sun downwards are rather subservient to
the small ones, than the small TO the
great.