Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-09-28
is Venus Inhabited?

planet is a world like our earth, where
people like ourselves might live very
comfortably. For it would not matter
much to us, probably, if the year were
shortened by four or five months, and
the day by half an hour-supposing
always that trees and vegetables were
so made that they could thrive under
the change. In fact, if anyone leaves
the temperate regions to visit the
tropics, he has to undergo a greater
change. For here in England (where
[ am writing), and throughout the
United States, the seasons change
from the heat of summer to the cold
of winter, and back again to the heat
Of summer, in twelve months; but at
the equator, the greatest heat occurs
in spring and autumn, OF at intervals
of only six months. So far as the
length of the year is concerned, an
American or an Englishman could
very we'll bear the change to the tenn
perate zone of Venus, where the in
terval between the successive seasons
of greatest heat amounts to seven and
half months.
But when we consider some other
points, we see that Venus, beautiful
though she looks, would not be COM
Portable home for us. In the first
place, we know that if we draw nearer
to a fire we get more heat from it.
Now Venus is much nearer to the sun
the great fire of the solar system
than our earth is. She receives, then,
much more heat from him. In fact,
it is easily calculated that if our earth
were set travelling on the path. of
Venus, We should receive almost ex-
actly twice as much heat from the sun
as we do at present. This would be
unbearable, except, perhaps, in the
polar regions and even there the sum-
mer, with that tremendous sun above
the horizon all through the twenty
four hours, would be scarcely bearable.
Besides, what contrast between the
hot polar summer and the cold polar
winter, when for weeks together the
sun would not be seen at all. Alto
gether, this earth would be misera-
BILE home for us if her path were as
close to the sun as that of Venus.
We see, then, that either there must
be some peculiarities about Venus
which prevent the sun from heating
people there as he would certainly heat
us if our home were there, or else the
creatures which live on Venus must
be different from ourselves and the
other animal inhabitants of our earth.
Unfortunately, we cannot make tele-
scopes large enough to show us what
is going on upon that planet, and there
is no reason for hoping that such tele-
scopes can ever be made What we
know, however, about the planet con-
ditiOn does not seem to show that
creatures living there would be more
comfortable than we should be if the
earth were put where Venus is. Just
the contrary, so far as we can judge.
7 Ou know that the seasons ON our
earth are caused by the fact that she
turns on q Slanted axis. If her axis
were upright, there would be no sea-
sons; if it were more slanted, the con-
trast between summer and winter
would be greater. Now Venus has
her axis much more slanted than the
earth's, so that her seasons must be
very marked indeed. Thus the heat
of her summer weather must be even
more terrible than we thought Just
now.
But there is yet another point to be
noticed. You know that on the upper
slopes of lofty mountains there is snow
all the year round, even in the torrid
zone That is because the air up there
is SO rare that it does not act like the
denser air lower down, which is a sort
of clothing for the earth, keeping the
heat from escaping. Now if the air of
Venus were very rare, something of
the same sort might happen on that
planet. Just as people who live in
torrid zones seek the high mountain
slopes in the hottest seasons of the
year, and find there a temperate eli
mate, so the inhabitants of Venus
might find it possible to bear the suns
intense heat if the air of the planet
were rare, like that above the snow
line in our mountain regions.
But it seems that, on the contrary,
the air of Venus is even denser than
ours. And it seems also to be moist
air, which is just the kind of air that
keeps the heat in most. The air of
Venus is, in fact, so dense and moist
that it must be very uncomfortable to
live in, quite apart from the intense
heat; that is to say, it would be very
uncomfortable for creatures like our
selves.
There cannot be moisture in the air
of a planet unless there are seas and
oceans on the planets surface. Ne
doubt, then, Venus has her CONT
nents and oceans, her islands and prom
OntOrieS, and inland seas and lakes,