Litchfield enquirer., 1876-09-28
Is Venus Inhabited.

So far there is nothing in what we have learned about Venus which does not agree vel with the idea that. the planet is a wuxad like our own earth. where people Ike ourselves might live comfortably. For lk woaId not matter much to us, prob- mhgM if the year was shortened by four or five wouehs. and the day by half an hour -1ppOxing always that trees and vege- tahles were 50 made that they could thrive under the change In fact, if anyone 1a@ves the temperate regions to visit the szupSz, he has to undergo a greater eA&aga For here in England (where ana wrIkzngl, and throughout the United SkAksz. the seasons change from the heat 0E sumner to the cold of winter, and back again t0 tAe heat of summer, in twelve EoztAss but at the equator, the greatest keMt ocSurs in spring and autumn, or at intervals of only six months. So far as the length of the year'is concerned, an Ame<lcRa or an EngIishman could very vel bear the change to the temperate Eaze of Ve1ns. where the interval between the successive seasons of greatest heat mmoanks to seven and half months.
 Bzk when we conside. some other poSa&S. we see that Venus, beautiful &gagh she looks, would not be a com f0Es26ae ho@e for ufs. In the first place, we know If we draw nearer to a fire we gS& E0Ce heat from it. Now Venus is Ez<A nezrer to the sun-the great fire of tAe s01Ar, System-thaR our earth is. She HeesSvez. kben, much moro heat from him.
 Ia fAek. 1t is easily calculated that if car earth were set travelling on the path oE Tezzs, we should receive almost ex- 9EA1y twlce &s much heat from the sun as ve do ak present This would be unbear, ahle. except perhaps, fn the polar regions; and eFen there the summer, with that eeEe1d01s sun above the horizon all tAro1gh the twenty-fOur hours, would be scarcely bearable. Besides, what con txast between the hot polar summer and ehN cold polar winter, when for weeks to- wekheg the sun would not be seen at all. Altogether. this earth, ,wouId besa misera- hae 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 pec1liArties abont Venus which prevent the sun from heating people there s4 he would certainly heat us If our home were there, or else the creatures which live an Venus must be different from our selves and the other animal inhabitants Of oar earth. Unfortunately, we cannot make telescopes large enough to show us what is going on upon that planet, and there ls no reason for hoping that such telescopes can ever be made. What we k0w, however, about the planets condi- tloa does not seem to show that creatures hvlng there woald be more comfortable than We should be If the earth were put where Venus is. Just the contrary, so far as we can judge. You know that the aEkh nancnd kw tilo fAck that she turns on Q slanted axis. If her axis. were upright, .there would be no seasons; if F were more slanted, the con- txaSG between summer and winter would De greater. Now Venus has her axis mach more slanted than the earth's, so that her seasons must be very marked in- deed Thus the heat of her summer weather must be even mors terrible than we thought just now.
 But there IS yet another point to be no- tced- YOu know that on the upper slopes of lofty mountains, there is snow all Ehe year round, even in the torrid none That is because the air up there is 50 rare that it does not act like the den- ser air lower down, which Is 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 the people who live in torrid zones seek the nigh mountain slopes in the hot. te9t seasons of the year, and find there a temperate climate, 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 onr mountain regions.
 But it seems that, on the contrary, the air of Venus is even denser than ours And it seems also to be a 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 un- comfortable to live in, quite apart from the intense heat; that is to say, it would be very uncomfortable for creatures like ourselves.
 There cannot be moisture in the air of a planet unless there are seas and oceans on the planets surface. No doubt, then, Venus has her continents and oceans, her islands and promontories, and inland seas and lakes. very much as our earth has. Then there must be rivers on the land and currents in the ocean; there must be clouds and rain, wind and storm, thunder and lightning and perhaps snow and hail
 Whether the planet is an inhabited world or not. it would be difficult to say. Perhaps it is a world getting ready for use as a home for living creatures. Some astronomers think that the sun is gradu- ally parting with his heat. If, millions of years hence, the sun should only give ont half as much heat as now, perh aps Venus would be as comfortable place to live in as our earth is now. That may seem a long time to us for planet to wait. but it Is not long to Him m whose eyes ''One day is thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. ."-Richard 4. Proctor, sN. Nicholas J0r October.