The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1883-04-07
''Other Worlds Than Jurs.o

The recent observations made on the
planet Venus during her transit across
the sun appear to confirm the impress
sion derived from the last transit, in
1874, that she has an atmosphere not less
dense than our own, and aqueous vapor
and cloud within that atmosphere. This
conclusion would have grieved the late
Prof. Whewell, who, in his ingenious
essay to disprove the plurality of in
habited worlds, took for granted that
1--WE discern no traces of a gaseous or
watery atmosphere surrounding her
CVenius]," and built on this negative
evidence of his arguments to prove that
in the whole universe the earth is not
nnprobably the only habitable globe.
Prof. Whewell did his best to show that
the earth held very singular place in
what might be very unique solar
system; that it occupied what he called
the temperate zone" of its own SUMS
system, and that their is no particular
reason to suppose that any other sun
has planetary attendants at all. In Or
der to make out the singular position of
the earth in its own SUMS system, Prof.
Whewell was compelled to make the
most of the intensity of the light and
heat in Mercury and Venus, and the
most, again of the comparative cold of
Mars. In point of fact, however, it is
probable that very slight modification
of our human organization-even if any
structural modification at all of that
organization were necessary-would en-
able creatures of the same general struct-
ure and habits as man to live with
ease in either of the planets nearest to
the earth, in either Mars, which
should, c9teriS paribuS, be colder and
darker, or in Venus, which should,
cgteriS pdribuS, be lighter and hotter
than the earth. We know to some ex-
tent, the CONFORMATION of the CONT
nents in Mars, and our astronomers
have at times watched the area of the
polar SHOWS of that planet increasing
with the approach of winter, and
dwindling with the approach of summer.
Of Venus we know much less, the in
tense brightness of her reflected light
being a very unfavorable condition for
minute observation. But the apparently
clear evidence for an atmosphere of a
good deal of density, and for the pres
ence of cloud and aqueous vapor in that
atmosphere, disposes completely of the
late Prof Whewell's assumption that no
creature resembling man now has, or
could ever have had, his abode there.
There now seems no reason to doubt
that in Venus the conditions of physical
existehee are such that either there now
may be there, or may be in future, a being
whose physical existence might, like that
of man and animal natures nearest to
man, exist under something closely ap.
preaching to those of terrestrial life,
The length of the day in Venus is nearly
the same, the weight of any given mass
is nearly the same, the atmospheric con-
ditions are probably not very different
from our own; the only material differ
ences being probably the length of the
year. which is not very much above the
half OF ours or say, about seven months
OF twelve-and the amount of light and
heat, which, unless mitigated by special
atmospheric conditions, as they easily
might be, would probably be twice as
intense as terrestrial light and heat.
We insist on this analogy, however,
only for the sake of those who, like the
late DIR. Whewell, made the argument
from analogy SO all-important, though
AZ ASAoOAOh w % AuSotlO1 Oh WHICH,, dS IL
appears to us, the argument from anal
ogy has really very slight bearing
indeed. There is no reason in the world
why spiritual beings, much more like to
us in their thoughts than it is at all prob
able that birds and tortoises are like to
us in their thoughts, should not exist
everywhere-in the pure ether, in the
hottest flames of the sun, in the dimness
of the darkest recesses of space, in the
heat of the volcano or in the depth of the
ocean. Ignore the reasoning from anal
ogy, and we can hardly have a less secure
basis for reasoning, where observation
is limited, as it is in this case, to one
minute corner of the universe, and we
shall find no more reason why we should
contine the Creators power to working
within conditions closely resembling our
own than there is why we should assume
that he will work at all in the regions
where we have no evidence of that work.
London Spectator.
THE Fredericlyfon (Nau Rruoeu,;ol, ro~\