The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-08-24

duction of intelligence, the comprehension
of wit and humor among creatures having
no legs at all and crawling on the face
of their planets. as D.. Whewell imagined
that the inhabitants of the planet Jupiter
might do"
athletic sports must be carried on under
peculiar circumstances up there; don't you
think sop
Eyes. I should think so. Imagine what a
sensation a ten-mile-tall Arcturian, who
was, for instance, the pitcher of a base ball
team, would make if he could drop down
upon the earth. The slight force of gravity
on the earth would make him feel as il he
could jump over the moon, because ninety
nine one-hundredths. to speak within rea-
sonable bounds, of his weight would fall
away from him like magic as soon as he
placed his foot on our little earth. One of
his curves would sweep Father Arson over
the center-feld fence into the infinite be-
yond before he could shout Play ball!'
There would be no limit to the feats of
strength that such a fellow would be able
to perform when freed from the thraldom
of the attraction of his own planet.'
the Arcturians breathe?'
"A variation In the atmosphere of these
planets might lead to a wonderful variety
in the wof kings and forms OF life upon
them. 1t won't do for US to assume that
our atmosphere of oxygen and hydrogen is
the only one capable of supporting life.
There might be n thousand forms of veQe-
tatlon more wonderful, more beautiful than
anything existing on the earth. The pecu-
liar color of the light Of Arcturus and Of some
OF the other stars Is in itself an indication
that there must be a great variety in the
fo"ms and conditions of life existing with
in their rays.
'Ihat has always been a point of dis
agreement between those who have speou-
lated on one side or the other upon the
rnpofInn nf & IN -Al-- ~
insist that there can be no intelligent
life except in bodies like those of man,
but the broader view, and the one that
seems to be far more probable and
reasonable, is that there can no more be a
limit to the forms and constitution of the
bodies in which life may be contained than
there is a limit to the number and variety
OF the heavenly orbs themselves.
A the snme time it is difficult to con-
celve any expression of intelligence that
would vary very much from the intellectual
life of man.
"We can readily imagine that the inhabi-
tants of the planets of Arcturus might pos
sess Il breadth Il intellect, a bl%illiance of
IMAGINATION, IN proportion to their own
stature, 80 that their achievements in MANY
Iesrects might be as far more wonderful
than anything We are able to do rs the sun
IS a more wonderful body than our own
dependent globe.
inns may even apply to their literature.
10 their newspapers. Imagine a newspaper
published IN the rays of Arcturus covering
a whole acre with Il single sheet, and scin-
tiilatlhR with outbursts of wit and brilliant
touches oil description that would outshjne
ahStnlhR mat we are capable of doing ma
nuch rs hrcturus would outsbine the SIM if
Inc latter could he placed beside it, But
'hete Is no end to speculation of this kind.
You know that IN recent yeara astrono-
mers have been able to place the different
stars INTO ranks or orders according to their
hpectroscopic composition. Our sun be-
longs TO a certain order, the Dog Star to
hiother, ana AFcturus to still a third. Bat
theFe IL also a progression from one order
10 another. We cannot assume that ths
sun mas always been and will ALWAYS remain
as we now soc 1t. 1t will get either hotter
Or colaer' we can not as yet tell which. The
PROBABILITY Is that IL will get hotter.
oiilos' the dog star. is hotter than the
nun, pecause IL Is not surrounded nj the sun
OTIS, winch consist probably of iron and
other metals reduced by tbe trenandnua
neat there TO the condition Of pns or vanor-
htctnrns, on the other hand. has n
dehser ana deeper cloud of these vanors
surrounding 1T than il the case with tho
pun Az Inc same time there ara indicn-
LIONS OF an intense heat glowing beneath
THESE Vapors, SO that if it IA true that tho
progress OF suns is from n colder to n hotter
cohditinn, 1t IL likely that Arcturns will
gradually get rid of these yauors. which
now partially obscure its light, and glow
WIN tho Intensity of Sirius.
inere Is some historical evidence to
SNOW that Sirius used to be n red atnr- inst
as Arcturus Is now, but that vradnnily -
mas changed color, becoming ~ nnra 'yb,ts