The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-07-08


! A curious person. wishing TO have the last
| word, let down a plumb weight LOCO. 2Oo1,
| 5000 yards and drew it up covered with
| living marvels, with ravishing moiiusks
| of extreme delicacy, with graceful butter
| fiy-like beings which lived there IN perfect
| equilibrium in the mighty depths. playing
| the game of life in light that they made
What contradiction! What a lesson.
Life! Life! 1t radiates everywhere on
| the globe, from the black depths Of the
| ocean to the white SUBMITS of the eternal
| SHOWS, it trembles in the ray of sunlight.
swarms in drop of water, it fills the air
| with microbes it multiplies parasites upon
| parasites to the detriment of life itself; 1t
| enveiops all the globe with an endless net
which constantly alters and improves it
| self; it shows itself in the earth. in the
water. IN the air. in the plant, in the ami
mai. devouring itself rather than to cease
| to be; it overnows from all sides of the
| terrestrial coupe too narrow TO contain 1t,
| and we have the pretensioDs to place
| bounds upon It'll Fish that we are!
| BY what right shall We say to the vital
| energy that radiates in the universe, 80
| far shalt thou come and no farther!" In
| the name of science? A complete error.
| The known is tiny isle in the midst of
! the ocean of the unknown. The depths of
| the sea which seemed barrier show them
| selves peopled with special life.
But" comes the objection, "there is
| air, oxygen there also. Oxygen is indis-
| pensable A world without oxygen is
world vowed to death, desert eternally
| sterile"
| Why2 Because we have not yet seen
| beings breathing without air, living with
out oxygen? Another error. Even if we
did not know of any, that would not prove
that none exist. But We do know OF some.
| They are the anaerobies. These beings
live without air, without oxygen. Still
more, oxygen kills them.
In properly interpreting the spectacle of
terrestrial life and the positive data fur
| nished by study, it is plainly evident that
| We should enlarge the circle of our concep-
! tons and of our judgments, and not limit
| planetary existence TO servlle image OF
| what exists here below. The terrestrial or
ganic forms are due to the local causes of
| our planet. The chemical constitution of
water and the atmosphere, temperature,
light, density, weight. are so many eie-
ments which have served to make our
| bodies. Our flesh is composed OF carbon,
aZote, hydrogen and oxygen combined
| with the state of water and some other
| elements, among which we may mention
| chloride of sodium. The flesh of animals
is not chemically different from ours.
1t all comes from water and air and will
| return to them. The same elements in
! small quantities make up every living be-
ing. The OK which eats the grass forms
! the same kind of flesh as the man who
| eats the OK. All terrestrial organic matter
is only carbon, combined in varying pro-
portions with hydrogen, azote, oxygen.
| etc.
But we have no right to forbid nature to
| act otherwise in worlds where carbon does
| not exist. A world. for example, where
silica would replace carbon, sillic acid,
| carbonic acid-could it not be inhabited
by beings of an organism altogether diff
ferent from those existing on the earth.
| different not only in form, but also in sub
stance? In world where chloride would
| dominate would We not find chloride acid
and all the fertile family of the chlorides
| fulfilling an important part in the func-
| tons of life? And bromide, could it not
be associated with other formations?
And why should We stop at terrestrial
chemistry? Who has proven to US that
these elements are really simple? Hydro
| gen. oxygen, carbon. azote. sulphur, why
should not they be compound? Their
| equivalents are the multiples of first
1.6 8. IA. 81. And is hydrogen really the
| most simple of the elements2 Is not its
moiecule formed of primitive atoms, whose
geometrical groupings and varied associa-
tons constitute the molecule that we call
simple?
One thing certain is that the marvellous
revelations of the spectrum analysis do not
| argue in favor OF unity of chemical const-
| tuition in the different celestial bodies, nor
OF an absolute unity among themselves; far
| from il. In our own solar system we find
| essential differences between certain plan
cts. In the spectrum Of Jupiter, for ex-
ample, we find an unknown substance,
| which manifests itself by a strong absorb
ton of certain red rays. This gas, which
does not exist on the earth, shows itself
even more strongly in the atmosphere of
Saturn and of Uranus. On this last planet
1 hn nj .hxarA lAa IVA
| aqueous vapor ont of consideration, to have
no analogy with ours. Moreover, in the
solar spectrum itself we find substance to
| which has been given the name of helium,
and which We have never found on the
| earth.
When, then. our thought takes flight
| not only toward our neighbors the moon,
Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, but even to
the myriads of unknown worlds which
| gravltate about the suns scattered in space,
we have no plausible reason for imagining
that the inhabitants of these other worlds
| of the skies resemble us in any particular,
whether in form or in organic substance
The form of the terrestrial body is due to
the elements OF our planet, notably carbon.
The terrestrial human form is derived from
| ancestral animals, from which il has grad
| ualy elevated itself by the continued prog
ress OF the transformation of beings. Be-
| yond doubt, 1t seems to us that to be q
| ibhi vi u WOilliu There must DC Il Ucau,
| heart, lungs, two legs, two arms, etc.
| Nothing is less clearly demonstrated. five
are constituted as we are il is simply be-
| cause the prosimlans mad also a head, a
heart, lungs, legs. arms. not by any means
a. elegant rs yours, madam, but still OF
the same anatomy. And little by little
we go back easily today by means of
paleontoloEy TO the origin of beings. Thus
II Is certain that the bird has developed
from the reptile by process of organic
evolution. so also is it certain that ter
restrial humanity represents the summit
OF an immense genealogical tree, OF which
all the branches are brothers and the roots
OF which plunge into the verv rudiments
OF the most elementary primitive organ
SINS.
All kinds of Imaginable and unimagin-
able forms should people the multitude
OF worlds. Terrestrial man is endowed
with five senses, or rather with six.
Why should nature have stopped
she not have endowed certain
mOrtals with an electric sense? With a
magnetic sense? With a sense of locality ?
With an organ capable of perceivng
ethereal vibrations, of infra-rouge and Of
ultraviolet? OF a sense permitting one to
hear at distance, 10 see through the
walls. We eat and digest like the grosser
animals. DO there not exist words where
! the nutritiye atmosphere dispenses its in
| The smallest swallow, the duSkv bat itself
mas the advantage over us of flying
| through the arr. i not orr world where
| the man Of the greatest genius the most
exquisite woman. finds himself or herself
| named 10 the earth like the common cater
| plilar before It's metamorphosis. a very in
| terjor one
~ q.