Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-08-24
IN OTHER WORLDS.
HUMAN REASONING MAY De At FAULT
REGARDING THE STARS

HUMAN REASONING MAY Or ~ rAO6b
REGARDING THE STARS.
Camille ElAms.ariea sA~us That Other
wsrids Than Oars May ~ Inhabited ~
Creatures Eairer aaa more Eshereal OF
Coars~r Than We.
In prop<r,y Interpreting the spectacle OF
terrestrial life and the positive data fur
eishsd by study it is plainly evident that
we should enlarge the circle OF our concep-
sions and of our judgments and not limit
planetary existenccs TO . servile image OF
what exists here below. The terrestrial Or
gsnic forms are due TO the local causes OF
our plsaet The chemical constitution OF
water and OF the atmosphere, temperature.
light, density, weight, are 50 many ele-
nlents which have served TO make our bod
les Our flesh Is composed of caribou, azote.
hydrogen and oxygen, combined with the
state of water and of some other elements,
among which We may mention chloride OF
sodium. The flesh Of animals is not chem
ieaily different from ours. II all comes
from water and air and will return to
them. The same elements in small guam
titles make mp every living being. The OK.
WHICH SsttS INV StsA>>. WV S<AA&iS NAho
Of flesh As man, who eats the OK. All ter
restrial organic matter is only carbon, conn
bined in varying proportions with hydro
gen, aznIe, oxygen, etc.
Bat we have no right to forbid nature to
act otherwise in worlds where carbon does
not exit. A world. for example, where
silica would replace carbon, silic acid, car
louie ae:,l-could it not be inhabited by
Al her tliff2rppf
from those existing on the earth, different
not only in form bat also in suhstances In
a world where chloride would dominate
would we not find ehlorio acid and all the
fertile family Of the ehlorides fulfilling an
Important 1T In the functions of hfei
And bremi,te. could it not be associated
with other formations, And why should
we stop at terrestrial chemistry
One thing certain is that the marvellous
revelations OF the spectrum analysis do not
argue in favor of unity of chemical con-
situation in the different celestial bodies,
nor of an absolute unity among them
selves, far from il. In our own solar sys-
tenn we tiud essential differences between
certain plaaets>. In the spectrum of Jupiter,
for example, we find AN unknown substance
| which mauifests 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
| the atmosphere even appears, If we leave
aqueous vapor cut 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 heliun,
| aad which We have never found on the
| earth.
The relationship Of the planets among
| themselves = an undeniable fact, since they
are all daushters of one father, but they
differ among themselves, not only by loca
| ton, position volume, mass, density, tenn
perature IL; n uspbere, but still more by
| their physical and chemical constitution,
and the point To which we call attention
| here is that This diversity should not be
| considered as an obstacle to the manifesto
| tons of life: but, on the contrary, as "a new
| field open 20 the infinite fecundity of the
universal mother
When, then, our thought takes flight not
only toward our neighbors the moon, We
| nus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, but even to the
| niyriads Of unknown worlds which gravi
tate about the suns scattered in space, We
| have no plausible reason for imagining
| that the inhab of these other worlds
of the skies resemble us in any particular,
whether in form or in organic substance.
| The form of the terrestrial human body is
| due to the elements OF our planet, notably
carbon The terrestrial human form is dc
rived from ancestral animals, from which
| il has gradually elevated Itself by the con
tinued progress of the transformation of
| beings. Beyond doubt, it seems to us that
| to he a man or woman there must he n
head, A heart lungs, two legs, two arms,
| etc Nothing Is less clearly demonstrated,
If we are Constituted as we are, it is sim
| ply because ths prosimians had also head,
| a heart, lungs, legs, arms, not by any means
| ~ elegant as loIrs. madam, but still of the
same anatomy And little by little we 20
hack easily to,iIy by means Of paleontology
| 90 the origin cf Beings Thus IL is certain
| that the bird las developed from the rep
| tile by prgcess of organic evolution; SO also
| IL Is certain ,l'lt rial humanity repre-
| ients the sum nit of an immense genealog-
zeal tree. of watch all the branches are
brothers, and the roots of which plunge
| lgto the v>y rHdiments of the most ele
mentary prim tive organisms.
| All kinds OF Imaginable and unimagina-
bic forms she uld people the multitude of
| worlds Terrestrial man is endowed with
| Eve senses. ~ rather with six. Why should
nature have ,toppe1 therer Why, for ex-
ample, shoul,I rhe not have endowed Ger
tain mortal. Nth an electric senseY with
| magnetic ssBspl with sense of locality.
y it'll an organ capable of perceiving ethe-
real vibraf pIis of intra rouge and of ultra
| siolets of n sense permitting one to hear
at a distance. to see through the wallis
| We eat and digest like the grosser animals.
| DO there not exist worlds where the nutri-
/ at, laH Al in ut nil
| from so Ridiculous burden2 The smallest
yallow, the dusky bat itself, has the All
vantage over us of flying through the air.
Is not our world, where the man Of tho
| greatest genius the most exquisite woman,
ends himself or herself nailed TO the earth
IKE the COMMON caterpillar before its
uetamorph,,si sa very inferior onei
| Well. Would IL be so disagreeable to In
Aabit - world OF perfume and voluptuous-
ess where the flowers would be animated,
| where suns Of many colors-the diamond
| Joined TO the ruby, garnet to the emerald
and to the sapphire-wopld shine might
| md dHy-blue nights, scarlet days-in the
glory Of an eternal springtime; many col
| bred moons sleeping on the mirror of the
| waters, phn>i harescent mountains, aerial
| Inhabitants, men. women and perhaps
dther sexes, perfect in their forms, Ell
owed with multiplied sensibilities, lumi
| olls at will incom bustble as asbestls, i'm.
mortal perhaps? At least, lilliputian
| .tomS that we are, once for all let us he
ua,inced tina, all our Imagination is but
,terility in the midst of the infinite, scarce
| " seen through the telescope. Camille
| lamlnarion in 1T. Louis Globe-DemocraL
Precise Information For Poets.
This stanza occurs in one of Mr. Rudyar0
| kiplne's recent bits of verse:
This f. the horrible story
Toll as the twilight fails,
As thu monkeys walk together
Holding each others tails