The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1893-09-01
WHY SOME PEOPLE SPEND MUCH
TIME IN SPECULATION.

Have Life and Growth.
The splendor with which Venus sparkles
above us, the studies which have been made
OF the length of the rotation of this planet,
the discoveries regarding our neighbor, the
planet Mars, the progress realized in the
spectroscope and celestial photography-all
seem to concur to direct the attention Of
astronomers, philosophers, naturalists and
even poets toward the supreme question
placed before the human mind by the spec
tacle of the universe-what is there in those
distant bodiesP Have we sufficient reason
for admitting that these other worlds are
peopled like ours2 And if life has appeared
in these lands of the skies as in our sub
lunar Country has it any resemblance to
our own? In word, are these other worlds
inhabited, and if they are do their citizens
resemble usS
Our first object in studying other worlds
is to know il they resemble ours, When
we observe the moon, or Venus, Mars or
Jupiter with telescope, we naturally and
instinctively seek first for analogies with
the world which we inhabit. We seek to
determine the conditions of inhabitancy,
the climate, the length Of night and day,
the meteorology of each world, with the
preconvinced idea that the degree of proba
bility in favor of the existence of life is pro
portionate to the degree of resemblance to
the planet which we inhabit.
We certainly have some right to reason
in this way, because in what concerns life
we know only that which exists around us.
The direct observation of terrestrial facts
leads us to think that an atmosphere iden.
teal with ours is necessary to life that it
requires also water identical with ours,
temperature neither too cold nor too hot.
materials neither too dense nor too light.
years neither too short nor too long-in a
word, conditions identical or at least very
analogous to ours. A world destitute of
oxygen, for example. is judged by us rad
ically uninhabitable, for the reason that If
oxygen disappeared entirely from the ter,
restrial world humanity entire would per.
ish instantaneously. In the same way
world deprived Of water-I mean Of our
chemical water, composed of two parts Of
hydrogen and one of oxygen-is declared
uninhabitable by the savants of the earth.
The same exclusion would apply to world
destitute of carbon, etc.
WE'LL This reasoning of savants is the
reasoning of fishes. Imagine for moment
two silvery whitehall at the bottom of
river flooded with sunlight talking to-
gether Fishes understand one another
very well despite their apparent muteness.
One of them who has more than once been
nearly taken by the net, but who with
a certain cunning recognizes fishermen at
once, assures his comrade at once that there
is world outside of the water. This one,
perfectly familiar with the conditions of
fish life and Of the functions of the giils,
easily brushes his enlightened adversary
with the weight of his scientific arguments.
"Live out of the waterl What sensible fish
would believe such chatter for momentP
Come, nowi An oyster would not believe
such tales, The shadows that we see pass
ing on the banks cannot be living. They
are optical illusions Live out of the waterl
What a jokel Why, water is essential to
life, and good, fresh water, in spite of what
that old salmon trout said the other day
about journeying to the ocean and finding
zeal fishes living in that salt waterl Fiel''
A doctor of the Sorbonne could not have
been more logical nor more concise in his
argument, although, doubtless, he would
have expressed it in more elevated Ian
guage. However. it is but just TO admit
that we are excusable for judging in this
manner. We have studied the conditions
of life on the earth and their limitations,
and we do not readily divine how life can
exist under other conditions.
However, glance at the entirety of the
terrestrial world warns us not to inclose
our horizon in too narrow a circle At the
outset the immense difference between
aquatic life and aerial life indicates the
infinite resources of nature. Formerly, in
deed, shortsighted naturalists taught that
the depths of the ocean contained no or.
ganic life on account of theenormous pres
sure in those depths, which would be suf
fcient to cause the discharge of cannon,
and also because of the obscurity, which
would prevent all molecular work.
A curious person wishing to have the
last word let down a plumb weight 1000,
1000, 5000 yards and drew it up covered
with living marvels, with ravishing mol
lusks of extreme delicacy, with graceful
butterlylike beings which lived there in
perfect equilibrium in the mighty depths,
playing the game of life in light that
they made for themselves, being phosphor-
escentl What a contradiction What a
lessonl
Lifel life 1t radiates everywhere on the
globe, from the black depths of the ocean
to the white SUBMITS of the eternal SHOWS.
1t trembles in the ray of sunlight, swarms
in drop of water. 1t fills the air with mi
crobes. 1t multiplies parasites upon para
sites to the detriment of life itself Itenvel-
opes all the globe with an endless net which
constantly alters and improves itself. 1t
shows itself in the earth, in the water, in
the air, in the plant, in the animal, devour-
ing itself rather than cease to be- 1t over
flows from all sides of the terrestrial coupe
too narrow to contain it, and we have the
pretension to place bounds upon it'll Fish
that we arel
By what right shall we say to the vital
energy that radiates in the universe, $50
far shalt thou go and no farther" In
the name of science2 A complete error.
The known is tiny isle in the midst of the
ocean of the unknown. The depths of the
sea, which seem barrier, show themselves
peopled with special life.
But" comes the objection, "there is afr,
oxygen there also. Oxygen is indispensa-
BILE. A world without oxygen is world
vowed to death, desert eternally sterile"
WhyP Because we have not yet seen be-
ings breathing without air, living without
oxygenp Another error. Even if we did
not know of any, that would not prove that
none exists. But we do know of some. They
are the anerobies These beings live with
out air, without oxygen. Still more, oxy-
gen kills theml-Camille Flammarion in