Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1896-04-30

plaSm, there has been an evolution Oh /
organic forms on the planet Mars. d.
rected by natural selection and kim
lred agencies. Is it necessary or
even probable conclusion that the
evolution would have eliminated in a
set of creatures with option |
at all comparable to that of a man?
1t will be seen at once that this raises
d complicated and as yet insoluble
problem-a problem in which, TO use
mathematical phrase, there are
many independent variables. The or
ganS of sense are PARIS Of the body,
and, like bodies themselves and all
their parts, present forms which are
the result of an almost infinite series
of variations, selections and reflections.
Geographical isolation, for instance,
has b, N one of the great modifying
agencies Earth movements, the set
of currents and the nature of rocks
together have repeatedly broken up
land masses into islands aud, quite in
dependcntly OF 9th / modifying 2gen-
cies, have broken up groups cE Great
ures into isolated sets, with the result
that these isolated sets have developed
in divereing lines. He would be
bold zoologst who should say that eX-
listing animals and plants would have
been as they are today had the dis
tribution of land and water in the
cretaceous age been different. Since
the beginning of the chalk, all the
great groups OF mammals have sep
arated from the common indifferent
stock and have become nodded into
men and monkeys, cats and dogs, a.
telopes and deer, elephants and SOUR
rels. 1t would be the widest -, am 10
suppose that the recurrent changes OF
sea and land, of continent and ISLANDS,
that have occurred since the dawn OF
life en- the earth, had been at al simi
lar on Mars. Geographical ,!iStribu-
ton is only one of a vast series a. N
Dependency varying changes tAat has
gone to the making of man. Granted
that there has been an evolution OF
protOplasm upon Mars, there Is every
reason to think that the creatures Oh
Mars would be different from the
creatures on earth, in form and func-
ton, in structure and III nabit, differ
ent beyond the most bizarre imaginingS
of nightmare
If we pursue the problem Of Mar
tian sensation mGrc closely, We shall
fn2 still greater reason for doubt ing
the existence of &entient belna5 at all
comparable with ourselves. In a
metaphysical sense ii is true, there IS
no external world outs us; the
whole universe, from The tG"theSt star
10 the tiniest chemical atom, is q fig
mcnt Of our brain But in a 2r05a2r
sense. we distinguish between an eX-
telnal reality and the poor sides OF 1t
that our senses perceive. We think OF
4 something not ourselves ut the ma
turC of which we guess, 50 tar as we
smell taste, touch, weigh, see and
hear. Are these senses of ours the
only mag inabe probes into the nature
Of matter? Has the universe no 1acttS
other than those she turns to man
There are variations even IN the
range of our OWE senses. Accordingly
to the ratc of its Vibrations sounding
column of air may be shrilled up, /
doomed down. beyond all human near
ing; but. for each Individual, the nigh
est and lowest audible notes dlllSf.
Where there are ears to hear there are
harmuniCs and artiCulatc s6unlS above
and below the range OF man. ne
creatures of Mars with thr slightest
Il FI,rnnpnc i'm thpir organ :.
might hear, and yet be deaf to what we
speak and yet be dumb to us.
On either side the visible spectrum
into which light is broken by prism
there stretch active rays. Invisible 10
us. Eyes in structure very little al
fcrcnt to ours might see, and yet be
blind to what we see. So is it WITT all
the senses. and even granted that the
unimaginablc creatures of Mars hai
sense organs directly comparable with
ours. there might be no common meas
ure of what they and VIC hear and sec,
taste. smell and touch. Moreover, ii
IS an extreme supposition that similar
organs and senses should have APP
reared. Even among the Al mails CT
This earth we g IS at the eN once OF
senses not possessed by or selves.
+ our conaciou rely ions to the ,1Niron-
mcnt are only a email part OF the e :
tent to which the environment affects
us. and it would be easy to suggest
possible senses different to ours. With
creatures whose evolution had pro
ccedcd on different lines, re- ulting III
shapes. structures and relation TO en-
vironment impossible to imagine, II Is
sufficiently plain that appreciation OF
the environment might or mt be in a
fashion inscrutahle to us. phaS> OF
anthropomorphism is more naive than
the euppositiou Of men on Mars, The
place Of such a co" 'rptIon in to-. world
Of thought is with the anthroi morphiC
cosmogonies and religions inv ntod by
the childish conreit of primitive, man. e
Saturday Review
HE WAS LAZY.