The Indianapolis journal., 1903-12-13
IF We Should Ring Up the Planet of Mars
Possibilities
Of the Remark eProperhe o eenium

are the resplendent perspectives which Sc
lenium discloses. There is what we prom
ised. There is your moneys worth. Yet
here now is something thrown in. some
thing that will show how useful to US will
be the answer to that query.
BY way of proem we must bark back
moment to primitive man. That chap lived
on some sort of terms with his simian
relatives. 1t is probable that he had
memories of. though probably also little
reverence for. the anthropoid chattering
apes that were his progenitors In any
event, precisely as we descend from him
so did he descend from them. The filiation
is direct
That is common knowledge. Everyone is
aware that men and women sprang from
monkeys. Though personally we rather
fancy that women sprang first and fastest.
The fancy is agreeable to contemplate.
though less so than the conclusion to which
it leads. For, obviously. when all hands
emerged from the primal primitiveness into
barbarism and from that into civilized life.
they just missed accomplishing a miracle.
They missed the acquisition OF wisdom.
knowledge they could acquire and increase.
but not wisdom. Humanity Is no wiser to-
day than 1t was twenty-five hundred years
ago. The problems OF space which the as
trologers Of old set out to solve are prob
lens still. The mysteries of the universe
are mysteries yet. Wisdom has not flow
cred since 1t budded first. Arrested In
growth IL has remained dwarfed since
then. There is a reason for all things.
There is one for this. In our upper stories
, there is no hothouse suitable for fits culture.
We might have had one but we missed it.
The miss is affecting. 1t initiates dis
tressingly against the possibilities which
selenium affords. For, admitting the possl-
bilities. admitting. as is only right, that
the Martians are I'm possession OF wisdom
which we lack, admitting, too, IL only for
the fun OF 1T. that sooner or later that
wisdom the Martians will be able 10 impart.
never could they get 1t through our hands.
No, never. The ears on our heads were
devised to hear, but not TO understand.
These heads are larger. better proportioned
and usually Though not always-less ugly
than the heads Of the apes. from whom we
descend But our intelligence. however re-
markable II may seem TO US. is but the evo-
luton OF rudimentary thought. the Develop
ment of the little things which monkeys
brains contain.
1t fiatters to think otherwise and the
fiattery does us no harm. On the contrary.
But precisely as il would be impossible TO
make an audience OF attentive gorillas ap-
preciate the beauties OF the higher mathe-
matics. so, from our intelligence which.
relatively. is as limited. are the mysteries
OF the cosmos barred.
Infinity, for instance Is a term which we
know how to spell. know how TO pronounce
and which we occasionally use. But IL con-
veys no meaning TO us. IL is the same
with the concepts OF time and of space.
These are distractions with which our
minds are impotent 10 grapple. AS with
them, so with all things supersensible- We
should like very much. and some OF Us
try very hard. 10 understand them. but.
In our heads. the necessary apparatus Is
lacking.
And there you are, Were we 10 ring up
Mars we should be no wiser than before.
Or rather We would, for we should find that
I'm the upper circles there was no informa-
tioE adapted 10 our upper stories. The
discovery would do US good. IL would
show that we are not capable as some
OF us ingeniously suppose IL would have
the further merit OF showing. also. that in
matters OF which we know nothing II n
idle TO attempt &c know less.
Copyright. 1901