,transcriber's ,note4 ,a list of the changes made can be found at the end of the book4 ,mark-up3 italic bold ,,the ,,day ,,after ,,death ,illustration ,,the ,,day ,,after ,,death ,,or ,our ,future ,life according to ,science ,,translated ,,from ,,the ,,french ,,of ,,louis ,,figuier ,,illustrated ,,by ,,ten ,,astronomical ,,plates ,a ,,new ,,edition ,london ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co41 ,,limited ,,new ,,york3 ,,the ,,macmillan ,,company #aijd ,formerly published by ,richard ,bentley ,son4 ,reprinted #aijd4 ,,contents4 ,,page ,,introduction #a ,,chapter ,,the ,,first4 ,,man ,,is ,,the ,,result ,,of ,,the ,,triple ,,alliance ,,of ,,the ,,body1 ,,the ,,soul1 ,,and ,,life4--,,of ,,what ,,does ,,death ,,consist8 #f ,,chapter ,,the ,,second4 ,,what ,,becomes1 ,,after ,,death1 ,,of ,,the ,,body1 ,,the ,,soul1 ,,and ,,life8 #i ,,chapter ,,the ,,third4 ,,where ,,does ,,the ,,superhuman ,,being ,,reside8 #af ,,chapter ,,the ,,fourth4 ,,do ,,all ,,men ,,pass ,,after ,,death ,,to ,,the ,,state ,,of ,,superhuman ,,beings8--,,re-,,incarnations ,,of ,,perverse ,,souls4--,,re-,,incarnation ,,of ,,children ,,who ,,have ,,died ,,in ,,infancy #bd ,,chapter ,,the ,,fifth4 ,,what ,,are ,,the ,,attributes ,,of ,,the ,,superhuman ,,being8 ,,physical ,,shape1 ,,senses1 ,,degree ,,of ,,intelligence4--,,faculties ,,of ,,the ,,superhuman ,,being #cj ,,chapter ,,the ,,sixth4 ,,what ,,becomes ,,of ,,the ,,superhuman ,,being ,,after ,,death8--,,deaths1 ,,resurrections1 ,,and ,,new ,,incarnations ,,in ,,the ,,ethereal ,,spaces #ee ,,chapter ,,the ,,seventh4 ,,physical ,,and ,,geographical ,,description ,,of ,,the ,,sun #fa ,,chapter ,,the ,,eighth4 ,,the ,,sun4--,,definitive ,,sojourn ,,of ,,souls ,,arrived ,,at ,,the ,,highest ,,degree ,,of ,,the ,,celestial ,,hierarchy4--,,the ,,sun ,,is ,,the ,,final ,,and ,,common ,,sojourn ,,of ,,the ,,souls ,,which ,,come ,,from ,,the ,,earth4--,,physical ,,constitution ,,of ,,the ,,sun4--,,this ,,heavenly ,,body ,,is ,a ,,mass ,,of ,,burning ,,gas #hi ,,chapter ,,the ,,ninth4 ,,the ,,inhabitants ,,of ,,the ,,sun ,,are ,,purely ,,spiritual ,,beings4--,,the ,,solar ,,rays ,,are ,,emanations ,,from ,,spiritual ,,beings ,,that ,,live ,,in ,,the ,,sun4--,,these ,,beings ,,thus ,,produce ,,vegetable ,,and ,,animal ,,life ,,on ,,earth4--,,the ,,continuity ,,of ,,solar ,,radiation1 ,,inexplicable ,,by ,,physicists1 ,,explained ,,by ,,emanations ,,from ,,the ,,souls ,,of ,,the ,,inhabitants ,,of ,,the ,,sun4--,,the ,,worship ,,of ,,fire1 ,,and ,,the ,,adoration ,,of ,,the ,,sun ,,in ,,different ,,nations1 ,,ancient ,,and ,,modern #ajd ,,chapter ,,the ,,tenth4 ,,what ,,are ,,our ,,relations ,,with ,,superhuman ,,beings8 #abb ,,chapter ,,the ,,eleventh4 ,,what ,,is ,,the ,,animal8--,,the ,,souls ,,of ,,animals4--,,migrations ,,of ,,souls ,,through ,,the ,,bodies ,,of ,,animals #ach ,,chapter ,,the ,,twelfth4 ,,what ,,is ,,the ,,plant8--,,the ,,plant ,,can ,,feel4--,,how ,,difficult ,,it ,,is ,,to ,,distinguish ,,plants ,,from ,,animals4--,,general ,,chain ,,of ,,living ,,beings #adi ,,chapter ,,the ,,thirteenth4 ,,does ,,man ,,exist ,,elsewhere ,,than ,,on ,,the ,,earth8--,,description ,,of ,,the ,,planets4--,,plurality ,,of ,,the ,,inhabited ,,worlds #agg ,,chapter ,,the ,,fourteenth4 ,,that ,,which ,,took ,,place ,,on ,,earth ,,for ,,the ,,creation ,,of ,,organized ,,beings ,,must ,,have ,,equally ,,taken ,,place ,,in ,,the ,,other ,,planets4--,,successive ,,order ,,of ,,the ,,appearance ,,of ,,living ,,beings ,,on ,,our ,,globe4--,,the ,,same ,,succession ,,must ,,have ,,taken ,,place ,,in ,,each ,,planet4--,,the ,,planetary ,,man4--,,the ,,planetary ,,man1 ,,like ,,the ,,terrestrial ,,man1 ,,is ,,transformed1 ,,after ,,death1 ,,into ,a ,,superhuman ,,being1 ,,and ,,passes ,,into ,,the ,,ether #aie ,,chapter ,,the ,,fifteenth4 ,,proofs ,,of ,,the ,,plurality ,,of ,,human ,,existences1 ,,and ,,of ,,re-,,incarnations4--,,without ,,the ,,aid ,,of ,,this ,,doctrine ,,the ,,presence ,,of ,,man ,,upon ,,the ,,earth ,,is ,,inexplicable1 ,,likewise ,,the ,,unequal ,,conditions ,,of ,,human ,,life1 ,,and ,,the ,,fate ,,of ,,children ,,who ,,die ,,in ,,infancy #bjb ,,chapter ,,the ,,sixteenth4 ,,faculties ,,peculiar ,,to ,,certain ,,children1 ,,aptitudes ,,and ,,vocations ,,among ,,men1 ,,are ,,additional ,,proofs ,,of ,,re-,,incarnations4--,,explanation ,,of ,,phrenology4--,,descartes' ,,innate ,,ideas1 ,,and ,,dugald ,,stewart',s ,,principle ,,of ,,causality ,,can ,,only ,,be ,,explained ,,by ,,the ,,plurality ,,of ,,lives4--,,vague ,,remembrances ,,of ,,our ,,former ,,existences #bab ,,chapter ,,the ,,seventeenth4 ,,summary ,,of ,,the ,,system ,,of ,,plurality ,,of ,,existences #bbf ,,chapter ,,the ,,eighteenth4 ,,answers ,,to ,,some ,,objections4--,,first3 ,,the ,,immortality ,,of ,,the ,,soul1 ,,which ,,serves ,,as ,,the ,,basis ,,to ,,this ,,system1 ,,is ,,not ,,demonstrated4--,,second3 ,,we ,,have ,,no ,,remembrance ,,of ,,former ,,existences4--,,third3 ,,this ,,system ,,is ,,only ,,the ,,metempsychosis ,,of ,,the ,,ancients4--,,fourth3 ,,this ,,system ,,is ,,confounded ,,with ,,darwinism #bcb ,,chapter ,,the ,,nineteenth4 ,,sequel ,,to ,,objections4--,,difficulty ,,of ,,understanding ,,how ,,the ,,rays ,,of ,,the ,,sun1 ,,material ,,substances1 ,,can ,,be ,,the ,,germs ,,of ,,souls1 ,,immaterial ,,substances #bei ,,chapter ,,the ,,twentieth4 ,,practical ,,rules ,,resulting ,,from ,,the ,,facts ,,and ,,principles ,,developed ,,in ,,this ,,work4--,,to ,,elevate ,,one',s ,,soul ,,by ,,the ,,practice ,,of ,,virtues1 ,,and ,,by ,,trying ,,to ,,acquire ,a ,,knowledge ,,of ,,nature ,,and ,,its ,,laws ,,through ,,science4--,,to ,,render ,,public ,,worship ,,to ,,the ,,divinity4--,,we ,,should ,,preserve ,,the ,,remembrance ,,of ,,the ,,dead4--,,we ,,should ,,not ,,fear ,,death4--,,death ,,is ,,but ,,an ,,insensible ,,transition ,,from ,,one ,,state ,,to ,,another2 ,,it ,,is ,,not ,,an ,,end1 ,,but ,a ,,metamorphosis4--,,impressions ,,of ,,the ,,dying4--,,those ,,who ,,die ,,young ,,are ,,loved ,,by ,,the ,,gods #bfi ,,epilogue4 ,,in ,,which ,,we ,,seek ,,god1 ,,and ,,in ,,our ,,search ,,describe ,,the ,,universe #bhd ,illustration ,,the ,,day ,,after ,,death4 ,,introduction4 ,,reader1 you must die4 ,you may perhaps die to-morrow4 ,what will become of you8 ,what shall you be1 on the day after your death8 ,i do not now allude to your body2 that is of no more importance than the clothes which it wears1 or the shroud in which it will be buried4 ,like these garments1 like that cerecloth1 your body must be decomposed1 and its elements distributed among ,nature's great reservoirs of material1 earth1 air1 and water4 ,but your soul1 whither shall it go8 ,that which was free within you1 that which thought1 loved1 and suffered1 what shall become of it8 ,of course you do not believe that your soul will be extinguished with your life on the day of your decease1 and that nothing will remain of that which has palpitated in your breast1 vibrating to the emotions of joy and sorrow1 to the tender affections1 the numberless passions and disturbances of your life4 ,where shall that sensible1 existing soul1 which must survive the tomb1 go to8 ,what will it become1 what shall you be1 my reader1 the day after your death8 ,to the consideration of this question this book is devoted4 ,almost all thinkers have declared that the problem of the future life defies solution4 ,they have argued that the human mind is powerless to foresee so profound a mystery1 and that therefore the only rational course is to abstain from the endeavour4 ,this is the reasoning of the majority of mankind1 partly from carelessness1 or partly from conviction4 ,besides1 when we venture to look at this tremendous question closely1 we find ourselves immediately surrounded with such thick darkness that we lack courage to pursue the investigation4 ,and thus we are led to turn away from all thought of the future life4 ,there are1 nevertheless1 circumstances which force us to reflect on this dark and difficult subject4 ,when one finds oneself in danger of death1 or when one has lost a dearly beloved object1 there is no escape from meditation upon the future life4 ,when we have dwelt long and earnestly upon the idea1 we may be brought to acknowledge that the problem is not1 as it has so long been believed1 beyond the reach of the human mind4 ,during the greater portion of his life1 the author of this book believed1 in common with everybody else1 that the problem of the future life is out of our reach1 and that true wisdom consists in not troubling our minds about it4 ,but1 one dreadful day1 a thunderbolt fell in his path4 ,he lost the son in whom centred all the hope and ambition of his life4 ,then1 in the bitterness of his grief he reflected deeply on the new life which must open for each of us1 above the tomb4 ,after long dwelling on this idea in solitary meditation1 he asked of the exact sciences what positive information1 on this question1 they could furnish him with1 and subsequently1 he interrogated ignorant and simple people1 peasants in their villages1 and unlettered men in towns1 an ever precious source of aid in re-ascending towards the true principles of nature1 for it is not perverted by the progress of education1 or by the routine of a commonplace philosophy4 ,thus the author of this book succeeded in constructing for himself an entire system of ideas concerning the new life of man1 which is to follow his terrestrial existence4 ,but his system is all contained in nature4 ,each organized being is attached to another which precedes1 and another which follows it1 in the chain of the living creation4 ,the plant and the animal1 the animal and the man1 are linked1 soldered to one another2 the moral and physical order meet and mingle4 ,it results from this1 that any one who believes himself to have discovered the explanation of any one fact concerning this organization1 is speedily led to extend this explanation to all living beings1 to reconstruct1 link by link1 the great chain of nature4 ,thus it was with the author of this book4 ,after having sought out the destination of man1 when dismissed from his terrestrial life1 he was led to apply his views to all other living beings1 to animals1 and then to plants4 ,the power of logic forced him to study those beings1 impossible to be seen by our organs of vision1 by which he holds the planets1 the suns1 and all the innumerable stars dispersed over the vast extent of the heavens1 to be inhabited4 ,so that you will find in this book1 not only an attempt at the solution of the problem of the future life by science1 but also the statement of a complete theory of nature1 of a true philosophy of the universe4 ,it may be that ,i am deceiving myself2 it may be that ,i am taking the dreams of my imagination for serious views2 ,i may lose myself in that dark region through which ,i am trying to grope my way2 but at least ,i write with absolute sincerity1 and that is my excuse for writing this book at all4 ,i hope that others may be induced by my example to attempt similar efforts1 to apply the exact sciences to the study of the great question of the destinies of man after this life4 ,a series of works undertaken in this branch of learning1 would be the greatest service which could be rendered to natural philosophy1 and also to the progress of humanity4 ,after the terrible misfortunes of #ahgj and #ahga1 there is not a family in ,france which has not had to mourn a kinsman or a friend4 ,i found1 not indeed consolation for my grief1 but tranquillity for my mind1 in the composition of this work2 and ,i have therefore hoped that1 in reading its pages1 they who suffer and they who grieve might find some of the same hope and assurance which have lifted up my stricken heart4 ,society is in our day the prey of a deadly disease1 of a moral canker1 which threatens it with destruction4 ,this disease is materialism4 ,materialism1 which was preached first in ,germany1 in the universities1 and in books of philosophy1 and the natural sciences1 afterwards spread rapidly in ,france4 ,with brief delay1 it came down from the level of the savans to that of the educated classes1 and thence it penetrated the ranks of the people2 and the people have undertaken to teach us the practical consequences of materialism4 ,little by little they have flung off every bond1 they have discarded all respect of persons and principles2 they no longer value religion or its ministers2 the social hierarchy1 their country1 or liberty4 ,that this must lead to some terrible result it was easy to foresee4 ,after a long period of political anarchy1 a body of furious madmen carried death1 terror1 and fire through the capital of ,france4 ,it was not patriotism which fired the illustrious and sacred monuments of ,paris1 it was materialism4 ,nothing can be more evident than that1 from the moment one is convinced that everything comes to an end in this world1 that there is nothing to follow this life1 we have nothing better to do1 one and all of us1 than to appeal to violence1 to excite disturbance1 and invoke anarchy everywhere1 in order to find1 amid such propitious disorder1 the means of satisfying our brutal desires1 our unruly ambition1 and our sensual passions4 ,civilization1 society1 and morals1 are like a string of beads1 whose fastening is the belief in the immortality of the soul4 ,break the fastening1 and the beads are scattered4 ,materialism is the scourge of our day1 the origin of all the evils of ,european society4 ,now1 materialism is fiercely fought in this book1 which might be entitled1 ,spiritualism ,demonstrated by ,science4 ,because this is its aim1 and its motive1 my friends have induced me to publish it4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,the ,,first4 ,,man ,,the ,,result ,,of ,,the ,,triple ,,alliance ,,of ,,the ,,body1 ,,the ,,soul1 ,,and ,,the ,,life4 ,,what ,,constitutes ,,death4 ,,barthez1 ,lordat1 and the ,medical ,school of ,montpellier have created the doctrine of the human aggregate1 which1 in our opinion1 affords the only explanation of the true nature of man4 ,this doctrine of which we shall avail ourselves1 as a guide in the earlier portions of this work1 may be defined as follows3-- ,there exists in man three elements3-- #a4 ,the body1 or the material substance4 #b4 ,the ,life1 or as ,barthez calls it1 the ,vital ,force4 #c4 ,the ,soul1 or as ,lordat calls it1 the ,intimate ,sense4 ,we must not confound the soul with the life1 as the materialists and certain shallow philosophers have done4 ,the soul and the life are essentially distinct4 ,the life is perishable1 while the soul is immortal2 the life is a temporary condition1 destined to decline and destruction2 while the soul is impervious to every ill1 and escapes from death4 ,life1 like heat and electricity1 is a force engendered by certain causes2 after having had its commencement1 it has its termination1 which is altogether final4 ,the soul1 on the contrary1 has no end4 ,man may be defined as a perfected soul dwelling in a living body4 ,this definition permits us to specify what it is that constitutes death4 ,death is the separation of the soul and the body4 ,this separation is effected when the body has ceased to be animated by the life4 ,plants and animals cannot live except under certain conditions3 plants in the air or in the water1 animals in the air1 fish in the water2 and if they are deprived of these conditions1 they perish immediately4 ,again1 there are existences which require special conditions for their support within the general ones4 ,certain polypoid-worms can live only in carbonic acid1 or azotic gas2 the germs of cryptogams produced by damp can be developed only in aqueous infusions of vegetable matters2 the fish which live in the sea1 die in fresh1 or only moderately salt1 water4 ,every living being has then its special habitat4 ,the soul does not form an exception to this rule4 ,the place1 the habitat of the soul is a living body4 ,the soul disappears from the body when this body ceases to live1 just as a man forsakes a house when that house has been destroyed by fire4 ,such is the doctrine of the triple alliance of the body1 the soul1 and the life1 as formulated by the ,school of ,montpellier1 and such1 as a consequence of this doctrine1 is the mechanism of death4 ,it must be added that this triple alliance of the body1 the soul1 and the life1 is not peculiar to man2 it exists also in all animals4 ,the animal has also a living body1 and soul2 but the soul in animals is much inferior to the soul in men1 in the number and extent of its faculties4 ,having few wants1 the animal has a very small number of faculties1 which are all in a rudimentary condition4 ,it is only in the very considerable development of the faculties of the soul that man differs from the superior animals1 to which he bears a strong resemblance in his physiological functions1 and his anatomical structure4 ,it must be remarked that the ,montpellier ,school does not admit this view of the condition of animals4 ,in another part of this work1#a a fuller explanation of the distinctions which divide man from animal will be found4 ,illustration ,,footnotes3 #a ,ch4 ,,xv4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,the ,,second4 ,,what ,,becomes ,,of ,,the ,,body1 ,,the ,,soul1 ,,and ,,the ,,life1 ,,after ,,death4 ,,after death1 the body1 whether of a man1 or of an animal1 being no longer preserved from destruction by vital force1 falls under the dominion of chemical forces4 ,if the body of a dead animal1 or a human corpse be kept in a place where the temperature is below #j1 or if it be shut up in a space entirely air-tight1 or if it be impregnated with antiseptic substances1 it will remain intact1 as at the moment at which life has abandoned it4 ,such is the process of embalming4 ,the effect of the various chemical substances with which a corpse is impregnated1 is to coagulate the albumen of the tissues1 and thus to preserve the animal substance from putrefaction4 ,a similar result will be obtained if the corpse be placed between two layers of ice1 or in a coffin entirely surrounded with ice constantly renewed4 ,if kept at a temperature of #j1 the body will not be subject to decomposition1 because putrid fermentation cannot take place at so low a temperature4 ,this was the process by which the entire carcasses of the mammoths1 or extinct elephants1 which belonged to the quaternity period1 were preserved4 ,in #ahjb a perfectly preserved carcass of this gigantic pachyderm was found on the bank of the ,lena1 a river which runs into the ,arctic ,sea1 after traversing a portion of the ,asiatic continent in the vicinity of the ,north ,pole4 ,the frozen earth and the ice which covers the banks of the river into which the mammoth had plunged1 had so effectually preserved it from putrefaction1 that the flesh of the huge creature1 dead for more than a hundred thousand years1 made a feast for the fishermen of that desert place4 ,in northern countries1 if one would preserve the body of a man1 it could be effectually done by simply keeping it constantly wrapped in ice4 ,when the body of a man1 or of an animal1 is exposed to the combined influences of air1 of water1 and of a moderately high temperature1 it undergoes a series of chemical decompositions1 whose final term is its transformation into carbonic acid gas1 and some compounds1 gaseous or solid1 which represent the less advanced products of destruction4 ,gases of various kinds1 carbonic acid1 hydrosulphuric1 and ammoniac1 and the vapour of water1 spread themselves through the atmosphere1 or dissolve into the humidity of the soil4 ,at a later stage these compounds1 thus dissolved into the water which bathes the earth1 are absorbed by the little roots of the plants which live on it1 and aid in their nutrition and development4 ,as for the gas1 it begins by spreading through the air2 and then falling to the earth again dissolved in the rainwater1 it also equally supplies the needs of vegetable life4 ,the ammoniac and carbonic acid in the water which penetrates the soil1 is absorbed by the roots1 introduced into the tubes of the plants1 and supplies them with nourishment4 ,thus1 the matter which forms the bodies of men and animals is not destroyed2 it only changes its form1 and under its new conditions it aids in the composition of fresh organic substances4 ,in all this the human body does but obey the common laws of nature4 ,that which it undergoes1 every organized substance1 vegetable or animal1 exposed to the combined influences of air1 water1 and temperature1 equally undergoes4 ,a piece of cotton or woollen stuff1 a grain of wheat1 a fruit--they all ferment1 and reduce themselves to new products1 exactly as our bodies do4 ,the cere cloth which enfolds a corpse is destroyed by precisely the same process which destroys the corpse4 ,but1 if the material substance which forms man's body does but transform itself1 journeying through the globe1 passing from animals to plants and from plants to animals2 it is quite otherwise with life4 ,life is a force4 ,like the other forces1 heat1 light1 and electricity1 it is born1 and it transmits itself2 it has a beginning and an end4 ,like light1 heat1 and electricity--the physical agents which make us comprehend life1 and which have certainly the same essence and the same origin--life has its producing causes1 and its causes of destruction4 ,it cannot rekindle itself when it has been extinguished2 it cannot re-commence its course when its fatal term has arrived4 ,life cannot perpetuate itself2 it is a simple condition of bodies1 a fugitive and precarious condition1 subject to countless influences1 accidents1 and chances4 ,the life is therefore greatly inferior in importance to the soul1 which is indestructible and immortal4 ,the soul is the essential element in all nature4 ,it has active and positive qualities in all respects where the two other elements1 the body and the life1 have only negative qualities4 ,whilst the body dissociates itself and disappears1 while the life becomes annihilated1 the soul can neither disappear nor become annihilated4 ,we have seen what becomes of a man's body after his death1 and also of his life2 let us now examine into the condition of his soul4 ,no philosopher1 no learned man1 none of those who know the immensity of the universe and the eternity of the ages1 can admit that our existence on the earth is a definite thing1--that human life has no link with anything above or beyond itself4 ,man dies at thirty1 or twenty years old2 he may live only a few months1 or a few minutes4 ,the average length of life1 according to ,duvilard's tables1 is twenty-eight years4 ,at present it is thirty-three4 ,one fourth of mankind die before their seventh year1 and one half do not outlive their seventeenth4 ,those who survive this time enjoy a privilege which is denied to the rest of the human race4#b ,what is so short an interval1 compared to the general duration of time1 to the age of the earth and of the worlds8 ,it is one minute in eternity4 ,our brief life is not1 cannot be anything but an accident1 a rapid and passing phenomenon1 which hardly counts for anything in the history of nature4 ,on the other hand1 the physical conditions of terrestrial life are detestable4 ,man is a martyr1 exposed to every sort of suffering3 owing partly to the defective organization of his body1 incessantly menaced with danger from external causes1 dreading the extremes of heat and cold2 weak and ailing1 coming into the world naked1 and without any natural defence against the influence of climate4 ,if1 in one portion of ,europe1 and in ,america1 the progress of civilization has secured comfort for the rich1 what are the sufferings of the poor in those very same countries8 ,life is perpetual suffering to the greater number of the men who inhabit the insalubrious regions of ,asia1 ,africa1 and ,oceania4 ,and then1 before there was any civilization at all1 during the period of ,primitive ,man1 a period so immense that it stretches back to a hundred thousand years before our epoch1 what was the fate of humanity8 ,it was a perpetual succession of suffering1 danger1 and pain4 ,the conditions of human existence are as evil from the moral as from the physical point of view4 ,it is granted that here below happiness is impossible4 ,the ,holy ,scriptures1 when they tell us that the earth is a valley of tears1 do but render an incontestable truth in a poetic form4 ,yes1 man has no destiny here but suffering4 ,he suffers in his affections1 and in his unfulfilled desires1 in the aspirations and impulses of his soul1 continually thrust back1 baffled1 beaten down by insurmountable obstacles and resistance4 ,happiness is a forbidden condition4 ,the few agreeable sensations which we experience1 now and then1 are expiated by the bitterest grief4 ,we have affections1 that we may lose and mourn their dearest objects2 we have fathers1 mothers1 children1 that we may see them die4 ,it is impossible that a state so abnormal can be a definitive condition4 ,order1 harmony1 equilibrium reign throughout the physical world1 and it must be that the same are to be found again in the moral world4 ,if1 on looking around us1 we are forced to acknowledge that suffering is the common and constant rule1 that injustice and violence dominate1 that force triumphs1 that victims tremble and die under the iron hand of cruelty and oppression2 then it must be that this is only a temporary order of things4 ,it cannot be otherwise than a moment of transition1 an intermediary period which ,providence condemns us to pass through rapidly1 on our way to a better state4 ,but1 what is this new condition1 what is this second existence which is to succeed to our terrestrial life8 ,in other words1 what becomes of the human soul after death has broken the bonds which held it to the body8 ,this is what we have to investigate4 ,that being1 superior to man in the scale of the living creatures which people the universe1 has no name in any language4 ,the angel acknowledged by the ,christian religion1 and honoured by an especial cultus1 is the only approach we have to a realization of the idea4 ,thus ,jean ,reynaud calls the superior creature1 who is1 he believes1 to succeed to man after his death1 an angel4 ,but we will put aside the word altogether1 and call the perfected creature who1 in our belief1 comes after man in the ascending series of nature1 the superhuman being4 ,illustration ,,footnotes3 #b ,rambosson4 ,the ,laws of ,life4 ,paris1 #ahga4 ,p4 #aba4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,the ,,third4 ,,where ,,does ,,the ,,superhuman ,,being ,,dwell8 ,,we have seen that of the three elements which compose the human aggregate1 one only1 the soul1 resists destruction4 ,after the dissolution of the body1 after the extinction of the life1 the soul1 detached from the material bonds which chained it to the earth1 goes away1 to feel1 to love1 to conceive1 to be free1 in a new body1 endowed with more powerful faculties than those allotted to humanity4 ,it goes away to compose that which we call the superhuman being4 ,but where does this new creature dwell8 ,all students of nature know that life is spread over our globe in prodigious proportions4 ,we cannot take a step1 our eyes cannot glance around us1 without everywhere encountering myriads of living beings4 ,the earth is nothing but a vast reservoir of life4 ,examine a blade of grass in a field1 and you will find it covered with insects1 or inferior animals4 ,but your eyes will not suffice for this examination2 you must have recourse to the microscope4 ,with the aid of the magnifying glass1 you will discover that this blade of grass is the refuge of an active population1 which are born1 multiply1 and die with prodigious rapidity on their almost imperceptible domain4 ,from this blade of grass you may draw inferences and conclusions respecting the vegetation of the entire globe4 ,the fresh waters which flow upon the surface of the earth are also the receptacle of a prodigious quantity of organic existence4 ,without mentioning the plants1 and the animals which live in the waters of the rivers and streams1 and are visible to the naked eye1 if you take a drop of water from a pool1 and place it under the microscope1 you will see that it is filled with living beings1 who1 though so small that they escape our unassisted vision1 are none the less active1 and all hold their appointed place in the economy of nature4 ,we know how thickly peopled with inhabitants is the great drop2 but1 without speaking of beings visible to all1 the fishes1 the crustacea1 and the zoophytes1 or of the marine plants1 creatures1 invisible except under microscopical examination1 abound to such an extent in sea water1 that one single drop of it1 so examined1 displays innumerable quantities of these microscopic animals and plants4 ,from this drop of water you may draw inferences and conclusions respecting the entire mass of waters which occupy the basins of the seas1 and form three-fourths of the surface of our globe4 ,in order that some conception may be reached of the enormous numbers of the living beings contained in the seas now1 and formerly1 we may fitly recall in this place a fact well known to geologists4 ,it is1 that all building stone1 all the calcareous earth of which chalk hills and banks are formed1 are entirely composed of the pulverized and agglomerated remains of the shells of mollusca1 visible or microscopic1 which1 in the most remote ages of the existence of the globe1 peopled the basin of the seas4 ,the whole of this formation is composed of the accumulation of shells4 ,if life has been lavished with such profusion in the waters during the geological periods1 it must be equally lavished now1 in almost similar ways1 because the actual conditions of nature do not differ from what they were in the primitive ages of the globe4 ,the air which surrounds us is1 like the earth and the seas1 a vast receptacle of living creatures4 ,we see only a few animals cleaving the arial space1 but the savant1 who looks beyond the simple appearance of things1 discovers myriads of existences in the air4 ,the air seems to us very pure1 very transparent1 but only because it is not sufficiently illumined by light to enable us to perceive the particles1 or foreign bodies1 which are floating about in it4 ,when we allow one ray of daylight to penetrate into a closed room1 one thread of solar light1 we can discern a luminous streak flung across the chamber1 while the remaining portion is still in darkness4 ,we all know that1 thanks to the powerful light1 and its contrast with the surrounding obscurity1 the luminous streak is seen to be filled with light1 slender floating bodies1 rising1 descending1 fluttering with the motion of the air4 ,that which is perceptible in the atmosphere of a brightly-lighted room is necessarily existent in the entire atmosphere surrounding our globe1 so that the air is everywhere filled with these specks of dust4 ,of what are these specks of dust formed8 ,almost entirely of living creatures1 of the germs of microscopic plants 7cryptogamia71 or of the eggs of inferior animals 7zoophytes74 ,so-called spontaneous generation1 so largely discussed of late in ,france and other countries1 is merely due to these organic germs which fill the atmosphere1 and which1 falling into the water1 or into the infusions of plants1 give birth to forms of vegetation1 which have been imputed to spontaneous generation2 that is to say1 to a creation without a germ1 a generation without a cause1 which is an error4 ,every living thing has parents1 which are always discoverable by science and attention4 ,those animals and plants which are called parasites furnish another example of the extraordinary profusion with which life is distributed over the earth4 ,animals and plants which live on other animals or on other plants1 and which feed on the substance of their involuntary entertainers1 are called parasites4 ,each of the mammals has its parasites1 such as fleas1 lice1 c41 and man has the flea1 the louse1 and the bug4 ,so each vegetable has its parasite4 ,the oak gives shelter and food to lichens and various cryptogamia1 and even on its roots we find particular kinds of cryptogamia1 such as the truffle4 ,thus we see that life plants itself1 grafts itself upon life4 ,but1 more than this1 these parasites in their turn have their smaller parasites1 so minute as only to be microscopically discerned4 ,take a lichen off an oak and examine it with a magnifying glass1 and also examine a flea1 or a nit1 and you will behold the curious spectacle of a parasite attached to another parasitical creature1 and living upon its substance4 ,from the great vegetable the alimentary substance passes to the visible parasite1 and from that to the invisible4 ,in this little space life is superposed and concentrated4 ,such a fact proves with what prodigious abundance life is spread over our globe4 ,thus1 then1 we see that the surface of the globe1 the fresh waters1 and the salt seas1 and1 finally1 the atmosphere1 are inhabited by immense numbers of living beings4 ,life abounds on the earth1 in the waters1 and in the air4 ,our globe is like an immense vase1 in which life is accumulated1 pressed down1 and running over4 ,but1 the earth1 the air1 and the waters are not the only places at the command of nature4 ,above the atmosphere there extends another region1 with which astronomers and physicists are acquainted1 and which they call ether or planetary ether4 ,the atmosphere which surrounds our globe1 and is drawn with it in its course through space1 as it is drawn with it in its rotation upon its own axis1 is not very high4 ,it does not extend beyond thirty or forty leagues1 and it diminishes in substance in proportion to its elevation above the earth4 ,at three or four leagues in height the air is so rarefied that it becomes impossible for men or animals to breathe it4 ,in arostatic ascents it is impossible to go beyond seven or eight kilometres1 because at that height the air loses so much density1 is so highly rarefied1 that it no longer serves for purposes of respiration1 nor counterbalances the effect of the interior pressure of the body on the exterior4 ,after that height1 the density of the air decreases more and more1 until there is absolutely no air4 ,at that point begins the fluid which astronomers and physicists call ether4 ,this ether is a true fluid1 a gas1 analogous to the air we breathe1 but infinitely more rarefied and lighter than air4 ,the existence of the planetary ether cannot be disputed1 since astronomers take account of its resistance in calculating the speed of heavenly bodies1 just as they take account of the resistance of the air in calculating the motions of bodies traversing our atmosphere4 ,ether is1 then1 the fluid which succeeds to atmospheric air4 ,it is spread1 not only around the earth1 but around the other planets4 ,more than this1 it exists throughout all space1 it occupies the intervals between the planets4 ,it is1 in fact1 in ether that the planets1 which1 with their satellites1 compose our solar world1 revolve4 ,the comets1 too1 in their immense journeys through space pass through ether4 ,the uneducated mind is disposed to believe that above the air which surrounds the terrestrial globe1 there is nothing more1 that all is void4 ,but no void exists anywhere in nature4 ,space is always occupied by something1 whether it be by earth1 by water1 by atmospheric air1 or1 finally1 by planetary ether4 ,it has just been said that life abounds upon the globe1 swarms upon the earth1 clusters in the air and in the waters4 ,is the ethereal fluid which succeeds to our atmosphere1 and which fills space1 equally inhabited by living beings8 ,this is a question which no savant has ever yet asked himself4 ,in our opinion1 it would be very surprising that life1 which we may say overflows in the waters and in the air1 should be absolutely wanting in the fluid which is contiguous to the air4 ,everything1 then1 indicates that the ether is inhabited4 ,but who are the beings who dwell in the planetary ether8 ,we believe that they are those superhuman beings1 whom we consider to be resuscitated men1 endowed with every kind of moral perfection4 ,the chemical composition of planetary ether is not known4 ,astronomical phenomena have taught us its existence1 but not its components4 ,we believe it may safely be asserted that the ether does not contain oxygen4 ,in fact1 oxygen is the fundamental element of atmospheric air2 and as1 in proportion as they ascend into that air1 the respiration of men and animals becomes more and more difficult1 it is1 in our opinion1 presumable1 that this difficulty is caused by the approach of a description of gas impossible to breathe2 and which1 therefore1 excludes human life from the superior regions of the air4 ,a man1 rising in a balloon towards the ether1 is like a fish half drawn out of the water1 half exposed to the air4 ,the fish is breathless and palpitating in a place which is fatal to him2 thus it is with man1 when he rises by degrees through our nether atmosphere1 and draws near to the ether4 ,it seems to us that we may1 at once1 conclude1 from this1 that there is no oxygen in planetary ether4 ,it seems not unlikely that the planetary ether may be composed of hydrogen gas1 excessively rarefied1 that is to say1 of an extremely light gas1 still further rarefied1 and rendered infinitely more subtle by the absence of all pressure4 ,we are induced to conclude that the ether in which the planets revolve is hydrogen1 because1 from observations made of late years during the solar total eclipses1 it has been ascertained that the sun is surrounded by burning hydrogen gas4 ,in the language of every nation1 the space which lies beyond our atmosphere is called by the same name1 that of heaven4 ,it is1 then1 in the universally recognized heaven that we place our superhuman beings4 ,in this we are in accord with popular belief and prejudice1 and we recognize this argument with satisfaction4 ,these prejudices1 these presentiments are frequently the outcome of the wisdom and the observation of an infinite number of generations of men4 ,a tradition which has a uniform and universal existence1 has all the weight of scientific testimony4 ,in accordance with this phrase1 and the immemorial tradition1 the most widely-spread modern religions1 ,christianity1 ,buddhism1 and ,mahometanism1 assign heaven as the sojourn of the elect of ,god4 ,thus1 we find science1 tradition1 and religion at one on this point2 and that it was a scientific truth which found utterance by the lips of the priest who said to the martyred king upon the scaffold3 ,son of ,saint ,louis1 ascend to heaven4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,the ,,fourth4 ,,do ,,all ,,men1 ,,without ,,distinction1 ,,pass1 ,,after ,,death1 ,,into ,,the ,,condition ,,of ,,the ,,superhuman ,,being8--,,re-,,incarnation ,,of ,,impenitent ,,souls4--,,re-,,incarnation ,,of ,,children ,,who ,,have ,,died ,,in ,,infancy4 ,,death is not a termination1 it is a change4 ,we do not die2 we experience a metamorphosis4 ,the fall of the curtain of death is not the catastrophe1 it is only a deeply moving scene in the drama of human destiny4 ,the agony is not the prelude to annihilation1 it is only the obligatory suffering which1 throughout all nature1 accompanies every change4 ,every one knows that the insect world1 the cold and motionless chrysalis1 rends itself asunder that the brilliant butterfly may come forth4 ,if you examine the butterfly a moment after it has left its temporary tomb1 you will find it trembling and panting with the pain of bursting through the trammels which had held it4 ,it needs to rest1 to calm itself1 and to collect its strength before it soars away into the air which it is destined to traverse4 ,this is a symbol of our death agony4 ,in order that we may cast aside the material covering which we leave behind us here below1 and rise to the unknown spheres which await us beyond the tomb1 we must suffer4 ,we suffer1 in the body1 from physical pain1 and in the soul1 from the anguish with which we contemplate our approaching destiny1 wrapped1 as it is1 in the most appalling darkness4 ,but here a difficulty presents itself4 ,do all men1 without distinction1 pass into the condition of the superhuman being8 ,an infinite range of qualities and of moral perversion is an attribute of humanity4 ,to it belong good and evil1 the honest man and the criminal4 ,let us inhabit whatsoever spot of earth we may1 let the culture of our minds be what it may1 whether we be savages or civilized men1 learned or ignorant1 whether we contemplate contemporary generations or those of far distant times1 there exists one universal morality1 one law of absolute equity4 ,everywhere1 in all times1 it has been a bad action to kill one's neighbour1 to take another's goods1 to ill-treat one's children1 to be ungrateful to parents1 to live on bad terms with one's wife1 to conspire against the liberty of others1 to lie1 and to commit suicide4 ,from one end of the earth to the other1 these actions have been esteemed evil4 ,there exists1 therefore1 in the sphere of nature1 and in the absolute meaning of the words1 good souls and perverse souls4 ,must we believe that both the good and the wicked are called1 without distinction1 to undergo the change of nature which elevates us to the condition of superhuman beings8 ,are both classes admitted1 upon the same footing1 to the felicity of the new life1 which is reserved for us beyond the tomb8 ,our conscience1 that exquisitely accurate sentiment which dwells within us1 and which never deceives1 tells us that this could not be4 ,but how is the separation of the good grain from the tares to be effected by natural forces only8 ,how is the process of sorting1 in itself extremely difficult to explain1 when one takes into account the complication of the natural question by the mingling of moral and physical influences1 to be carried out8 ,we can only state our individual sentiment1 not in the dogmatic sense of imposing it on any one1 but simply as a testimony to be registered4 ,it seems to us that the human soul1 in order to rise to the ethereal spaces1 needs to have acquired that last degree of perfection which sets it free from every besetting weight2 that it must be subtle1 light1 purified1 beautiful1 and that only under such conditions can it quit the earth and soar towards the heavens4 ,to our fancy1 the human soul is like a celestial arostat1 who flies towards the sublimest heights with swift strength1 because it is free from all impurity4 ,but the soul of a perverse1 wicked1 vile1 gross1 base1 cowardly man has not been purified1 perfected1 or lightened4 ,it is weighed down by evil passions and gross appetites1 which he has not sought to repress1 but has1 on the contrary1 cultivated4 ,it cannot rise to the celestial heights1 it is constrained to dwell upon our melancholy and miserable earth4 ,we believe that the wicked and impenitent man is not called to the immediate enjoyment of the blessed life of the ethereal regions4 ,his soul remains here below1 to re-commence life a second time4 ,let us remark1 at once1 that he re-commences this life without preserving any recollection of his previous existence4 ,it will be objected to this1 that to be born again without retaining any remembrance of a past life1 would be to fall into the nothingness to which we are condemned by the materialists4 ,in fact1 it is identity which constitutes the resurrection2 and without memory there is no identity4 ,the individual1 therefore1 as an individual1 would fall into nothingness if he were born again without memory4 ,this remark is just4 ,if1 after our resurrection to the state of superhuman beings1 we were to lose1 absolutely and irreparably1 all remembrance of our former life1 we should be1 indeed1 the prey of nothingness4 ,but1 let us hasten to add1 that this loss of memory is of but short duration4 ,oblivion of our past life is only a temporary condition of our new existence1 a sort of punishment4 ,the remembrance of his first terrestrial life will return to each individual1 when1 by perfecting processes meet for the needs of his soul1 he shall have merited the attainment of the condition of a superhuman being4 ,then he shall recall the evil actions of his first existence1 or of his numerous existences1 if it has been his lot to have several probations1 and the thought of those evil deeds will still be his chastisement1 even in the blissful abode to which he shall at length have attained4 ,to such persons as refuse assent to these views1 we would remark that the question of rewards and punishments after death is the rock upon which all religions and all philosophers have split4 ,the explanation of the punishment of the wicked which we offer1 is at least preferable to the hell of the ,christian creed4 ,a return to a second terrestrial life is a less cruel1 a more reasonable1 and a more just punishment than condemnation to eternal torment4 ,in the one case the penalty is in proportion to the sin4 ,it is equitable and indulgent1 like the chastisement of a father4 ,it is not eternal punishment for a sin of short duration1 it is a merciful form of justice1 which places beside the penalty the means of freedom from the sin4 ,it does not shut out all return to good by a condemnation without appeal to all eternity1 it leaves to man the possibility of retracing the road to happiness from which his passions have led him astray1 and of recovering1 by deserving them1 the blessings which he has forfeited4 ,thus1 in our opinion1 if the human soul1 during its sojourn here below1 instead of perfecting1 purifying1 and ennobling itself1 has lost its strength1 and its primitive qualities1--if1 in other words1 it has been misused by a perverse1 gross1 uncultivated1 mean1 and wicked individual1--then1 in that case1 it will not quit the earth4 ,after the death of that individual1 the soul will tenant a new human body1 losing all recollection of its previous existence4 ,in this second incarnation the imperfect and earth-laden soul1 deprived of all noble faculties and bereft of memory1 will have to re-commence its moral education4 ,this man1 born again as an infant1 will recommence his existence with the same uncultivated and feeble soul which he possessed at the moment of his death4 ,these re-incarnations in a human body may be numerous4 ,they must repeat themselves until the faculties of the soul are sufficiently developed1 or until its instincts are sufficiently ameliorated and perfected for the man to be raised above the general level of our species4 ,then only the soul1 purified and lightened of all its imperfections1 can quit the earth1 and after the death of the flesh soar into space1 and pass into the new organism which succeeds that of man in the hierarchy of nature4 ,we must add1 here1 that the fate of children who die young1 either while at the breast or only a few months old1 before the soul has undergone any development1 is analogous4 ,their souls pass into the bodies of other children1 and re-commence a novel existence4 ,illustration ,illustration ,,chapter ,,the ,,fifth4 ,,what ,,are ,,the ,,attributes ,,of ,,the ,,superhuman ,,being8--,,the ,,physical ,,form1 ,,senses1 ,,degree ,,of ,,intelligence1 ,,and ,,faculties ,,of ,,the ,,superhuman ,,being4 ,,notwithstanding the daring of such an attempt1 let us now endeavour to form some idea of the radiant creatures which float in the mysterious and sublime regions of that empyrean which hides them from our view4 ,let us try to discern the attributes1 form1 and qualities of the superhuman being4 ,like the human1 the superhuman being possesses the three elements of the aggregate1 the body1 the soul1 and the life4 ,in order to gain some idea of him1 we must examine each of these three elements separately4 ,the ,body of the ,superhuman ,being4--,we might perhaps conceive a superhuman being without a body2 we might imagine that the soul1 purely spiritual1 constitutes the blessed dweller in ethereal space4 ,but it is not thus that we do conceive him4 ,absolute immateriality appears to us to apply only to a being much more elevated in the moral hierarchy than the superhuman one--a being of whom we shall speak hereafter4 ,we believe that the inhabitant of the ethereal spaces has a body2 that the soul1 leaving its terrestrial dwelling1 incarnates itself in a body1 as it did here below4 ,but this body must be provided with qualities infinitely superior to those which belong to the human body4 ,first1 let us inquire what the form of this body may be4 ,the painters of the ,renaissance1 whom modern artists follow in this respect1 give to the angel the form of a young and handsome man1 furnished with white wings1 which bear him through the air on his celestial missions4 ,this image is both coarse and poetic4 ,it is poetic because it responds to the idea which we have of the radiant creature who dwells in ethereal space2 and it is coarse1 because it gives to a being far superior to man the physical attributes of man1 which is inadmissible4 ,painters who1 like ,raphael1 represent the angel by the head of a child1 with wings1 give a far more profound expression to the same thought4 ,by suppressing the larger portion of the body1 and reducing the seraphic being to the head1 the seat of intelligence1 they indicate that in the angel of the ,christian belief the spiritual dominates1 in immense proportion1 over the material part4 ,we shall not be expected to delineate the form of the dwellers in the realms of ether4 ,we can only say1 that1 as ether is an excessively subtle and rarefied fluid1 it necessarily follows that the superhuman being who is to float and fly in its light masses1 must be wonderfully light1 must be composed of extraordinary subtle substances4 ,a slight material tissue1 animated by life1 a vaporous1 diaphanous drapery of living matter1 such do we represent the superhuman being to our fancy4 ,how is this body supported8 ,does it need food for its maintenance1 like the bodies of men and of animals8 ,we may reply with confidence that food--that tyrannous obligation of the human and the animal species--is spared to the inhabitants of the planetary ether4 ,their bodies must be supported and refreshed by mere respiration of the fluid in which they exist4 ,let us consider the immense space occupied in the lives of animals by their need of alimentation4 ,many animals1 especially those which live in the water1 have an incessant need of food4 ,they must eat always1 without intermission1 or they die of inanition4 ,among superior animals1 the necessity for eating and drinking is less imperious1 because the respiratory function comes to their aid1 bringing into the body1 by the absorption of oxygen and a small proportion of azote1 a certain amount of reparative element1 as a supplement to alimentary substances4 ,man profits largely by this advantage4 ,our respiration is a function of the highest importance1 and it bears a great share in the reparation of all our organs4 ,the oxygen which our blood borrows from the air in breathing1 contributes largely to our nutrition4 ,the respiratory function in birds is very active1 and the organs which exercise it are largely developed1 and in their nutrition also oxygen counts largely1 and takes the place of a certain quantity of food4 ,it is our belief that the respiration of the ether in which he lives1 suffices for the support of the material body of the superhuman being1 and that the necessity for eating and drinking has no place in his existence4 ,i do not know whether my reader forms an exact conception of the consequences which would result from the theory1 that the superhuman beings whom we are contemplating are exempted from all need of food4 ,those consequences will be most readily comprehended1 if we consider that it is the pressing obligation of procuring food which renders the lives of animals so miserable4 ,forced incessantly to seek their subsistence1 animals are entirely given up to this grovelling occupation2 thence come their passions1 their quarrels1 and their sufferings4 ,it is much the same in the case of man1 though in a less degree4 ,the necessity for providing for the aliment of every day1 the obligation of earning his daily bread--as the popular phrase has it--is the great cause of the labours and the sufferings of the human species4 ,supposing that man could live1 develop himself1 and sustain his life without eating--that the mere respiration of air would supply the waste of his organs--what a revolution would be effected in human society4 ,hateful passions1 wars1 and rivalries would disappear from the earth4 ,the golden age1 dreamed of by the poets1 would be the certain consequence of such an organic disposition4 ,this blessing of nature1 refused to man1 assuredly belongs to the superhuman being4 ,we may conclude also that the evil passions1 which are a sad attribute of our species1 would be unknown in the home of these privileged creatures4 ,released from the toil of seeking their food1 living and repairing their functions by the mere effect of respiration--an involuntary and unconscious act 7as the circulation of the blood and absorption are unconscious acts in men and animals7--the inhabitants of the ethereal spaces must be able to abandon themselves exclusively to impressions of unmixed happiness and serenity4 ,the forces of our body become rapidly exhausted2 we cannot exercise our functions for a certain time without experiencing fatigue4 ,in order to transport ourselves from one place to another1 to carry burthens1 to go up or down any height1 to walk1 we are obliged to expend these forces1 and lassitude immediately ensues4 ,we cannot exercise the faculty of thought for more than a certain time4 ,at the end of a short period attention fails1 and thought is suspended4 ,in short1 our corporeal machine1 beautifully ordered1 is subject to a thousand derangements1 which we call diseases4 ,from the sense of fatigue1 from the continual menace of illness by organic derangement1 the dwellers in the ether are free4 ,rest is not for them1 as for us1 a necessity ensuing on exercise4 ,the body of the superhuman being1 inaccessible to fatigue1 does not need repose4 ,unembarrassed by the mechanism of a complicated machine1 it subsists and sustains itself by the unaided force of the life which animates it4 ,its sole physiological function1 probably1 is the inhalation of ether1 a function which1 it is easy to conceive1 may be exercised without the aid of numerous organs1 if we see a whole class of animals--the ,batrachian--for whose respiration the bare and simple skin suffices4 ,if we admit1 that the only function which the superhuman being has to exercise is that of respiration1 the extreme simplicity of his body will be easily understood4 ,the numerous and complicated organs and apparatus which exist in the bodies of men and animals1 have for their object the exercise of the functions of nutrition and reproduction4 ,these functions being suppressed in the creature whom we are considering1 his body must be proportionably lightened4 ,everything is reduced to respiration1 and the preservation and maintenance of the faculties of the soul2 all is in harmony with those ends4 ,we admire1 with good reason1 the wise mechanism of the bodies of men and animals2 but1 if human anatomy reveals prodigies in our structure1 marvellous provision in securing the preservation of the individual and his reproduction1 what infinitely greater marvels would1 if we were but permitted to study it1 be revealed by the organization of the body of the superhuman being1 in which everything is calculated to secure the maintenance and the perfection of the soul4 ,with what astonishment should we learn the use and the purpose of the different parts of that glorious body1 discover the relations of resemblance or of origin between the living economy of the human1 and the living economy of the superhuman being1 and divine the relations which might exist between the organs of the superhuman being and those which he should assume in another life1 still superior1 in which he should be the same being1 again resuscitated in new glory and fuller perfection6 ,the special organization of the being whom we are describing would give him the power of transporting himself in a very short space of time from one place to another1 and of traversing great distances with extraordinary rapidity4 ,we are but simple human beings1 and yet by thought we devour space1 and travel1 in a twinkling1 from one end of the globe to another2 may we not therefore believe that the bodies of superhuman beings1 in whom the spiritual principle is dominant1 are endowed with the privilege of passing from one point in space to another1 with a rapidity which the speed of electricity enables us to measure8 ,the superhuman being1 who does not require to eat or drink1 or rest1 who is always active1 and incessantly sensible1 has no need of sleep4 ,sleep is no more necessary for the reparation of his forces1 than food for their creation4 ,we know that man is deprived of one third of his existence1 by the imperious necessity for sleep4 ,a man who dies at thirty years of age1 has in reality lived for twenty only2 he has slept all the rest of the time6 ,what a poor notion this conveys of the condition of man6 ,whence arises this need of sleep8 ,it arises from the fact that our forces1 impaired by their exercise1 require inaction and motionlessness for their repair--this is attained in the kind of temporary death produced by the suspension of the greater portion of the vital action1 in sleep4 ,during sleep1 man prepares and stores up the forces which he will require to expend during the ensuing period4 ,he devotes the night to this physical reparation1 as much in obedience to what he observes in all the other portions of creation1 as in obedience to the customs of civilization4 ,but it is probable that all the forces of the superhuman being are inexhaustible1 and that they do not require sleep1 which is one of the hardest conditions of human existence4 ,everything leads us to believe that perpetual wakefulness is the permanent state of the superhuman being1 and that the word sleep would have no meaning for him4 ,darkness must be equally unknown to all those beings who float in the ethereal spaces4 ,our night and day are produced alternatively by the rotation of the earth upon her axis1 a rotation which hides the sun from her view during one half of her revolution4 ,this rotatory motion draws our atmosphere with it1 but its influence extends no further1 the ether which surmounts our atmosphere is not subject to it4 ,that fluid mass remains motionless1 while the earth and its atmosphere turn upon their axis4 ,the superhuman beings1 who1 according to our ideas1 inhabit the planetary ether1 are not drawn into this motion4 ,they behold the earth revolving beneath them1 but1 being placed outside its movements1 they never lose sight of the radiant sun-star4 ,night1 we repeat1 is an accidental phenomenon1 which belongs to the planets only1 because they have a hemisphere now illumined1 and then not illumined by the sun2 but night is unknown to the remainder of the universe4 ,the superhuman beings1 who people the regions far above the planets1 never lose sight of the sun1 and their happy days pass in the midst of an ocean of light4 ,let us pass on to the consideration of the senses which these superhuman beings probably possess1 premising3 #a4 ,that the superhuman being must be endowed with the same senses which we possess1 but that those senses are infinitely more acute and exquisite than ours4 #b4 ,that he must possess special senses1 unknown to us4 ,what are the new senses enjoyed by the superhuman being8 ,it would be impossible to return a satisfactory reply to this question4 ,we have no knowledge of any other senses than those with which we ourselves are endowed1 and no amount of genius could enable any man to divine the object of a sense denied to him by nature4 ,try to give a man born blind an idea of the colour1 red2 and he will answer3 ,yes1 ,i understand6 ,it is piercing1 like the sound of a trumpet6 ,try to give a man born deaf an idea of the sound of the harp1 and he will answer3 ,yes6 ,it is gentle and tender1 like the green grass of the fields6 ,let us renounce1 once for all1 any attempt to define the senses with which nature endows the beings who people the ethereal plains2 these senses belong to objects and ideas the mere notion of which is forbidden to us4 ,there is a well-known story of a man born blind1 upon whom the famous surgeon ,childesen operated4 ,having recovered his sight1 the patient was a long time learning the use of his eyes2 he was obliged to educate those organs1 step by step1 and by slow degrees to form his intelligence4 ,equally well known is ,condillac's beautiful fiction1 in which he imagines a man born into the world without the senses of sight1 speech1 and hearing1 and who is1 therefore1 destitute of ideas4 ,by degrees1 he is endowed with each of these senses1 and the philosopher thus composes1 bit by bit1 a soul which feels1 and a mind which thinks4 ,this philosophical idea has been greatly admired4 ,like the man-statue of ,condillac1 we are only1 while here below1 imperfect statues1 endowed with but a small number of senses4 ,when1 however1 we shall have reached the superior regions destined to our ennobled condition1 we shall be put in possession of new senses1 such as our reason dimly perceives1 and our hearts long for4 ,we cannot1 as we have previously said1 divine what the new senses which shall be granted to the superhuman being are to be1 because they belong to objects and ideas of which we are ignorant1 and to forms which are exclusively proper to worlds at present hidden from our eyes4 ,the kingdom of the planetary ether has its geography1 its powers1 its passions1 and its laws2 and the new senses of men1 resuscitated to that glorious existence1 will be exercised upon those objects4 ,the only thing which we can safely prognosticate is that all the senses which we now possess will then exist in their full perfection--sight1 hearing1 touch1 taste1 and smell4 ,it is allowable to deduce this process of future perfection by reasoning from the extraordinary development of certain senses in the case of animals4 ,the sense of smell is developed in the hunting dog to a degree which surpasses our imagination4 ,how can we understand this quite ordinary fact1 that the dog perceives the scent which has emanated from a hare or a partridge which has passed by the place at which he is smelling many hours previously1 and is now several leagues away6 ,the perfection of sight in the eagle and other birds of prey astonishes us equally4 ,these birds1 floating at an immense height1 see their prey upon the earth1 creatures much smaller than themselves1 and descend upon them without deviating from the perpendicular line of their flight4 ,the bat1 accidentally deprived of sight1 supplies this deficiency so well by the sense of touch1 by means of his membranous wings1 that he guides himself through the air1 and finds his way to the interior of human dwellings1 as unerringly as if he had the full use of his eyesight4 ,to such a degree of exquisite sensibility has the sense of hearing attained among native ,indian tribes1 that a man1 laying his ear against the earth1 will detect the tread of an enemy at the distance of a league4 ,among musicians1 also1 how must the sense of hearing be cultivated by a man1 who1 partly by a natural gift1 and partly by practice1 comes to be able to detect the most minute difference in the tone of one instrument among fifty different kinds1 all played at once1 in an orchestra4 ,supposing that the senses of the superhuman being should have acquired the degree of extraordinary activity which is common to animals1 and1 in certain cases1 to man1 we can form some estimate of the power and extent of such a sensorial system4 ,we can also arrive at some idea of the perfection of the senses attained by resuscitated man1 by considering the accession of power which our own senses may receive by the assistance of science and art4 ,before the invention of the microscope1 no one ever imagined that the eye could penetrate the mysteries of that world in miniature well named the ,infinitely ,little1 until then absolutely unknown2 no one had ever divined1 for instance1 that in one drop of water might be seen myriads of living beings4 ,these beings have existed throughout all time1 but man has been able to contemplate them for only two centuries4 ,our visual power over microscopic beings was until then unknown4 ,the least enlightened1 the most careless student of this day1 regards with indifference things which ,aristotle1 ,hippocrates1 ,pliny1 ,galienus1 ,albertus ,magnus1 and ,roger ,bacon could not have contemplated1 or even suspected to exist4 ,the discovery of the telescope1 in the days of ,kepler and ,galileo1 hurled back the boundaries of the human intellect and threw open to its investigation a domain hitherto sealed from its sight4 ,there1 where ,hipparchus and ,ptolemy had seen nothing1 ,galileo1 ,huyghens1 ,kepler1 made1 in a few nights1 by the aid of the telescope1 discoveries of hitherto unsuspected celestial splendour4 ,the satellites of ,jupiter and ,saturn1 a multitude of new stars1 the phases of ,venus1 and1 at a later period1 the discovery of new planets only to be seen by the telescope1 the observation of spots on the sun1 and the revolution of the nebul into collections of stars1 were the almost immediate consequences of the invention of the telescope4 ,thus we learned that1 by the aid of art1 the human eye can penetrate the most distant regions of heaven4 ,let us now suppose all the powers of the telescope and all those of the microscope concentrated in the sense of vision2 that is to say1 that in addition to all objects placed at ordinary distances1 it can discern all microscopic objects1 and at the same time all the celestial bodies invisible to the naked eye1 and you will have an idea of what the sense of sight is1 in the superhuman being4 ,there is no occasion to dwell upon the extraordinary proportions which our accumulated knowledge would assume1 if our sight could enjoy those extraordinary powers of extension1 if it could perform simultaneously the functions of the telescope and the microscope4 ,science would march forward with the tread of a giant4 ,what enormous progress would be made by chemistry if our eyes could penetrate into the interior of all bodies1 beholding their molecules1 estimating their relative volume1 their arrangement1 and the form and colour of their atoms4 ,a glance would reveal to us secrets of chemical solutions such as the genius of a ,lavoisier could not penetrate4 ,physics would contain no further mysteries for us1 for we should know1 by simply using our eyes1 everything which we are now painfully striving to divine by reason1 and by the aid of difficult and uncertain experiments4 ,we should see why and how bodies are warmed and acquire electricity4 ,we should have the explanation of the mathematical laws in obedience to which the physical forces1 light1 heat1 and magnetism are exercised4 ,our eyes would suffice for the solution of those physical and mechanical problems before which the genius of such men as ,newton1 ,malus1 ,ampre1 and ,gay-,lussac stands still4 ,we do not doubt that the superhuman being is endowed with sight thus marvellously perfect4 ,we might carry this argument out in detail1 applying it to all the other senses1 but enough has been said to illustrate the exaltation and perfecting of those senses which man possesses only in their rudiments1 in the favoured dwellers in a superior sphere4 ,we will only add1 that the result of such a degree of perfection of the senses is1 that the superhuman being can move with a rapidity1 of which light and electricity only can give us some notion1 that is to say1 that these perfected senses can be used at great distances1 and with great promptitude4 ,if the entire body of the superhuman being can transport itself with wonderful rapidity from one place to another1 as we have already admitted1 his senses can also act from1 and at great distances4 ,we do not think we can err in comparing the actions of the dwellers in the invisible world which we presume to investigate1 with the phenomena of light and electricity4 ,does sex exist in the superhuman being8 ,assuredly not4 ,the ,christian religion defines its absence in the angel4 ,the angel of the ,christian creeds has the features of either man or woman1 the mild face of a youth1 or the pathetic beauty of a girl4 ,sex is suppressed1 the individual is androgynous4 ,thus1 too1 it must be in the case of the superhuman being4 ,the reciprocal affection which reigns among the blessed dwellers in the ether does not require diversity of sex4 ,the affections undergo a purifying process1 according as they are elevated1 from those of the animals to those of man4 ,the animals have but little of the sentiment of friendship4 ,love1 with its material impulses1 is almost all they know4 ,the sentiments of affection possessed by animals1 apart from their carnal instincts1 reduce themselves to those of maternity1 which are strong and sincere1 but of short duration4 ,their young are the objects of attentive care and caresses while their helplessness demands such aid1 but as soon as they can live on their own resources they are abandoned by the mothers1 who no longer even recognize them4 ,there is no constant1 lasting affection in animals1 except the sentiment of love1 which is caused by their sexual necessities4 ,the sentiments of affection entertained by man are numerous1 and frequently noble and pure4 ,we love our mothers and our sons as long as our hearts beat in our breasts4 ,we love our brothers1 our sisters1 and our relations with a sentiment in which there is nothing carnal1 and which is deeply rooted in the soul4 ,if love is often inseparably attached to physical desires1 it can1 nevertheless1 shake itself free from them1 and a disinterested friendship frequently survives the extinction of sensual feeling4 ,in this respect we are far superior to the animals4 ,let us go a step further1 even to the supernatural being1 the next link in the chain to ourselves1 and we shall find the sentiment of affection entirely detached from the consideration of sex4 ,in that sublime and blessed realm which they inhabit1 superhuman beings are all of the same organic type4 ,they need not1 in order to love one another1 to belong to two opposite sexes1 or different groups of organization3 their tenderness is the result of the serenity of the infinite purity of souls1 of the sympathy evoked by common perfections4 ,on the other hand1 the ethereal region which awaits us is the scene of the reunion of those who have loved one another in this world4 ,there the father will find the son1 and the mother will rejoin the daughter1 torn from each by death1 there husbands and wives will meet1 and the separation of friends come to an end4 ,but1 under their new form1 in the perfected body wherein their regenerated souls shall dwell1 there is no more sex1 and love is for all an ideal1 noble1 and exquisitely pure sentiment4 ,how blind and self-interested is love here below6 ,how narrow and egotistical a sentiment is friendship4 ,it cannot enlarge itself without pain and difficulty1 to embrace the totality of the human kind4 ,why is it so hard for it to lift itself up to the sublime ,creator of the worlds8 ,why do we not love ,god as we love our neighbours8 ,in the upper world it will be far otherwise4 ,our faculty of loving1 limited here by fleshly bonds1 will be set free there1 from every sensual restraint4 ,man1 resuscitated to glory1 will love his wife as he loves his children1 his friends1 and his brethren4 ,his affections will never more be degraded by his senses4 ,the happiness which this purified sentiment1 constantly received from ever living sources1 will afford him1 will suffice to fill and satisfy his soul4 ,his power of loving will be extended to all nature1 it will be spread abroad over the most elevated spheres2 his soul will be exalted by the sublime sensations of this universal love1 this wide sympathy with the whole creation4 ,true charity1 comprehending the entire universe1 will burn in all hearts4 ,the love of ,god will rule over all these multiplied affections1 from the height of ,his infinite power1 and the fervour of our sentiments of love for our kind will be crowned by our sublime adoration of the ,creator of all4 ,but1 it will be said1 if superhuman beings are of no sex1 how are they to be reproduced1 how is the species to be kept up1 and multiplied8 ,there will be no need of reproduction1 the species of the superhuman being will not require to be maintained1 or multiplied4 ,the reproduction1 the preservation of his species is the business of the inhabitants of the inferior worlds1 of the earth and the planets4 ,such is their lot1 such the task imposed upon them by nature4 ,but reproduction is unknown and unnecessary to the fortunate beings who dwell in the planetary ether4 ,from the earth and the other planets fresh and ever fresh phalanxes are despatched to them4 ,the battalions of the elect are recruited by arrivals from the lower worlds4 ,below is the multiplication of individuals2 above is the sojourn of blessed beings1 who have no need of maintaining their species1 because the laws of their destiny differ from those which rule the lot of terrestrial man4 ,reproduction is the task of inferior worlds1 permanence is the inheritance of the world above4 ,the ,soul of the ,superhuman ,being4 ,in an excellent volume of popular science1 the ,universe1 by ,dr4 ,pouchet1 director of the ,museum of ,natural ,history at ,rouen1 we find a striking definition4 ,dr4 ,pouchet informs us that a ,german naturalist1 ,bremser1 lays down1 as a principle1 that1 in man1 matter and spirit exist in almost equal parts2 that is1 to say1 that man is half spirit and half matter4 ,bremser1 in advancing this proposition1 takes his stand upon the fact that1 in man1 it is sometimes spirit which governs and subdues matter1 and sometimes matter which dictates laws to spirit1 with equal power and success on the side of each4#c ,admitting1 with the ,german philosopher1 that this relation is true1 we would say1 that1 while in man the proportion of the soul is fifty in one hundred1 this proportion1 in the superhuman being1 is undoubtedly from eighty to eighty-five in one hundred4 ,of course we only employ this valuation to make our idea comprehensible1 and give these figures only to prove that facts in the intellectual order may be submitted to weight1 measure1 and comparison1 all which the world supposes to be impossible4 ,the soul has a preponderating share in the superhuman being4 ,that is what we need to know1 and to remember4 ,let us now endeavour to analyze the soul of the superhuman being1 as we have analyzed his senses4 ,if the senses of the superhuman being are numerous and exquisitely acute1 the faculties of his soul1 which are intimately allied to the exercise of the senses1 and depend on their perfection1 must also be singularly active and powerful4 ,we know that in men the faculties of the soul are feeble and limited4 ,we have so short a time to pass upon the earth1 that very powerful faculties would be of no use to us2 they would not have time to be developed1 or efficaciously employed4 ,but everything is magnified and elevated in the superior world which awaits us2 consequently the faculties of the thinking creature who inhabits the realms on high must be numerous and of vast extent4 ,we must repeat1 concerning the faculties of the soul of the superhuman being1 what we have just said concerning his senses4 ,the superhuman being must be provided with new faculties1 and also those faculties which he has brought with him from the earth must be singularly perfected4 ,to determine the nature and the object of the new faculties bestowed upon the superhuman being would be impossible1 because those faculties belong to the superior world which is unknown to us2 they respond to moral wants of which we have no conception4 ,let us1 therefore1 renounce all idea of discovering the nature of those new faculties1 and content ourselves with examining the degree of perfection which may be attained by those faculties of the soul which actually belong to man4 ,attention1 thought1 reason1 will1 and judgment1 all which render us what we are1 must acquire special force and sureness in the superhuman being4 ,la ,bruyre has said that there is nothing more rare in this world than the spirit of discernment2 which means that judgment and good sense are excessively rare4 ,when we have lived for a while among men1 we recognize how thoroughly well founded the saying is4 ,we may safely assert1 without being over-misanthropical1 that among a hundred men there will be not more than one or two possessed of sound judgment4 ,in the majority of instances1 ignorance1 prejudices1 and passion contend with judgment1 so that1 as ,la ,bruyre says1 good sense is much more rare than pearls and diamonds4 ,this great and precious faculty of judgment1 in which the majority of human beings are deficient1 cannot be wanting in the inhabitants of the other world2 there it must be the universal rule1 here it is the exception4 ,the most precious of all faculties1 enabling us to form large and lofty ideas and comparisons1 whose outcome is knowledge1 is memory4 ,but how imperfect1 changeable1 weak1 and1 one may say1 sickly1 is our memory6 ,it is absolutely mute respecting the whole period which preceded our birth1 and during which1 nevertheless1 we existed4 ,it is also as silent respecting all that concerns the early portion of our life4 ,we retain no recollection of the care which was lavished upon our childhood4 ,a child who loses its mother in infancy has never known a mother2 for it1 the mother has never existed4 ,if those who saw us in the cradle did not recount our actions during that period1 we should be entirely ignorant of them4 ,we have to witness the successive stages of infancy1 the sucking child1 the long clothes1 the staggering steps1 the little go-cart1 in order to realize that we too have been like that infant1 have gone through those stages of being4 ,memory1 which is not developed at all in man until he is a year old1 and which becomes extinct in old men1 is subject1 even when it is at its highest point of activity1 to innumerable weaknesses1 caused by illness or the want of exercise1 so that in fact our hold of this faculty is always precarious4 ,we cannot doubt that in the other life it will have the power1 the certainty1 and scope which it lacks here below4 ,at the same time1 our memory will be enriched by a number of new subjects4 ,the soul1 beholding and understanding the worlds which surround it1 will be able to fix the geography of all those different places in its memory4 ,it will know the physical revolutions1 the populations1 and the legislation of these thousand countries4 ,the superhuman being will know what exists in such planets and their satellites as come within his reach1 or as he shall visit4 ,just as1 in order to gain information1 we visit ,america or ,australia1 so the superhuman being visits ,mars or ,venus1 and furnishes his memory with millions of facts1 which it retains and reproduces at will4 ,what immense power must memory1 always supplied and always ready at call1 bestow on the mind and reason6 ,languages are only the expression and the assembling of ideas4 ,condorcet has said that a science always reduces itself to a well-constructed language4 ,the mathematical sciences employ a language which is perfect1 because the science of mathematics is perfect4 ,the language spoken in the planetary spaces must be perfect1 because it expresses all the knowledge of superhuman beings1 and this knowledge is immense4 ,the more the mind knows1 the better it expresses3--the superhuman being1 who is highly informed1 will have a very expressive language1 which will also be universal4 ,the language of mathematics is understood by the peoples of both hemispheres4 ,algebra can be read by a ,frenchman or a ,german1 as well as by an ,australian or a ,chinese1 on account of the simplicity and perfection of the conventional signs which it uses4 ,the language of mathematics1 which is truly universal1 makes us infer that the language spoken in the planetary space must be also universal1 and common1 without distinction1 to all the inhabitants of the ethereal worlds4 ,owing to the immense scope of their faculties1 and to the perfection of their language1 in itself a certain means of increasing and exalting their knowledge1 superhuman beings have a power of reasoning1 and a clearness of judgment1 which1 added to the immense number of facts stored in their memory1 place them in possession of absolute science4 ,arduous questions1 before which the mind of man humbly confesses its powerlessness1 or which drive him mad if he persists in the effort to solve them1 such as the thought of the ,infinite1 the idea of the ,first ,cause of the ,universe1 the ,essence of ,divinity1 all these problems1 forbidden to us1 are easily accessible to these mighty thinkers4 ,he who is regarded by mankind as a genius of the first order1 an ,aristotle1 a ,keppler1 a ,newton1 a ,raphael1 a ,shakespeare1 a ,molire1 a ,mozart1 a ,lavoisier1 a ,laplace1 a ,cuvier1 a ,victor ,hugo1 would be among them a babbling child4 ,no science1 no moral idea is above their conception4 ,beneath their feet rolls the earth1 with the splendid train of the planets1 its sisters2 they behold the planets of our solar system gravitating in harmonious order round the great central star1 which deluges them with its light4 ,from the height of their sublime abode they witness the infinitely various spectacles furnished by the elemental strife of our poor globe1 and those which resemble it2 and1 happier than terrestrial humanity1 they admire the works of ,god1 while knowing the secret of their mechanism4 ,in the moral order they have penetrated the great ,wherefore6 ,they know why man exists1 and why they themselves exist4 ,they know whence they come1 and whither they are going2 and we1 alas6 know neither4 ,where1 to our eyes1 there is only confusion1 they perceive harmony and order4 ,the designs of ,god are distinctly apparent to them1 and also the events of the lives of nations and individuals1 which often seem to us cruel1 unjust1 and bad on the part of ,god2 but they understand that these events are just and useful1 and worthy of our heartfelt gratitude4 ,we also think1 that in the ethereal spaces time is an element which does not count4 ,we believe this1 because time does not exist for ,god1 and all superhuman beings approach1 by their perfections1 the entirely spiritual nature1 and consequently approach ,god4 ,we are confirmed in this belief by the fact1 that very profound grief resists time1 that there is no limit in duration to the great blows struck at the human soul1 that the loss of a beloved being is felt as keenly after a long interval as when he was taken away4 ,thus1 time1 which is everything to man1 which is not only1 according to the ,english adage1 money1 but is also the instrument of our wisdom1 our studies1 and our attainments--far otherwise precious than money--time does not count in the life of the superhuman being4 ,he awaits1 without impatience and without suffering1 the arrival of the beings whom he has loved and left upon the earth at his peaceful abode2 and when their re-union takes place1 he and they enjoy happiness which no inquietude concerning the future can ever trouble4 ,enabled to despise1 to put aside the idea of time1 the superhuman being looks on with unutterable serenity1 tranquillity1 and majesty1 at the majestic spectacle1 always new and always marvellous1 of the revolutions of the stars1 and the great movements of the universe4 ,the ,life of the ,superhuman ,being4--,in completion of our speculation upon the attributes of the superhuman being1 we shall consider the life which animates him and gives his body its active qualities4 ,we have said that1 in our belief1 the superhuman being proceeds from the soul of a man which has domiciled itself afresh1 in a new body1 in the bosom of the world of ether4 ,is this body destined1 at the end of a more or less prolonged period to perish1 to be dissolved1 to restore its elements to matter1 as they are restored by the human body8 ,shall life be withdrawn from the body of the superhuman being1 and shall the soul take flight thence8 ,we believe that it will be so4 ,life everywhere implies death1 and is its necessary term4 ,we do not cast anchor in the current of the waters of life4 ,if the soul of the superhuman being resides in a living body1 this body must die1 and its material elements must return to the common reservoir of nature4 ,the torch of life is extinguished in the spaces1 as it is extinguished upon earth4 ,we believe the superhuman being to be mortal4 ,after an interval1 whose duration we shall not attempt to fix1 he dies2 and the soul which dwelt within him escapes1 like a sweet perfume from a broken vase4 ,what becomes of the soul which has torn itself away from the body1 cold in death8 ,we shall seek after the answer to this question in our next chapter4 ,illustration ,,footnotes3 #c ,we must consider1 says ,bremser1 that man is not a spirit1 but only a spirit limited1 in different ways1 by matter4 ,in a word1 man is not a god1 but1 notwithstanding the captivity of his spirit in his corporality1 it retains sufficient freedom to enable him to perceive that he is governed by a spirit more exalted than his own1 that is to say1 by a ,god4 ,it is to be presumed1 in the supposition that there will be a new creation1 that beings far more perfect than those produced by preceding creations will see the light4 ,in the composition of man1 spirit holds to matter the proportion of fifty to fifty1 with slight occasional differences1 because it is now matter1 and again spirit which predominates4 ,in a subsequent creation1 should that which has formed man not prove to be the last1 there will apparently be organizations in which spirit will act more freely1 and be in the proportion of seventy-five to twenty-five4 ,it results from this consideration that man1 as such1 was formed at the most passive epoch of the existence of our earth4 ,man is a wretched intermediary between animal and angel1 he aspires to elevated knowledge1 and he cannot attain to it2 though our modern philosophers sometimes think so1 it is really impossible4 ,man wishes to make out the primary cause of all that exists1 but he cannot get at it4 ,with less intellectual faculty1 he would not have had the presumption even to desire to know these causes2 and1 if he were more richly endowed1 they would have been clear to him4--,l',univers1 pp4 #gfj-gfa4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,the ,,sixth4 ,,what ,,becomes ,,of ,,the ,,superhuman ,,being ,,after ,,death8--,,deaths1 ,,resurrections1 ,,and ,,new ,,incarnations ,,in ,,the ,,ethereal ,,spaces4 ,,in the living nature which surrounds us1 there is a continually ascending scale of gradual perfection1 from the plant to man4 ,taking mosses and alg1 which represent the rudimentary condition of vegetable organization1 as our point of departure1 we pass on through the whole series of the perfecting processes of the vegetable kingdom1 and we reach the inferior animals1 zoophytes and mollusca4 ,from thence we ascend to the superior animals by insensible degrees1 and thus fully attain to man4 ,each step of this ladder is almost imperceptible1 so finely arranged are the transitions and the shades2 so that there is a really infinite chain of intermediate beings1 at one end of which are the alg1 and at the other ourselves4 ,and yet we think it possible that between us and ,god there should be no kind of intermediate being6 that in this scale of continual progress1 there should be an immense void between man and the ,creator6 ,we think it possible that all nature1 from the lowest vegetable to mankind1 should be arranged in successive and innumerable degrees1 and that between man and ,god there should exist only a desert1 an immeasurable hiatus4 ,evidently1 this is impossible1 and that such an error should ever have been countenanced by religion and philosophy is only to be explained by ignorance of natural phenomena4 ,it is impossible to doubt that between man and ,god1 as between the plant and the animal1 the animal and man1 there exist a great number of intermediate creations1 which establish the transition of humanity into the divinity which governs it1 in infinite power and majesty4 ,that these intermediate beings exist1 we are certain4 ,they are invisible to us1 but1 if we refused to admit the existence of everything which we cannot see1 we should be very easily refuted4 ,let a naturalist take a drop of water from a pond1 and1 shewing it to an ignorant person1 tell him1 this drop of water1 in which you do not see anything1 is filled with little animals1 and with miniature plants1 which live1 are born and die1 like the animals and plants1 which inhabit our farms4 ,the ignorant person would probably shrug up his shoulders1 and consider the speaker crazy4 ,but if he were induced to apply his eye to the magnifier of a microscope1 in order to examine the contents of the drop of water1 he must acknowledge that the truth had been told him2 because1 in this drop of water1 in which he could at first see nothing1 his eye1 when assisted by science1 would discern whole worlds4 ,a great number of living beings can therefore exist where we see nothing1 and it is feasible to science to open the eyes of the multitude in this respect4 ,we desire to assume the position of the naturalist of whom we have spoken4 ,between man and ,god1 the ignorant crowd and a blind philosophy perceive nothing2 but1 when we replace the eyes of the body by those of the spirit1 that is to say1 when we make use of reason1 analogy1 and education1 these mysterious beings come to light4 ,we have already1 in studying the superhuman being1 described one of those intermediate creations between man and the divinity1 and defined the existence of one of those landmarks placed by nature on the high-road of infinite space4 ,but the ladder does not break off at its first step1 and we are convinced that numerous living hierarchies intervene between the superhuman being and the radiant throne of the ,almighty4 ,we have said elsewhere1 that1 in our belief1 superhuman beings are mortal4 ,what becomes of them after their death8 ,let us now take up the thread of our deductions4 ,we believe that--the superhuman being having died at the end of a term whose duration we have no means of knowing--his soul1 perfected by the exercise of the new faculties which it has received1 and the new senses with which it has been endowed1 enters into a new body1 provided with senses still more numerous and more exquisite1 and endowed with faculties of still greater power1 and thus commences a fresh existence4 ,we call the being who succeeds to man angel1 or superhuman2 we may call his succession in the ethereal realm1 arch-angel1 or arch-human4 ,the actual moment of the passage from one life to another1 must be1 as it is in the case of man1 a time of moral and physical pain4 ,the supreme periods at which a metamorphosis takes place in a sensible being are crises full of anguish and torment4 ,we will not endeavour to penetrate the secrets of the organization of the new being whose existence we thus trace1 and who is superior to the superhuman being in the natural hierarchy2 because our means of investigation fail us at this point4 ,we have ventured to form some conjecture respecting the body1 the soul1 and the life of the superhuman being1 because in that case1 however adventurous our excursion into unknown spheres1 we had a point of comparison and induction in the human species4 ,but all induction respecting the arch-human being who succeeds the superhuman1 is wanting1 for we could only perceive the latter by means of conjectures and analogies which we must not carry farther4 ,we will1 therefore1 abstain from pursuing this kind of investigation1 permitting the reader to exercise his own imagination upon the form of the body1 the number and perfection of the senses1 and the extent of the faculties of the happy creature who succeeds to the superhuman being1 and who dwells1 like him1 in the immensity of ethereal space4 ,we will only add that we do not think a second1 a third1 or a fourth incarnation arrests the succession of the chain of sublime creations1 which float in the infinitude of the heavens1 and which proceed from a primitive human soul1 which has grown in perfection and in moral power4 ,it surpasses our faculty to define1 by the unassisted light of our reason and our knowledge1 the number of these beings who go on succeeding one another in ever-increasing perfection4 ,we can only say that we believe the creatures1 which compose this ladder of perfections in succession1 must be very numerous4 ,at every stage of his promotion in the hierarchy of nature the celestial being beholds the growth of those wings which symbolize his marvellous power to us4 ,each time his organs become more numerous1 more flexible1 have greater scope4 ,he acquires new and exquisite senses4 ,he acquires more and more power of extending his beneficent empire1 of exercising his faculty of loving his fellows and all nature1 and1 above all1 of comprehending and reading the designs of ,god4 ,deeper and deeper affections engage his soul1 for the tenderness and the happiness engendered in its pure satisfaction1 are granted to him to console him for the sufferings of death1 to which he is always condemned4 ,it is thus that the happiness of the elect is augmented4 ,it is thus that the beings who inhabit the boundless plains of the invisible world employ each of their lives in preparing for the life which is to follow1 in securing by a wise exercise of their freedom1 industrious culture of their faculties1 strict observance of morality1 and continuous beneficence1 a more noble1 more animated1 and happier destiny in the new spaces which await them1 in the development of their sublime destiny4#d ,nevertheless1 as everything comes to an end in this world1 so must everything have an end in the surrounding spheres4 ,after having traversed the successive stages and rested in the successive stations of their journey through the skies1 the beings whom we are considering must finally reach a defined place4 ,what is this place1 the ultimate term of their immense cycle across the spaces8 ,in our belief1 it is the sun4 ,illustration ,,footnotes3 #d ,on this subject see the book of ,dupont de ,nemours1 ,philosophie de l',univers1 quoted by ,m4 ,pezzani in his ,pluralit des existences de l'me1 pp4 #baf-bah4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,the ,,seventh4 ,,physical ,,and ,,geographical ,,position ,,of ,,the ,,sun4 ,,according to our system of thought the sun is the central place in which souls which come from the ethereal spaces are finally gathered together4 ,after having undergone the successive incarnations which we have described1 souls1 primitively human1 finish by reaching the sun1 by dwelling within the borders of the star-king4 ,this1 then1 is a fitting place for a description of the sun from the physical and astronomical point of view4 ,such a description will at once reveal the entirely sovereign part played by that globe which has no fellow4 ,the astonishing attributes which belong to it1 the unimaginable power which it wields1 will sufficiently explain the place at the summit of the ascending scale of nature1 which we assign to the sun4 ,in the first place1 the sun is totally different from the other stars of our world4 ,he resembles nothing1 and nothing can be compared with him4 ,neither planets1 satellites1 asteroids1 nor comets can give us any idea of him4 ,his immense volume1 his physical constitution1 his exceptional properties place him in a totally separate rank1 and afford full justification to those who claim for him a separate and sovereign place4 ,the enormous mass of the sun at once proclaims his supremacy4 ,the sun is sufficiently vast to receive everything which could come to him from all the other planets4 ,he surpasses in volume the united size of all the celestial bodies which revolve around him4 ,he is six hundred times larger than the entire assemblage of the planets with their satellites1 of the asteroids and the comets which compose what is called the solar world2 that is to say1 the world of which we form a part4 ,the proportion in which the sun exceeds the earth in volume is1 then1 necessarily enormous2 since he is larger than all the other stars put together4 ,he is one million three hundred thousand times larger than our globe4 ,it is only by drawing that we can give an exact idea of the comparative sizes of the sun and the other planets4 ,the reader will find in the accompanying illustration 7,fig4 #a7 a figure which exactly represents the comparative dimensions of the sun1 and the largest planets of our world4 ,the earth1 represented by a dot1 gives an idea of what ,mars1 ,mercury1 and ,venus1 which are smaller than the earth1 must be4 ,it takes three years to circumnavigate the earth4 ,to circumnavigate the solar globe1 under similar conditions1 would take three hundred years4 ,if human life be not more prolonged in the sun than on the earth1 an existence would not suffice to enable a traveller to become acquainted with the surface of the globe he inhabits4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 #a4--;,comparative ,dimensions of the ,sun and the ,planets4 ,weight is thirty times more intense on the surface of the sun than on the earth4 ,we know that a body which falls upon the earth traverses1 in the first second of its fall1 a space of four metres1 nine centimetres4 ,in the sun a falling body traverses #add metres in the first second of its fall4 ,it follows from this1 that a human body1 if transported to the sun1 would weigh about #bjjj kilogrammes1 the weight of an elephant4 ,the body of a dog or of a horse would weigh twenty-eight times as much as upon our earth1 so that these animals would remain fixed to the surface4 ,the conditions of nature must therefore be entirely different in the sun from what they are in the group of planets to which the earth belongs4 ,the sun sheds rays from perpetual fire1 a characteristic that appertains to him alone among all the stars of our world4 ,of himself he burns1 and sheds abroad light and heat4 ,the other stars are neither warm nor luminous1 and if the sun did not exist1 they would be plunged into eternal darkness and eternal cold4 ,this privilege alone ought to make us comprehend the immense importance of the central star4 ,the light and heat which emanate from the sun are constant2 they are never interrupted1 and they never lose their force4 ,thus1 a second characteristic--constancy of illumination--separates the sun from all the other celestial bodies of our world4 ,the intensity of the real heat of the sun has been measured by the physicists4 ,this result was attained in an endeavour to determine by experience the quantity of heat which accumulates in a given time1 upon a certain portion of the earth's surface1 exposed to the sun's rays1 and adding to that element the quantities of heat which would be absorbed by the atmospheric air1 the ethereal spaces1 and the soil4 ,pouillet1 the ,french physicist1 who undertook this critical investigation1 arrived at certain results1 which he states as follows3 ,if the total quantity of heat emitted by the sun was exclusively employed to melt a layer of ice applied to the solar globe1 and covering it completely in all its parts1 that quantity of heat would be able to melt1 in one minute1 a layer of eleven metres1 eighty centimetres1 and in one day a layer of seventeen kilometres in thickness4 ',this same quantity of heat1' says ,professor ,tyndall1 'would boil #bijj milliards of cubical kilometres of water1 at the temperature of ice4' ,the astronomer ,herschel found1 that1 in order to extinguish the sun1 to prevent his giving out caloric1 according to the scientific phrase1 it would be necessary to dash a stream of iced water1 or a cylindrical column of ice1 eighteen leagues in diameter1 against its surface1 at a rate of speed of #gj1jjj leagues per second4 ,a comparison adopted by ,professor ,tyndall gives us an amazing view of the intensity of the calorific force of the sun4 ,imagine1 says he1 that the sun is surrounded by a layer of peat1 seven leagues in thickness1 the heat produced by its combustion would be the same as that produced by the sun in one year4 ,the physicists have measured the intensity of the sun's light with exactitude1 as they had previously measured his heat4 ,it is known that the solar light is #cjj1jjj times stronger than that of the full moon1 and #gfe1jjj1jjj stronger than that of ,sirius1 the most brilliant of the stars4 ,bouguer discovered1 by experiments made in #agbe1 that the sun1 at a height of #ca above the horizon1 gives a light equal to that of #aa1ffd candles1 placed within #dc centimetres of the object to be lighted1 and equal to #fb1agg candles placed within one metre4 ,according to this result1 if we take account of atmospheric absorption1 and of the law of the variation of the intensity of light1 which decreases in inverse ratio to the square of distance1 the light given by the sun at its zenith would be #ge1bjj times greater than that of a single candle1 placed within one metre4 ,wollaston had arrived at a similar conclusion4 ,by means of experiments of another kind1 made during the months of ,may and ,june1 #agii1 ,wollaston found that #ei1hhb candles1 at one metre1 give as much light as the sun4 ,supposing the sun to be in the zenith1 the lightening power of that great star would be equivalent to #fh1jji candles4 ,there is but little difference between this valuation and that of ,bouguer1 who states the result at #ge1bjj candles4 ,whatever may be the intensity of the light of the sun1 we now possess other sources of light which approach to it4 ,such is the oxhydric light1 produced by burning hydrogen gas by means of a current of oxygen gas1 or air1 a method of lighting which has recently been employed in ,paris and in ,london4 ,this light is equal in power to more than #bjj candles4 ,a thread of magnesium burning in the air1 develops a prodigious quantity of light1 which may be taken as equivalent to that of #ejj candles4 ,the electric light produced by a voltaic battery of from #fj to #hj coils1 produces a luminous arc equal to the light of #hjj or #ajjj candles4 ,in the latter instance the voltaic arc1 according to ,bouguer and ,wollaston1 would give #ge times less light than the sun1 supposing the luminous electric point to be placed at a distance of one metre4 ,with very powerful batteries1 it has been possible to go further1 and produce a light not much inferior to that of the sun4 ,messieurs ,fizeau and ,foucault1 by comparing the light of a voltaic arc1 produced by the action of three series of ,bunsen's coils1 of forty-six couples each1 with the light of the sun in a clear sky in ,april1 have established that the light-giving power of the sun is not more than twice and a half that of the electric light4 ,the preceding numbers represent the light-giving power of the sun upon our globe1 taking into account atmospheric absorption4 ,arago1 on endeavouring to determine the intrinsic light-giving power of the sun1 found that the intensity of the solar light is #eb1jjj times greater than that of a candle placed at one metre4 ,but1 according to more recent researches for which we are indebted to ,mr4 ,edmond ,becquerel1 the result obtained by ,arago is greatly inferior to the truth1 and the light of the central star is #ahj1jjj times greater than that of a candle placed at one metre4 ,all the planets1 attended by their satellites1 and all the comets which accidentally manifest themselves to us1 turn round the sun4 ,the sun remains motionless in the midst of this imposing procession of stars1 which circulate around him1 like so many courtiers paying him homage4 ,thus1 the sun is the heart of our planetary system2 everything is drawn1 everything converges towards him4 ,half-informed persons will exclaim1 ,what can be more simple6 ,the sun being six hundred times the size of all the other stars put together1 the phenomenon of the condition of all those stars around the sun is explained by the law of attraction1 which prescribes that bodies shall attract in proportion to their mass4 ,if the sun attracts the stars of our world to itself1 it is because his mass is greater than that of all the other stars collectively4 ,but such an answer would be erroneous1 involving the common error of taking a word for a thing1 an hypothesis for an explanation1 of putting a term of language in the place of a logical consideration4 ,when ,newton conceived the hypothesis 7and the phrase7 of reciprocal attraction of matter1 he was careful to state that he only proposed to characterise by a name a phenomenon which in itself is entirely inexplicable1 and of which we know nothing but the exterior mode of its manifestation1 that is to say1 the mathematical law4 ,we know that bodies go towards each other in the ratio of their masses1 and in the inverse ratio of the square of their distances2 but why do they go towards each other8 ,this is what we do not know1 and what we probably never shall know4 ,if1 for the word attraction we were to substitute the word electrization1 or1 as ,keppler did1 the words affection1 sympathy1 obedience1 c41 we should have a new hypothesis1 with a new name1 but the mathematical law would remain the same1 the hypothesis only would be changed4 ,the real cause which makes small bodies rush towards large ones1 and the stars of lesser magnitude revolve round the stars of greater magnitude1 is an impenetrable mystery to mankind4 ,whatever may be the hypothesis by which we seek to explain the fact1 it is certain that the sun holds the planets with their satellites1 the asteroids and the comets1 suspended above the abysses of space1 and that they journey through the heavens in unintermitting obedience to his guiding influence4 ,the sun draws with him all the stars which follow and surround him1 like flatterers of his power1 like humble slaves of his universal preponderance4 ,like the father of a family in the midst of his progeny1 the sun peacefully governs the numerous children of sidereal creation4 ,obedient to the irresistible impulsion which emanates from the central star1 the earth and the other planets circulate1 roll1 gravitate1 around him1 receiving light1 heat and electricity from his beneficent rays1 which are the first agents of life4 ,the sun marks out for the planets their path through the heavens1 and distributes to them their day and night1 their seasons and their climate4 ,the sun is1 then1 the hand which holds the stars above the unfathomable abysses of infinite space1 the centre from which they obtain heat1 the torch which gives them light1 and the source whence they derive the principle of life4 ,from all time the immense and unique task fulfilled by the sun in the economy of nature has been understood4 ,but this great truth has only been deeply studied in our days4 ,science has gone far beyond all the imagination the poets had conceived relative to the preponderance of the sun in our world4 ,by means of numerous experiments and abstruse calculations1 modern physicists have proved that the sun is the first cause of almost all the phenomena which take place on our globe1 and that1 without the sun1 the earth and no doubt all the other planets would be nothing but immense wastes1 gigantic corpses1 rolling about1 frozen and useless1 in the deserts of infinite space4 ,professor ,tyndall1 who has added largely to the discoveries of physics and mechanics1 has brought out this truth very strongly1 and the results to which he has been led may be said to form the most brilliant page of contemporary physical science4 ,we shall now endeavour to explain how it is that everything on the earth1 and no doubt on all the other planets also1 is derived from the sun1 so entirely1 that we may affirm that vegetables1 animals1 man1 in short1 all living beings1 are but the productions1 the children of the sun2 that they are1 so to speak1 woven out of solar rays4 ,in the first place1 the sun is the primary cause of all those movements which we observe1 in the air1 in the water1 or in the ground under our feet1 and which keep up life1 feeling1 and activity on the surface of our globe4 ,let us consider the winds1 which have such important relations with all the physical phenomena of our globe4 ,whence proceed the winds8 ,from the action of the sun4 ,the sun heats the different portions of the earth very unequally1 bestowing much more warmth on the tropical and equatorial regions than on the other latitudes1 which he leaves exposed to cold4 ,on each point of the earth which is struck by the rays of the sun1 the layers of air near the ground are dilated and raised1 and immediately replaced by colder layers from the temperate regions4 ,thus the periodical winds are produced4 ,across the hemispheres two great arial currents are perpetually blowing1 going from the equator to each of the poles2 one1 the upper current1 towards the north-east in the northern hemisphere1 and towards the south-east in the southern hemisphere2 the other1 the lower current1 in a contrary direction4 ,the movement of the earth gives rise to other regular winds4 ,the action of heat and of evaporation1 added to the unequal distribution of the continents and the seas1 produce others1 which are irregular4 ,thus1 for example1 in the great valleys of the ,alps1 as in those of the ,cordilleras1 the warmth of the air regulates the afflux of the cold air of the mountains1 and brings on tumultuous winds1 and1 in fact1 hurricanes4 ,the sea breezes arise from the difference in the temperature of the shore during the day and the night4 ,by day1 the sun has warmed the shore and produced a considerable dilatation of the air4 ,when the sun quits the horizon1 this hot air is replaced by cool currents from the inland4 ,the same phenomenon is reversed in the morning1 when the sun returns2 the shore is warmed1 the hot air rises1 and is replaced by the colder air of the sea1 which then goes inland4 ,thus1 the evening breeze comes from landward1 and the morning breeze from seaward4 ,we see1 therefore1 that the great atmospheric movements which we call the winds1 are due to the successive appearances and disappearances of the sun1 as are also the lesser movements which we call breezes4 ,the position of the sun1 constantly varying according to the period of the year1 and the hour of the day1 explains the inequality and the continuous existence of the arial current4 ,the general cause of the winds which preserve the homogeneity of the air in all the terrestrial regions1 is the heat of the sun dilating the atmospheric air2 its absence1 on the other hand1 causes that gaseous mass to contract4 ,the watering of the globe1 that is to say the rain1 an element indispensable to the exercise of life1 is another consequence of solar heat4 ,the waters of the seas1 the rivers1 and the lakes1 those which steep the soil1 or are exhaled from vegetable matter1 are gradually transformed into vapour by the action of the sun's heat1 and form clouds and invisible vapour4 ,when the sun has quitted the horizon1 these vapours grow cold in the bosom of the atmosphere in which they floated1 and fall down upon the earth again in the form of dew1 of fog1 and of rain4 ,when the cooling of the watery vapour in the bosom of the atmosphere is more intense1 instead of rain we have snow1 that is to say1 a fall of congealed water4 ,it is chiefly on the summit of mountains that snow falls and accumulates1 because the temperature of elevated places is always cold4 ,in very great altitudes the snow1 remaining for long periods on the tops of the mountains1 passes into an intermediate condition1 between snow and pure ice1 and ends by forming those great expanses of congealed water which are called glaciers4 ,during the hot seasons the glaciers melt by degrees2 the water resulting from this melting process1 flows down the slopes of the mountains into the valleys1 and gives rise to springs1 rivers1 and streams4 ,these streams and rivers run into the ocean1 from which they are again evaporated by the action of solar heat1 and reconstitute clouds and invisible vapour4 ,thus is established and maintained that incessant circulation of the waters which lie on the surface of the earth1 their continual exchange with the arial masses1 whose effect is to water the globe1 a phenomenon necessary to the exercise of the functions of organized beings4 ,the regular currents which furrow the waters of the ocean are also the result of the action of solar heat4 ,from the poles to the equator the waters of the sea are unequally heated1 and this absence of equilibrium in the temperature of the sea occasions a regular furrow1 or line from the poles to the equator1 resulting from the displacement of the waters1 the cold waves rushing in to replace the hot4 ,the unequal evaporation caused by the unequal distribution of heat at the equator and the poles1 concurs to produce a similar result1 by augmenting the degree of saltness at the equator1 without augmenting it at the poles1 occasioning a certain difference in density1 and finally displacement for want of equilibrium4 ,the currents of the sea are thus entirely produced by the action of the sun4 ,we see1 therefore1 that the winds1 the watering of the globe1 and the currents of the sea are the consequence of solar heat4 ,the movement of the magnet is another physical result of the action of the sun1 if it be true1 as ,ampre says1 that the magnetic currents which traverse the terrestrial globe are nothing but thermo-electric currents engendered by the unequal distribution of heat on the surface of the globe4 ,in addition to being the agent of powerful physical forces1 the sun is a valuable agent of chemical forces1--indeed1 this is the greatest part which he plays in the phenomena of nature4 ,the light and heat of the sun produce the most important chemical actions on the earth's surface2 those on which the exercise of vegetable and animal functions depend4 ,if the sun did not exist1 life would be banished from the terrestrial globe4 ,life is the child of the sun1 as ,i shall endeavour to prove to you4 ,the operations of photography serve to make us understand how it is that the sun presides over chemical action in the vegetable world4 ,what is photography8 ,what does that curious phenomenon which fixes a drawing formed by light upon a sheet of paper1 consist of8 ,a paper steeped in chloride or iodide of silver is placed in the focus of the lens of a dark camera1 and the image formed by the lens is made to fall upon paper sprinkled with water4 ,the portions of the picture not exposed to light produce no effect upon the salt of silver1 which is incorporated with the paper1 but the portions exposed to light decompose the salt of silver1 and turn it black1 or dark violet colour4 ,on withdrawing this paper from the apparatus1 where the operations have been carried on in darkness1 we have a drawing which reproduces1 in black1 the luminous image formed by the lens4 ,by certain means this image1 solely produced by the chemical action of light1 is rendered fixed and unalterable4 ,all the salts of silver thus exposed to light undergo an analogous decomposition4 ,nor are they the only salts which light modifies4 ,compounds of gold1 platinum1 and cobalt1 properly prepared1 may also be altered under the influence of direct or indirect rays1 when exposed to the sun1 or to his diffused light4 ,the light of the sun possesses the power of bringing about the combination of several other bodies4 ,this is the case with hydrogen and chloric gas4 ,if you mix equal parts of chloric gas and hydrogen in a bottle1 and expose the mixture to the sun1 an immediate combination will take place between the two gases1 and chlorohydric acid gas will be formed4 ,the combination will take place with so much force that it will be attended by a considerable escape of heat4 ,if you throw the bottle containing the mixture up into the air1 towards a space where the sun is shining1 the bottle will break before it falls1 with a violent explosion1 at the moment of its contact with the light4 ,we might multiply examples of the chemical action produced by light only on substances belonging to the mineral kingdom1 but it is sufficient for our purpose to say that the chemical action of light is still more powerful and more general in the vegetable than in the inorganic realm4 ,this is a phenomenon of such importance that it is impossible to believe it otherwise than a premeditated design of nature4 ,one of the most fruitful discoveries of modern science is the recognition of the fact1 that the respiration of plants depends upon the presence and the direct action of light1 that is to say1 that the decomposition of the carbonic acid which circulates in the tissue of vegetables1 and which has been breathed up from the soil by the roots1 takes place only when the plants are exposed to the sun4 ,the labours of ,priestley1 ,charles ,bonnet1 ,ingenhouz and ,sennebier1 have taught us that the decomposition of carbolic acid into carbon1 which remains fixed in the tissue of the plant1 and into oxygen1 which disengages itself from it1 can take place only under the direct or indirect influence of the sun's rays4 ,our readers may easily convince themselves of this fact4 ,place a handful of green leaves in a glass full of water1 and expose the glass to the sun4 ,at the close of the day the upper portion of the glass will be filled with gas1 which is nothing but pure oxygen1 the result of the breathing of the leaves4 ,all the importance1 all the value of such a phenomenon will be evident1 if we reflect that it takes place over the whole extent of the globe1 and that the respiration1 which means the life of all the vegetable masses which cover the earth1 depends solely upon the light of the sun4 ,it is by means of the respiration of the plants1 which restores oxygen to the atmospheric air1 that nature makes up for the withdrawal of oxygen by the respiration of animals1 by the continual absorption of that gas by numerous mineral substances1 and by the frequent combustions1 natural and artificial1 which occur in the world4 ,the result of these combustions would be the disappearance of the greater portion of the oxygen contained in the air1 if there did not exist a permanent machinery for the restitution of that oxygen4 ,this permanent machinery is the respiration of plants1 produced by solar light4 ,so absolute is the dependence of plants for their respiration on the action of the sun's light1 that if it be intercepted by clouds1 the escape of oxygen from them suffers a marked diminution4 ,if the light of the sun be suddenly stopped1 which occurs during a total solar eclipse1 the escape of oxygen ceases1 and the plants transpire carbonic acid only1 as they always do during the night4 ,it is for this reason that a plant kept in complete darkness loses its colour1 and becomes white4 ,it does not respire1 it emits carbonic acid gas without retaining carbon1 it becomes etiolated1 according to the scientific phrase1 which means that the plant no longer lives at the cost of the external air1 or of gas furnished by the soil1 but consumes its own substance4 ,the whitened salads which we prefer are not green only because they are grown in darkness1 and the mushrooms brought to table are white only because they are reared in cellars4 ,m4 ,boussingault1 who has studied vegetation in darkness1 finds that the leaves of a vegetable which has never had any light at all1 in its first appearance and development1 never exhales oxygen1 its respiration furnishes carbonic acid gas only4 ,the plant1 therefore1 breathes just as an animal does4 ,we must observe in this case that the substance of the seed only supplies this product4 ,the plant borrows nothing from without1 consumes nothing but the elements which were contained in the seeds1 and dies when those nutritive elements are exhausted4 ,the duration of its existence depends entirely on the weight of the seed whence it has sprung4 ,if a well-developed plant be kept in darkness1 the same fact may be observed4 ,the plant gives out nothing but carbonic acid1 and1 as it borrows nothing from without1 it perishes when it has thus devoured its own substance4 ,m4 ,sachs says1 in his ,physiologie ,vgtale1 that the movements proper to the leaves of many vegetables cannot take place if the plant is kept in darkness4 ,plants so kept remain always in the condition which ,linnus defined as sleep4 ,flowers contained in natural coverings1 which in a great measure debar them from the light of the sun1 do indeed produce colours1 but those flowers are formed inside their natural coverings1 at the expense of substances contained in their leaves1 which could not be produced except under the influence of light4 ,the same truth applies to fruits4 ,leaves1 flowers1 fruits1 are then1 as the ,german physiologist1 ,moleschott1 has said1 beings woven of air by light4 ,the same author adds3 ,when we contemplate the brilliant colours of the flowers1 and when their delicious perfume gives serene satisfaction to that poetic faculty which exists1 though it may slumber deeply1 in the soul of every man it is still the light which is the mother of colour and of perfume4 ,the influence of the sun on vegetation is of fundamental importance4 ,without the sun no plant would grow upon our globe4 ,in those regions which are permanently deprived of the powerful and beneficent torch of nature1 towards the extreme north1 all vegetation is stunted1 and higher still1 it does not exist4 ,absence of light1 and cold1 are the causes of the complete disappearance of the natural adornment1 and the useful tribute1 which elsewhere vegetation furnishes to the earth4 ,in the hot regions1 vegetation is vigorous and extensive1 in proportion to the abundance of sunshine poured upon them4 ,there is nothing to be compared to the luxuriant vegetation of the tropical countries in both hemispheres4 ,the vegetation of ,brazil1 of equatorial ,africa1 and the inter-tropical regions of ,india1 is renowned for its abundance and variety4 ,agriculture1 enlightened by modern chemistry1 has brought to light the special importance of the sun in promoting the activity of vegetation1 and producing combinations of substances not to be attained by any action except that of the sun4 ,m4 ,georges ,ville1 a professor at the ,museum of ,natural ,history in ,paris1 states1 as the result of numerous experiments1 that the activity imparted to vegetable production by the sun is truly miraculous4 ,no chemical fact1 no theory1 according to the learned professor1 can explain the mystery of solar influence1 and its prodigious power over the development and produce of vegetables4 ,let us remark1 before we leave this subject1 that by a providential circumstance the present generations of mankind are profiting by the chemical force of the sun which nature has stored in her great vegetable depts for thousands of centuries4 ,for instance1 what is coal1 which feeds all our industries1 supplies our steam machines1 ships1 engines1 and locomotives8 ,it is the residue of those gigantic forests which covered the earth during the geological periods4 ,the substance of the trees of the forests of the ancient world was at first changed into peat1 which1 becoming more and more compact by the action of ages1 was finally pressed into the hard and heavy body which we call coal4 ,but what was the cause1 what was the first agent1 which produced the trees of those forests1 in the antediluvian times8 ,it was the chemical force of the sun4 ,this force1 or1 if the term be preferred1 the products of the chemical force of the sun1 have been accumulated and preserved in the wood1 and then in the coal which that wood has become4 ,we find it thus1 and we use it1 to our present profit4 ,thus1 the glowing sunshine which lighted and warmed the ancient world1 is not lost to us4 ,contemporary generations inherit those very rays1 and that same chemical force4 ,the power of the sun1 which has slumbered in the coal for millions of years1 arouses itself for us1 comes forth into the day1 and transforms itself in our hands into a mechanical agent4 ,the light and heat of the sun1 which play so great a part in the vegetable kingdom1 exercise influence of a similar kind over the animal kingdom4 ,if we reflect that plants are indispensable to the food of the majority of animals1 that the creation of vegetables necessarily preceded that of terrestrial animals 7since vegetables constitute their food71 and that animals must inevitably disappear from the earth if plants ceased to exist2 we shall be led to acknowledge that animals originate as certainly1 though indirectly1 from the force of the sun as the plants themselves4 ,besides1 it can be proved that the action of the sun is directly indispensable to the maintenance of animal life4 ,in the first place1 is it not the fact that solar light and heat exercise an immense influence on the health of animals and of man8 ,to convince ourselves of that1 we need only compare men who pass the greater part of their lives in the air and sunshine1 with men who live in dark houses1 in the narrow streets and lanes of great cities4 ,not only are these dwellings unwholesome because they are damp1 but they are fatal to health because they are not enlivened by the presence of the sun4 ,light1 altogether indispensable to the exercise of respiration in plants1 is not indispensable in the same degree to the respiration of animals4 ,it is1 however1 certain that the products of the respiration of man and animals are less abundant by night than by day4 ,moleschott has found that the quantity of carbonic acid gas exhaled by an animal is augmented by the intensity of the light of day1 and is at its minimum in complete darkness2 which amounts to this1 adds that author1 that the light of the sun accelerates molecular action in animals4 ,thus1 the rays of the sun are a primary condition of the existence of animals1 because they produce the formation of plants1 the essential basis of the alimentation of animals and of man1 and because they preside over the fulfilment of many of their physiological functions4 ,we find views of precisely the same order as those we have endeavoured to express1 eloquently put forward in ,professor ,tyndall's work on ,heat3 ,and as surely as the force which moves a clock's hands is derived from the arm which winds up the clock1 so surely is all terrestrial power drawn from the sun4 ,leaving out of account the eruptions of volcanoes and the ebb and flow of the tides1 every mechanical action on the earth's surface1 every manifestation of power1 organic and inorganic1 vital and physical1 is produced by the sun4 ,his warmth keeps the sea liquid1 and the atmosphere a gas1 and all the storms which agitate both are blown by the mechanical force of the sun4 ,he lifts the rivers and the glaciers up the mountains2 and thus the cataract and the avalanche shoot with an energy derived immediately from him4 ,thunder and lightning are also his transmuted strength4 ,every fire that burns and every flame that glows dispenses light and heat which originally belonged to the sun4 ,in these days1 unhappily1 the news of battle is familiar to us1 but every shock and every change1 is only an application or misapplication of the mechanical force of the sun4 99 99 99 99 ,the sun comes to us as heat2 he quits us as heat2 and between his entrance and departure the multiform powers of our globe appear4 ,they are all special forms of solar power2 the moulds into which his strength is temporarily poured1 in passing from its source through infinitude4--p4 #dca4 ,the mechanical force which the heat of the sun represents has been calculated1 and the numbers thus ascertained are curious4 ,in order to understand how a heat agent can be expressed by figures of mechanical force1 we must have a general idea of that theory which constitutes the most valuable creation of natural philosophy in our day2 we allude to the mechanical theory of heat1 or the doctrine of the mutual transformation of physical forces4 ,experience has proved that heat changes1 under our eyes1 into a mechanical force4 ,see how1 by the action of the steam engine1 watery vapour becomes cold1 and the dispersed heat immediately produces a mechanical force1 and you will understand how it is that we maintain that heat transforms itself into force4 ,this being admitted1 it is easily explicable that one of those elements may be represented by the others1 or that at least we may represent the value of both force and heat by a common unit4 ,this common unit is called a calorie1 and expresses the quantity of heat requisite to raise the temperature of a kilogram of water one degree4 ,on the other hand1 the term kilogrammeter is used to express the quantity of force requisite to raise a kilogram to the height of one yard 7mtre7 in a second4 ,physicists have succeeded in solving the difficult problem1 which consists of ascertaining how many kilogrammeters may be produced by a calorie1 transformed into mechanical labour4 ,the works of ,mayer1 ,joule1 ,helmholtz1 ,hirn1 ,regnault1 c41 establish that a calorie is equivalent to #dbe kilogrammeters1 that is to say that the quantity of heat requisite to raise the temperature of a kilogram of water to #a degree centigrade produces a mechanical action represented by the elevation of a weight of #dbe kilograms #a yard 7mtre7 in height in the space of a sound4 #dbe kilograms are called the mechanical equivalent of heat4 ,with this information at our service1 we are enabled to calculate in units of mechanical force the work done by solar heat1 by transforming itself into mechanical force4 ,and1 if we calculate the total heat of the sun diffused over the earth1 during a given time1 we can calculate the sum of the forces which all this distributed heat would develop on the surface of the earth1 if it were all employed in mechanical labour4 ,in one year every square yard of the surface of the earth receives #b1cah1aeg calories1 that is to say1 more than #bc1jjj1jjj1jjj1jjj of calories to each space of #b acres1 #a rood1 #ce perches4#e ,to understand the intensity of this force1 we must conceive a steam engine1 which1 instead of working at #bjj or #cjj horse-power1 like the engines of our larger steamers1 should work at #d1afc horse-power4 ,and this1 we must bear in mind1 refers only to the small space above mentioned4 ,if we calculate the entire surface of the earth1 we arrive at the astounding total of #bag1caf1jjj1jjj1jjj horse-power4 ,in order to conceive such a force1 we must picture to ourselves #edc1jjj1jjj1jjj1jjj steam engines each working without relaxation day and night1 at #djj horse-power4 ,that is the amount of work which the heat of the sun does for our globe alone4 ,the physical and mechanical actions which take place on our planet1 vegetation1 the phenomena of animal life1 industrial and agricultural operations absorb only a very small quantity of this enormous mass of forces4 ,professor ,tyndall says on this subject1 in the book we have already quoted3-- ,look at the integrated energy of our world--the stored power of our coal-fields2 our winds and rivers2 our fleets1 armies1 and guns4 ,what are they8 they are all generated by a portion of the sun's energy which does not amount to #a_/bcjjjjjjjjth of the whole4 ,this1 in fact1 is the entire fraction of the sun's force intercepted by the earth1 and in reality we convert but a small fraction of this fraction into mechanical energy4 ,multiplying all our powers by millions of millions1 we do not reach the sun's expenditure4--p4 #dcc4 ,in this chapter we have analyzed the different physical and vital effects produced upon our globe by the light and heat given out by the sun4 ,we have considered its action upon animate and inanimate nature4 ,we have seen that the sun is really the great cause of physical action on our globe1 and that he is also the first principle of both vegetable and animal life4 ,without the sun life would be banished from the terrestrial globe2 as we have already said1 life is the offspring of the sun4 ,we know that in speech1 heat and life are almost synonymous words4 ,in every language we find it said that persons are frozen by death1 in the icy sleep of death1 that cold is death-like1 c4 ,this image is an exact expression of the reality4 ,an animal or a plant1 when deprived of life is necessarily cold4 ,a shiver is the precursor of every malady1 and the sure forerunner of death4 ,every dead body is a cold body4 ,it may be said that in the animal form cold takes the place of life1 as in inanimate bodies cold succeeds to heat4 ,let us now consider the following facts4 ,it is solely by the prolonged action of heat that plants can germinate1 grow1 and develop themselves2 in order to come to perfection1 every plant requires an ascertained number of degrees of heat1 and botanists and agriculturists know quite accurately the total number of degrees of heat requisite to ripen their cereals1 and make their fruit-trees bear4 ,a prolonged and undisturbed accumulation of heat is indispensable to produce life in the impregnated egg of a bird1 so that by employing caloric in a hatching machine1 the process of hatching may be artificially perfected4 ,the eggs of viviparous animals are sustained by the heat of the mother's body1 and besides1 as ,hervey says1 everything that has life proceeds from an egg 7omne vivum ex ovo74 ,if we recall to mind that1 after the development of the germ in mammiferous animals1 the unvarying maternal heat is indispensable to the formation of the organs of the ftus1 we shall be led to inquire whether heat does not directly produce life1 whether heat does not transform itself into vital force4 ,modern philosophers who have propounded the ,mechanical ,theory of ,heat1 that is to say the profound and admirable doctrine of the mutual conversion of forces1 the professors who have proved by mathematical evidence that heat converts itself into mechanical force1 and the converse1 might perhaps complete their brilliant synthesis by adding that heat1 which converts itself into mechanical force1 can also transform itself into life1 or into vital force1 and that the splendid theory of the transformation of forces does not apply to inanimate bodies only1 but finds an astonishing confirmation in animate bodies4 ,thus heat and life would be the manifestation of one and the same power1 and the cause of life would be found to dwell1 like the cause of mechanical force1 in the sun4 ,illustration ,,footnotes3 #e ,represented by the ,french word hectare4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,the ,,eighth4 ,,the ,,sun ,,the ,,definitive ,,abode ,,of ,,souls ,,who ,,have ,,attained ,,the ,,highest ,,rank ,,in ,,the ,,celestial ,,hierarchy4--,,the ,,sun ,,the ,,final ,,and ,,common ,,dwelling ,,of ,,souls ,,who ,,have ,,come ,,from ,,the ,,earth4--,,the ,,physical ,,constitution ,,of ,,the ,,sun4--,,the ,,sun ,,is ,a ,,mass ,,of ,,burning ,,gases4 ,,the fundamental importance of the sun in the general economy of our world being finally established1 our readers will not be surprised to hear that we assign that radiant and sublime abode to the human souls released from the earth1 and successively purified and perfected by the long series of their multiplied incarnations in the bosom of the interplanetary spaces4 ,some philosophers have perceived this truth4 ,the astronomer ,bode placed the most elevated intelligences in the sun4 ,the happy creatures which inhabit this privileged abode1 he says1 have no need of the alternate succession of day and night2 a pure and unextinguishable light illumines it for ever4 ,in the centre of the light of the sun1 they enjoy perfect security1 under the shelter of the wings of the ,almighty4#f ,under what form may we picture to our fancy the inhabitants of the sun8 ,we cannot answer this question without being acquainted with the geography of the sun1 or as astronomers call it1 his physical constitution1 which differs essentially from that of the planets1 of their satellites1 and of the comets4 ,he is unique in his position and office in the planetary system1--he must therefore be specially constituted4 ,what is this special constitution8 ,what is the geography of the sun8 ,would that it were in our power to reply to this question with precision2 would that we could describe the configuration of the sun4 ,unhappily1 science has not yet reached that point4 ,the problem of the sun's true nature is full of uncertainty4 ,astronomers are divided between two opposite theories1 and that which seems to be the best supported1 is too recent to be set forth in a dogmatic fashion4 ,we can only summarize the actual condition of our knowledge on this question1 explain the theory which seems conformable to ascertained facts1 and applying it to the subject on which we are engaged1 endeavour to deduce the physical condition1 which1 in our opinion1 would belong to the inhabitants of the king-star4 ,until the great epoch of the discovery of the telescope1 at the beginning of the seventeenth century1 in the time of ,keppler and ,galileo1 only vague and arbitrary ideas respecting the sun prevailed4 ,the educated1 as well as the vulgar1 beheld in it merely a globe of fire2 the most learned declared that they found in it pure fire1 elementary fire1 the principle of light1 and of fire4 ,but as no means existed of examining the surface of the sun1 and as his real distance from the earth was either unknown1 or very imperfectly understood1 a prudent reserve was maintained on this question4 ,the discovery of the telescope immediately placed the astronomers in possession of the celestial realm2 it enabled them to sound the depths of space1 and to study the apparent configuration of the stars1 including the sun himself4 ,a few hours' observation with the astronomical spy-glass1 and more was learned of the nature of the sun1 than in the two thousand years of more or less philosophical reverie which preceded the discovery of the telescope4 ,with a glass which magnified the apparent diameter of the sun only twenty-sixfold1 ,galileo1 repeating the observations of ,fabricius1 discovered the spots on the sun4 ,although ,galileo did not use the smoked glasses which have since been found so useful1 and although he limited his observations to the horizon1 watching the great star at its rising and its setting1 or when it was veiled by slight clouds1 he studied its spots carefully1 and described them faithfully4 ,we may observe that this discovery astonished the philosophers of that period1 who were entirely submissive to the authority of ,aristotle4 ,the incorruptibility of the sun was held in the schools as a sacred principle1 according to ,aristotle1 and these unfortunate spots perplexed the philosophers4 ,the peripatetics vied with each other in proving to the ,florentine astronomer that the purity of the sun was an unassailable principle1 and that the spots which he had perceived existed only on his eyes1 or on the lens of his glasses4 ,but ,galileo had seen correctly1 and soon every one could convince himself of the reality of the phenomenon he had proclaimed4 ,not only do spots exist upon the disc of the sun1 but they furnish the only means which we possess of becoming acquainted with the physical and astronomical peculiarities and properties of the great star4 ,the examination of these spots led to the discovery that the sun revolves like the other planets1 and that he accomplishes the entire revolution upon his axis in a period of twenty-five days4 ,the sun's days are therefore twenty-five times as long as ours4 ,here1 however1 we must remark upon the word day4 ,to us1 the day signifies the periodical return of the earth to the same point1 after a complete revolution upon its axis1 with an alternation of light and darkness4 ,it is quite otherwise in the case of the sun1 which1 being self-luminous in all his parts1 can never have any night4 ,we have said that the examination of the sun's spots established his rotation upon his axis4 ,in fact1 if we patiently observe the motion of a spot1 or of a group of spots1 we remark that it advances slowly from one edge of the solar disc to the other2 for instance1 if the point of departure be the eastern edge1 the spot or group will advance with uniform speed towards the western edge1 taking fourteen days to accomplish the distance4 ,if we wait fourteen days more1 we shall again perceive the same spot making its appearance on the eastern edge of the disc1 the interval having been consumed in passing over the opposite and1 of course1 invisible side of the sun4 ,the spot has therefore taken twenty-eight days to reappear1 which twenty-eight days do not1 however1 represent the exact duration of the revolution of the sun himself4 ,it must not be forgotten that the earth has not remained motionless during this long observation2 she1 too1 has gone round in the sun1 as the spots have done4 ,this sort of advance1 which causes us to see the same spot for a longer time than we should have seen it1 if the earth remained motionless1 is of three days' extent1 the deduction of which from the twenty-eight given days1 allows twenty-five days for the real duration of the sun's rotation upon his axis4 ,in the sun seasons are unknown as well as days4 ,time seems to have no existence for the beings who occupy that radiant dwelling-place4 ,the changes1 and the succession of things for us which constitute time1 are unknown to their sublime essence4 ,duration has no measure in that blessed world4 ,the dweller in the sun must behold the revolution of the planets around him1 performed according to the same laws1 but with different rates of speed4 ,the phases of the planets and their satellites1 the phases of ,mars and ,venus1 or those of the moon1 which we perceive from the earth1 are unknown to them2 they see only the hemisphere of those globes which is illumined by their own immense country4 ,they behold1 in larger dimensions1 the globes of ,mercury and ,venus1 and in lesser dimensions the ,earth and ,mars4 ,the distant planets1 ,jupiter1 ,saturn1 and ,uranus1 must seem very small to them4 ,neptune they probably cannot see at all4 ,the comets must be for a long time invisible to the inhabitants of the sun1 who behold their flaming mass rushing towards them in ever-increasing size4 ,they also see some comets sinking away into space1 and others falling on the surface of the sun himself1 to be lost and absorbed in his substance4 ,thus1 the spots on the sun have revealed to us an important peculiarity of his astronomical character1 his revolution upon his axis4 ,they have also given us the only exact ideas which we possess of the physical constitution of the sun4 ,the accompanying plate conveys an idea of what the spots on the sun consist of4 ,figures #b and #c represent the general aspect of these appearances4 ,in the centre is a black space perfectly marked4 ,to this succeeds a space in grey tinting1 whose outlines melt by degrees into the rest of the luminous mass4 ,the first region is called the ,umbra2 the second1 the ,penumbra4 ,these words must be distinctly understood4 ,the part indicated by the term ,umbra is only dark relatively to the illumined portion4 ,this ,umbra is very luminous1 its brilliancy is two thousand times that of the full moon4 ,we are merely dealing with comparisons here4 ,the solar spots are often of very considerable dimensions4 ,they have been found #cj1jjj leagues in breadth1 and could swallow up the earth1 which is only one-tenth of that magnitude4 ,they are not permanent1 sometimes they remain for months1 or even years1 but the greater number increase and decrease rapidly1 and disappear in a few weeks4 ,they are incessantly changing in form and in extent1 and they grow and diminish4 ,it is evident that they are regulated by a violent interior movement1 and that they are the seat of tumultuous motion4 ,something like whirlwinds are seen to sweep across the regions occupied by the spots1 and to carry them away1 like the waves of a furious sea1 or the flames of a conflagration4 ,gigantic bridges of apparently burning matter have been observed1 thrown from one edge to the other of adjacent spots1 uniting them by a shining band1 and then this same band has stretched itself out and caught hold of other spots4 ,of a sudden the whole edifice has been seen to be swept away by fresh whirlwinds4 ,signs of a prodigious commotion1 of gigantic perturbation1 are always evident4 ,these hurricanes1 these tempests of flame1 are of a widely different grandeur from the hurricanes and the tempests of our atmosphere1 because the atmosphere of the sun is several thousands of yards in height1 and covers an extent of surface #a1cjj1jjj times greater than ours4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 #b4--;,group of ,solar ,spots observed in #ahfd by ,nasmith4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 #c4--;,another ,solar ,spot observed by ,nasmyth4 ,we have just said that the sun has an atmosphere4 ,such is the conclusion to which the careful examination of the great star has led4 ,from the earliest times at which the sun was observed1 a theory of its constitution was formulated1 which was perpetuated down to the present age1 without receiving authoritative contradiction4 ,in the eighteenth century the astronomers ,herschel and ,wilson developed this theory1 which was popularized in our time by the writings of ,humboldt and ,arago4 ,according to this theory1 the sun is composed of a dark nucleus1 and a burning atmosphere1 which is the only source of the light proper to this star4 ,arago and ,humboldt called the incandescent atmosphere of the sun1 the photosphere4 ,heat and light would not1 therefore1 come to us from the nucleus1 but only from the photosphere4 ,the spots are explained1 according to this theory1 by admitting that they are openings accidentally formed in the sun's atmosphere by gases discharged from volcanic craters1 or in some other way4 ,through these openings the dark nucleus of the sun is seen4 ,the penumbra of the spots are formed by the lower parts of the atmosphere of the sun1 which is either hot or luminous4 ,this lower portion of the atmosphere1 reflecting the light emitted by the upper portion or photosphere1 is slightly warm1 and only partially illumined4 ,this theory of the constitution of the sun1 and of the solar spots1 seemed for a long time satisfactory4 ,a similar explanation1 that is to say1 by partial eruptions of gas from volcanic craters1 was assigned to the kind of black dotted appearance observed on the surface of the solar disc1 and which is exactly reproduced in the two figures here given4 ,the brilliant spots scattered over the surface of the sun1 which touched here and there with points of intense luminosity1 are called facul4 ,these brilliant points are said to proceed from local accidents1 which cause an escape of light and heat from certain parts of the solar atmosphere4 ,thus1 according to this theory1 the sun would be a solid body1 opaque and dark like the planets1 surrounded by an atmospheric layer1 which would prevent any heat in the nucleus4 ,outside that layer would be a second atmosphere1 the photosphere1 which only would be luminous1 and capable of emitting light and heat4 ,dark nucleus1 dark atmosphere1 luminous photosphere1 such would be the constituent elements of the sun1 according to ,wilson1 ,william ,herschel1 ,humboldt1 and ,arago4 ,to any who hold this theory1 it is not impossible to believe that the sun may be inhabited by beings who differ but slightly to man1 or who are endowed with an organization similar to that of the inhabitants of the earth4 ,if the body of the sun be preserved by the interposition of a cold1 and but slightly conducting atmosphere from the rays of the photosphere which burns at an immense distance1 we can believe that creatures organized almost like ourselves could live within it4 ,the heat of the burning photosphere can reach it through the thickness of the lower atmosphere with only the degree of heat necessary to maintain life4 ,the light thus filtered is brilliant1 but not dazzling1 and admits of the existence of beings of organization similar to those who live on the earth4 ,to this conclusion ,arago came3 ,if ,i were asked1 said the astronomer1 is the sun inhabited8 ,i must reply that ,i do not know4 ,but1 if ,i were asked whether the sun can be inhabited by beings of organization similar to that of dwellers upon our globe1 ,i should not hesitate to reply in the affirmative4 ,at the present day ,arago would hesitate1 for science has made a great advance in the question of the physical constitution of the sun4 ,the new method invented by ,,mm4 ,kirchhoff and ,bunsen1 and known as analysis of the luminous spectrum1 being applied to the solar rays1 has given rise to an entirely new conception of the nature of the sun4 ,we have returned to the opinion of the physicists of the middle ages1 who regarded the sun as a globe of fire1 a sort of gigantic torch4 ,it would be impossible to enter into the details of the optical experiments which rendered accurate analysis of the solar rays possible1 and enabled us to deduce a new theory of the constitution of the sun from their properties4 ,we shall confine ourselves to explaining this theory1 as it evolves itself from the experiments of ,m4 ,kirchhoff4 ,according to the ,german philosopher1 the sun is not1 as it has hitherto been supposed1 a cold1 dark1 and solid body1 surrounded by a burning atmosphere2 it is a globe1 a sphere1 probably liquid1 which burns throughout its whole mass1 and in all its parts4 ,this incandescent globe is surrounded by a very heavy atmosphere1 formed of the vapours which proceed from the incandescent globe1 and which are themselves kept burning in consequence of the high temperature of all those masses of fire4 ,how are the spots on the sun to be explained according to this theory8 ,m4 ,kirchhoff admits that1 owing to unknown causes1 a cooling process may take place in the vaporous atmosphere which surrounds the body of the sun4 ,this cooling process would form at certain points condensations of vapour analogous to the condensation of the vapour of water1 which on our globe produces clouds and rain4 ,these agglomerations of condensed vapours would form a species of cloud in the atmosphere of the sun1 and those clouds1 which would intercept the light of the solar disc from us1 would produce the effect of a spot on this disc4 ,the cloud1 once formed1 cools portions of the neighbouring vapours1 and1 by provoking a partial condensation1 gives rise to the penumbra which surround the umbra4 ,thus1 according to ,m4 ,kirchhoff1 the solar spots are clouds suspended in the sun's atmosphere4 ,galileo had previously propounded an analogous hypothesis4 ,without abandoning ,m4 ,kirchhoff's theory we may mention another explanation of the spots4 ,a ,german physicist considers the spots1 not as clouds in the sun's atmosphere1 but as partial solidifications of the liquid matter which forms the body of the sun2 a kind of scoria1 analogous to those which may be observed in crucibles containing matters in a state of fusion1 and which come from particles of metal not yet melted1 or which are beginning to solidify4 ,the penumbra of the spots would be the half-molten1 and consequently1 half-transparent pollicule which always surrounds the edges of metallic scoria with a semi-liquid ring4 ,m4 ,faye1 a ,french astronomer1 has propounded a theory1 which somewhat modifies that of ,m4 ,kirchhoff4 ,he thinks that the nucleus of the sun is neither solid nor liquid1 but entirely gaseous4 ,the solar spot1 he1 like ,m4 ,kirchhoff1 takes to be an opening made accidentally in the sun's atmosphere by the condensation of vapours on certain points of that atmosphere4 ,according to ,m4 ,faye1 the spots are due to vertical currents of vapour ascending and descending1 and the interception of the light of the sun's atmosphere by the predominant intensity of the ascending current4#g ,the new theory1 the result of the optical experiments of the ,german physicists1 appears to explain all the facts which have been observed1 and it has therefore been generally accepted4 ,some divergences exist on questions of detail1 but astronomers are nowadays almost unanimous in regarding the sun as a great body1 incandescent in all its parts1 as a globe in a state of fusion1 surrounded by a burning atmosphere1 or1 as ,m4 ,faye states it1 a simple agglomeration of incandescent gases4 ,illustration ,,footnotes3 #f ,quoted by ,flammarion in his ,pluralit des mondes habits4 #g ,see ,le ,soleil1 by ,m4 ,a4 ,guillemin1 pp4 #aid-bjh4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,the ,,ninth4 ,,the ,,inhabitants ,,of ,,the ,,sun ,,are ,,purely ,,spiritual ,,beings4--,,the ,,solar ,,rays ,,are ,,emanations ,,from ,,the ,,spiritual ,,beings ,,who ,,live ,,in ,,the ,,sun4--,,these ,,beings ,,thus ,,produce ,,animal ,,and ,,vegetable ,,life ,,upon ,,the ,,earth4--,,the ,,continuity ,,of ,,solar ,,radiation1 ,,inexplicable ,,by ,,physicists1 ,,explained ,,by ,,the ,,emanation ,,from ,,the ,,souls ,,of ,,the ,,inhabitants ,,of ,,the ,,sun4--,,the ,,worship ,,of ,,fire1 ,,and ,,the ,,adoration ,,of ,,the ,,sun ,,among ,,different ,,peoples1 ,,ancient ,,and ,,modern4 ,,from the discussion of physical astronomy contained in the preceding chapters1 we have concluded1 with ,,mm4 ,kirchhoff and ,faye1 that the sun is a mass of burning gases4 ,but1 our readers will ask1 if this be so--if the sun is a gaseous incandescent mass1 or a globe of matter in a state of fusion1 surrounded by an atmosphere of burning gas1 where do you place its inhabitants1 and under what form do you picture them8 ,we have already said1 that at each step of their promotion in the hierarchy1 the creatures who live in the planetary spaces and have succeeded to the superhuman being1 grow in perfection1 their senses are multiplied1 their intellectual power is considerably extended4 ,in proportion as the creature1 who in the beginning was human1 is raised by successive deaths and resurrections in the scale of inter-planetary being1 the material substance1 which1 united to its spiritual principle1 formed its radiant individuality1 is diminished4 ,in further exposition of our system1 we must state our belief that this superior being1 when he has been sufficiently perfected and exalted1 by his different incarnations1 by the multiplied stages in the immensity of the heavens1 finally becomes pure spirit4 ,when he attains the sun1 he is free from all material substance1 from all carnal alloy4 ,he is a flame1 a breath2 all is intelligence1 sentiment1 thought1 in him2 nothing impure is mingled with his perfect essence4 ,he is an absolute soul1 a soul without a body4 ,the gaseous and burning mass of which the sun is composed is1 therefore1 appropriate to receive these quintessential beings4 ,a throne of fire is a fitting throne for souls4 ,we might even go further1 and maintain that not only is the sun the asylum and receptacle of souls which have finished the course of their peregrinations in this world1 but that it is nothing else than a collection of those souls which have come to it from the other planets1 after having passed through the intermediate states which we have described4 ,the sun may be only an aggregation of souls4 ,since the sun is the first cause of life on our globe1 since he is1 as we have proved1 the origin of life1 feeling1 and thought1 since he is the determining cause of the existence of everything possessing organization upon the earth1 why may we not hold that the rays which the sun pours upon the earth and the other planets are nothing else than the emanations from these souls8 that they are emissions from the pure spirits dwelling in the central star1 directed towards us1 and the other planets1 under the visible form of rays8 ,if this hypothesis were accepted1 what magnificent1 what sublime relations existing between the sun and the globes which gravitate around him1 would be revealed to us6 ,a continual exchange would be established between the sun and the surrounding planets1 an unbroken circle1 an inexhaustible communion1 radiant emanations which should generate and maintain activity and motion1 thought and sentiment1 which should keep the flame of life burning everywhere6 ,let us think of the emanations from souls dwelling in the sun descending upon the earth in solar rays4 ,light gives existence to plants1 and produces vegetable life1 accompanied by sensibility4 ,plants1 having received this sensible germ from the sun1 communicate it1 aided by heat likewise emanating from the sun1 to animals4 ,let us think of the germs of souls1 placed in the breasts of animals1 developing themselves1 becoming perfected by degrees1 from one animal to another1 and finishing by becoming incarnate in a human body4 ,let us think1 then1 of the superhuman being succeeding to man1 springing up into the vast plains of ether1 and beginning the series of numerous transmigrations which1 from one step to another1 will lead him to the summit of the scale of spiritual perfection1 from which every material substance has been eliminated1 and where the soul1 thus exalted to the purest degree of its essence1 penetrates into the supreme abode of happiness1 and of intellectual and moral power--the sun4 ,such may be this endless circle1 such this unbroken chain1 binding together all beings in nature1 and passing from the visible to the invisible world4 ,to those persons who may declaim with severity against the system which we have ventured to put forward1 we shall put a question which cannot fail to embarrass them1 for science has never been able to solve it4 ,we shall ask them how the light of the sun1 and the heat which results from it1 are maintained8 ,it is evident that the enormous quantities of heat and light which the sun sends out in torrents into space1 must come from a source which cannot be inexhaustible1 which has need of renewal1 otherwise the sun would become extinct4 ,as there is no effect without a cause1 it is plain that the inconceivable quantity of forces which the sun distributes by his burning rays1 must be derived from some place4 ,m4 ,guillemin1 in his work on the sun1 passes in review the different theories which have been adopted1 up to the present day1 to explain solar radiation4 ,the following is an analysis of a chapter of ,m4 ,guillemin's work on the ,maintenance of ,solar ,radiation4 ,pouillet has calculated that if the sun were not supplied with something to make up for the losses he sustains1 he must cool at the rate of one degree in a century4 ,but this calculation falls short of the truth4 ,pouillet supposed that the specific heat of the sun is the greatest which can be conceived4 ,the specific heat of the sun is1 it is true1 unknown1 but instead of placing it at the maximum power1 which it is not proved to be1 we might suppose it1 by an allowable hypothesis1 to be equal to that of water1 which is well known4 ,now if we grant to the sun the specific heat of water1 we rectify ,pouillet's calculation1 and we arrive at the conclusion that the sun1 if not furnished with any resources from which to repair his losses1 would be entirely extinct at the end of #aj1jjj years4 ,professor ,tyndall1 whose experiments are more recent than those of ,pouillet1 and inspire greater confidence1 says3 ,if the sun were a block of coal1 and it were supplied with sufficient oxygen to enable it to burn at the degree of heat proper to that star1 it would be entirely consumed at the end of #ejjj years4 ,now the sun has existed for millions of years1 for the transition periods of our globe1 in which the first living beings were manifested1 are traced back to millions of years4 ,and yet his heat has not sensibly diminished since those distant ages4 ,the proof that it has not diminished1 is that the climates of the globe at the present time are the same as they were in the tertiary or quaternary epoch4 ,in the tertiary or quaternary strata the same plants and the same animals which exist at present are found4 ,speaking of times nearer to our own1 we may observe that the productions of the soil remain unchanged during the #bjjj or #cjjj years1 whose traditions and historical archives we possess4 ,the sun has lost none of his heat during millions of years4 ,where has he gotten this heat from8 ,where does he get it from now8 ,by what means is that unquenched fire kept up4 ,to this question neither astronomy nor physics has ever furnished a satisfactory reply4 ,treatises1 whether astronomical or physical1 give us nothing but hypotheses1 which we cannot accept4 ,at first it was said that the sun1 turning on his axis in twenty-five days1 produced by this movement a perpetual friction of his surface against the element in which he moves1 in other words1 against the ether4 ,but if that were the case1 this friction ought to engender a similar heat on the surface of the planets1 whose rotatory motion1 and especially the motion of translation in their orbit1 is much more rapid than that of the sun turning on his axis4 ,besides1 if we calculate the elevation of the temperature which would result from the friction of the sun against the ether1 we shall find that the heat would hardly suffice to maintain the radiation of the solar star during one century4 ,this hypothesis is therefore untenable4 ,another theory1 better supported1 has been put forward by the physicists ,mayer1 ,watterston1 and ,thompson2 it explains the maintenance of the solar heat by a constant fall of meteors on the surface of the solar star4 ,a multitude of corpuscles gravitate round the sun1 and approach him with sufficient nearness to be attracted by his surface1 and fall upon it4 ,these are asteroids1 which turn in whirling swarms around the sun4 ,a shower of corpuscles1 of meteorolites1 may be always falling on his surface4 ,their fall would cause a great development of caloric1 in consequence of the transformation of their enormous speed into heat1 and this caloric would suffice1 according to the authors of this theory1 for the maintenance of solar radiation4 ,let us quote ,professor ,tyndall on this point3 ,it is easy to calculate both the maximum and the minimum velocity imparted by the sun's attraction to an asteroid circulating round him4 ,the maximum is generated when the body approaches from an infinite distance1 the entire pull of the sun being then exerted upon it4 ,the minimum is that velocity which would barely enable the body to revolve round the sun close to its surface4 ,the final velocity of the former1 just before striking the sun1 would be #cij miles a second1 that of the latter #bgf miles a second4 ,the asteroid1 on striking the sun with the former velocity1 would develop more than #ijjj times the heat generated by the combustion of an equal asteroid of solid coal2 while the shock1 in the latter case1 would generate heat equal to that of the combustion of upwards of #djjj such asteroids4 ,it matters not therefore whether the substances falling into the sun be combustible or not2 their being combustible would not add sensibly to the tremendous heat produced by their mechanical collision4 ,here then we have an agency competent to restore his lost energy to the sun1 and to maintain a temperature at his surface which transcends all terrestrial combustion4 ,the very quality of the solar rays--their incomparably penetrative power--enables us to infer that the temperature of their origin must be enormous2 but in the fall of asteroids we find the means of producing such a temperature4--,p4 #dbc4 ,the fall of these asteroids on the surface of the sun would be followed by an increase in the bulk of that star1 and there has been no such increase since the earliest period of its observation4 ,also1 the augmentation of the sun's bulk by these foreign bodies1 would have produced an accelerant motion in the orbits of all the stars1 which1 however slight1 would be distinctly perceptible2 whereas1 for the #bjjj years of celestial observation1 whose records we possess1 unbroken and perfect regularity in the progression of the stars of our solar world is registered4 ,there is another objection to this hypothesis4 ,it is that it presupposes a solid and resistant medium in the sun4 ,this medium does not exist1 according to the new solar theory1 which considers this star to be formed of vapour and of gas1 or1 at most1 of a liquid sphere4 ,another proof that this resistant medium does not exist1 is to be found in the fact that several comets1 among others those of #afhj1 and of #ahdc1 have passed so close to the sun at their perihelion1 that their movements must have been greatly disturbed by the resistance of a dense medium4 ,the movements of these comets1 were1 however1 quite unaffected by this cause2 they were observed to reappear at the moment indicated by the regular curve of their orbit4 ,the absence of a resistant medium in the sun has been regarded as so grave an objection by one of the authors of this theory1 ,mr4 ,thompson1 that he has abandoned it1 as incompatible with facts4 ,another hypothesis has been proposed1 for explaining the maintenance of solar heat4 ,the substances which now form the sun have not always been collected together in their present state of aggregation4 ,at first1 his molecules were1 relatively1 extremely distant from one another1 and formed a chaotic1 or confused mass4 ,under the influence of attraction1 they drew together by degrees1 and agglomerated themselves into a nucleus1 which has become the centre of attraction of the whole mass4 ,this simply amounts to saying that the sun began by being in the state of nebulosity1 and passed at a later period into the condition of adherent and continuous matter4 ,the molecules of solar nebulosity1 says ,balfour ,stewart1 precipitating themselves upon one another1 produced heat2 as1 when a stone is thrown with force from the top of a precipice1 heat is also the ultimate form into which the potential energy of the stone is converted4 ,this system of explanation of the primary origin of the planets is in general favour4 ,having drawn themselves together to form a continuous whole1 the elements of the sun would have changed their physical condition1 and the result of this change would have been an enormous escape of heat1 sufficient to explain the origin of the solar focus4 ,we know1 in fact1 that condensation of matter always accompanies an escape of heat2 and it has been calculated that a diminution of only a thousandth part from the actual bulk of the sun would suffice to maintain the solar heat for #bj1jjj years4 ,m4 ,helmholtz1 the author of this ingenious theory1 has also calculated that the mechanical force equivalent to the mutual gravitation of the particles of the nebulous mass would have been originally equal to #ded times the quantity of mechanical force actually disposable in our system1 #dec_/ded of the force coming from the conatus to the gravitation would therefore have been already expended4 ,the author adds that the #a_/ded which remains of this original heat1 would suffice to raise the temperature of a mass of water equal to the combined birth of the sun and the planets1 to #bh1jjj1jjj of degrees centigrade2 this is a quantity of heat equal to #bejj times that which would be engendered by the combustion of the entire solar system1 supposing it to be turned into a mass of coal4 ,these calculations are1 doubtless1 most interesting1 but their defect is that they rest upon the conception of the sun's nebulosity1 an hypothesis which requires closer examination before it ought to be accepted as the basis of so important a deduction4 ,besides1 if the sun were warmed by a physical cause not in action at the present time1 his heat1 however great it may be estimated to be1 must necessarily have been diminishing as long as the sun has been in existence4 ,now1 we repeat that it does not appear that the heat of the sun has ever suffered any diminution4 ,the theory of nebulosity is therefore no more securely founded in principle than the other hypotheses which have preceded it4 ,thus1 we find that neither astronomy nor physical science offers us any satisfactory explanation of the constant maintenance of solar radiation4 ,common sense tells us that this furnace1 constantly in activity1 must be as unceasingly fed2 but science is as yet unable to discover the nature and source of its aliment4 ,there1 where science places nothing1 we venture to place something4 ,in our belief solar radiation is maintained by the continuous1 unbroken succession of souls1 in the sun4 ,these pure and burning spirits are perpetually replacing the emanations perpetually sent through space by the sun1 to the globes which surround him4 ,thus we complete that uninterrupted circle of which we have previously spoken1 which binds together all the creatures of nature by the links of a common chain1 and attaches the visible to the invisible world4 ,we may venture to put forward this explanation of the maintenance of solar radiation with some confidence1 since science can give us no exact information upon the point1 and philosophy in this case only fills up the void left by astronomy and physics4 ,in short1 the sun1 the centre of the planetary aggregation1 the constant source of light and heat1 which sends forth motion1 sensation1 and life upon the earth1 is1 in our belief1 the final sojourn of purified perfected souls1 which have attained their most exquisite subtlety4 ,they are entirely devoid of material alloy1 they are pure spirits who dwell in the midst of the blazing atmosphere and the burning masses which compose the sun4 ,that star1 whose size far surpasses the bulk of all the others put together1 is sufficiently vast to contain them4 ,from their throne of fire1 these souls1 all intelligence and activity1 behold the marvellous spectacle of the march of all the planetary globes which compose the solar world1 through space4 ,placed in the centre of this vast world1 understanding the secrets of nature1 and all the mysteries of the universe1 they are in possession of perfect happiness1 of absolute wisdom1 and of illimitable knowledge4 ,the ,genoese naturalist1 ,charles ,bonnet1 was the first to bring forward general ideas upon the philosophy of the universe1 in the same order as those which we have just developed4 ,in his ,palingnsie ,philosophique1 published in #agga1 he introduces the doctrine of divers existences for the human soul1 outside that of the earth4 ,in a chapter appended to that work1 and entitled1 ,conjectures on the blessings to come1 he draws a picture of the perfect happiness which we shall enjoy in that abode1 and dwells1 in the following eloquent words1 on the transcendent knowledge which we shall possess1 which will unfold to our view all the secrets of the physical and moral worlds3-- ,if the ,supreme ,intelligence1 says ,charles ,bonnet1 has varied all ,his works here below1 so that nothing created is identical with anything else1 if harmonious progression reigns among all terrestrial beings2 and one common chain unites them2 is it not probable that this marvellous chain is prolonged throughout all the planetary worlds2 that it unites them all1 and that they are only constituent and infinitesimal parts of the same series8 ,at present we can see only a few links of this great chain2 we are not even certain that we observe them in their habitual order2 we can only follow this admirable progression very imperfectly1 and through innumerable windings in which we meet with frequent interruptions1 but we always know that the breaches are not in the chain1 but in our knowledge4 ,when it shall have been granted to us to contemplate this chain1 as ,i have supposed the intelligences for whom our world was chiefly made to contemplate it2 when1 like them1 we shall be able to follow its coils in other worlds1 then1 and then only1 we shall understand their reciprocal dependence1 their secret relations1 the exact meaning of every link1 and we shall rise by a scale of relative perfection to the most transcendent and luminous truths4 ,with what feelings shall our souls be filled1 when1 having studied to its depths the economy of a world1 we shall fly to another1 and compare the two6 ,how perfect shall our cosmology be then6 ,how wide the generalization and great the fecundity of our principles1 the succession1 the mass1 the exactness of our knowledge6 ,what light shall be shed from so many different objects upon the other branches of our studies2 upon physics1 geometry1 astronomy1 rational science1 and especially upon that divine study whose object is the ,supreme ,being4 ,all these truths are chained together1 and the most distant are held to the nearest by hidden links1 which it is the end of understanding to discover4 ,newton1 no doubt1 exulted in having discovered the secret relation between the fall of a stone and the motion of a planet2 when he shall be one day transformed into a celestial intelligence1 he will smile at this child's play1 and his profound geometry will be to him only the first elements of another ,infinite4 ,man's reason has already penetrated beyond all the planetary worlds2 it has raised itself up to heaven1 where ,god dwells2 it contemplates the august throne of the ,ancient of ,days1 it beholds all the spheres rolling beneath ,his feet1 and obeying the impulse of ,his hand1 it hears the acclamations of all the intelligences1 and1 mingling its adoration and its praise with the majestic song of the hierarchies1 it cries with the deepest consciousness of its own nothingness3 ',holy1 holy1 holy1 is ,he who is eternal1 and the ,all ,good2 glory be to ,god in the highest1 and good-will towards man6' ,oh6 the depth of the riches of the ,divine ,goodness1 which is not satisfied with manifesting itself to men on the earth by countless means1 but will bring him one day to the celestial dwelling-places1 and satisfy the thirst of his soul with the fulness of delight4 ,there are many dwellings in our ,father's home2 had it not been so1 ,he whom ,he sent to us would have told us1 and ,he is gone thither to prepare a place for us4 ,he will come back and take us with ,him2 that where ,he is we may be also4 ,where ,he is1 not in the outer court1 not in the vestibule1 but in the sanctuary of universal creation1 in the holy of holies4 ,where ,he is1 who is the ,king of angels and of men1 the ,mediator of the new covenant1 the ,author and ,finisher of our ,faith1 who has made the new way for us which leads to life1 who has made us free to enter into the ,holy ,place1 who has brought us near to the city of the living ,god1 to the heavenly ,jerusalem1 to the innumerable multitude of angels1 to ,god ,himself1 who is the ,judge of all4444 ,in this eternal dwelling1 in the bosom of light1 of perfection and happiness1 we shall read the general and particular history of ,providence4 ,initiated1 to a certain extent1 in the profound mysteries of ,his government1 ,his laws1 ,his dispensations1 we shall admiringly recognize the secret reasons of the many general and particular events which astonish us1 confound us1 and throw us into a state of doubt which philosophy does not always dissipate1 but which religion never fails to allay4 ,we shall ceaselessly meditate upon the great book of the destinies of the worlds4 ,we shall dwell particularly on the pages which concern this little planet2 the cradle of our infancy1 and the first monument of the paternal goodness of the ,creator towards man4 ,we shall discover1 with astonishment1 the numerous revolutions which this little globe has undergone before it assumed its actual form1 and we shall follow with our gaze those which it is destined to undergo in the course of ages2 but our admiration and our gratitude will be chiefly excited by the wonders of that great redemption1 in which there are so many things beyond our feeble reach1 which have been the objects of the studious research and the profound meditation of the prophets1 and which the angels have desired to look into4 ,one line on this page will contain our own history1 and will develop to our view the why and the how of those calamities1 trials1 and privations which in this world try the patience of the just man1 purify his soul1 and enhance his virtues1 while they crush and destroy the weak4 ,when we have reached so elevated a degree of knowledge1 the origin of physical and moral evil will no longer embarrass us2 we shall confront them distinctly at their source1 and in their most distant effects1 and we shall acknowledge1 from the evidence before us1 that all which ,god does is well done4 ,in this world we see effects only2 and we even observe them in a very superficial manner2 all the causes are hidden from us3 then we shall see effects in their causes1 consequences in their principles1 the history of the individual in that of the species1 the history of the species in that of the globe1 the history of the globe in that of the worlds1 c4 ,now we see things only confusedly1 and in a glass darkly2 but then we shall see face to face1 and shall know in some sort as we have been known2 in short1 because we shall have an infinitely more complete and distinct knowledge of the work1 we shall also acquire an incomparably deeper sense of the perfections of the workman4 ,and this knowledge1 the most sublime1 the most vast1 the most desirable of all1 will be incessantly perfected by intimate intercourse with the eternal source of all perfection6 ,i cannot express this sufficiently1 ,i do but stammer over it2 words are wanting2 would that ,i could know the language of the angels4 ,if it were possible to a finite intelligence ever to exhaust the universe1 it would still find the treasures of truth from eternity to eternity in contemplation of its author2 and1 after a thousand myriads of ages consumed in such meditation1 it would only have touched the edges of that science of which it may be even the highest intelligences possess no more than the rudiments4 ,there is no true reality except in ,him who is1 for all which is1 is by ,him1 before being out of ,him2 there is but one existence1 because there is but one ,being whose essence it is to exist2 and all which bears the inappropriate name of being had remained shut up in necessary existence as the consequence in the principal4#h ,before concluding this chapter1 let us remark that the deductions of science concerning the sovereign part played by the sun in the general economy of nature1 are in perfect harmony with the religious conceptions of the most ancient peoples4 ,the worship of fire has reigned from time immemorial in ,asia1 and especially in ancient ,persia4 ,from the ,persian shores sailed the first peoples1 the ,aryas1 or ,aryans1 who occupied and peopled ,europe4 ,fire worship was the first religion of ancient ,asia4 ,m4 ,burnouf dwells on this fact in his ,etudes sur la ,science des ,religions1 from which we quote the following passages3 ,the men of that time 7the ,aryas7 perceived that all the movements of inanimate things which take place on the earth's surface proceed from heat1 which manifests itself1 either under the form of fire which burns1 or under the form of thunder1 or under the form of wind2 but the thunder is fire hidden in the cloud1 and rises with it into the air2--fire which burns is1 before it manifests itself1 shut up in the vegetable matters which supply it with aliment2 wind is produced when the air is stirred by heat1 which rarefies it or condenses it on its withdrawal4 ,vegetables1 in their turn1 derive their combustibility from the sun1 which makes them grow1 by storing up his heat in them1 and the air is warmed by the rays of the sun1 the same rays which reduced the terrestrial waters to invisible vapours1 and then to thunder-bearing clouds4 ,the clouds spread the rain1 make the rivers1 feed the sea which the agitated winds trouble4 ,thus all this mobility which animates nature around us is the work of heat1 and heat proceeds from the sun1 which is at the same time the celestial traveller1 and the universal motor4 ,life also seemed to them to be closely allied to the idea of fire4 ,the grand phenomenon of the accumulation of solar heat in plants1 a phenomenon which science has since elucidated1 was early perceived by the ancients4 ,it is frequently pointed out in the ,veddas in expressive terms4 ,when they lighted the wood on the hearth they knew that they only 'forced' it to give out the fire which it had received from the sun4 ,when their attention was directed to animals1 the close bond which exists between heat and life1 struck them in all its force2 heat maintains life1 they found no living animals in whom was life without heat2 on the contrary1 they saw that vital energy displayed itself in the proportion in which the animals shared in heat1 and diminished in the same proportion4 ,life exists and perpetuates itself on the earth on three conditions only1 that fire should penetrate the body under its three forms1 of which one resides in the sun's rays1 one in the ignited aliments1 and the third in respiration1 which is air renewed by motion4 ,now these two latter proceed1 each after its own fashion1 from the sun 7srya72 his celestial force is the universal motor1 and the father of life3 that which he first engendered1 is the fire here below 7agni7 born of his rays1 and his second eternal co-operator is air put in motion1 which is also called wind1 or spirit 7vyu74#i ,the worship of the sun still exists among all the negro tribes which inhabit the interior of ,africa2 it may even be said that it is the only religion of the ,african tribes1 and this religion has existed among them in all times4 ,the ancient inhabitants of the new world had no other worship than that of the sun4 ,this fact is established by the historical archives of the ,indian races which we possess2 such as the ,aztecs or ancient inhabitants of ,mexico1 and the ,incas or ancient ,peruvians4 ,manco ,capac1 who subjugated ,peru1 and imposed his own laws upon the country1 passed for the son of the sun4 ,did not all these primitive people1 whose customs extend back to the origin of humanity1 when they rendered religious homage to the sun1 obey a mysterious intuition1 a secret voice of nature8 ,however that may be1 it is very remarkable that the religious conceptions of the most ancient people should be in such complete harmony with the most recent and most authoritative deductions of modern science4 ,illustration ,,footnotes3 #h ,palingnsie ,philosophique1 vol4 ii4 pp4 #dbg and following4 #i ,revue des ,deux ,mondes1 #aeth ,april1 #ahfh4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,the ,,tenth4 ,,what ,,are ,,the ,,relations ,,which ,,subsist ,,between ,,us1 ,,and ,,superhuman ,,beings8 ,,having drawn a picture of the transmigrations of souls which1 having belonged to men1 attain1 according to our belief1 to the sublime dwelling-place of the solar spaces1 we will now return to the superhuman being1 and endeavour to find out whether that being1 who immediately succeeds to man1 who is a resuscitated man1 incarnate in a new body1 and living in the plains of ether1 can place himself in relation with the inhabitants of the earth1 notwithstanding the immense space which divides them4 ,we have already endeavoured 7ch4 iv47 to discern the attributes of the superhuman being4 ,considering the number and extent of the faculties with which we believe him to be endowed1 we cannot hesitate to accord to this mighty creature the power of communicating with our earth1 and of exerting a certain influence there4 ,but how and by what means can such a communication be established8 ,what is the agency whose existence we must presuppose1 in order that beings floating in the ethereal spaces can produce an impression here below8 ,what transcendent system of electric telegraphy does the superhuman being employ8 ,on this point we are absolutely ignorant1 but the fact that communication does exist between these beings and our globe appears to us to be certain2 a conviction which we base upon the following grounds4 ,first1 let us address ourselves to the popular feeling4 ,as we have already said1 we are not afraid of invoking vulgar prejudices and opinions1 because they are almost always the expression of some great moral truth4 ,observations repeated thousands of times1 traditions transmitted from generation to generation1 and which have resisted the control of time1 without being either altered or destroyed1 cannot deceive4 ,only1 when the people amidst whom this tradition has been formulated and preserved1 are unenlightened1 they translate their observations into a coarse form4 ,let us inquire into the origin of those ghosts in which many civilized people firmly believe6 ,take away the absurd white sheet1 and the human form with which the simple superstition of the peasantry invest them1 and you will find in ghosts the idea of communication between the souls of the dead and the living1 you will find the thought which we are endeavouring to put before you in a scientific form4 ,this popular notion about ghosts has extended to persons who appear to be educated and enlightened1 but who are1 in reality1 as ignorant in matters of philosophy as the simple peasants1 and who are1 in addition1 addicted to mysticism1 which obscures their reason4 ,we allude to spiritualists4 ,the term spiritualists is applied to the partisans of a new superstition which sprung up in ,america and ,europe in #ahee1 as a result of the moral malady of table-turning4 ,these good people imagine that they can1 by their will1 and according to their fancy1 cause the souls of the dead1 of great men1 or of their own relatives and friends1 to descend to the earth4 ,they evoke the soul of ,socrates or ,confucius1 as easily as that of a defunct relative1 and they are so simple as to imagine that these souls come at their call to converse with them4 ,a person who is called a medium is the intermediary between the invoker and the soul invoked4 ,the medium1 under the influence of an unconscious and habitual hallucination1 writes down on paper all the answers made by the spirit1 or rather he writes down everything that comes into his own foolish head1 imagining himself to be faithfully transmitting messages from the other world4 ,the people who listen to him take these things1 which are simply the thoughts of the ignorant medium1 for revelations from beyond the tomb4 ,in spiritualism there exists only one true and rational idea2 it is the possibility of man's placing himself in relation with the souls of the dead2 but the coarse means resorted to by the partisans of this mystic doctrine1 cause every enlightened and educated man to repudiate any fellowship with them4 ,we merely mention spiritualism in this place as a vulgar and foolish phase of the popular belief in ghosts4 ,it has higher pretensions1 but science and reason alike forbid us to admit them4 ,the fact of communication between superhuman beings and the dwellers upon the earth being1 it seems to us1 proved1 we shall now consider how those superhuman beings and men who live on the earth or on the other planets may be brought into relation with each other4 ,it appears to us that this communication is chiefly in action during sleep1 and through the medium of dreams4 ,sleep1 that curious and ill-explained state1 is the condition of our being during which a portion of our physiological functions1 those which establish our connection with the external world1 are abolished1 while the soul preserves a part of its activity4 ,in this condition1 the body being seized by a kind of death1 the soul1 on the contrary1 continues to act1 to feel1 and to manifest itself by the phenomena of dreams4 ,now1 in the superhuman being1 the spiritual portion1 the soul1 dominates immensely over the material portion4 ,the superhuman being is1 so to speak1 all intelligence4 ,man1 when he is in the condition of sleep and dreaming1 approaches nearer to the superhuman being than when he is in a waking state2 there is1 then1 more resemblance1 more natural affinity between them4 ,consequently communications can be more easily established between these two beings who are drawn together by analogy of condition4 ,there is a saying1 the result of repeated observation1 which is logical and true4 ,it is1 the night brings counsel4 ,is not this as much as to say that it is during the night we receive the secret communications and the solitary advice of those beloved invisible beings who watch over us1 and inspire us with their supreme wisdom8 ,it is certain that when we have to make a decision1 to unravel a thought1 it often happens that we fall asleep in the midst of perplexity and uncertainty1 and that the next day we awake1 having taken our decision1 unravelled our thought1 which explains the phrase1 the night brings counsel4 ,ancient times1 and the middle ages1 accorded an extraordinary importance to dreams4 ,they were considered to be sent by ,god1 as ,his warnings1 hence the importance attached to their interpretation4 ,during sleep1 says ,tertullian1 the honours which await men are revealed to us2 during sleep1 remedies are indicated1 thefts revealed1 treasures discovered4#aj ,visions played a great part among ,christians in medival times4 ,it was during sleep that saints1 inspired persons1 and devotees received communications of an extraordinary order4 ,we are far from believing that it is during sleep and dreams only that we can feel the presence and the influence of superhuman beings4 ,there are few persons who have not felt1 while waking1 an unaccountable influence of this kind4 ,we feel a soft1 gentle impression1 a sort of vague1 mysterious push1 which excites a spontaneous resolution1 a sudden inspiration1 an unhoped-for suggestion4 ,we must observe that all men are not recipients of these mysterious impressions4 ,the superhuman being cannot manifest himself except to those whom he loves1 and who remember him2 to those whom he wishes to protect against the dangers and difficulties of this terrestrial life4 ,a father1 or a mother1 snatched away from filial love by death1 comes to speak to the soul which remains and mourns here below4 ,a son1 torn in the dawn of life from the tenderness of his parents1 comes to console them for his loss1 to enlighten them with his advice1 to furnish them1 by the inspiration of his lofty wisdom1 with the means of sustaining all the trials of this lower life4 ,two friends are united1 despite the barrier of the tomb4 ,two lovers1 whom death has sundered1 are again brought together4 ,an adored wife1 taken by death from her husband1 reveals herself to his heart4 ,then all those sentiments of mutual affection which subsisted between them spring up again2 death1 which has appeared to sever the ties between these souls1 does no more than veil them from the eyes of strangers4 ,death is conquered2 the phantom is laid low1 and we may cry with the prophet in the ,scripture1 ,oh1 ,death6 where is thy sting8 ,oh1 ,grave1 where is thy victory8 ,in order to receive these communications1 a man must possess a pure and noble mind1 and he must have preserved the cultus of those whom he has lost4 ,a mother who has been indifferent to her child during his life1 or has forgotten him after his death1 cannot expect to receive secret manifestations from him for whom she has felt but little tenderness4 ,the friend from whose heart the image of the friend removed by death has been effaced1 must renounce such priceless manifestations4 ,the man who is abandoned to low and vicious instincts and perverse inclinations1 must not flatter himself1 however faithfully he may have preserved the memory of the dead1 that these messages shall come to him4 ,a pure and noble creature only can communicate with these privileged beings4 ,there exists in our hearts a moral force which no philosophy has been able to explain1 which no science has been able to analyze1 which is called conscience4 ,conscience is a sacred light burning within us1 which nothing can obstruct1 obscure1 or extinguish1 and which has the power of giving us sure and certain enlightenment on every occasion in our lives4 ,conscience is infallible4 ,notwithstanding everything1 in spite of our real or apparent interest1 at all times1 and in all places1 speaking to the great and the small alike1 to the powerful and to the weak1 it always teaches to discern good from evil1 the honest from the dishonest way4 ,in our belief1 conscience is the impression transmitted to us by a beloved being1 snatched from us by death4 ,it is a relative1 a friend1 who has left the earth1 and who deigns to reveal himself to us1 that he may guide us in our actions1 trace out the path of safety for us1 and labour for our good4 ,cowardly1 perverse1 base1 and lying men exist1 of whom we say that they have no conscience4 ,they do not know how to distinguish good from evil2 they are entirely wanting in moral sense4 ,it is because they have never loved any one1 and their souls1 base and vile1 are not worthy to be visited by any of those superior beings1 who only manifest themselves to men who resemble them1 or who have loved them4 ,a man without a conscience is1 then1 one who is rendered unworthy1 by the vicious essence of his soul1 of the lofty counsels and the protection of those who are no more4 ,our readers will have perceived that this idea of a supreme and invisible protector of man1 who guides his heart1 and enlightens his reason1 has already been formulated by the ,christian religion1 which has derived it from ,holy ,scripture4 ,it is the ,guardian ,angel1 a mysterious and poetic type1 a seraphic creature1 whom ,god has charged to watch over the ,christian1 to guard him against snares1 and constantly to direct him to the ways of sanctity and virtue4 ,we observe this argument without having sought it4 ,in short1 we register our ideas as they deduce themselves logically from each other1 without any bias4 ,and when we find ourselves led into agreement with a dogma of the ,christian religion1 we note that concord with pleasure4 ,we would ask those persons who have read these pages to question themselves1 to summon up their recollections1 to reflect upon what has passed around them1 and we are convinced that they will discover many facts in harmony with what we advance4 ,the moral phenomenon of the impressions made by the dead on the mind of the living who have loved them1 and who keep up the cultus of their memory1 is one of those truths which every one holds by intuition1 and whose entire verity he acknowledges when he finds it curtly formulated and put forward4 ,we will not give our readers second-hand information by invoking facts of this kind which they may know2 we can only recall a few which came under our observation1 briefly1 as follows3 ,one of our friends1 an ,italian ,count1 ,b----1 lost his mother nearly forty years ago4 ,he has assured us that he has been in communication with her every day since1 without intermission4 ,he adds that he owes the wise ordering of his life1 his labours1 his career1 and the good fortune which has always accompanied his enterprizes1 to the constant influence and secret counsels of his mother4 ,dr4 ,v----1 a professed materialist1 one who1 according to the popular phrase1 believes in nothing1 believes1 nevertheless1 in his mother4 ,like ,count ,b----1 he lost her early1 and has never ceased to feel her presence4 ,he told us that he is more frequently with his dead mother1 than he used to be when she was living4 ,this professed apostle of medical materialism has1 without being aware of it1 conversations with an emancipated soul4 ,a celebrated journalist1 ,m4 ,r----1 lost a son1 twenty years of age1 a charming1 gentle youth1 a writer1 and a poet4 ,every day ,m4 ,r---- has an intimate conversation with this son4 ,a quarter of an hour of solitary recollection admits him to direct communication with the beloved being snatched away from his love4 ,m4 ,l----1 a barrister1 maintains constant relations with a sister who1 when living1 possessed1 according to him1 every human perfection1 and who never fails to guide her brother in every difficulty of his life1 great or small4 ,another consideration suggests itself in support of the idea which occupies us at present4 ,it has been remarked that artists1 writers1 and thinkers1 after the loss of one beloved1 have found their faculties1 talents1 and inspirations increased4 ,we might surmise that the intellectual faculties of those whom they have loved have been added to their own4 ,i know a financier who is remarkable for his business capacities4 ,when he finds himself in a difficulty1 he stops1 without troubling himself to seek for its solution4 ,he waits1 knowing that the missing idea will come to him spontaneously1 and1 sometimes after days1 sometimes after hours1 the idea comes1 just as he has expected4 ,this happy and successful man has experienced one of the deepest sorrows the heart can know2 he has lost an only son1 aged eighteen years1 and endowed with all the qualities of maturity1 combined with the graces of youth4 ,our readers may draw the conclusion for themselves4 ,this last example may instruct us concerning a peculiarity of the superior manifestations which we are studying4 ,we have just said that sometimes a certain time1 some days for instance1 are required for the production of the manifestations4 ,the cause of this is that the superhuman being1 to whom they are due1 has much difficulty in putting himself in relation with the inhabitants of our globe4 ,there are many beings on the earth whom he loves1 and whom he would fain protect1 and he cannot be in two different places at the same time4 ,we may even suppose that the difficulties which human beings feel in putting themselves in relation with us1 added to the spectacle of the sufferings and misfortunes which overwhelm their friends here below1 are the causes of the only sorrows which trouble their existence1 so marvellously happy in other respects4 ,absolute happiness exists nowhere in the world1 and destiny has the power to let fall one drop of gall into the cup of happiness quaffed by the dwellers in ether1 in their celestial abode4 ,persons who receive communications from the dead have remarked that these communications sometimes cease quite suddenly4 ,a celebrated actress1 now retired from the stage1 had manifest communications with a person whom she had lost by a tragical death4 ,these communications abruptly ceased4 ,the soul of the dead friend whom she mourned warned her that their intercourse was about to cease4 ,the assigned reason serves to explain why such relation cannot be continuously maintained4 ,the superhuman being who was in relations with the terrestrial person had already risen in rank in the celestial hierarchy1 he had accomplished a new metamorphosis1 and he could no longer correspond with the earth4 ,among the ,french peasantry communication with the dead is a general habit4 ,in the country death does not involve the lugubrious ideas which accompany it among the dwellers in cities4 ,people love and cultivate the memory of those whom they have loved1 they hold as most happy those whom the favour of ,providence has early removed from the misfortunes1 the failures1 the bitterness of terrestrial life1 they call on them1 they confide in them1 and the dead1 grateful for this pious memory of them1 respond to the simple prayers of these hearts4 ,all the ,orientals have that serene aspiration towards death which in ,europe exists exclusively among country people4 ,the ,mussulmans love to invoke death1 to spread the idea of death everywhere4 ,every one knows the melancholy proverb of the ,arabs1 ,it is better to be seated than standing2 it is better to be lying down than seated2 it is better to be dead than living4 ,the preceding chapter terminated with a quotation from ,charles ,bonnet1 the first of the naturalists who discerned the doctrine of the plurality of existences above the globe4 ,we shall terminate this chapter with a quotation from another naturalist philosopher1 a contemporary of ,charles ,bonnet1 who defended that doctrine very cleverly4 ,dupont de ,nemours1 in his ,philosophie de l',univers1 expresses himself thus1 on the subject of the communications which may be established between us1 and the superior beings1 invisible inhabitants of other worlds1 whom he calls angels1 or genii4 ,why1 said ,dupont1 have we no evident knowledge of these beings1 the necessity1 convenience1 and analogy of whom strike our reflective faculties which only can indicate them8 of those beings who must surpass us in perfections1 in faculties1 in power1 as much as we surpass the lower animals and the plants8--who must have a hierarchy as various1 as finely graduated as that which we admire among the living and intelligent beings over which we dominate1 and which are subordinate to us8--several others of whom may be our companions on earth1 as we are of animals which1 destitute of sight1 hearing1 and the sense of smell1 of hands and of feet1 do not know what we are even when we are doing them good1 or harm8--some of whom are perhaps travelling from globe to globe1 or1 more excellent still1 from one solar system to another1 more easily than we go from ,brest to ,madagascar8 ,it is because we have neither such organs or such senses as would be necessary to enable our intelligence to communicate with them4 ,thus do the worlds embrace the worlds1 and thus are classified intelligent beings all composed of matter which ,god has more or less richly organized and vivified4 ,such is the probability1 and1 speaking to vigorous minds which do not shrink from novel suggestions1 ,i will dare to say that such is the truth4 ,man is capable of calculating that it is frequently for his own interest to be useful to other species2 and1 which is more valuable1 more moral1 and more amiable1 he is capable of rendering them services for his own satisfaction1 and without any other motive than the pleasure which it affords him to do so4 ,that which we do for our lower brethren1 we1 whose intelligence is circumscribed1 and whose goodness is very limited1 the genii1 the angels1--permit me to employ terms in general use to designate beings whom ,i only divine but do not know1--these beings who are so much more worthy than we1 ought to do1 and doubtless do1 the same for us1 with much more beneficence1 frequency1 and extent on all occasions which concern them4 ,we know perfectly well that these intelligences exist1 and it is of little importance to us whether they are1 as some persons think1 formed of a sort of matter1 composed of mixed material1 or not4 ,their quota of intelligence is very brilliant1 very remarkable1 and evident2 in strong contrast with the properties of inanimate nature1 which can be measured1 weighed1 calculated1 and analyzed4 ,in order to comprehend what is the action of superhuman intelligences1 who can only be known to us by induction1 reason1 and comparison between what we ourselves are to even the most intelligent animals1 which are efficiently served by us1 but have not the smallest idea of us1 we must pursue analogy farther4 ,these intelligences are above us1 and out of the reach of our senses only because they are endowed with a greater number of senses1 and with a more developed and more active life4 ,these beings are more worthy than we are1 they have many more organs and faculties1 they must therefore1 in employing their disposable faculties according to their will1 just as we employ ours according to our will1 be able to dispose1 to work1 to manuvre all inanimate matter1 and to do all this among themselves1 and also with respect to intelligent beings who are their inferiors1 with much more energy1 rapidity1 enlightenment1 and wisdom than we possess1 we who nevertheless do it for the beasts subordinate to us4 ,it is1 then1 in harmony with the laws and the ways of nature that the superior intelligences should have power to render us1 when it pleases them1 most important services of which we are quite ignorant4 ,these unknown protectors who observe us1 unperceived1 have not our imperfections1 and must prize all that is good and beautiful in itself more highly than we can4 ,we cannot1 therefore1 hope to please intelligences of a superior grade by actions which men themselves would condemn as odious4 ,we cannot flatter ourselves with a hope of deceiving them1 as we may deceive men1 by exterior hypocrisy which only renders crime more despicable4 ,they can behold our most secret actions1 they can overhear our soliloquies1 they can penetrate our unspoken thoughts4 ,we know not in how many ways they can read what is passing in our hearts1 we1 whose coarseness1 poverty1 and unskilfulness limit our means of knowing to touch1 sight1 hearing1 and sometimes analysis and conjecture4 ,a celebrated ,roman wished to have a house built1 which should be open to the sight of the citizens4 ,this house exists1 and we inhabit it4 ,our neighbours are the chiefs and the magistrates of the great republic1 who are invested with right and power to punish even our intentions1 which are no mystery to them4 ,and those who most completely penetrate them in their smallest variations1 in their lightest inflections1 are the most powerful and the most wise4 ,let us then try1 in so far as it depends on us1 to keep in accord with those in comparison with whom we are so small1 and1 above all1 let us understand our littleness4 ,if it be very important to us to admit to our complete friendship1 to our entire confidence1 to our constant society1 none but men of the first rank of mind and character--if the sweet competition of affection1 zeal1 goodness1 and capacity which is always going on between them and us1 contributes to our improvement every day1 what shall we not gain by giving them adjuncts1 so to speak1 higher and more perfect1 who are not subject1 either to our ignoble interests1 our passions1 or our errors1 and before whom we cannot but blush4 ,they do not vary1 they do not abandon us1 they never go away1 so soon as we are alone we find them4 ,they accompany us in travel1 in exile1 in prison1 in a dungeon2 they are always floating above the peaceful and reflecting brain4 ,we can question them1 and every time we do so1 we may be sure that they reply4 ,why should they not do so8 ,our absent friends render us such service1 but only those of their number who inspire us with great respect4 ,we can even experience something of the kind with regard to an imaginary personage1 if he presents himself to our minds as uniting several good and heroic qualities4 ,how often1 in difficult circumstances and in the midst of the strife of different passages1 ,i have asked myself1--,in this case1 what would ,charles ,grandison have done8 ,what would ,quesnay have thought8 ,what would ,turgot have approved of8 ,what advice would ,lavoisier have given me8 ,how shall ,i gain the approval of the angels8 ,what line of action will be most conformable to the order1 the laws and the beneficent views of the wise and majestic ,king of the universe8 ,for the homage1 the aspirations of a soul eager to do good1 and careful to avoid debasement1 may also be raised to ,god1 in salutary and pious invocation4#aa ,illustration ,,footnotes3 #aj ,liber de anim1 ch4 xlvi #aa ,pezzani3 ,pluralit des ,existences de l'me1 pp4 #bjf-baj4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,the ,,eleventh4 ,,what ,,is ,,an ,,animal8--,,the ,,souls ,,of ,,animals4--,,migrations ,,of ,,souls ,,through ,,the ,,bodies ,,of ,,animals4 ,,hitherto we have left animals out of our plan1 although1 owing to their immense number1 and their influence upon the places which they inhabit1 they play a highly important part in the world4 ,it is now time to define the place in nature which our system assigns to them4 ,have animals souls8 ,yes1 in our belief1 animals have souls2 but among animals of all classes the soul is far from being endowed with an equal degree of activity4 ,the activity of the soul is different in the crocodile and in the dog1 in the eagle and in the grasshopper4 ,in inferior animals1 zoophytes and mollusca1 the soul exists only in the condition of a germ4 ,this germ develops itself1 and becomes amplified according to the elevation of animals in the series of organic perfection4 ,the sponge and the coral are zoophytes 7animal plants74 ,in these beings1 the characteristics of animality1 although they exist very positively1 are obscure and hardly discernible4 ,voluntary motion1 which is the distinctive characteristic formerly demanded for animals1 is wanting in them2 they are motionless1 like the plants4 ,nevertheless1 their nutrition is the same as that of animals1 therefore they belong to the animal world4 ,we cannot1 however1 grant to them a complete soul1 but only the germ1 the originating point of a soul4 ,among mollusca 7such as marine and land shells1 the oyster1 the snail1 c471 the motions and the conduct of life are dictated by the will1 and that suffices1 in our belief1 to reveal their possession of a soul1 imperfect and very elementary1 but certainly existent4 ,among articulated animals1 the insects especially1 will1 sensibility1 acts which denote reason1 deliberation1 and action resulting from deliberation1 are numerous1 and recurrent at every moment4 ,they denote intelligence already active4 ,the smallness of the bodies of these animals is not an argument to be used against the fact of their intelligence4 ,in nature nothing is great1 and nothing is little2 the monstrous whale and the invisible gnat are equal in the presence of its laws2 both one and the other have received as their inheritance the degree of intelligence which is suitable to its need1 and it is not by the scale of grandeur that we must measure the degrees of mind among living creatures4 ,every one is familiar with the prodigies of intelligence performed by associated bees1 and by the ants1 in their camps and hills4 ,the habits of these two species of insects1 which have been studied and expounded only in our age1 fill us with wonder1 almost with awe4 ,but the bees and the ants do not constitute an exception among the insect class4 ,it is very probable that in the entire class intelligence exists to the same degree as in bees and ants1 for we do not see why two species of hymenopterous insects should exclusively possess this privilege1 to the exclusion of other species of the same order1 and all the other orders of the insect class4 ,the fact is1 that the bee has been studied profoundly1 because that insect is an object of agricultural industry1 and that1 in consequence1 it was for man's interest to understand its customs4 ,this accounts for the successful surmounting of the difficulties attendant on the study of bees4 ,we may add1 that the observer to whom our knowledge of bees is due1 ,pierre ,huber1 of ,geneva1 who published his fine works at the end of the last century1 was blind1 and that he was obliged to have recourse for all his observations to the eyes of an illiterate servant1 ,franois ,burnens1 which is a proof that this kind of study was not inordinately difficult4 ,the habits of other species of insects1 still unknown to us1 must1 according to this1 conceal marvels quite as great as those which the ,hubers have revealed in the case of bees and ants4 ,let us conclude that insects have souls1 since intelligence is a faculty of the soul4 ,we may apply the same reasoning to fishes1 reptiles1 and birds4 ,in these three classes of animals intelligence progresses towards perfection1 the faculty of reason is manifest1 and the degree of intelligence seems to march at a progressive rate from the fish to the reptile1 and from the reptile to the bird4 ,in mammiferous animals we observe a degree of advance in intelligence upon the classes of animals we have just named4 ,but1 ought we to calculate the degree of intelligence of the different mammifers according to the order in which naturalists have classed these animals8 ,ought we to say that the strength of intelligence increases as we follow the zoological distribution of ,cuvier1 that is to say1 that it rises from cetacea to carnivora1 from carnivora to pachyderms1 and from pachyderms to ruminants1 c48 ,no1 evidently not4 ,it would be absurd to apportion the intellect of animals to the place which they occupy in zoological classification4 ,we do not possess any certain method by which to form such an appreciation in detail4 ,we remain within the terms of a very acceptable philosophical thesis in advancing our belief1 in a general manner1 that the intellectual faculties of animals augment from the mollusk to the mammifer1 following almost exactly the progressive scale of zoological classification1 but to enter into the peculiarities of these orders would be to expose ourselves to certain contradiction4 ,in zoophytes the soul exists as a germ2 this germ develops itself and grows in mollusca1 and then in articulated creatures and fishes4 ,the soul acquires certain faculties1 more or less obscure and dim1 when it enters the body of a reptile1 and these faculties are manifestly augmented in the body of a bird4 ,the soul is provided with far more perfected faculties when it reaches the body of a mammifer4 ,such is the general outline of our system4 ,let us now follow this system out to the end4 ,in the first pages of this book1 we have advanced our theory that the soul of man1 at the close of its terrestrial existence1 passes into the planetary ether1 where it is lodged in the body of a new being1 superior to man in intelligence and morality4 ,if this theory be correct1 if this migration of the soul of man into the body of the superhuman being be real1 analogy obliges us to establish the same relation between the animals1 and then between the animals and man4 ,we firmly believe that a transmigration1 a transmission of souls1 or of the germs of souls1 throughout the entire series of the classes of animals takes place4 ,the germ of a conscious soul which existed in the zoophyte and the mollusk passes1 on the death of those beings1 into the body of an articulated animal4 ,in this first stage of its journey1 the animate germ strengthens and ameliorates itself4 ,the nascent soul acquires some rudimentary faculties4 ,when this rudiment of a conscious soul passes out of the body of an articulated animal into that of a fish or a reptile1 it undergoes a new degree of elaboration1 and its power increases4 ,when1 escaping from the body of the reptile or the fish1 it is lodged in the form of the bird it receives other impressions1 which become the origin of new perfections4 ,the bird transmits the spiritual element1 already much modified and aggrandized1 to the mammifer1 and then1 the soul1 having again gained power1 and the number of its faculties being augmented1 passes into the body of man4 ,it is probable that in the case of the inferior animals many animate germs are united to form the superior being4 ,for instance1 the principal animators of a certain number of little zoophytes1 of those beings who live in the waters by millions1 may1 probably1 on quitting the bodies of those beings1 be united in one in order to form the soul of a single individual of a superior order4 ,it would be impossible to specify from what particular mammifer the soul must escape1 in order to penetrate a human organism4 ,it would be impossible to decide whether1 before reaching man the soul has successively traversed the bodies of several mammifers1 of more or less complicated organism2 if it has passed through the body of a cetacian1 then of a carnivorous creature1 then of a quadrumane1 the last term of the animal series4 ,a pretension to detail would be a stumbling block to such a system as ours4 ,to maintain1 for instance1 that our soul is transmitted to us by the quadrumane1 would be incorrect4 ,the intelligence of the quadrumane is inferior to that of many animals more highly placed than he in the zoological scale4 ,apes1 which compose only one family in the very numerous order of quadrumana1 are animals of middling intelligence4 ,they are malicious1 cunning and gross1 and possess only a few features of the human face1 and even these belong to but few species4 ,all the other quadrumanes are bestial in the highest degree4 ,it is not1 therefore1 in the quadrumana that we must look for the soul to be transmitted to man4 ,but there are animals endowed with intelligence which is both powerful and noble1 who would have a title to be accredited with such an honour4 ,those animals would vary according to the inhabited parts of the earth4 ,in ,asia1 it may be that the wise1 grave1 and noble elephant is the depositary of the spiritual principle which is to pass into man4 ,in ,africa1 the lion1 the rhinoceros1 the numerous ruminants which fill the forests may1 perhaps1 be the ancestors of the human race4 ,in ,america1 the horse1 the wild ranger of the pampas1 the dog1 the faithful friend1 the devoted companion of man1 everywhere are1 it may be1 charged with the elaboration of the spiritual principle1 which1 transmitted to the child1 is destined to develop itself1 to increase in that child1 and become the human soul4 ,a writer in our time has called the dog a candidate for humanity4 ,he little knew how true his definition is4 ,it will be urged1 in objection1 that man cannot have received the soul of an animal1 because he has not the smallest remembrance of such a genealogy4 ,to this we reply that the faculty of memory is wanting in the animal1 or is so fugitive that we may consider it nil4 ,the child can therefore receive from the animal only a soul unendowed with memory4 ,and1 in fact1 the child itself is totally destitute of that faculty4 ,at the moment of his birth he differs not at all from the animal as regards the faculties of his soul4 ,it is not until twelve months have elapsed that the soul makes itself evident in him1 and it is afterwards perfected by education4 ,how1 therefore1 should the child remember an existence prior to his birth8 ,have we any memory of the time which we passed in our mother's womb8 ,let us observe here that the progressive order which we have indicated for the migration of soul through the bodies of different animals1 is precisely that which nature followed in the first creation of the organized beings which people our globe4 ,it will be seen in ch4 xiv41 pp4 #aif-bjj1 that plants zoophytes1 mollusca1 and articulated animals are the first living beings which appeared on our globe4 ,after them came the fishes1 and then the reptiles4 ,after the reptiles birds1 and at a later period mammifers appeared4 ,thus our system responds to the routine which nature has followed in the creation of plants and animals4 ,such is the system which we have conceived as explanatory of the part assigned to animals on our globe4 ,the basis of this system1 as will be seen1 is the intelligence accorded to animals4 ,we entirely repel the generally held opinion1 that beasts do not possess intelligence1 and that it is replaced by an obscure faculty which is called instinct4 ,but this theory gives no reason1 it merely puts a word in the place of an explanation4 ,by a simple phrase people imagine they resolve one of the great problems of nature4 ,the timid and conventional philosophy of our time has hitherto accommodated itself to this method of eluding great difficulties1 but the moment now appears to have come for a deeper study of the problems of nature1 and for no longer remaining content with the substitution of words for things4 ,there was no hesitation in ancient times about according intelligence to animals4 ,aristotle and ,plato expressed themselves quite clearly on this point3 they admitted no doubt of the reasoning powers of beasts4 ,the most celebrated modern philosophers1 ,leibnitz1 ,locke1 and ,montaigne2 the most eminent naturalists1 ,charles ,bonnet1 ,georges ,leroy1 ,dupont de ,nemours1 ,swammerdam1 ,raumur1 c41 granted intelligence to animals4 ,charles ,bonnet understood the language of many animals1 and ,dupont de ,nemours has given us a translation of the ,chansons du ,rossignol and the ,dictionnaire de la ,langue des ,corbeaux4 ,it is1 therefore1 difficult to understand how a contrary thesis became prevalent in this age1 how ,descartes and ,buffon1 the declared adversaries of animal intelligence1 have succeeded in turning the scale in favour of their ideas4 ,descartes regarded animals purely as machines1 as automata provided with mechanical apparatus4 ,it would be difficult to surpass our great philosopher in absurdity when he treats of these animal machines4#ab ,equidem bonus dormitat ,descartes4 ,the systematic errors of ,buffon on the same subject are well known4 ,the partizans of ,descartes and of ,buffon have popularized the idea of instinct put in the place of intelligence1 of the word replacing the thing4 ,but1 in simple truth1 what difference is there between intelligence and instinct8 ,none4 ,these two words only represent two different degrees of the same faculty4 ,instinct is simply a weaker degree of intelligence4 ,if we read the writings of naturalists of this country who have studied the question1 ,frederick ,cuvier 7brother to ,george ,cuvier71 and ,flourens1#ac who has but commented upon ,frederick ,cuvier's book on the more profound work of a learned contemporary writer1 ,m4 ,fe of ,strasbourg1#ad we shall easily find that no fundamental distinction between intelligence and instinct can be established1 and that the whole secret of our philosophers and naturalists consists in calling the intelligence of animals1 which is weaker than ours1 instinct4 ,it is1 then1 the pride of mankind which has attempted to place a barrier1 which in reality has no existence1 between us and the animal4 ,the intelligence of the animal is less developed than that of the man1 because his wants are fewer1 his organs are less highly finished1 and because the sphere of his activity is more limited1 but that is all4 ,and sometimes1 even1 we must not forget that the animal exceeds the man in intelligence4 ,look at the rude and brutal waggoner1 beside his good and docile horse1 which he mercilessly beats and abuses1 while his faithful auxiliary fulfils his task with patient exactness1 and say1 is it not the master who is the brute1 and the animal who is the intelligent being8 ,in kindness--that sweet emanation of the soul--animals often excel men4 ,every one knows the horrid story of the man who carried his dog to a river to drown him1 but who fell into the water himself1 and was on the point of drowning4 ,the faithful companion whom he had flung in to die was there2 he swam to his master1 and dragged him into safety4 ,then the dog's master1 making his footing sure this time1 seized the creature who had just rescued him1 and drowned him4 ,according to our system1 the human soul comes from an animal belonging to the superior orders4 ,after having undergone1 in the body of this animal1 a suitable degree of perfecting and elaboration1 it incarnates itself in the body of a newly-born child of the human race4 ,we said1 in a former chapter1 ,death is not a termination1 but a change2 we do not die1 we experience a metamorphosis4 ,we must add to this1 ,birth is not a beginning1 it is a consequence4 ,to be born is not to begin1 it is to continue a prior existence4 ,there is not1 therefore1 properly speaking1 either birth or death for the human species2 there is only a continuous succession of existences1 extending from the visible world through space1 and connecting each with those worlds which are hidden from our view4 ,illustration ,,footnotes3 #ab ,this question is specially considered in ,descartes' ,discours sur la ,mthode4 #ac ,de l',instinct et de l',intelligence des ,animaux1 ,paris1 #ahfa4 #ad ,etudes ,philosophiques sur l',instinct et l',intelligence des ,animaux1 ,strasbourg1 #ahec4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,the ,,twelfth4 ,,what ,,is ,,the ,,plant8--,,the ,,plant ,,is ,,sensible4--,,how ,,difficult ,,it ,,is ,,to ,,distinguish ,,plants ,,from ,,animals4--,,the ,,general ,,chain ,,of ,,living ,,beings4 ,,linn,,us has said1 ,the plant lives2 the animal lives and feels2 man lives1 feels1 and thinks4 ,this aphorism represented the state of science in the times of ,linnus4 ,but since the year #aggh1 that is to say1 since the death of the great botanist1 ,upsal1 natural science has progressed1 botany and zoology have been enriched with innumerable facts and fundamental discoveries1 so that the ,linnan formula no longer represents the present condition of the sciences of organization4 ,we believe that the following proposition may be truthfully substituted3 ,the plant lives and feels2 the animal and man live1 feel1 and think4 ,to accord sensibility to plants1 is to transgress the classic laws of natural history1 so that the considerations and facts which appear to us to justify this proposition ought to be most carefully stated4 #a4 ,the plant feels the sensations of pleasure and pain4 ,cold1 for instance1 impresses it painfully2 it may be seen to contract itself1 as if shivering1 under the influence of a sudden or excessive fall of the temperature4 ,an abnormal excess of temperature evidently causes it to suffer2 when the heat is very great1 leaves may be observed to hang down on the stems1 curl up1 and appear to wither2 when the cool of the evening comes1 the leaves rise up again1 and the plant resumes its appearance of placid health4 ,drought also occasions manifest suffering to plants4 ,those who study nature with loving attention know that when1 after a long period of drought1 a plant is watered it exhibits signs of pleasure4 ,on the other hand1 a wounded plant1 one from which a branch has been cut1 appears to experience pain4 ,a pathological liquid exudes from the wound1 like the blood from a hurt animal2 the plant is sick1 and will die1 if it do not receive the necessary succour4 ,thus persons who love plants will not cut flowers off their stems1 they prefer to inhale their perfume1 and contemplate their brilliant colours1 on the stalk1 without inflicting a painful mutilation upon the beautiful creatures which they admire4 ,the sensitive plant1 if touched by the fingers1 or even struck by a current of harsh air1 folds up its leaves1 and contracts itself4 ,the botanist1 ,desfontaines1 saw a sensitive plant1 which he was bringing home in a carriage1 contract its leaves while the vehicle was in motion1 and expand them when it stopped1 thus affording a proof that the movement distressed the plant4 ,a drop of acid1 or acrid liquid1 placed on a leaf of a sensitive plant1 will occasion a similar constriction4 ,all vegetables present an analogous phenomenon4 ,their tissues contract when brought in contact with irritant substances4 ,by rubbing the tips of a lettuce1 the juice may be made to exude4 ,vegetable sensibility exists by the same right as animal sensibility1 since electricity kills plants as it kills animals1 since narcotic poisons kill or stupefy plants as they kill and stupefy animals4 ,one can narcotize a plant by watering it with opium dissolved in water1 and ,,mm4 ,gopport and ,macaire have discovered that hydrocyanic acid kills plants as rapidly as animals4 #b4 ,plants sleep at night4 ,during the day they develop their vital activity1 and when the night comes1 or when they are in darkness1 their leaves assume another position1 that of repose2 they fold themselves up4 ,in the day-time1 the upper surface of the leaf is turned to the sky1 and the under surface towards the earth2 this under surface1 pierced with holes1 or stomata1 is the part through which absorption and exhalation take place1 while the upper surface1 in which there are no such openings1 is only a sort of screen for the protection of the absorbing surface4 ,it is therefore easy to understand that the horizontal attitude of the leaves is a position of vital activity1 and that the refolding of those leaves during the night indicates a state of repose4 ,it is precisely the same case with ourselves1 when during the night we indulge our muscles1 kept on the stretch during the day1 with complete relaxation4 ,the sleep of plants1 said to have been discovered by ,linnus1 and which was certainly described for the first time in one of ,upsal's ,thses de ,botanique1 and thoroughly elucidated by ,linnus1 is not a phenomenon limited to certain families of plants4 ,there are very few vegetables which1 during the night1 or in darkness1 do not fold their leaves1 and which do not present a different appearance by day and by night4 ,the ,sensitive is the classic plant selected for its exhibition of this phenomenon in all its intensity2 but this small leguminous creature only presents us with an exaggeration of a fact which exists in a lesser degree among almost all vegetables with light leaves4 ,we may quote the following passage from a former work on the subject of this phenomenon4 ,the sleep of plants vaguely resembles that of animals4 ,it is a remarkable circumstance that the slumbering leaf appears to wish to return to the epoch of its infancy4 ,it folds itself almost as it was when in the bud1 before it burst out1 as it was in the lethargic sleep of winter1 sheltered beneath its strong scales1 or wrapped up in its warm down4 ,one would think that the plant was trying every night to resume the position which it occupied in its early time1 just as the sleeping animal gathers himself together1 and folds his limbs as they were folded in his mother's womb4#ae ,is it possible to deny the possession of sensibility to creatures which give us alternate sign of repose and of activity1 and who have the power of accommodating themselves to various external impressions8 ,fatigue cannot possibly be anything but the consequence of the experience of an impression4 #c4 ,numerous physiological functions are fulfilled by plants as well as by animals2 and when we consider the number and variety of these functions1 it is difficult to understand how1 if animals be1 as the common consent of mankind declares them1 possessed of sensibility1 plants can be destitute of it4 ,an ancient philosopher defined plants as animals with roots4 ,we shall see1 on examining the variety of functions performed by vegetables1 whether this philosopher was not a far-seeing1 wise man4 ,it would be difficult to name any function with which the animal is invested that the vegetable does not possess in a less degree4 ,respiration1 for instance1 is equally a property of plants and of animals4 ,among the latter1 respiration consists in the absorption of the oxygen of the air and the emission of carbonic acid gas and watery vapour2 among plants it consists in the emission of carbonic acid gas and watery vapour during the night1 and during the day1 under the influence of sunlight1 of the emission of oxygen proceeding from the decomposition of carbonic acid4 ,the function is evidently of the same nature in both the natural kingdoms4 ,exhalation is a function common to vegetables and to animals4 ,by the stomata of leaves1 as by the pores of the skin of animals1 watery vapour and various gases1 according to the vital phenomena which take place in the interior of the tissues1 are constantly being disengaged4 ,absorption takes place in both kingdoms4 ,if you pour water on the lower surface of a leaf1 you will see that it will be absorbed with great rapidity4 ,sprinkle a bouquet of flowers with water1 and the freshness of the withered blossoms will revive4 ,absorption is even more active in vegetable than in animal tissues4 ,the circulation of liquids in the interior of plants is accomplished by a complicated system of channels and vessels of every order and of every calibre1 absorbent vessels1 exhalant vessels4 ,nothing is more varied than the disposition of these channels in the interior of plants1 and their multiplicity indicates a circulatory function as complicated as that of animals4 ,it is then evident that vegetables have the same physiological functions as animals1 but as yet we know those functions very imperfectly4 ,it is very strange that while animal physiology is so far advanced in our day1 vegetable physiology is almost in its infancy4 ,we know very well how the digestion of food takes place in man and animals1 we know how our blood circulates in a double system of vessels1 called arteries and veins1 and we know the central organ1 the heart1 through which the two liquids are carried by this double system4 ,we see and we touch the organs of sensation and motion1 that is to say1 the nerves4 ,more than this1 we distinguish the nerves which produce sensation from those which rule motion4 ,we know that the centre of nervous action in man and animals is double2 that its seat is equally in the brain and in the spinal marrow4 ,briefly1 science has shed its brightest light on all the functions belonging to animal organization1 while vegetable physiology remains in obscurity4 ,notwithstanding the labours of naturalists within the last two centuries1 we cannot explain the life of plants with certainty4 ,we cannot positively state how the sap1 which is vegetable blood1 circulates in their channels4 ,we do not even know with precision whether a tree grows from the outside to the inside1 or from the inside to the outside4 ,all the physiological functions in the vegetable kingdom are hidden from us by a thick veil1 and it is only by lifting a corner of it with great difficulty that we can catch a few gleams of light through the obscurity4 ,nevertheless1 all unexplained though they be as yet1 physiological functions do exist in plants4 ,considering these numerous functions1 it appears entirely impossible that plants should not have received the gift of sensibility4 ,it is difficult to believe1 as ,linnus would have us believe1 that they possess life1 and nothing more4 ,we shall be told that vegetables have no nerves1 and that in the absence of every organ of sensation1 we cannot accord them the faculty of sensibility4 ,but1 we reply1 that the imperfect state of vegetable anatomy and physiology forbids us to come to any conclusion touching the existence or the absence of nerves in plants4 ,we are convinced that these organs exist1 but that botanists do not know how to discern them1 or have no means of distinguishing between them and other organs4 #d4 ,the manner of multiplication and reproduction among plants and animals is so analogous1 that it seems impossible1 when we consider this extraordinary resemblance in the most important functions1 to refuse sensibility to plants1 and accord it to animals4 ,let us consider the various modes of reproduction proper to vegetables4 ,reproduction1 or rather the fecundation which precedes it1 is executed in certain vegetables1 by means of an apparatus of the same typical form as that of the animal kingdom4 ,it is composed of a male organ1 the stamen1 which contains the impregnating dust1 pollen1 and of a female organ1 the ovary1 supported by a stalk1 the pistil4 ,the pollen impregnates the ovula contained in the grains of pollen in the ovary1 as the seed of the male impregnates the ovula contained in the egg of the animal4 ,in both cases the fruit of the impregnation develops itself afterwards with the aid of warmth and time4 ,the vegetable egg grows and ripens1 just as the animal egg grows and ripens4 ,we may add that the analogy between the modes of reproduction1 in the two kingdoms1 animal and vegetable1 does not limit itself to these conditions of likeness2 we may observe resemblances in the specialities of the function4 ,particular vitality1 a turgid state of the tissues1 accompanied by elevation of the local temperature1 occur in the case of certain plants at the moment of impregnation1 especially in the species of the family of ,arodes4 ,on placing a thermometer1 at that time1 in the great floral covering of the ,arums1 an excess of from #a to #b on the temperature of the surrounding air will be denoted1 an extraordinary fact in vegetable life1 for vegetables are always colder than the external air4 ,how can we believe that the plant in which this excitement takes place has no feeling of its own condition8 ,the plant1 like the animal1 has its seasons of love1 can it be that it has no consciousness of them8 ,are we to believe that the plant which becomes warm1 in which life rises at the moment of impregnation1 has no more sensation than a stone8 ,such is not our opinion4 ,we cannot understand life without sensibility--the one appears to us to be the indication of the other4 ,the analogy between the plant and the animal in their functions of reproduction is nowhere more evident or more curious than in a vegetable production which abounds in the waters of the ,rhne1 and has received the name of ,vallisneria spiralis4 ,in this plant the male and female organs are placed on different branches of the same plant4 ,the female flowers are fixed to the ground by long1 twisted1 spiral stalks4 ,but1 when seeding time comes1 the spirals of the stems unroll themselves1 and the female flowers come up to the surface of the water and spread themselves out4 ,the male flowers1 not being placed like the female on elastic stems1 cannot come up to the surface of the water4 ,what do they do8 ,they burst through their covering1 and float around their females on the surface of the water4 ,after that the current carries away the detached male flowers2 and the female stem folds itself up again1 and sinks to the bottom of the river1 there to ripen its impregnated ovules4 ,the function of reproduction in plants is rich in conclusions in support of our thesis4 ,the plants called phanerogamous are not reproduced only by impregnation by means of the visible sexual organs1 the pistil and the stamen1 they are also multiplied by grafts1 buds1 and cuttings4 ,cryptogamous plants1 which have no sexual organs1 are multiplied either by effects which detach themselves from the individual plant at a certain period of its vegetation as we see in the case of fungi1 alg1 mushrooms1 c41 or by fragments of the individual itself1 which1 being thrown into the ground1 germinate and multiply themselves4 ,animals1 in their several classes1 represent all these modes of reproduction2 there is not one which does not exist among them4 ,animals are not reproduced by eggs only1 either interior or exterior1 and by living young ones1 they are equally multiplied1 like vegetables1 by offsets1 by cuttings1 and by ingraftment4 ,multiplication by offsets may be observed in the fresh-water polype4 ,little buds which grow and lengthen come out of the body of this animal4 ,while the bud is lengthening1 he throws off other and smaller offsets1 which throw off still smaller ones4 ,all these are so many little polypes1 which derive their nourishment from the principal polype4 ,having attained a certain size1 these offsets separate themselves from the primitive individual1 and constitute so many new polypes4 ,coral multiplies itself in the same manner4 ,from the principal branch spring secondary branches which have originated in a bud or shoot1 and these branches1 inserting themselves into the chief stem1 form new individuals4 ,thus the exterior aspect of the coral resembles a ramified tree rather than an animal4 ,madrepores1 another kind of zoophytes1 resemble trees so closely1 that for centuries they were supposed to be marine plants2 they too1 like coral1 are reproduced by offsets4 ,multiplication by cuttings is seen in the fresh-water polype4 ,take a fresh-water polype1 and cut it into as many fragments as you choose4 ,each of these fragments1 left to itself1 will become a polype4 ,these new individuals may be in their turn cut into pieces1 which will produce as many new ones4 ,this is multiplication by cuttings1 exactly similar to the process in plants1 so that the generation of fresh-water polypes does not differ from that of one of our fruit-trees4 ,it is not only the entire polype which1 thus cut to fragments1 furnishes a new polype2 the skin of this animal can also produce one new individual or several4 ,is not this a vegetable ingraftment8 ,a similar generation by ingraftment is to be observed in another instance1 in the case of the fresh-water polype4 ,take different portions of the same polype1 or those of different polypes1 and join them at the ends1 or lay them upon one another1 and you will combine them so closely that they reciprocally nourish each other1 and ultimately form only one individual4 ,here is vegetable ingraftment carried out in an animal4 #e4 ,other points of resemblance exist between plants and animals4 ,if they are not generally remarked1 it is because the authors of the classics of natural history do not direct the attention of the reader to these facts4 ,we are about to supplement their silence1 and to bring the analogies between the two natural kingdoms into view4 ,firstly1 there exists in both a common and equally astonishing fecundity4 ,among plants1 as among animals1 one individual can give birth to thousands of individuals like himself4 ,vegetables are even more fertile than the superior animals4 ,trees produce every year1 and sometimes for a century4 ,mammiferous animals1 birds1 and reptiles produce infinitely less than trees2 their pregnancy is less frequent1 and takes place during a certain period in the life of the animal only4 ,the elm produces every year more than #cjj1jjj seeds1 and this may continue for a hundred years4 ,fish and insects approach most nearly to trees in fecundity4 ,a tench spawns #aj1jjj eggs yearly1 a carp #bj1jjj4 ,among insects1 a female bee produces from #dj1jjj to #ej1jjj eggs4 ,to these animals we may compare1 among vegetables1 the poppy1 the fern1 the mustard plant1 which produce incalculable quantities of seeds4 ,we must not forget1 besides1 that vegetables multiply themselves in many ways1 whereas each animal possesses but one mode of reproduction4 ,what we wish to establish1 what is evident1 is that among both animals and plants fecundity is equal1 and equally prodigious4 ,from the point of view of this analogy1 we may also quote the size of the species1 which is extremely variable in both kingdoms1 because both produce at the same time giant species and dwarf species4 ,among animals1 there are some of monstrous size1 such as the whale1 the cachalot1 and the elephant1 such as the gigantic reptiles of the ancient world1 the ichthyosaurus1 which was longer than the whale1 the megalosaurus and the iguanadon1 which were as large as the elephant4 ,to these colossi of the animal kingdom1 we may oppose the colossi of the vegetable kingdom2 the monstrous baobab gourd1 which covers hundreds of square yards with its shade1 the elm1 whose trunk may grow to the size of a whale's girth1 the ,eucalyptus globulus1 an ,australian tree which is being acclimatized in ,algeria and in the south of ,france1 the ,sequioa gigantea1 the giant of ,californian forests4 ,if the two kingdoms of nature have their colossi1 they have also their dwarfs1 and their infinitely little4 ,there are cryptogamic vegetables which are only to be seen with the microscope1 and there are animalcul equally invisible to the naked eye4 ,if the animal kingdom can show1 in its scale of size1 the whale1 and the microscopic acarus1 the vegetable kingdom possesses a similar decreasing scale from the baobab to the lichens4 ,the same places are inhabited or resorted to by plants and animals4 ,both live on the same soil1 as if for mutual aid4 ,the two kingdoms combine at all points of the globe4 ,we might name a number of places in which certain plants and certain animals thrive together4 ,the chamois and the maple tree love the same mountains1 the same high places2 the truffle and the earth-worm dwell in the same underground region2 the birch and the hare are found in the same place2 the water-lily grows in the same fresh water with the aquatic worm2 and the cod and the alg prosper in the same submarine depths4 ,all vegetables and animals have an original country1 but they can be acclimatized under other skies by human industry and skill4 ,the chestnut-tree and the ,indian cock1 the peach-tree and the turkey1 transported to ,europe1 has each forgotten its native land4 ,among both animals and plants there are amphibious creatures4 ,the frog1 and the other batrachians1 live1 like the reeds1 on the earth and in the water4 ,both animals and plants can live as parasites4 ,the animal world has the flea1 the louse1 the acarus2 the vegetable world has its lichens1 and its mushrooms4 ,thus1 equal fecundity1 similar variety in the scale of size1 analogy in habitation1 which implies ideality of organization1 possibility of transplantation and of acclimatization out of their original country1 possibility of amphibious existence1 parasitical life1 all general conditions which suppose a great analogy of organization2 we establish all these things in drawing the parallel between plants and animals4 ,how1 then1 if we grant sensibility to one of these kingdoms1 can we deny it to the other8 #f4 ,plants1 like animals1 have their maladies4 ,we do not now allude to maladies caused by parasites1 like the sickness of the vine1 due to the odium ,tuckeri1 the sickness of the petals1 caused by other small mushrooms1 that of the rose-tree1 the olive-tree1 of corn1 c41 produced by parasitical cryptogams1 which fix themselves on the plant1 and change the normal course of its life2 we speak of morbid affections1 properly so called4 ,the pathological condition and its consequences exist in the plant as in the animal4 ,stoppage1 or febrile and abnormal acceleration of the sap in the vegetable1 answer to stagnation of the blood1 or its acceleration during fever1 in the animal2 various excrescences of the bark1 analogous to affections of the skin2 the abortion of certain organs1 and the capricious development of others2 the secretion of pathological liquids which flow outside4 ,this is a brief catalogue of the maladies to which trees1 shrubs1 and herbaceous vegetables are subject4 ,a plant which passes too quickly and too often from intense cold to extreme heat1 soon becomes ill1 and necessarily perishes1 like an animal exposed to those dangerous alterations4 ,a shrub left in a current of cold air could no more live than an animal if kept in a similar place4 ,in a word1 the plant exhibits health or sickness1 according to its conditions of existence4 ,how can we admit that the being in which such changes take place1 can be merely the passive subject of them1 that it experiences neither pain nor pleasure in passing from health to sickness1 or from sickness to health8 #g4 ,sicknesses1 or other causes1 produce anomalies of form1 or irregularities of structure in plants1 as in animals4 ,just as in the animal kingdom monstrosities exist1 there are monstrosities in the vegetable kingdom4 ,the science which occupies itself with monstrosities in animals is called teratology4 ,geoffrey ,st4 ,hilaire has made some most interesting studies of the causes of the productions of monsters in the different classes of animals2 but it has been perceived of late that an analogous science must be created1 for the explanation of monstrosities proper to the vegetable kingdom1 and ,moquin ,tandon has published a book upon vegetable teratology4 #h4 ,old age and death are common to both plants and animals4 ,plants1 after having survived the various maladies which threaten them1 do not escape a slow old age1 and death necessarily follows4 ,with time1 their vessels become hardened1 their size becomes reduced1 they can no longer give passage to the sap1 or other liquids which ought to go through them4 ,liquids are not aspired with the same regularity1 they no longer transude through the vegetable tissue with the same precision2 they remain stagnant in the vessels1 become corrupt there1 and transfer their decomposition to the vessels which enclose them4 ,thenceforth the vital functions cease to be performed1 and the plant dies4 ,things happen in a like manner among animals4 ,the thickening of the vessels1 the decrease of their power bring on the condition of old age1 in which the functions are disturbed and slackened2 then comes death1 the inevitable end of all1 in each kingdom of nature4 ,thus1 when we compare animals and plants1 and especially when we consider the inferior beings in both kingdoms1 it is impossible to establish a precise line of demarcation between them4 ,the characteristics by which the old naturalists defined the distinction between plants and animals1 are now acknowledged to be without meaning1 and this distinction becomes more and more difficult in proportion as we make progress in our knowledge of these creatures4 ,voluntary motion was regarded as the principal distinctive characteristic between the two kingdoms of nature2 but at the present day this characteristic can no longer be invoked4 ,elementary works on botany now tell us about the fly-catching plant1 which catches the insect that crawls over its leaves1 exactly as a spider catches flies1 and about the oscillating plant1 whose leaves are endowed by voluntary motion1 more distinct than that belonging to many animals4 ,apart from these examples1 drawn from classical works1 we would ask what becomes of the argument for the immobility of plants1 considered as a distinctive characteristic of the vegetable kingdom1 when we see that zoophytes are fixed to the earth1 and when1 on the other hand1 we see certain young plants1 or their germs1 such as the germs of alg1 mosses1 and ferns1 possessing the faculty of motion4 ,the spores1 or reproductive organs of alg1 and the impregnating corpuscles of the mosses and ferns1 possess the fundamental characteristics of animality1 that is to say1 they are provided with locomotive organs1 and they execute movements which appear to be voluntary4 ,those singular creatures are seen to go and come in the interior of liquids1 to endeavour to penetrate into cavities1 to withdraw1 return1 and definitively introduce themselves with an apparent effort4 ,the ,german botanists regard these vegetable germs as belonging to the animal kingdom4 ,considering that only animals have the organs of motion1 and that the spores of alg and the impregnating corpuscles of mosses and ferns are provided with organs of motion1 they do not hesitate to declare that in the commencement of their life1 alg1 mosses1 and ferns are in truth animals1 which become plants when they fix themselves1 and begin to germinate4 ,french botanists have not yet ventured to adopt that view2 they are content to call the movable impregnating corpuscles of alg1 mosses1 and ferns1 antherozodes1 but they do not dare to pronounce upon their animality4 ,m4 ,pouchet says1 in his work ,l',univers1 page #ddd3 ,motion manifests itself spontaneously with extraordinary intensity in the animalcul of several plants1 which have spinal organs for this purpose1 hairs by means of which they swim about in the liquid which contains them4 ,some of these1 real animalcule plants1 have the shape of eels1 and move themselves by means of two long filaments attached to their heads2 others exactly resemble the tadpoles of frogs1 and jump about in the cells of the mosses4 ,nevertheless1 it is such creatures as these1 whose locomotive organs are so plainly to be discerned1 and which we can see1 under the microscope1 jumping about as nimbly as our acrobats1 that certain botanists persist in considering1 on theory alone1 as motionless and insensible4 ,some philosophers certainly possess eyes1 that they may not see6 ,there are these germs of plants1 and young plants which move1 and on the other hand1 almost all the adult zoophytes1 sponges1 corals1 madrepores1 sea-stars1 byssus1 c41 c41 to which we may add several mollusca 7all those in shells71 are fixed to the earth4 ,in these cases we must take the plant for the animal1 and the animal for the plant1 if we positively hold by voluntary motion as an absolute distinction between animals and plants4 ,on the borders of the two kingdoms1--when we consider zoophytes in the animal1 and cryptogams in the vegetable kingdom1--there is no longer1 so to speak1 either animal or plant2 the two seem to be confounded1 and fused together4 ,if1 before the discovery of the fresh-water polype1 that living creature had been presented to a naturalist1 he would have felt puzzled how to class it4 ,seeing it multiplying itself by buds1 by offshoots1 by engraftment1 he would doubtless have declared that this organized being was a plant4 ,but if he had been made to remark that this same creature fed on living prey1 which it seized and swallowed1 that it had long and flexible arms1 of which it formed a kind of net for the purpose of seizing this prey1 which it conveyed into the interior of a digestive tube1 our naturalist would have made haste to place the polype in the ranks of the animals4 ,he would have been asked to observe that the polype may be turned inside out1 like a glove1 so that his interior skin becomes his exterior skin1 and that1 thus turned inside out1 he lives1 grows1 and multiplies himself1 precisely as he does before this curious reversal4 ,our naturalist1 much embarrassed in the presence of so unheard of a fact1 would doubtless immediately have begun to seek some intermediate kingdom between the animal and the vegetable1 to which he might relegate this paradoxical being1 which could not1 with absolute certainty1 be classed either with plants1 or with animals4 ,the fact is1 classifications are products of human science1 nature knows nothing about them4 ,we descend1 by insensible degrees1 from one kingdom to the other2 we go from the man to the polype1 and from the polype to the rose tree1 by infinite gradations1 and1 on the confines of the two kingdoms1 there is a whole series of creatures which it is very difficult to range under any system4 ,for how long did naturalists hesitate before they regarded infusoria1 coral1 sponges1 star-fish1 gorgons1 sea-anemones1 and madrepores as animals8 ,even in the present day micrographers who study the microscopic beings proper to vegetable and animal infusions1 such as the monads1 polypoid worms1 and numerous others1 find the utmost difficulty in assigning these creatures to such or such a kingdom1 and they sometimes decide rather arbitrarily upon placing them among animals or plants4 ,from all the considerations1 all the facts which we have just advanced1 we conclude that the sensibility of plants is not to be contested1 since no one can think of denying that privilege to certain zoophytes which can with difficulty be distinguished from vegetables4 ,we see an imposing tree1 a stately oak with sturdy branches1 growing on the sea coast4 ,not far off1 on the sand of the shore1 lies a star-fish flung there by the waves4 ,a few yards below1 on the surface of the water1 floats a sponge1 a branch of coral1 a madrepore4 ,when the icy wind blows1 when the hurricane lifts the angry waves1 which is it1 the animal or the plant that will manifest sensibility to the tempest8 ,the sponge1 the coral1 the madrepore will remain as indifferent to the fury of the elements as the rock in which they are incrusted1 or as the pebble on which the star-fish stretches out its four motionless arms4 ,but1 the majestic oak will shudder at every gust of the tempest2 he will bend his branches and shut up his leaves to shelter himself from the icy blast or the furious storm2 and a mere glance at his attitude will indicate to you that an abnormal perturbation reigns in the atmosphere4 ,would you seriously say1 in that case1 that the vegetable feels nothing1 and that the animal is sensible8 ,would you not1 on the contrary1 be inclined to declare that the tree is the sentient being1 and that the star-fish1 the sponge1 the madrepore1 are the creatures which are destitute of feeling8 ,pause beside still water and seek for the polype or fresh-water hydra which we have just mentioned4 ,you will find it difficult to disentangle this zoophyte from the reeds and willows which surround it4 ,you will find1 at length1 a kind of membranous tube1 a few centimetres in length4 ,is that the polype you were looking for8 ,is it not rather the stubble of some reed or grass plant8 ,this living twig1 with nothing to distinguish it in appearance from a herbaceous plant1 is constantly fixed in the same place1 like an aquatic vegetable4 ,it makes some faint movements1 consisting simply of the opening and shutting of the orifice of the tube1 which solely constitutes its being4 ,sometimes it lengthens1 sometimes it contracts itself1 by stretching out membranous arms1 as fine as threads1 by means of which it seizes and drags towards it the water insects which chance to pass near it4 ,this is the one single characteristic of its animality4 ,at this rate1 an arial plant1 the fly-catcher1 would be just as much an animal as our polype1 since it catches the insects which venture to crawl upon its leaves4 ,at the bottom of the sea there is a very curious zoophyte1 the actinium1 or sea-anemone4 ,for a long time this creature was confounded with the plants1 and held to be an ocean flower4 ,those who admire the beautiful1 bright-coloured actinia1 in the ,garden of ,acclimatization1 in ,paris1 who look at them1 waving on their flexible stem1 shaking the coloured appendages and fringes which adorn their heads1 find it hard to regard these charming queens of the waters otherwise than as real flowers4 ,and1 in fact1 for ages1 the sea-anemones were held to be marine plants4 ,in the last century1 coral was held to be a marine shrub1 and it was even believed that the flowers of the coral had been discovered4 ,an academician of ,paris1 ,count de ,marsigli1 created a ,european reputation for himself by this supposed discovery4 ,peyssonnel1 a ,provenal naturalist1 found the utmost difficulty in opposing this idea1 and in establishing the fact that these supposed flowers of the coral were in reality young corals4 ,he had the whole ,academy of ,sciences against him2 and his opposition to the ideas of the ,academy brought him into such disgrace1 that he was obliged to leave ,france and to go to the ,antilles1 where he died in obscurity as a doctor of medicine4 ,and all this because he maintained that coral is not a plant1 and does not produce flowers6 ,the famous ,genevese naturalist1 ,charles ,bonnet1 anticipating the knowledge of our day by more than a century1 has given a most interesting form to the parallel between animals and plants1 in his work entitled ,contemplation de la ,nature4 ,we cannot resist the pleasure of quoting the following passage1 in which ,charles ,bonnet shows in a striking manner what are the difficulties in the way of distinguishing the plant from the animal1 and how those difficulties are disposed of by those who dispute the sensibility of plants3-- ,everything is graduated in nature1 says ,charles ,bonnet1 and1 in refusing to admit that plants are sentient1 we force nature to make a jump without any assignable reason4 ,we observe that feeling decreases by degrees from man to the nettle1 and to the mussel1 and we persuade ourselves that it stops there1 because we regard these animals as the least perfect4 ,but there are1 perhaps1 many degrees between the feeling of the mole and of the plant4 ,there are1 perhaps1 still more between the most and the least sensible of the plants4 ,the gradations1 which we observe1 ought to persuade us to this philosophy2 the new beauty which it adds to the system of the world1 and the pleasure to be derived from the multiplication of sentient creatures ought to contribute to induce us to admit it4 ,i willingly admit that this philosophy is much to my taste4 ,i love to think that those flowers which adorn our fields and our gardens with a brightness constantly renewed1 those fruit trees which are so pleasant to our eyes and our palate2 those majestic trees that compose the vast forests1 which time seems to have respected1 are so many sentient creatures partaking after their fashion in the sweetness of existence4 ,plants offer some facts to our observation which seem to indicate that they possess feeling1 but we are not likely to perceive those facts1 because of the strong persuasion that they are insensible1 which has prevailed among us for so long4 ,we ought to agree to consider the question tabula rasa1 and to subject plants to a new1 impartial1 and unprejudiced examination4 ,an inhabitant of the moon1 possessed of intellectual faculties like ours1 but without any preconceived ideas about the insensibility of plants1 would be the philosopher whom we require4 ,let us imagine such an observer engaged in studying the productions of our earth1 and1 after having given his attention to the polypes and other insects multiplied by the process of grafting1 passing on to the contemplation of vegetables4 ,he would1 doubtless1 take them at the period of their birth4 ,with this view1 he would sow seed of various species1 and he would carefully watch their germination4 ,let us suppose that some of those seeds have been reversed in the sowing1 the sprouting part turned downwards1 the stem upwards2 and the observer has the skill to distinguish one end of the seed from the other1 and knows their functions4 ,after some days1 he will remark that the seed has grown into this reversed position1 that the stem is turned upward1 and the sprouting portion downward4 ,he will feel no surprise2 he will attribute a circumstance which is so hurtful to the life of the plant1 to the mistake he has made in sowing the seed4 ,but1 continuing to observe1 he will see the sprout and the stem each bending itself in the opposite direction1 and trying to attain the right position4 ,this change of direction will strike him as very remarkable1 and he will begin to suspect that the organized being which he is studying is endowed with a certain amount of discernment4 ,too prudent1 however1 to pronounce upon these early indications1 he will suspend his judgment and pursue his investigations4 ,the plants whose germination our physicist has been observing1 have been raised in the neighbourhood of a hedge4 ,thus favoured1 and carefully cultivated1 they have made great progress in a very short time4 ,the soil which surrounds them at some distance is of two opposite qualities4 ,that on the right of the plants is rich1 damp1 and spongy2 that on the left is dry1 hard1 and gravelly4 ,our observer remarks that the roots1 after having begun by extending equally on both sides1 have changed their direction1 and have spread out towards the rich and humid soil2 over which they are stretching1 and thus threatening to deprive the plants already there of their due share of nourishment4 ,to prevent this inconvenience1 he digs a ditch between the plants which he is observing and those they threaten to starve1 and now he thinks he has provided against everything4 ,but the plants1 which he believes he has governed1 disconcert all his precautions by extending their roots downwards1 under the ditch1 and gaining the other side4 ,surprised at this1 he uncovers one of these roots1 but without exposing it to heat1 and holds a sponge steeped in water towards it4 ,the root turns itself to the sponge1 and when he changes its position1 the root accommodates itself to each alteration4 ,while our philosopher is meditating profoundly upon these facts1 other facts equally remarkable present themselves almost simultaneously4 ,he observes that all these plants have leaned away from the hedge1 and are bending forward as though to present every portion of their bodies to the beneficent smiles of the sun4 ,he sees that all the leaves are so turned that their upper surface is exposed to the sun1 or to the fresh air1 and that the lower surface is directed towards the hedge1 or the ground4 ,former experience will have taught him that the upper surface of leaves serves chiefly as a defence for the lower surface1 and that the latter is principally destined to pump up the moisture rising from the earth1 and provide for the evacuation of what is superfluous4 ,the direction of the leaves which he notices appears quite in harmony with his experiences4 ,he studies this portion of the plant with increased attention4 ,he remarks that the leaves of some species seem to follow the movements of the sun1 so that in the morning they turn to the east1 in the evening to the west4 ,he sees that some leaves close themselves against the sun1 others against the dew4 ,he observes an analogous movement in certain flowers4 ,afterwards1 he observes that no matter what the direction of the plants relative to the horizon has been1 the direction of the leaves is always that which he has at first noticed1 he bethinks him of changing this direction1 and of placing the leaves in a position exactly contrary to their natural one4 ,he has already had recourse to similar means in order to assure himself of the instinct of animals1 and to ascertain its bearings4 ,with this view he bends perpendicular plants towards the horizon1 and keeps them in that position4 ,thus1 the direction of the leaves is absolutely changed2 the upper surface1 which previously turned to the sun or to the fresh air1 now looks towards the earth or the interior of the plant1 and the lower surface1 which formerly looked towards the earth or the interior of the plant1 now turns to the sun1 or the fresh air4 ,but very soon all these leaves begin to move1 they turn on their stem as on a pivot1 and in an hour they will have resumed their former position4 ,our observer1 wishing to assure himself whether leaves and branches when detached and plunged into water will preserve the inclinations which they manifest when upon the plant of which they formed a portion1 subjects them to an experiment whose results leave him no doubt of the fact4 ,he places wet sponges under the leaves1 and he sees the leaves turn towards the sponges and endeavour to adhere to them by their lower surfaces4 ,he also observes that certain plants1 which he has shut up in his cabinet and in a cellar1 have turned towards the window1 or the grating respectively4 ,finally1 the phenomena of the ,sensitive ,plant1 its varied movements1 the promptitude with which it contracts when touched1 form the interesting subject which terminates his researches4 ,thus plentifully supplied with facts which all seem to tend to the support of belief in the sensibility of plants1 which side will our philosopher take8 ,will he surrender to these proofs8 ,will he suspend his judgment8 ,i think he will take the first part4#af ,charles ,bonnet believes1 in short1 that the plant1 as well as the animal1 is endowed with sensibility4 ,according to the system which we have developed1 the animal is possessed of a soul1 which is still very imperfect1 and endowed only with faculties corresponding to its needs4 ,but1 since the animal1 in addition to the sensibility enjoyed by the plant1 possesses intelligence also1 we must conclude from thence that the plant has not a soul1 properly so called1 but only the rudiment1 the commencement1 in other words1 the germ of a soul4 ,we know that the sun has the privilege of giving birth to organic life upon our globe1 his rays have power to produce the formation of living tissues1 plants or zoophytes1 when they fall upon the earth or the waters1 and we may draw this conclusion from all that has gone before1 that the sun sends down upon the earth animated germs under the form of his rays1 which emanate from the spiritualized creatures who dwell in the king-star4 ,thus our system of nature completes itself2 thus1 thanks to solar radiation1 the two ends of the immense chain of organized beings whose place and part in the vast theatre of the worlds we have attempted to define are united4 ,life begins in the waters1 its first appearance is in plants and zoophytes2 for these two classes of living creatures obey the same laws1 and appear to have the same origin4 ,the sun1 by sending his vivifying rays upon the earth1 produces the formation of plants and zoophytes1 which are the points of departure of organization4 ,the animated germ deposited by the sun in plants and zoophytes grows1 passes from the zoophyte to the mollusc1 or articulated animal1 and then undergoes a further development1 by passing from the mollusc or articulated animal to the fish4 ,this germ of a soul thus becomes a rudimentary soul1 provided with certain faculties4 ,in the zoophyte and the mollusc it had only sensibility2 in the fish1 and then in the reptile1 and the bird1 it has attention and judgment4 ,the faculties are augmented in proportion as the animal mounts higher in the organic scale4 ,arrived at its summit1 the human being1 the soul is in possession of all its faculties1 and especially of memory1 which during the animal stages of the ascent is obscure and uncertain4 ,to accord sensibility to plants permits us to unite all the creatures of the living creation1 and thus to complete our general system of terrestrial nature4 ,illustration ,,footnotes3 #ae ,histoire des ,plantes1 ,paris1 p4 #aaa4 #af ,contemplation de la ,nature 7uvres d',histoire ,naturelle de ,charles ,bonnet47 ,neuchtel1 #agha4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,the ,,thirteenth4 ,,does ,,man ,,exist ,,elsewhere ,,than ,,on ,,the ,,earth8--,,description ,,of ,,the ,,planets4--,,plurality ,,of ,,inhabited ,,worlds4 ,,throughout the preceding chapters we have reasoned as if the earth were the whole universe4 ,indeed1 almost all men believed that such was the case1 from the first establishment of society until the last century4 ,great mathematical knowledge1 profound study1 and highly perfected optical instruments are requisite to rectify the false ideas1 the errors1 and the illusions which are the result of a simple view of the earth and the sky4 ,great efforts of the mind1 and a very difficult struggle against the testimony of our senses are necessary to the recognition that the earth moves1 and that the sun is motionless4 ,in order to distinguish the place and the office of each of those softly beaming globes1 in the midst of the uniformity of aspect presented by the stars which shine during the night1 patient and severe observations1 transmitted and repeated from age are indispensable1 and1 in addition1 an excellent scientific method4 ,let us therefore not be surprised that men have taken so much time to comprehend the ordering of the universe1 and that they had only the most childish conception of them for thousands of years4 ,the ancients1 the ,greeks1 the ,romans1 the ,egyptians1 knew nothing of the universe1 except the earth 7nor did the ,orientals1 with the exception of some truly learned men1 who had divined the general mechanism of the universe by methods unknown to us1 but they concealed their knowledge from the profane74 ,these ancients could speak of only a small portion of the globe3 of ,europe1 ,asia1 and the ,north of ,africa4 ,the remainder was a dead letter for the peoples of antiquity4 ,after them1 and following their example1 the first ,christians reduced the universe to what they knew of it2 they believed there was but one world1 because they saw only one4 ,the earth was for them the universe4 ,in the stars they saw only brilliant spots1 like silver nails in the celestial vault1 to enhance the azure1 and charm the eyes of men in the quiet of the night4 ,the moon was the natural beacon of the earth4 ,in the sky there was a shining track followed by the sun1 and the torch of day was no larger than the beacon of night4 ,the celestial region which spread itself above the sun and the moon was the ,empyrean of the ancients1 the ,paradise of the ,christians and the ,mussulmans4 ,it was at once the sojourn of clouds and of light1 the habitation of the elect of ,god1 of the saints and the just4 ,under the earth1 and in its interior1 were immense abysses1 gulfs1 and cavities1 the dark dwellings of the damned4 ,this simple cosmogony1 which merely translates what our eyes show us1 has been that believed by every people in their infancy4 ,among the savage tribes of the two worlds1 in ,america and in ,africa1 as in the ancient ,east1 among the ,romans as among the ,egyptians and the ancient ,greeks1 this coarse simplicity and absolute ignorance of the constitution of the world prevailed4 ,on this profoundly false basis all the ancient religions were founded4 ,the social customs of modern peoples are based upon the same errors4 ,language has consecrated them2 the earth is everywhere called the world1 as the ancients called it 7mundus1 72 every one says the sun travels1 or goes1 from east to west1 and that the stars rise and set4 ,poetry has set its eternal seal on this vicious system1 and has1 so to speak1 consecrated it1 by clothing it with all the prestige of genius and imagination4 ,modern astronomy has caused the false skies of antiquity to vanish away2 it has dispersed the pretensions of the celestial vault1 sown with brilliant spots1 and substituted a simple mass of coloured air4 ,it has revealed the true office of each of those stars which we see by day or by night4 ,it has fixed1 in an indisputable manner1 the real place of the earth in the universe1 and1 to say the truth1 that place is singularly small4 ,we know now1 that the earth1 far from being herself the world1 is only an imperceptible point of the world4 ,if we only compare it with the sun1 we know that our globe is one million three hundred thousand times smaller than the sun4 ,this takes us far away from the idea of the ancient ,greeks1 who thought they ventured much in asserting that the sun was as big as the ,peloponnesus4 ,in addition1 the earth has been dispossessed of all privileges4 ,it was believed formerly to be unique and unrivalled1 we now know that there are an infinity of other globes similar to the earth1 so that she is no more than one individual in a group of other individuals who resemble her4 ,we know that the earth figures among the planets1 that she is only a planet of our system4 ,what1 then1 is a planet8 the reader will ask4 ,an attentive gaze directed to the stars of night will make him understand it4 ,let him examine1 on any fine evening1 the star which is pointed out to him as ,mars or ,jupiter1 and to which a certain position is assigned at a given hour4 ,then1 a few hours later1 let him come and look once more for ,mars or ,jupiter1 and he will perceive that the position of ,mars or ,jupiter1 with respect to the other stars1 is changed4 ,or he may do better still4 ,let him look at ,mars or ,jupiter through the telescope of an observatory1 or the glass of one of those open-air astronomers who are to be found in the public ways in ,paris and other great cities4 ,thus he may see ,mars or ,jupiter change his place under his own eyes4 ,while the other stars remain motionless1 ,jupiter or ,mars will pass away from the field of the glass4 ,there are1 then1 fixed stars and movable stars4 ,the movable stars are the planets 71 from 1 wandering74 ,the fixed stars are what we call stars4 ,it is not difficult to distinguish the planets from the stars with the naked eye4 ,the stars emit sparkling light1 whence comes their name1 from the ,latin stellare1 to shine1 and their light twinkles4 ,the planets1 on the contrary1 shine with a steady1 mild1 unvacillating light4 ,the reason of this difference is1 that the light shed by the stars is their own4 ,the stars are so many suns resembling ours4 ,they illumine worlds like our world1 so prodigiously distant that we cannot even perceive them4 ,the planets do not shine of themselves2 they merely reflect1 like gigantic mirrors1 the light of the sun which illumines them1 and renders them visible to us4 ,thus1 the planets are stars which travel4 ,they revolve around the sun4 ,the earth1 being a planet1 is a travelling star1 which revolves around the sun4 ,but the earth is not the only planet of our solar system4 ,there are seven others1 which do not differ essentially from the earth4 ,the names of the eight planets which compose our solar system1 are as follows1 arranged according to their distance from the sun3 ,mercury1 ,venus1 the ,earth1 ,mars1 ,jupiter1 ,saturn1 ,uranus1 and ,neptune4 ,between ,mars and ,jupiter there is a collection of small bodies1 which seem to be fragments of broken planets2 they are called asterods4 ,at present1 in #ahga1 more than a hundred are known1 and it is not yet fifty years since they were first sought for in the sky4 ,these asterods may be collected together in our fancy1 and formed into a separate group1 which would be a ninth planet4 ,let us glance at the planets which compose our solar system4 ,plates #d and #e1 which accompany these pages1 will suffice to give an idea of the relative dimensions of the planets4 ,in these two plates the planets are arranged according to the order of their distance from the sun4 ,in plate #d1 ,mercury1 ,venus1 the ,earth1 and ,mars are represented2 in plate #e1 the asterods ,jupiter1 ,saturn1 ,uranus1 and ,neptune4 ,mercury is the nearest planet to the sun1 his distance from the central orb being only fourteen millions of leagues1 which1 in astronomy1 is near neighbourhood4 ,this planet revolves upon its axis with the same rapidity as the earth4 ,the day1 in ,mercury1 is only three minutes longer than ours 7#bd;h4 #cms474 ,being closer to the sun than the earth is1 ,mercury turns more quickly round the sun1 so that its year is only #hh days1 whereas ours is #cfe days4 ,we know that the sole cause of the inequality of the seasons1 as well as of day and night in the planets1 is the inclination of the star on its axis of rotation4 ,if the planets1 while revolving round the sun1 retained the verticality of the axis which joins these north and south poles1 there would be perfect equality in the distribution of the solar light and heat over the same latitudes2 along each parallel there would be a complete regularity in the lighting and warming of the planet2 the differences of heat and cold would not depend on anything but their greater or less distance from the sun4 ,but this verticality only exists for two or three planets of our system4 ,the others1 and among them ,mercury1 ,venus1 the ,earth1 and ,mars1 are strongly inclined on their axis of rotation4 ,they revolve in a bent position1 as if they had received a great blow on the shoulder1 which had caused them to deviate from their primitive and regular situation4 ,from this there results a very variable disposition of the duration of the light1 and consequently of the heat1 which these inclined planets receive from the horizontal rays of the solar star4 ,thus the inequality in the length of the days and nights1 and the diversity of the four seasons on the same parallel1 are accounted for4#ag ,illustration3 ,mercury4 ,venus4 ,earth4 ,mars4 ,sun4 ,fig4 #d4--;,comparative ,size of the ,planets ,mercury1 ,venus1 the ,earth1 and ,mars4 ,the inclination of the axis of the terrestrial sphere is #bc which is a considerable deviation1 and occasions great differences in the duration of days and of seasons on different points of our globe4 ,the inclination of the axis of the planet ,mercury is enormous3 it is #gj4 ,this planet bends over itself as if about to fall4 ,hence results prodigious variation of light and heat on the same parallel1 and seasons whose abrupt changes must be painful and hard to bear by the inhabitants of this planet1 if such inhabitants exist4 ,mercury is five times less than the ,earth1 as is shown in plate #d4 ,venus comes after ,mercury1 according to distance from the ,sun4 ,venus1 which is #bg1jjj1jjj of leagues from the ,sun1 receives twice as much light and heat as our globe4 ,its days are of nearly the same length as ours 7#bc hours1 #ba minutes71 but its year1 necessarily shorter than that of the ,earth1 since it is nearer to the ,sun1 lasts only #bbd days4 ,its seasons last two months each4 ,its globe is nearly of the same bulk as that of the ,earth4 ,venus is almost always wrapped in clouds1 which must fall in rain1 forming rivers and seas4 ,these waters refresh the plains1 which must be scorched by the heat of the burning sun4 ,the seasons are still shorter and more unequal in ,venus than in ,mercury2 its axis is1 in fact1 inclined at #ge4 ,after ,venus comes the ,earth1 which is almost of the same bulk1 but #bh1jjj1jjj of leagues from the ,sun4 ,its diameter is nearly #cjjj leagues4 ,it accomplishes its revolution on its axis in #bd hours 7#bc hours1 #ef minutes1 #d seconds71 and in #cfe days1 #e hours its revolution around the sun4 ,the inclination of the ,earth's axis is #bc1 which produces the differences of days and nights1 and the inequality of the seasons1 according to latitude4 ,the ,earth possesses a privilege denied to the planets ,mercury1 ,venus1 and ,mars2 she has a secondary star1 or satellite1 called the ,moon4 ,placed at a distance of only #ij1jjj leagues from the ,earth1 the ,moon accomplishes her revolution around it in #bg days4 ,it is not the object of this work to give any description of our globe4 ,we will suppose our readers to be sufficiently acquainted with it1 and pass on to the planet which comes next to it in the scale of distance from the ,sun4 ,this is the planet ,mars4 ,an extraordinary resemblance exists between ,mars and the ,earth4 ,physical1 geographical1 and climatological conditions1 days and nights1 seasons1 celestial perspectives1 all are alike in these two planets1 with the sole difference that the globe of ,mars is half as small again as that of the ,earth2 so that1 if a man were transported to ,mars1 he might believe himself to be1 not in a strange planet1 but in a little known corner of the ,earth1 such as ,australia or ,polynesia4 ,as we pursue our journey through the heavens1 ever increasing our distance from the ,sun1 we shall find1 after ,mars1 the group of the ,asterods4 ,we shall not linger before this cluster of small stars1 which is no doubt nothing but a collection of the dismembered fragments of a planet1 which formerly existed in this particular point of space1 and was dashed to pieces by some formidable accident in the universe4 ,these little stars1 like the important planets1 have each their names1 such as ,vesta1 ,pallas1 ,circe1 c41 c4 ,maximiliana1 and ,feronia are placed at the two extremities1 with respect to distance from the ,sun4 ,these remains of a broken star continue to circulate around the ,sun1 like the planet which they formerly composed4 ,after the ,asterods comes great ,jupiter4 ,jupiter is the largest planetary sphere in our solar system1 being #adjj times greater than the ,earth4 ,its distance from the ,sun is #bjj1jjj1jjj miles4 ,in consequence of this distance1 its year is as long as twelve of our years4 ,notwithstanding its colossal dimensions1 ,jupiter turns with such rapidity upon its axis1 that it accomplishes an entire revolution in twelve hours1 so that its day and night are respectively only ten hours long4 ,the shortness of ,jupiter's nights are compensated by the existence of four moons1 or satellites1 which revolve around this planet1 and give it permanent light4 ,this illumination by reflection1 added to very long twilights1 must make ,jupiter's nights nearly equal to the day in brightness4 ,though ,jupiter suffers under the disadvantage of very short days1 it has on the other hand the inappreciable advantage of perfect equality in the length of its days and nights1 and of that of the four seasons over all its parallels4 ,the axis of ,jupiter is hardly at all oblique1 and therefore ,jupiter1 like the planet ,saturn1 enjoys a sort of perpetual spring1 that is to say1 an equable distribution of solar heat and light along the same degrees of latitude4 ,jupiter1 unlike ,mars and ,venus1 has no vicissitudes of seasons1 no sudden and painful transitions from cold to heat in the same place4 ,the climates are invariable in each latitude1 and the seasons are hardly discernible4 ,the globe of ,saturn is #gcd times larger than that of the ,earth1 and is #cfd1jjj1jjj leagues from the ,sun4 ,it takes thirty years to perform its revolution around the central star1 and its year is therefore thirty times as long as ours4 ,saturn1 like ,jupiter1 has very short days4 ,it revolves on its axis in ten hours1 so that its day and night respectively are but five hours4 ,but it has eight moons1 or satellites1 which accompany it1 and give it light1 thus1 as in the case of ,jupiter1 supplementing the shortness of its days4 ,there is hardly any obliquity of the axis of ,saturn1 so that its days and nights are always equal4 ,there is a perpetual equinox1 and the climates are invariable1 while variation of seasons hardly exists4 ,in ,saturn1 as in ,jupiter1 perpetual spring reigns4 ,saturn has one peculiarity which does not belong to any other body in our solar system4 ,it is placed in the centre of a ring1 of the same nature as its own1 and which surrounds it on every side4 ,this ring 7see plate #e71 is surrounded by a second1 and the second by a third1 and the whole are called the rings of ,saturn4 ,this circular envelope is exceedingly thin--only ten leagues in thickness--but very wide2 its width is #ab1jjj leagues4 ,it is not motionless1 but it revolves with the globe which it surrounds4 ,the strange disposition of the rings of ,saturn affords a proof of the inexhaustible riches of nature1 and the variety of forms which the ,creator has called into being in the vast universe4 ,it ought to guard us against our constant tendency to model all the worlds which we do not know1 upon the type of the earth4 ,hardly anything is known about the peculiarities of ,uranus1 a planet which is only eighty-two times larger than the earth1 but which is #gcb1jjj1jjj of miles from the sun1 and takes eighty-four years to accomplish its revolution around the central star4 ,plate #e shows the relative proportions of ,uranus and the earth4 ,the prodigious distance of ,uranus from our globe1 added to its small size1 renders it almost inaccessible to observation4 ,for the same reason1 nothing can be ascertained respecting the physical and geographical conditions of ,neptune1 the last planet of our solar system1 which was discovered in our time by ,m4 ,le ,verrier1 thanks to the simple force of calculation1 thereby affording the most brilliant proof ever given of the utility of the mathematical sciences4 ,neptune is so small and so far from us1 that it is probable mere observation of the heavens would never have detected its existence4 ,in this case mathematical analysis was more powerful than the telescope4 ,it would be impossible to give particulars analogous to those which we have supplied concerning the foregoing planets1 in reference to a star only #aje times larger than the earth1 which revolves at the distance of one milliard #aej millions of leagues from the sun1 and the duration of whose year is #afd times that of the terrestrial year1 so that if the ages of the ,christian era were counted according to the ,neptunian chronology1 instead of being in the #aith century1 we should be in the #abth year of that era4 ,all we can say about ,neptune1 therefore1 is that it forms the boundary of the domain of our visible world4 ,we cannot1 however1 state positively that our solar world terminates at this limit4 ,no doubt the range of our astronomical glasses goes no farther1 but assuredly they do not sweep the boundaries of the empire of the sun4 ,it is known1 in fact1 that comets return to us after having 7as indicated by their geometrical curve71 swept over the depths of space to a distance of thirty-two milliards of leagues4 ,thus the distance of one milliard #aej millions of leagues1 which is that of ,neptune from the sun1 by no means represents the confines of our solar world1 but simply defines the limits of the range of our telescopes4 ,illustration3 ,asteroids4 ,jupiter4 ,saturn4 ,uranus4 ,neptune4 ,fig4 #e4--,size of the ,planets ,jupiter1 ,saturn1 ,uranus1 and ,neptune compared with the ,earth4 ,this rapid glance at our solar system in its entirety1 proves that the earth is not in possession of any privilege4 ,the part which she plays in the economy of the universe is equally fulfilled by other stars1 and there is nothing to justify the pre-eminence assigned to her by the ancients4 ,she is not the largest1 the warmest1 or the brightest of the planets4 ,she simply forms a portion of a group of stars1 and is but one individual of that group4 ,these considerations tend to lead us to a very important deduction4 ,since the earth is in no way distinguished from the other planets of our solar system1 there must exist in other planets the things which are found on our globe2 air1 water1 a hard soil1 rivers and seas1 mountains and valleys4 ,even vegetation and forests ought to be there1 regions covered with verdure and with shade4 ,so there surely ought to exist in the other planets1 animals1 and even men1 or at least creatures superior to animals1 corresponding to our human type4 ,but is this possible8 is it true8 are the planets which1 like the earth1 and together with it1 turn round the sun1 constituted physically as the earth is8 ,are they covered with vegetable growth8 are they tenanted by animals and by beings belonging to the human type8 ,this grave question has been profoundly discussed by ,m4 ,camille ,flammarion1 in a work entitled ,pluralit des ,mondes ,habits1 and in a later publication1 ,les ,mondes ,imaginaires et les ,mondes ,rels4 ,it would be outside the province of this book to follow the author through the various scientific considerations1 from which he reasons that the planets which form a portion of our solar system1 are1 like the earth1 the scene of life1 organization1 thought1 and feeling4 ,in the #agth century1 ,fontenelle and ,huygens had successfully approached this successful problem1 which ,m4 ,camille ,flammarion has lately treated with especial care and development1 invoking the lessons of contemporaneous astronomy and physics1 which refer to the subject4 ,we therefore refer the reader1 who wishes to be instructed upon the question of the possibility of the planets being inhabited1 to ,m4 ,flammarion's works4 ,illustration ,,footnotes3 #ag ,milton1 in his ,paradise ,lost1 says that before the fall of our first parents1 perpetual spring reigned upon the ,earth1 but that as soon as ,adam and ,eve had eaten the forbidden fruit1 angels1 with flaming swords1 were sent from ,heaven to incline the poles of the ,earth more than #bj degrees4 ,it is well for us that the angels did not cause them to incline farther1 or our seasons would have been still shorter and more defective4 ,fourier pretends that it would be possible for humanity to produce an effect sufficiently great to set the globe straight upon its axis1 and thus restore the equality of the seasons1 and perpetual spring4 ,this philosopher forgot to indicate one thing only1 the mechanical means by which man is to produce this effect4 ,this theory reminds us of the drowning man who fancied he could save himself by catching hold of his own hair1 while he was struggling in the water4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,the ,,fourteenth4 ,,that ,,which ,,has ,,taken ,,place ,,upon ,,the ,,earth ,,with ,,regard ,,to ,,the ,,creation ,,of ,,organized ,,beings ,,has ,,probably ,,also ,,taken ,,place ,,in ,,the ,,other ,,planets4--,,the ,,successive ,,order ,,of ,,the ,,appearance ,,of ,,living ,,beings ,,on ,,our ,,globe4--,,this ,,same ,,succession ,,has ,,probably ,,taken ,,place ,,in ,,each ,,of ,,the ,,planets4--,,planetary ,,man4--,,the ,,planetary1 ,,like ,,the ,,terrestrial ,,man1 ,,is ,,transformed1 ,,after ,,death1 ,,into ,a ,,superhuman ,,being1 ,,and ,,passes ,,into ,,the ,,ether4 ,,we believe1 with ,m4 ,camille ,flammarion1 that organized beings exist in all the planets4 ,but are these beings who live in the distant worlds accompanied1 like terrestrial man1 by a superior type8 ,this is the subject which we now propose to examine4 ,in the absence of observation analogy is our only means of investigation1 and1 guided by analogy1 we must admit that the processes which have taken place upon the earth1 since the epoch of its formation1 must have similarly taken place upon all the other planets1 the earth's congeners4 ,we are now perfectly acquainted with the manner in which the vegetable and animal creations have appeared1 and succeeded each other upon our globe since its origin4 ,at first the earth was simply a collection of gas1 and burning vapour which revolved round the sun4 ,this mass of gas and vapour grew cold by degrees in its passage through space1 and first becoming liquid1 afterwards assumed the consistency of paste1 and ultimately became solid1 by a gradual process of refrigeration4 ,consolidation began on the surface1 because the circumference of a sphere is more exposed than the remainder of the mass to refrigerating influences4 ,then the water and the vapours which still flowed upon the consolidated globe became condensed1 and1 falling in burning showers upon the hard soil1 they formed the first seas4 ,the proof that the earth's primitive condition was like to a liquid or half paste1 is1 that if we take a plastic sphere1 for instance a slightly fluid ball of quicksilver1 and make it turn rapidly upon its axis1 we observe that it swells out in the middle1 and becomes flat at the two poles1 or the extremities of the axis2 this is the effect of the centrifugal force engendered by the rotatory motion4 ,now the earth is depressed at the poles1 and slightly swelled out at the equator4 ,the other planets must have been formed by the same process as the earth4 ,they were1 no doubt1 composed of a collection of gas and vapours1 which became liquid1 pasty1 and eventually solid1 by a process of refrigeration4 ,this process1 taking effect especially upon their surface1 they began to put forth a skin1 or exterior and solid covering1 which was the soil of the planet4 ,on this resisting soil fell the liquids resulting from the condensation of the water vapour1 and thus the first seas of the planets were formed4 ,we would remind those who doubt the correctness of this theory that the poles of the globe of ,saturn and that of ,jupiter are much more flat than those of the ,earth2 which is explained by the greater velocity of the rotation of each upon its axis4 ,our days are #bd hours long1 whereas those of ,jupiter and ,saturn are only #aj hours4 ,greater rapidity of rotation produces a correspondingly increased depression at the extremities of the axis4 ,this geometrical result demonstrates the justice of the assimilation in their respective origin which we maintain between the ,earth and the other planets4 ,in the warm waters of the basin of the seas the first living beings which existed upon our globe appeared4 ,animal life commenced in the waters1 in the primitive forms of zoophytes and mollusca1 as we know1 because zoophytes and mollusca1 with the addition of a few articulates1 composed the animal remains found in the transition strata which come after the primary formations4 ,the first vegetables are found in the same transition strata1 they are mosses1 alg1 and ferns4 ,when the earth had become somewhat cooler1 phanerogamous vegetables appeared upon the continents4 ,numerous vegetable species were simultaneously created1 for the flora of the secondary formations is extremely rich and varied4 ,it was the same in the case of animals4 ,so the zoophytes1 mollusca1 and fish which existed in the transition period succeeded reptiles1 in the secondary formation1 which inhabited both land and sea4 ,at this period appeared those monstrous saurian reptiles1 whose formidable shapes1 and colossal dimensions fill us with surprise and almost with dismay4 ,then the gigantic mosasaurus ravaged the seas1 the terrible ichthyosaurus spread terror among the inhabitants of the waters1 and the gigantic iguanodon laid waste the forests4 ,the secondary formation1 which is filled with their remains1 shows us that at that period reptiles held the first rank in creation4 ,at a later date1 the atmosphere having become purer1 birds began to traverse the air4 ,in the tertiary deposit we find the remains of several kinds of birds1 and these remains1 which do not exist in the earlier formations1 sufficiently prove that it was in the tertiary period that birds made their first appearance upon the terrestrial globe4 ,still later1 at a more advanced period of the tertiary epoch1 mammifers appear upon the scene4 ,we must observe that these animal species do not replace each other1 that the one does not exclude the other4 ,several of the ancient animal species continue to exist after the appearance of entirely novel kinds4 ,we might quote as instances whole groups of animals1 such as the lingul 7mollusca71 the coral 7zoophyte7 among animals1 and among vegetables1 the alg1 ferns1 and lycopodes1 which appeared on our globe in the earliest period of the reign of organization1 and have never ceased to exist4 ,it was not until the last epoch in the history of the ,earth1 during the quaternary epoch1 that man appeared1 the highest product of living creation1 the ultimate term of organic1 intellectual1 and moral progress1 the crowning upon our earth of the visible edifice of nature4 ,at present1 man lives together with the animals which began to exist during the quaternary epoch1 and a great number of other kinds of mammifers which were created during the tertiary epoch4 ,the various phases of the development of the animal and vegetable kingdoms on our globe1 these perfected organized species each succeeding the other1 and finally reaching the superior type which we call man1 must1 in our opinion1 have been produced in the selfsame order1 upon the other planets of our solar world4 ,m4 ,flammarion proves1 in the work which we have already quoted1 that the physical and climatological constitution of the planets is similar to that of our globe4 ,there is therefore no reason why things should have taken place otherwise in ,mercury1 ,jupiter1 or ,venus1 than in the ,earth1 in respect to the successive order of the creation and appearance of living beings1 and1 in our belief a precisely similar successive appearance of vegetables and animals1 has taken place in these planets4 ,the plants and animals of ,mercury1 ,jupiter1 ,saturn1 c41 were certainly not identical with those species which have had existence on the ,earth1 and perhaps no resemblance could be traced between them1 but all1 in their successive appearance1 obeyed the principle of progress and perfecting4 ,life1 commencing in the burning waves of the primitive seas1 subsequently manifested itself upon the continents4 ,animals of arial organization have lived upon these continents1 their species have by degrees reached the perfection of their type1 at length1 and finally1 a creature appeared in these planets more complete1 superior in organization1 intelligence1 and sensibility to all the animal creation which formed the population of each particular globe4 ,this superior being1 this last step of the ascending scale of living creation proper to the planetary worlds1 the corresponding analogous creature to terrestrial man1 we shall take leave to call planetary man4 ,in all the planets1 then1 there exist men1 as on the earth1 just as there exist animals which are inferior to that noble and privileged type4 ,according to the views which we have explained at the commencement of this work1 terrestrial man undergoes1 after his death1 a glorious metamorphosis4 ,leaving his miserable material covering here below1 his soul springs upward into space1 and becomes incarnate in a new being1 whose type is infinitely superior1 by reason of its moral perfection1 to that of our poor humanity4 ,he becomes that which we have called the superhuman being4 ,if this be true of the terrestrial man1 it must be equally true of the planetary man4 ,so that the superhuman being must proceed1 not only from the earth1 but from all the other planets4 ,superhuman beings come from the human souls who have lived either upon the ,earth1 or upon ,mercury1 ,jupiter1 ,venus1 ,saturn1 c4 ,and precisely as the superhuman being1 who comes from the ,earth passes into the surrounding ether1 so the planetary man1 leaving ,mars1 ,mercury1 ,jupiter1 c41 passes into the ether1 which surrounds his own planet1 becomes incarnate in a superhuman being1 and lives in the ethereal plains adjoining the planet which he has quitted4 ,all these superhuman beings float in the clouds of ether which1 in the case of every planet1 succeed to its atmosphere4 ,thus1 the principles upon which we have based terrestrial humanity1 are general1 and apply to all planetary humanity4 ,not from the ,earth only do those souls proceed who are incarnate in new creatures in the bosom of the ethereal spaces1 these souls proceed from all the globes which1 together with the ,earth1 form the attendant court of the royal ,sun4 ,illustration ,illustration ,,chapter ,,the ,,fifteenth4 ,,proofs ,,of ,,the ,,plurality ,,of ,,human ,,existences1 ,,and ,,of ,,re-,,incarnations4--,,apart ,,from ,,this ,,doctrine ,,it ,,is ,,impossible ,,to ,,explain ,,the ,,presence ,,of ,,man ,,upon ,,the ,,earth1 ,,the ,,sad ,,and ,,unequal ,,conditions ,,of ,,human ,,life1 ,,and ,,the ,,fate ,,of ,,children ,,who ,,die ,,in ,,infancy4 ,,the doctrine of the plurality of existences1 and of re-incarnations1 which bind together1 like so many links of the same chain1 all living creatures1 from the most minute animal1 even to those blessed beings to whom it is given to behold ,god in ,his glory2 which gives brethren in the different planets to terrestrial humanity2 which makes of the inhabitants of our globe a nation of the universe2 which sees but one family in all the population of the worlds--a planetary family--whose every member may raise himself by his merits and his struggles1 in the hierarchy of happiness1 is supported by so many proofs4 ,so many1 indeed1 that we are puzzled to choose among all the methods of demonstration which offer themselves in aid of it4 ,to enumerate them all would unduly enlarge the dimensions of this work1 so that we shall content ourselves with bringing forward the most striking4 ,why are we on the earth8 ,we did not ask to be placed there1 we did not express a wish to be born4 ,if we had been consulted1 we should probably have objected to coming into this world at all1 or at least we should have wished to appear there at some other epoch4 ,we should probably have asked to be permitted to sojourn in some other planet than the ,earth4 ,our globe is1 indeed1 a very disagreeable habitation4 ,in consequence of its inclination on its axis1 climate is very unpleasantly distributed4 ,either we must succumb to cold1 if we are not artificially protected against it1 or we must be terribly incommoded with heat4 ,regarded from the moral point of view1 the conditions of humanity are very sad4 ,evil predominates in the world2 vice is held almost everywhere in honour1 and virtue is so ill-treated1 that to be honest is1 in this life1 to be tolerably certain of evil fortune4 ,our affections are causes of anguish and tears4 ,if1 for a while1 we enjoy the happiness of paternity1 of love1 of friendship1 it is only to see the objects of our love torn from us by death1 or separated from us by the accidents of a miserable life4 ,the organs given us to be exercised in this life are heavy1 coarse1 subject to maladies4 ,we are nailed to the earth1 and our heavy mass can be moved only by fatiguing exertion4 ,if there are men of powerful organization1 gifted with a good constitution and robust health1 how many are there who are infirm1 idiots1 deaf and dumb1 blind from their birth1 ricketty1 and mad6 ,my brother is handsome and well made1 and ,i am ugly1 feeble1 ricketty1 and hump-backed2 nevertheless1 we are both sons of the same mother4 ,some are born in opulence1 others in the most hideous destitution4 ,why am ,i not a prince and a great lord1 instead of being a poor toiler of the rebellious and ungrateful earth8 ,why was ,i born in ,europe and in ,france1 where1 by means of art and civilization1 life is rendered easy and endurable1 instead of being born under the burning skies of the tropics1 where1 with a bestial snout1 a black and oily skin1 and woolly hair1 ,i should have been exposed to the double torments of a deadly climate and social barbarism8 ,why is not one of the unfortunate ,african negroes in my place1 comfortable and well off8 ,we have done nothing1 he and ,i1 that our respective places on the earth should have been assigned to us4 ,i have not merited the favour1 he has not incurred the disgrace4 ,what is the cause of this unequal division of frightful evils which fall heavily upon certain persons1 and spare others8 ,how have they who live in happy countries deserved this partiality of fate1 while so many of their brethren are suffering and weeping in other regions of the world8 ,certain men are endowed with all the gifts of the intellect2 others1 on the contrary1 are devoid of intelligence1 penetration1 and memory4 ,they stumble at every step in the difficult journey of life4 ,their narrow minds1 their incomplete faculties1 expose them to every kind of failure and misfortune4 ,they cannot succeed in anything1 and destiny seems to select them for the chosen victims of its most fatal blows4 ,there are beings whose whole life1 from their birth to their death1 is a prolonged cry of suffering and despair4 ,what crime have they committed8 ,why are they upon the earth8 ,they have not asked to be born1 and if they had been free1 they would have entreated that this bitter cup might be removed from their lips4 ,they are here below in spite of themselves1 against their will4 ,this is so true that some1 in an excess of despair1 sever the thread of their own life4 ,they tear themselves away with their own hands from an existence which terrible suffering has rendered insupportable to them4 ,god would be unjust and wicked to impose so miserable a life upon beings who have done nothing to incur it1 and who have not solicited it4 ,but ,god is neither unjust nor wicked2 the opposite qualities are the attribute of ,his perfect essence4 ,consequently1 the presence of man on certain portions of the earth1 and the unequal distribution of evil over our globe1 are not to be explained4 ,if any of my readers can show me a doctrine1 a philosophy1 a religion by which these difficulties can be resolved1 ,i will tear up this book1 and confess myself vanquished4 ,if1 on the contrary1 you admit the plurality of human existences and re-incarnations1 that is to say the passage of the same soul into several different bodies1 everything is wonderfully easily explained4 ,our presence in certain portions of the globe is no longer the effect of a caprice of fate1 or the result of chance2 it is simply a station of the long journey which we are taking throughout the worlds4 ,previous to our birth in this world we have lived either in the condition of superior animals1 or that of man4 ,our actual existence is only the consequence of another1 whether it be that we bear within ourselves the soul of a superior animal1 which we must purify1 perfect1 and ennoble1 during our sojourn on earth2 or that1 having already fulfilled an imperfect and evil existence1 we are condemned to re-commence it under new obligations4 ,in the latter case1 the career of the man re-commences1 because his soul is not yet sufficiently pure to rise to the rank of a superhuman being4 ,our sojourn upon earth is then only a kind of trial1 imposed upon us by nature1 during which we must refine our souls1 free them from earthly bonds1 rid them of the defects which weigh them down1 and hinder them from rising1 in radiance1 towards the ethereal spheres4 ,every ill-fulfilled human existence has to be recommenced4 ,thus1 the school-boy who has worked hard1 who has studied well1 goes into a higher class at the end of the year2 but if he has made no progress in his studies1 he must go through his class again4 ,perverse men are1 in our opinion1 vicious beings who have had a previous life1 and are obliged to live it over again4 ,they must go through it again and again1 until the day comes when their souls shall be fit to take higher rank in the hierarchy of creatures1 that is to say1 until they shall be fit to pass1 after their death1 into the condition of superhuman beings4 ,in proportion as the cause of our existence here below is obscure and even inexplicable according to ordinary ideas1 it is simple and luminous in the light of the doctrine of the plurality of existences4 ,we must add that this doctrine is conformable to the justice of ,god4 ,in making earthly life a trial for man1 ,god is equitable and good1 like an earthly father4 ,is it not better to subject a soul to a trial which may begin over again if it have an unfortunate result1 than to bind it to one condition1 failure in which must involve the condemnation of the guilty person8 ,it is better to offer the possibility of rehabilitation by his own efforts1 by his personal struggles1 to a fallen creature1 than to utterly crush him1 stained by his crimes and imperfections4 ,the justice and the goodness of ,god are manifest in this paternal arrangement1 much more than in the severe jurisdiction which would irretrievably condemn a soul after one single trial had resulted unfavourably4 ,if human life be a trial1 if it be a period during which we are preparing for a new and happier existence1 there is no need to look beyond that truth for an explanation of why we are on the earth1 why we are living to-day rather than to-morrow1 and in one latitude of our globe rather than in another2 there is no need to ask why we are born in the earth1 and not in ,mercury1 ,saturn1 or ,mars4 ,whether we are living now1 or are to live later1 whether we have been born in the earth1 in ,mercury1 or in ,mars1 whether we inhabit ,europe or ,africa1--all these things are utterly unimportant to our destiny4 ,we are undergoing a period of preparation indispensably necessary to be accomplished before we pass into the superhuman condition2 and the place1 the moment of our transit1 the country in which we sojourn1 the planet which is assigned to us as the scene of this trial1 are without any importance in the part which we have to play in accordance with the intentions of nature4 ,we are making an immense journey through the worlds1 and a short sojourn on the ,earth makes a part of our vast itinerary4 ,whatever may be the corner of the universe in which we find ourselves we cannot escape the trial imposed upon us by ,god1 a trial by strife and suffering1 a period of moral and physical pain to which we must submit before we can be promoted in the hierarchy of creatures4 ,the time1 the place1 the good or evil moral conditions ought therefore to be indifferent to us4 ,what is needful for us is a brief sojourn on a planet in which this trial may be accomplished1 and it may be accomplished on the ,earth1 or in ,mars1 or in ,mercury1 and on any spot of the ,earth's surface one chooses to think of4 ,if1 during the course of this trial1 we meet with moral evil1 if we see vice triumphant and virtue persecuted1 if we see the innocent victims of the injustice1 the cruelty1 or the ignorance of man1 we have no right to murmur against ,providence1 we have no right to utter maledictions against pain1 to deplore the scandal of successful and triumphant crime1 and of suffering and weeping virtue4 ,we have no right to regret our bodily infirmities1 the diseases which lay hold upon us on the ,earth1 and which afflict us all our lives1 or to complain of the weakness of our minds1 the decay of our faculties4 ,all these conditions1 which are inimical to earthly happiness1 are a portion of the series of trials which we have to undergo here below4 ,we ought to bless those evils1 and be grateful to those sufferings1 for they are the instruments of our eternal redemption1 and the more piercing and bitter they are the sooner will come the hour of our deliverance1 the happy moment when we shall leave this impure and filthy world which our feet have trodden for a while4 ,besides1 justice will speedily be done4 ,with brief delay the wicked shall be punished for his evil deeds by having to recommence a new existence here1 while the good shall be elevated to the upper world1 where a new1 wide-ranging life awaits him1 far more happy and more wise1 in truer harmony with the aspirations of our nature than his previous and miserable existence here4 ,then we shall be born again1 radiant and strong1 with our memory1 our feelings1 and our liberty complete4 ,thus difficulties vanish1 and problems are solved3 thus uncertainty vanishes away1 and mysteries which no doctrine1 no religion1 no philosophy1 could dissipate1 and which almost made us doubt the justice of ,god1 are cleared up4 ,the doctrine of re-incarnations and prior existences explains everything1 answers everything4 ,we pass on to one of the most interesting questions of the doctrine of the pre-existence of souls1 the question of children who have died in infancy4 ,what becomes of children who die at a few days old1 or at the age of eight or ten months1 or at their birth8 ,until after all these periods the human soul remains quite undeveloped2 it is in almost the same rudimentary state as at the hour of its birth4 ,what1 then1 is the fate of young children after their death8 ,the doctrine of the plurality of existences simplifies this question4 ,it admits that when an infant dies before it has lived one year 7the period of dentition71 its soul remains upon the earth1 and does not pass1 like that of a grown man1 into the state of a superhuman being4 ,the soul of an infant a year old is still in a rudimentary condition1 almost as much so as at the moment of its birth4 ,the soul of a child who dies at that age has to begin life over again1 disengaging itself from the little corpse1 it incarnates itself in another newly-born body1 and after this fresh incarnation1 it begins a second life4 ,if the new incarnation does not last more than a year1 there is no reason why the soul should not undergo a third incarnation in the body of a child1 and so on until it shall have accomplished the period of admission to the conditions common to all4 ,it is impossible that the soul of a child1 which is as yet undeveloped1 which has added nothing to that which it has received1 should be treated as perfected souls1 purified by the experience of life1 by physical and moral sufferings1 who have used their sojourn upon earth as a period of preparation and training4 ,an infant child cannot therefore be admitted to the super-terrestrial dwellings1 he simply recommences an interrupted trial4 ,the mortality of children between the day of their birth and the age of one year is so considerable1 that nature must have reserved to herself the means of annulling this cause of disarrangement in the sequence and order of her operations4 ,this explanation of the destiny of young children is conformable to the economy which is observed in the operations of nature4 ,nature wills that nothing which is created should be lost4 ,the soul of a criminal is evil1 but it is a soul1 it exists1 and it is eternal3 it must not be lost4 ,but it must be corrected and perfected1 which is done by means of the new existences to which nature consigns that imperfect soul1 in order that it may enjoy the means of restoration4 ,thus the principle of the soul is preserved1 and nothing is lost of that which was created4 ,the soul of the child dying in infancy must not be lost either4 ,a second incarnation in another child will permit it to resume the course of its evolution1 accidentally interrupted by death4 ,thus the soul will be preserved1 and nothing will be lost4 ,chemistry1 since ,lavoisier's time1 has brought to light a great truth3 it is1 that nothing of the elements of matter is lost2 bodies change their form1 but the material element1 the simple body1 is imperishable1 indestructible1 and always to be found intact1 notwithstanding its numerous transformations4 ,if it is true that in the material world nothing is lost1 it is equally certain that neither is anything lost in the spiritual world2 that only transformation takes place4 ,thus1 nothing is lost1 either of immaterial or material beings1 and we may lay down this new principle of moral philosophy by the side of the principle of chemical philosophy established by the genius of ,lavoisier4 ,illustration ,illustration ,,chapter ,,the ,,sixteenth4 ,,faculties ,,peculiar ,,to ,,certain ,,children1 ,,aptitudes ,,and ,,vocations ,,among ,,men1 ,,are ,,additional ,,proofs ,,of ,,re-,,incarnations4--,,explanation ,,of ,,phrenology4--,,descartes' ,,innate ,,ideas1 ,,and ,,dugald ,,stewart',s ,,principle ,,of ,,causality ,,can ,,only ,,be ,,explained ,,by ,,the ,,plurality ,,of ,,lives4--,,vague ,,recollections ,,of ,,our ,,anterior ,,existences4 ,,if there are no re-incarnations1 if our actual existence is1 as modern philosophy and the ordinary creeds maintain it to be1 a solitary fact1 not to be repeated1 it follows that the soul must be formed at the same time as the body1 and that at each birth of a human being1 a new soul must be created1 to animate this body4 ,we would ask1 then1 why are not all these souls of the same type8 ,why1 when all human bodies are alike1 is there so great a diversity in souls1 that is to say1 in the intellectual and moral faculties which constitute them8 ,we would ask why natural tendencies are so diverse and so strongly marked1 that they frequently resist all the efforts of education to reform1 or repress them1 or to direct them into any other line8 ,whence come those instincts of vice and virtue which are to be observed in children1 those instincts of pride or of baseness1 which are often seen in such striking contrast with the social position of their families8 ,why do some children delight in the contemplation of pain1 and take pleasure in torturing animals1 while others are vehemently moved1 turn pale1 and tremble at the sight or even the thought of a living creature's pain8 ,why1 if the soul in all men be cast in the same mould1 does not education produce an identical effect upon young people8 ,two brothers follow the same classes at the same school1 they have the same masters1 and the same examples are before their eyes4 ,nevertheless1 the one profits to the utmost by the lessons which he receives1 and in manners1 education1 and conduct1 he is irreproachable4 ,his brother1 on the contrary1 remains ignorant and uncouth4 ,if the same seed sown in these two soils has produced such different fruit1 must it not be that the soil which has received the seed1 i4e41 the soul1 is different in the case of each8 ,natural dispositions1 vocations1 manifest themselves from the earliest period of life4 ,this extreme diversity in natural aptitudes would not exist if souls were all created of the same type4 ,the bodies of animals1 the human body1 the leaves of trees1 are fabricated after the same type1 because we can observe but few and slight differences among them4 ,the skeleton of one man is always like the skeleton of another man2 the heart1 the stomach1 the ribs1 the intestines are formed alike in every man4 ,it is otherwise with souls2 they differ considerably in individuals4 ,we hear it said every day that such an one's child has a taste for arithmetic1 a second for music1 a third for drawing4 ,in the case of others evil1 violent1 even criminal instincts are remarked1 and these dispositions break out in the earliest years of life4 ,that these natural aptitudes are carried to a very high degree and unusual extent1 we have celebrated examples recorded in history1 and frequently cited4 ,we have ,pascal1 at twelve years old1 discovering the greater portion of plane geometry1 and without having been taught anything whatever of arithmetic1 drawing all the figures of the first book of ,euclid's geometry on the floor of his room1 exactly estimating the mathematical relations of all these figures to each other2 that is to say1 constructing descriptive geometry for himself4 ,we have the shepherd1 ,mangiamelo1 calculating as an arithmetical machine1 at five years old4 ,we have ,mozart executing a sonata with his four-years-old fingers1 and composing an opera at eight4 ,we have ,theresa ,milanollo playing the violin with such art and skill1 at four years old1 that ,baillot said she must have played the violin before she was born4 ,we have ,rembrandt drawing like a master of the art1 before he could read4 ,etc41 etc4 ,every one remembers these examples1 but it must be borne in mind that they do not constitute exceptions4 ,they only represent a general fact1 which in these particular cases was so prominent as to attract public attention4 ,they are valuable as exponents to the public of a fundamental law of nature1 the diversity of natural faculties and aptitudes1 and the predominance of particular faculties among certain children4 ,children endowed with these extraordinary and precocious vocations are called little prodigies4 ,this qualification is sometimes used in a depreciatory sense1 for the little prodigies are accused of failing to carry out the promises of their childhood2 it is observed that the brilliant abilities of their early years have not been guarantees of extraordinary success in their careers as grown men4 ,a child1 whose drawings were wonderful at four years old1 has become a wretched dauber1 as an established artist4 ,a musician1 who enchanted his audience at eight years old1 has grown up a very mediocre performer4 ,this remark is just1 and the fact is explicable thus3 ,if the little prodigies have not become great men1 it is because they have not cultivated their faculties2 because they have allowed sloth and disuse to extinguish their talents4 ,it does not suffice to possess natural abilities for a science1 or an art1 work and study must strengthen and develop them4 ,little prodigies are outstripped in their career by hard workers1 as is natural4 ,they have come upon earth with remarkable faculties which they had acquired during a previous life1 but they have done nothing to develop those faculties1 which have remained as they were at the moment of terrestrial birth4 ,the man of genius is the man who unceasingly cultivates and perfects such great natural aptitudes and faculties as he has been endowed with at his birth4 ,the predominance of particular faculties in certain children is not to be explained according to the common philosophy which discerns the creation of a new soul in the birth of every infant4 ,they are1 on the contrary1 easily explicable according to the doctrine of re-incarnations1 indeed they are no more than a corollary of that doctrine4 ,everything is comprehensible if a life1 anterior to the present1 be admitted4 ,the individual brings to his life here1 the intuition which is the result of the knowledge he has acquired during his first existence4 ,men are of more or less advanced intelligence and morality1 according to the life which they have led before they come into this world to play the parts which we can see4 ,this is self-evident in the case of a man who recommences his life4 ,this man had acquired certain faculties during his first1 which are profitable to him in his second existence4 ,perhaps he does not possess all the faculties with which his first life was endowed1 in their full and perfect integrity1 but he has what mathematicians call the resultant of those faculties1 and this resultant is a special aptitude1 it is vocation4 ,he is a calculator1 a painter1 or a musician by vocation1 because1 in his former human career he has had the faculty of calculation1 drawing1 or music4 ,we believe that it is impossible to find any other explanation of our natural aptitudes4 ,it will be objected to this1 that it is strange that aptitude and faculties should be the resultant of a prior existence1 of which we have1 nevertheless1 no recollection4 ,we reply to this objection that it is quite possible to lose all remembrance of events which have happened1 and yet to preserve certain faculties of the soul which are independent of particular and concrete facts1 especially when those faculties are powerful4 ,we constantly see old men who have lost all recollection of the events of their life1 who no longer know anything of the history of their time1 nor indeed1 of their own history1 but who1 nevertheless1 have not lost their faculties1 or aptitudes4 ,linnus1 in his old age1 took pleasure in reading his own works1 but forgot that he was their author1 and frequently exclaimed3 ,how interesting6 ,how beautiful6 ,i wish ,i had written that6 ,there is no reason to doubt that a child1 after its re-incarnation1 may preserve the aptitudes of its previous existence1 though it has entirely lost the remembrance of the facts which took place and which it witnessed during that period4 ,these faculties reappear and become active in the child1 just as the half-extinguished flame of a fire is rekindled by the breath of the wind4 ,the breath which fans the smouldering flame of human faculties is that of a second existence4 ,the absence of memory may be urged as an objection to re-incarnations in the body of a child1 but this argument does not apply to the incarnation of the soul of an animal in a human body4 ,the animal1 being almost without the faculty of memory1 it is easy to understand that its aptitudes only pass into the condition of man4 ,the good or evil1 gentle or fierce instincts which human souls manifest so early1 are explained by the species of the animal through which the soul has been transmitted4 ,a child who has a faculty for music may have received the soul of a nightingale1 the sweet songster of our woods4 ,a child who is an architect by vocation may have inherited the soul of a beaver1 the architect of the woods and waters4 ,in short1 the various aptitudes1 the natural faculties1 the vocations of human beings1 are easily explained by the doctrine of the transmigration of souls4 ,if we reject this system1 we must charge ,god with injustice1 because we must believe that ,he has granted to certain men useful faculties which ,he has refused to others1 and made an unequal distribution of intelligence and morality1 these foundations of the conduct and direction of life4 ,this reasoning appears to us to be beyond attack1 for it does not rest upon an hypothesis1 but upon a fact3 namely1 the inequality of the faculties among men1 and of their intelligence and morality4 ,this fact1 inexplicable by any theory of any received philosophy1 is only to be explained by the doctrine of re-incarnations1 and forms the basis of our reasoning4 ,discussion for and against phrenology has been plentiful1 and has ended in the abandonment of the inquiry1 because the ideas of ordinary philosophy do not supply a sound theory on the subject4 ,it has been found more convenient to ignore the labours of ,gall than to endeavour to explain them4 ,the truth is1 that ,gall has committed some errors of detail1 which is always the case with every founder of a new doctrine1 who cannot bring an unprecedented work to perfection by himself alone2 but his successors have rectified the errors of the system1 and we are now obliged to acknowledge that ,gall's theory is correct4 ,it is indeed simply composed of observations which everyone may repeat for himself4 ,when ,gall's theory1 or phrenology1 is applied to animals1 the evidence in its favour is astonishing4 ,in the case of man the facts are almost always confirmatory of the theory4 ,it is certain that the skull of an assassin does exhibit the abnormal developments indicated by ,gall1 and that1 according to the doctrine of the ,german anatomist1 the sentiments of affection1 love1 cupidity1 discernment1 c41 may be recognised externally by the bumps in the human skull4 ,it rarely happens that the phrenologist1 on examining the skull of a ,troppmann1 or a ,papavoine1 fails to trace the hideous indications of evil passions and brutality4 ,unfortunately1 many of our moralists find themselves seriously embarrassed by philosophy1 because their views are limited by the commonplace philosophy of the day4 ,classic moralists ask themselves whether a man with the bump of murder in his skull is responsible for his crime1 whether he is a free agent1 whether he is so guilty as he is held to be1 when he yields to the cruel instincts with which nature1 in his case a wicked step-mother1 has endowed him4 ,is it just to be pitiless towards a man who has only obeyed his physical conformation1 almost as a madman obeys the impulses of his diseased mind8 ,it would seem that the punishment of assassination is an injustice1 and men ask themselves whether the criminal courts and the scaffold ought not to be abolished1 and whether the judge who condemns to death an individual1 who is not responsible for his actions1 is not the real criminal8 ,the same reasoning1 the same uncertainty apply to virtuous deeds4 ,is much commendation due to the man who fulfils his duties exactly1 to the conscientious and faithful citizen1 the honest and kindly individual1 if his wise and respectable conduct be simply obedience to the good impulses communicated to him by his physical organization8 ,these results of phrenology were1 it is evident1 very embarrassing1 and almost immoral4 ,barbarity on the part of society which punishes the guilty2--absence of merit in the well-behaved man6 these consequences were difficult and painful to admit1 so the world got out of the difficulty by rejecting phrenology4 ,it is quite unnecessary to reject phrenology2 we may retain it1 and congratulate ourselves on a fresh conquest in the sphere of the sciences of observation1 if we hold the doctrine of previous existences4 ,phrenology is most naturally explained1 in fact1 by that doctrine4 ,when it enters on the occupation of a human body1 the soul lends to the cerebral matter1 which is the seat of thought1 a certain modification1 a predominance in harmony with the faculties which that soul possesses at the period of its birth1 and which it has acquired in an anterior animal or human existence4 ,the brain is moulded by the soul into conformity with its proper aptitudes1 its acquired faculties2 then the bony covering of the skull1 which moulds itself upon the cerebral substance within its cavity1 reproduces and gives expression to our predominant faculties4 ,the ancients who said1 ,corpus cordis opus 7the body is the work of the soul1 or the soul makes its body71 expressed this same idea with energetic conciseness4 ,there is1 therefore1 no need to excuse a murderer1 there is no need to deny his free will1 there is no need to spare him the just chastisement of his crime4 ,it is not because there are certain protuberances on his skull that the murderer dips his hands in the blood of his victims4 ,these protuberances are only the external indications of the evil and vicious propensities with which he was born1 by which he might have been warned and corrected1 and which he might have conquered by the strength of his will1 by a real and ardent desire to restore his deformed and vicious soul to rectitude4 ,it is always possible1 by adequate effort1 to surmount the evil inclinations of one's nature2 every one of us can resist pride1 idleness1 and envy4 ,the man who has not corrected these bad impulses is guilty1 and nothing can render a crime committed in all the plenitude of his free will excusable4 ,thus1 neither ,god nor society is implicated in this question1 if we accept the doctrine of the plurality of existences4 ,descartes and ,leibnitz have demonstrated that the human understanding possesses ideas called innate1 that is to say1 ideas which we bring with us to our birth4 ,this fact is certain4 ,in our time1 the ,scotch philosopher1 ,dugald ,stewart1 has put ,descartes' theory into a more precise form1 by proving that the only real innate idea1 that which has universal existence in the human mind after birth1 is the idea1 or the principle of causality1 a principle which makes us say and think that there is no effect without cause1 which is the beginning of reason4 ,in ,france1 ,laromiguire and ,damiron have popularized this discovery of the ,scotch philosopher4 ,thus the classics of philosophy record this proposition as a truth beyond the reach of doubt4 ,we unreservedly admit the principle of causality as the innate idea par excellence1 and we take account of the fact4 ,but we ask the fashionable philosophy how it can explain it8 ,in our minds there are innate ideas1 as ,descartes has said2 and the principle of causality1 which invincibly obliges us to refer from the effect to the cause1 is the most evident of those ideas which seem to make a part of ourselves2 but why have we innate ideas1 where do they come from1 and how did they get into our minds8 ,the classical philosophy1 the philosophy of ,descartes1 which reigns in ,france1 at the ,normal ,school1 and among the professors of the ,university of ,paris1 cannot teach us that4 ,it will be said1 perhaps1 to use the favourite argument of ,descartes1 that we have innate ideas because it is the will of ,god1 who has created the soul4 ,but such a reply is at once commonplace and arbitrary1 it may be used on all occasions--it is so used in fact--and it is not a logical argument4 ,innate ideas and the principle of causality are explained very simply by the doctrine of the plurality of existences2 they are1 indeed1 merely deductions from that doctrine4 ,a man's soul1 having already existed1 either in the body of an animal or that of another man1 has preserved the trace of the impressions received during that existence4 ,it has lost1 it is true1 the recollection of actions performed during its first incarnation2 but the abstract principle of causality1 being independent of the particular facts1 being only the general result of the practice of life1 must remain in the soul at its second incarnation4 ,thus1 the principle of causality1 of which ,french philosophy cannot offer any satisfactory theory1 is explained in the simplest possible manner1 by the hypothesis of re-incarnations and of the plurality of existences4 ,we have previously alluded to memory1 and explained its relation to re-incarnations1 and the reasons why we are born without any consciousness of a previous life4 ,we have said1 that if we come from an animal1 we have no memory1 because the animal has none1 or has very little4 ,we must now add1 that if we come from a human soul1 reopening to the light of life1 we are destitute of memory1 because it would disturb the trial of our terrestrial life1 and even render it impossible1 as it is the intention of nature that we should recommence the experience of existence without any trace1 present to our minds1 of previous actions which might limit or embarrass our free will4 ,we cannot pass from this portion of our subject without calling attention to the fact that the remembrance of a previous existence is not always absolutely wanting to us4 ,who is there1 who1 in his hours of solitary contemplation1 has not seen a hidden world come forth before his eyes from the far distance of a mysterious past8 ,when1 wrapped in profound reverie1 we let ourselves float on the stream of imagination1 into the ocean of the vague1 and the infinite1 do we not see magic pictures which are not absolutely unknown to our eyes8 do we not hear celestial harmonies which have already enchanted our ears8 ,these secret imaginings1 these involuntary contemplations1 to which each of us can testify1 are they not the real recollections of an existence anterior to our life here below8 ,might we not also attribute to a vague remembrance1 to an unconscious sympathy1 the real and profound pleasure which we derive from the mere sight of plants1 flowers1 and vegetation8 ,the aspect of a forest1 of a beautiful meadow1 of green hills1 touches us1 moves us1 sometimes even to tears4 ,great masses of verdure1 and the humble field daisy1 alike speak to our hearts4 ,each of us has a favourite plant1 the flower whose perfume he loves to inhale1 or the tree whose shade he prefers4 ,rousseau was moved by the sight of a yew tree1 and ,alfred de ,musset loved the willows so much1 that he expressed a wish1 piously fulfilled1 that a willow might over-shadow his grave4 ,this love of the vegetable world has a mysterious root in our hearts4 ,may we not recognize in so natural a sentiment1 a sort of vague remembrance of our original country1 a secret and involuntary evocation of the scene in which the germ of our soul was first loosed to the light of the sun1 the powerful promoter of life8 ,besides the undecided and dim remembrance of pictures which seem to belong to our anterior existences upon the globe1 we sometimes feel keen aspirations towards a kinder and calmer destiny than that which is allotted to us here below4 ,no doubt coarse beings1 entirely attached to material appetites and interests1 do not feel these secret longings for an unknown and happier destiny1 but poetical and tender souls1 those who suffer from the wretched conditions of which human nature is the slave and the martyr1 take a vague pleasure in such melancholy aspirations4 ,in the radiant infinite they foresee celestial dwellings1 where they shall one day reside1 and they are impatient to break the ties which bind them to earth4 ,read the episode in ,goethe's ,mignon1 in which ,mignon1 wandering and exiled1 pours out her young soul in aspirations to heaven1 in sublime longings for an unknown and blessed future1 which she feels drawing her towards itself1 and ask yourself whether the beautiful verses of the great poet1 who was also a great naturalist1 do not interpret a truth of nature1 i4e41 the new life which awaits us in the plains of ether4 ,why do all men1 among all peoples1 raise their eyes to heaven in solemn moments1 in the impulses of passion1 and the anguish of grief or pain8 ,does any one1 under such circumstances1 contemplate the earth on which he stands8 ,our eyes and our hearts turn towards the skies4 ,the dying raise their fallen orbs to heaven1 and we look towards the celestial spaces in those vague reveries which we have been describing4 ,it is permitted to us to believe that this universal tendency is an intuition of that which awaits us after our terrestrial life1 a natural revelation of the domain which shall be ours one day1 and which extends over the celestial empyrean1 to the bosom of ethereal space4 ,illustration ,illustration ,,chapter ,,the ,,seventeenth4 ,a ,,summary ,,of ,,the ,,system ,,of ,,the ,,plurality ,,of ,,lives4 ,,we propose now to collect1 within a few summary propositions1 the principal features of the system of nature which we have defined4 #a4 ,the sun is the primary agent of life and organization4 #b4 ,in the primitive time of our globe1 life began to appear in aquatic and arial plants1 as well as in zoophytes4 ,the same order reproduces itself at present1 in the point of departure1 and in the development of life and of souls4 ,the solar rays1 falling on the earth1 and into the waters1 produce the formation of plants and that of zoophytes4 ,the rays of the sun by depositing in the waters and on the earth1 animated germs1 emanating from the spiritualized beings who inhabit the sun1 bring about the birth of plants and zoophytes4 #c4 ,plants and zoophytes are endowed with sensation4 ,they enclose an animal germ1 just as a seed encloses an embryo4 #d4 ,the animal germ contained in the plant and in the zoophyte1 passes1 at the death of each animal1 into the body of the animal which comes next to it in the ascending scale of organic perfection4 ,from the zoophyte the animated germ passes into the mollusc1 from thence into the articulated animal1 the fish1 or the reptile4 ,from the body of the reptile1 it passes into that of the bird1 and then into the mammifers4 ,in the inferior beings1 for instance zoophytes1 several animated germs may be united to form the soul of a single being of a superior order4 #e4 ,in passing through the entire series of animals1 this rudimentary soul becomes perfected and acquires the beginnings of faculties4 ,conscience1 will1 and judgment succeed to sensation4 ,when the soul has attained the body of a mammifer1 it has acquired a certain number of faculties4 ,in addition to feeling1 it has the basis of reason1 i4e41 the principle of causation4 ,from the body of a mammiferous animal belonging to the superior species1 the soul passes into the body of a newly-born infant4 #f4 ,the child is born without memory1 like the superior animal whence it has proceeded4 ,at a year old it acquires this faculty1 and gradually obtains others2 imagination and thought develop themselves1 reason grows strong1 memory becomes firm and extensive4 #g4 ,if the child dies before the age of twelve months1 his soul1 still very imperfect1 and devoid of active faculties1 passes into the body of another newly-born child1 and recommences a new existence4 #h4 ,when a man dies1 his body remains upon the earth1 his soul rises through the atmosphere to the ether which surrounds all the planets1 and enters into the body of the angel1 or superhuman being4 #i4 ,if1 during its sojourn upon the earth1 the soul has not undergone a sufficient amount of purification and ennobling1 it recommences a second existence1 passing into the body of a newly-born child1 and losing the remembrance of its first life4 ,only when the soul has attained the suitable degree of perfection1 and1 after having been re-incarnate once1 or many times1 is empowered to leave our globe1 to assume a new body in the bosom of the ethereal plains1 and thus become a superhuman being1 can it recover the recollection of its past existences4 #aj4 ,that which occurs upon the ,earth also takes place in the other planets of our solar system4 ,in these planets vegetables1 or beings analogous to vegetables are produced by the action of the sun4 ,by means of his rays animated germs are carried into these globes1 and plants and inferior animals are produced4 ,then these animated germs contained in the plants and inferior animals1 passing successively through the whole series of animals1 end by producing a being1 superior1 in intelligence and sensibility1 to all the other living creatures4 ,this superior being1 the analogue of the human being1 we call planetary man4 #aa4 ,the planetary man1 who inhabits ,mercury1 ,mars1 ,venus1 c41 being dead1 his material form remains upon the planetary globe1 and his soul1 provided it has acquired the necessary degree of purity1 passes into the surrounding ether1 is incarnate in a new body1 and produces a superhuman being4 #ab4 ,phalanxes of these superhuman beings float in the planetary ether4 ,it witnesses the reunion of all the purified souls1 which have come from our globe and from the other planets4 ,the organic types of these beings is the same1 whatever may be their planetary abode4 #ac4 ,the superhuman being is provided with special attributes1 he is endowed with mighty faculties which raise him to a height infinitely above terrestrial or planetary humanity4 ,in this being1 matter1 in comparison with the spiritual principle1 is reduced to a much smaller proportion than in man4 ,his body is light and vaporous4 ,he possesses senses which are unknown to us1 and the senses which he possesses in common with us1 are prodigiously intensified1 subtilised1 and perfected4 ,he can transport himself1 in a short space of time1 to any distance1 he can travel1 without fatigue1 from one point in space to another4 ,his vision is of immeasurable extent4 ,he has intuitive knowledge of many facts of nature which are hidden by an impenetrable veil from feeble human perception4 #ad4 ,the superhuman being who comes from the earth can place himself in communication with men who are worthy of the privilege4 ,he directs their conduct1 watches over their actions1 enlightens their understanding1 inspires their hearts4 ,when1 in their turn1 they too reach the celestial dwellings1 he receives them on the threshold of their new abode1 and initiates them into the life of blessedness beyond the tomb4 #ae4 ,the superhuman being is mortal4 ,when he has terminated the normal course of his existence in the ethereal spaces1 he dies1 and his spiritual principle enters into a new body1 that of the archangel1 or arch-human being1 in whom the proportion of spiritual principle predominates still more strongly1 in proportion to matter4 #af4 ,these re-incarnations1 in the depths of the ethereal spaces1 are reproduced more frequently than can be defined1 and give us a series of creatures of ever-increasing activity and power of thought and action4 ,at each promotion in the hierarchy of space these sublime beings find the energy of their moral and intellectual faculties1 their power of feeling1 and of loving1 and their induction into the most profound mysteries of the ,universe1 undergoing augmentation4 #ag4 ,when he has arrived at the highest degree of the celestial hierarchy1 the spiritualized being is absolutely perfect2 in strength and in intelligence4 ,he is entirely freed from all material alloy1 he has no longer a body1 he is a pure spirit4 ,in this condition he passes into the sun4 #ah4 ,the sun1 the king-star1 is then the final and common sojourn of all the spiritualized beings who have come from the other planets1 after having passed through the long series of existences which have rolled away in the plains of ether4 #ai4 ,the spiritualized beings gathered together in the sun1 send down upon the earth and upon the planets emanations from their essence1 that is to say1 animated germs4 ,these animated germs are carried by the sunbeams1 which distribute organization1 feeling1 and life over all the planets1 at the same time that they preside at all the great physical and mechanical operations which take place on the earth1 and on the other planets of our solar world4 #bj4 ,the formation of the arial and aquatic plants1 and the birth of inferior animals or zoophytes1 are1 as we have said1 the result of the action of the sun's rays on our globe4 ,then commences the series of the transmigrations of souls through the bodies of various animals1 which results in man1 in the superhuman being1 and in all the succession of celestial metempsychoses1 whose ultimate term is the spiritualized being or the dweller in the sun4 ,thus does the great chain of nature close and complete itself2--that uninterrupted chain of vital activity1 which has neither beginning nor end1 and which links all created beings into one family1 the universal family of the worlds4 ,nature is not a straight line1 but a circle1 and we cannot say where this wonderful circle begins or ends4 ,the wisdom of the ,egyptians1 which represented the world as a serpent coiled around itself1 was the symbol of a great truth which the science of our time has once more brought to light4 ,illustration ,illustration ,,chapter ,,the ,,eighteenth4 ,,replies ,,to ,,some ,,objections4--,,first3 ,,the ,,immortality ,,of ,,the ,,soul1 ,,which ,,is ,,the ,,basis ,,of ,,this ,,system1 ,,is ,,not ,,demonstrated4--,,second3 ,,we ,,have ,,not ,,any ,,recollection ,,of ,,anterior ,,existences4--,,third3 ,,this ,,system ,,is ,,no ,,other ,,than ,,the ,,metempsychosis ,,of ,,the ,,ancients4--,,fourth3 ,,this ,,system ,,is ,,confounded ,,with ,,darwinism4 ,,having brought into relief1 by the preceding summary1 the entire doctrine of successive lives and of re-incarnations1 we must now meet some objections which will have been provoked by these propositions1 and reply to them in a way which has the advantage of still more distinctly explaining our ideas on several points4 ,first objection4 ,it will be said3 ,the existence of an immortal soul in man forms the basis of all this reasoning4 ,now1 the fact of the existence of an immortal soul is not demonstrated in the course of this work1 and1 besides1 it could not be demonstrated4 ,the following is our reply to this first objection4 ,we are composed of two elements1 or of two substances2 one which thinks--the soul1 or the immaterial substance2 the other1 which does not think--the body1 or the material substance4 ,this truth is self-evident4 ,thought is a fact1 certain in itself2 and it is another fact1 equally certain1 that my arms1 my nails or beard1 do not think4 ,here1 then1 is the proof of the immortality of the soul1 or thinking principle4 ,matter does not perish2 observation and science prove that material bodies are never annihilated1 that they merely change their condition1 their form1 and their place2 but are always to be found somewhere intact as to their substance4 ,our bodies decompose1 and are dissolved1 but the matter of which they were formed is never destroyed1 it is dispersed in the air1 the fire1 and the water1 in which it produces new material combinations1 but it is not destroyed for all that4 ,now1 if matter does not perish1 but only becomes transformed1 all the more certainly must the soul be indestructible and imperishable4 ,like matter1 it must be transformed1 without being destroyed4 ,descartes has said1 ,i think1 therefore ,i am4 ,this reasoning1 so much admired in the schools1 has always appeared to us rather weak4 ,to give force to the syllogism1 he should have said1 ,i think1 therefore ,i am immortal4 ,my soul is immortal1 because it exists1 and it does exist since ,i think4 ,thus the fact of the immortality of the spiritual principle which we bear within us is self-evident1 and we do not need any of the demonstrations which abound in philosophical works1 and have been put forth from antiquity until our own time2 we need no ,treatises on the ,soul to establish its existence4 ,the difficulty does not consist in proving that a spiritual principle exists within us1 that is to say1 a principle which resists death1 because1 in order to contest the existence of this principle1 it would be necessary to contest thought4 ,the real problem is to find out whether this spiritual and immortal principle which we bear within us1 is to live again1 after our death1 in ourselves or in others4 ,the question is1 whether the immortal soul will be born again in the same individual1 physically transformed1 in the same person1 in the ego1 or whether it will pass into the possession of a being strange to that person4 ,we may remark here that on this all the interest of the question for us turns4 ,it would be of very little importance to us1 in reality1 whether the soul were immortal or not1 if the soul of each of us1 being really indestructible and immortal1 should pass to another than ourselves1 or if1 reviving in us1 it did not possess the memory of our past existence4 ,the resurrection of the soul without the memory of the past would be a real annihilation1 this would be the nothingness of the materialists4 ,it must be1 then1 that the soul lives again after our death1 in ourselves1 and that this soul1 then1 has clear remembrance of all the actions which took place in its previous existences4 ,it behoves us1 in short1 to know1 not whether our souls are immortal--that fact is self-evident--but whether they will belong to us in the other life1 whether1 after our death1 we shall have identity1 individuality1 personality4 ,it is to the study of this question that the present work is devoted4 ,we are endeavouring to prove that the soul of the man remains always the same1 in spite of its numerous peregrinations1 notwithstanding the variety of form of the bodies in which it is successively lodged1 when it passes from the animal to the man1 from the man to the superhuman being1 and from the superhuman being1 after other celestial transmigrations1 to the spiritualized being who inhabits the sun4 ,we are endeavouring to establish that the soul1 notwithstanding all its journeys1 in the midst of its incarnations and various metamorphoses1 remains always identical with itself1 doing nothing more in each metempsychosis1 in each metamorphosis of the exterior being1 than perfect and purify itself1 growing in power and in intellectual grasp4 ,we are endeavouring to prove1 that1 notwithstanding the shadows of death1 our individuality is never destroyed1 and that we shall be born again in the heavens1 with the same moral personality which was ours here below2 in other words1 that the human person is imperishable4 ,it is for the reader to say whether we have attained our object1 whether we have established the truth of this doctrine conformably with the laws of reasoning and the facts of science4 ,if an absolute demonstration of the existence of an immaterial principle in us be insisted upon1 we must reply1 that philosophy1 like geometry1 has its axioms1 that is to say1 its self-evident truths1 which need not1 or1 if we choose to say so1 which cannot be mathematically demonstrated4 ,the existence of the soul is one of those axioms of philosophy4 ,diogenes answered a rhetorician who denied movement by walking in his presence4 ,by expressing any thought1 by saying yes1 or no1 we may prove the existence of the immortal soul to the sophists who would attempt to contest it4 ,we have just said that geometry has its axioms4 ,let us remember that an entire school of geometricians amused themselves by disputing the axioms1 under the pretext that it was impossible to demonstrate them4 ,we were present1 in ,december1 #ahff1 at a curious sitting of the ,institute1 during which ,m4 ,lionville1 a celebrated mathematician1 and professor at the ,sorbonne1 explained this strange polemic with great skill4 ,in attempting to demonstrate the propositions of geometry1 certain axioms1 i4e41 self-evident truths1 must be admitted in the first place4 ,otherwise1 the primary reasoning will have no basis4 ,but1 among the numerous propositions of this kind which present themselves to the mind1 and which result from the admission of one of their number1 which is the most evident8 ,that depends on the nature of the mind of each of us1 and therefore it is that there is not1 and that there never will be1 an argument on this question4 ,there is a school of geometry which pretends to demonstrate everything4 ,there is another1 the true and good school1 which1 recognizing that the human mind has limits1 and that everything is not accessible by our thoughts1 lays down1 under the name of axioms1 certain truths which do not require proof1 or1 which is often the same thing1 are incapable of proof4 ,among the number of self-evident truths1 or truths difficult of demonstration1 we find the question of parallel lines4 ,what are two parallels8 ,two lines which never meet each other4 ,but how can we prove this property of two lines by reasoning8 ,that is not1 exactly speaking1 possible1 since the notion of the infinite is not admitted1 or not understood by everybody1 and cannot1 therefore1 serve as the basis of an absolutely rigorous argument4 ,it was for this reason that ,euclid1 the founder of geometry in ancient times1 laid down this truth as a simple axiom1 requiring 7hence the postulates of ,euclid1 from the ,latin verb postulare1 to demand71 that the truth of this principle1 which he acknowledged himself unable to prove by logical demonstration1 should be granted4 ,a hundred geometricians1 since ,euclid1 who renounced the attempt to demonstrate it1 have tried to prove this theory of parallels1 but not one has succeeded4 ,it was on the occasion of a fresh attempt at demonstration by a mathematician in the provinces1 that ,m4 ,lionville spoke before the ,academy1 to recall the principles almost unanimously professed by geometricians on this subject4 ,the question is1 in reality1 thoroughly understood2 it is treated on all works on geometry1 and has been for a long time a settled matter4 ,but certain minds are tempted by the subtlety of certain subjects1 and the question of the postulatum turns up periodically before the learned societies1 as it does in the conversations between the teachers of mathematics4 ,m4 ,lionville reminded his audience that many demonstrations of this celebrated proposition had been attempted1 but had not succeeded1 because there are limits within which human reason ceases to be accepted by all4 ,m4 ,lionville even proposed that the question of the postulatum should be classed among those whose examination is interdicted by the ,academy1 such as the quadrature of the circle1 and the trisection of the angle4 ,on this point ,m4 ,lionville quoted an anecdote relative to ,lagrange4 ,that great mathematician1 believing that he had found an absolute solution of the postulatum1 went to the ,academy to read his demonstration1 but on reflection1 he changed his mind1 and decided that it would be better not to publish it4 ,he put his manuscript in his pocket1 and it never came out4 ,several geometricians spoke on this occasion1 and confirmed the views of ,m4 ,lionville2 and when the demonstration submitted by the professor was examined1 it was found to be false4 ,we must therefore recognize and proclaim that1 in geometry1 the axioms cannot be demonstrated4 ,many people endeavour to derive an argument from that discussion against the certainty of geometry4 ,among them is ,m4 ,bouillaud1 a learned physician and member of the ,institute1 who declared that he could not get over his astonishment at hearing it said that there were several geometries1 and that even the bases of that science were doubtful4 ,reassure yourself1 great and good physician1 geometry has nothing to lose and nothing to hide1 and the certainty of its methods is not imperilled in this question4 ,that which really was at stake was the methodical1 classical teaching of geometry4 ,that which was discussed was the best means of instilling the principles of science into the mind4 ,but1 as to the truths of geometry1 as to the facts themselves1 they are secure from all uncertainty1 all these disputes upon the truth which must be recognized as axioms1 or demonstrated as theorems1 are only fancies of the rhetoricians1 as vain as they are subtle4 ,no trace of them remains when they are transported into the practice of facts and of mathematical deductions4 ,ask the astronomers who calculate the orbit of the stars1 who fix the moment of an eclipse with unerring precision1 ask those who have calculated the parallaxes1 whether they trouble themselves by inquiring how it may be demonstrated that the angles of a triangle are equal to two right angles4 ,all the scholastic subtleties are gotten rid of in the course of practical work4 ,if we may lay aside1 without occupying ourselves with them1 the mathematicians who amuse themselves by disputing the axioms of geometry1 we may do the same with the few sophists who desire to dispute the axioms of philosophy and reason1 and especially the principle of the existence of an immortal soul in man4 ,let us leave them to their disputations1 and go on our way4 ,second objection3--,we have no recollection of having existed prior to our entrance into this world4 ,this is1 we acknowledge the greatest and most serious argument against our system4 ,but we must hasten to add1 that if this difficulty did not exist1 if the remembrance of a life anterior to our present existence were always before us1 the doctrine of plurality of lives would need no reinforcement from the proofs for which we appeal to argument1 to the facts of observation1 and to logical induction4 ,it would be plain before our eyes1 it would be self-evident4 ,all our merit1 all our task in this work1 is to endeavour to procure admission of the plurality of existences1 though we have no remembrance of our past lives4 ,we have already treated this question incidentally1 and we will now summarize all that has been advanced in former chapters to explain the absence of recollection of our past existences4 ,the soul in its first human incarnation1 if it proceeds from a superior animal1 could not possess memory1 because in animals that faculty has a small range1 and brief duration4 ,if a second or third human incarnation is in question1 the difficulty is serious1 because it implies that the man who has lived and who is born again1 has forgotten his previous life4 ,but1 in the first place1 this forgetfulness is not absolute4 ,we have remarked before that in the human soul certain results of impressions received prior to the terrestrial life always linger4 ,natural aptitudes1 special faculties1 vocations1 are the traces of impressions formerly received1 of knowledge already acquired1 and1 being revealed from the cradle1 cannot be explained otherwise than by a life gone by4 ,we have lost the remembrance of the facts1 but there remains the moral consequence1 the resultant1 the philosophy1 so to speak1 and thus the innate ideas indicated by ,descartes1 which exist in the soul from its birth1 and also the principle of causality1 which teaches us that every effect has a cause1 are explained4 ,this principle can only be derived from facts1 because an abstraction can only be based upon concrete facts1 upon accomplished events1 and this abstraction1 or this metaphysical idea1 which we have from our birth1 implies anterior facts1 which must belong to a past life4 ,we have already said that when the soul gives free course to reverie1 it beholds mysterious and undefined spectacles1 which seem to belong to worlds which are not quite unknown to us1 but in no wise resembling this earth4 ,in this vague contemplation there is something like a confused remembrance of an anterior life4 ,the love which we bear to flowers1 plants1 and all vegetation1 may be as we have already pointed out1 a grateful recollection of our first origin4 ,if1 however1 these considerations be not accepted as valid1 there is another1 which1 to our mind1 perfectly explains the absence of a remembrance of our former existences4 ,it is1 we believe1 by a premeditated decree of nature1 that the memory of our past lives is denied to us while we are on the earth4 ,m4 ,andr ,pezzani1 the author of an excellent book called ,pluralit des existences de l'me1 replies to the argument of oblivion1 thus3 ,our terrestrial sojourn is only a new trial1 as ,dupont de ,nemours1 that wonderful writer of the eighteenth century1 who outstripped all modern beliefs1 has said4 ,if this be so1 can we not perceive that the remembrance of past lives would embarrass these trials by removing the greater part of their difficulties1 and1 in proportion1 of their merit1 and destroying their spontaneity8 ,we live in a world in which free-will is all powerful1 the inviolable law of the advancement and the progressive initiation of men4 ,if past existences were known1 the soul would know the meaning and the bearing of the trials reserved for it here below2 indolent and idle1 it would harden itself against the designs of ,providence1 and would be either paralyzed by its despair of overcoming them1 or1 if better disposed and more virile1 it would accept and accomplish them unfailingly4 ,but neither one nor the other of these positions is fitting4 ,our efforts must be free1 voluntary1 sheltered from the influences of the past2 the field of strife must be seemingly untrodden1 so that the athlete shall show and exercise his virtue4 ,previously gained experience1 the energies which he has acquired1 help him in the new strife1 but in a latent way of which he is unconscious1 for the imperfect soul undergoes these re-incarnations1 in order to develop its previously manifested qualities1 and to strip itself of those vices and defects which oppose themselves to the law of its ascension4 ,what would happen if all men remembered their previous lives8 ,the order of the earth would be overturned1 or at least1 it would not remain in its present condition4 ,lth1 like free-will1 is a law of the world as it is4#ah ,to this it will be objected that there is destruction of identity where memory does not exist1 and that expiation1 in order to be profitable to the guilty soul1 must co-exist with the remembrance of faults committed in the previous existence1 for the man is not punished who does not know that he is punished4 ,we may remark here that we do not use the word expiation precisely as theologians employ it1 but rather as a new dwelling conferred on the soul1 in order that it may resume the interrupted course of its advance towards perfection4 ,we believe that the remembrance of our previous life1 forbidden to us during our terrestrial sojourn1 will come back when we shall have attained the happy realms of ether1 in which we shall pass through the existences which are to succeed our life on earth4 ,among the number of the perfections and moral faculties forming the attributes of the superhuman being1 the memory of his anterior lives will be included4 ,identity will be born again for him4 ,having suffered a momentary collapse1 his individuality will be restored to him1 with his conscience and his liberty4 ,let us hearken awhile to ,jean ,reynaud1 as he tells us in his fine book1 ,terre et ,ciel1 the marvels of that memory which shall be restored to man after his being shall have undergone a series of changes4 ,the integral restitution of our recollections1 says ,jean ,reynaud1 seems to us one of the inherent principal conditions of our future happiness4 ,we cannot fully enjoy life1 until we become1 like ,janus1 kings of time1 until we know how to concentrate in us1 not only the sentiment of the present1 but that of the future and the past4 ,then1 if perfect life be one day given to us1 perfect memory must also be given to us4 ,and now1 let us try to think of the infinite treasures of a mind enriched by the recollections of an innumerable series of existences1 entirely different from each other1 and yet admirably linked together by a continual dependence4 ,to this marvellous garland of metempsychoses1 encircling the universe1 let us add1 if the perspective seem worthy of our ambition1 a clear perception of the particular influence of our life upon the ulterior changes of each of the worlds which we shall have successively inhabited2 let us aggrandize our life in immortalizing it1 and wed our history grandly with the history of the heavens4 ,let us confidently collect together every material of happiness1 since thus the all-powerful bounty of the ,creator wills it1 and let us construct the existence which the future reserves for virtuous souls2 let us plunge into the past by our faith1 while we are waiting for more light1 even as by our faith we plunge into the future4 ,let us banish the idea of disorder from the earth1 by opening the gates of time beyond our birth1 as we have banished the idea of injustice by opening other gates beyond the tomb2 let us stretch duration in every direction1 and1 notwithstanding the obscurity which rests upon our two horizons1 let us glorify the ,creator in glorifying ourselves1 who are ,god's ministers on earth1 let us remember1 with pious pride1 that we are the younger brethren of the angels4 ,under what condition does the soul regain the remembrance of its entire past8 ,jean ,reynaud specifies two periods4 #a4 ,that which is fulfilled1 as the ,druids hold1 in the world of journeys and trials1 of which the earth forms a part4 #b4 ,the period during which the soul1 set free from the miseries and vicissitudes of the terrestrial life1 pursues its destinies in the ever widening and progressive circle of happiness2 a period which passes outside of the earth4 ,in the first period there is an eclipse of the memory at each passage into a new sphere2 in the second period1 whatever may be the displacements and transfigurations of the person1 the memory is preserved full and entire4 ,this theory of ,reynaud's is admitted by ,m4 ,pezzani4 ,with the exception of that eclipse of the memory at each passage into a new sphere1 which seems to us incomprehensible and useless1 we think1 with ,jean ,reynaud1 that the complete remembrance of our previous existences will return to the soul when it shall inhabit the ethereal regions1 the sojourn of the superhuman being4 ,in this manner only1 in our opinion1 can the defect of man's memory1 concerning his previous existences1 be explained4 ,thus1 the argument from that defect of memory does not remain without reply4 ,writers who have preceded us1 and have meditated on this question1 had already found the solution which we offer4 ,this objection is not1 then1 of a nature to throw doubt on the doctrine of plurality of existences4 ,let us conclude1 with ,m4 ,pezzani1 that it is by a design of nature1 that man1 during this life1 loses the remembrance of what he formerly was4 ,if we retained the recollection of our anterior existences1 if we had before our eyes1 as if seen in a mirror1 all that we had done during our former lives1 we should be much troubled by the remembrance1 which would harass the greater part of our actions1 and deprive us of our complete free will4 ,why is an invincible dread of death common to all men8 ,death is not1 in reality1 very dreadful1 since it is not a termination1 but a simple change of condition4 ,if man feels terror of death to such an extent1 we may be sure that nature imposes that sentiment upon him1 in the interests of the preservation of his species4 ,thus1 in our belief1 the fear of death and the absence of memory of our former lives are referable to the same cause4 ,the first is a salutary illusion imposed by ,god upon the weakness of humanity2 the second is a means of securing to man full liberty of action4 ,another objection will be made to our doctrine4 ,it will be said3 ,the re-incarnation of souls is not a new idea2 it is1 on the contrary1 an idea as old as humanity itself4 ,it is the metempsychosis1 which from the ,indians passed to the ,egyptians1 from the ,egyptians to the ,greeks1 and which was afterwards professed by the ,druids4 ,the metempsychosis is1 in fact1 the most ancient of philosophical conceptions2 it is the first theory imagined by men1 in order to explain the origin and the destiny of our race4 ,we do not recognize an argument against our system of nature in this remark1 but rather indeed a confirmation of it4 ,an idea does not pass down from age to age1 and find acceptance during five or six centuries1 by the picked men of successive generations1 unless it rests upon some serious foundation4 ,we are not called upon to defend ourselves because our opinions harmonize with the philosophical ideas which date from the most distant time in the history of the peoples4 ,the first observers1 and the oriental philosophers in particular1 who are the most ancient thinkers of all whose writings we possess1 had not1 like us1 their minds warped1 prejudiced1 turned aside by routine1 or trammelled by the words of teachers4 ,they were placed very close to nature1 and they beheld its realities1 without any preconceived ideas1 derived from education in particular schools4 ,we cannot1 therefore1 but applaud ourselves when we find that the logical deduction of our ideas has led us back to the antique conception of ,indian wisdom4 ,there is1 however1 a profound difference between our system of the plurality of lives1 and the oriental dogma of the metempsychosis4 ,the ,indian philosophers1 the ,egyptians1 and the ,greeks1 who inherited the maxims of ,pythagoras1 admitted that the soul1 on leaving a human body1 enters into that of an animal1 to undergo punishment4 ,we entirely reject this useless step backward4 ,our metempsychosis is upward and onward1 it never steps down1 or back4 ,a brief sketch of the dogma of the animal metempsychosis1 such as it was professed by the different philosophical sects of antiquity will not be out of place here4 ,we shall explain in what particulars the oriental dogma differs from our system1 and show1 at the same time1 how popular the metempsychosis was among the peoples of antiquity1 in ,europe as well as in ,asia4 ,the most ancient known book is that of the ,vdas1 which contains the religious principles of the ,indians or ,hindoos4 ,in this code of the primary religions of ,asia is found the general dogma of the final absorption of souls in ,god4 ,but1 before it reaches its final fusion with the great ,all1 it is necessary that the human soul should have traversed all the active orders of life4 ,the soul1 therefore1 performed a series of transmigrations and journeys1 in various places1 in different worlds1 and passed through the bodies of several different animals4 ,men who had not done good works went into the moon or the sun2 or else they came back to the earth1 and assumed the bodies of certain animals1 such as dogs1 butterflies1 adders1 c4 ,there were also intermediary places between the earth and the sun1 whither souls who had only been partly faulty1 went to pass a period of expiation4 ,we find the following in the ,vdas3-- ,if a man has done works which lead to the world of the sun1 his soul repairs to the world of the sun2 if he has done works which lead to the world of the ,creator1 his soul goes to the world of the ,creator4 ,the book of the ,vdas says1 very distinctly1 that the animal1 as well as the man1 has the right of passing to other worlds1 as a recompense for his good works4 ,the oriental wisdom felt none of that uncalled-for contempt for animals which is characteristic of modern philosophy and religion4 ,all animals1 according to the degree of knowledge and intelligence which they have had in this world1 go into other worlds4 ,the man whose object was the recompense of his good works1 being dead1 goes into the world of the moon4 ,there he is at the service of the overseers of the half of the moon in its crescent4 ,they welcome him joyfully1 but he is not tranquil1 he is not happy2 all his recompense is to have attained for a while to the world of the moon4 ,on the expiration of this time1 the servant of the overseers of the moon descends again into hell2 and is born as a worm1 a butterfly1 lion1 fish1 dog1 or under any other form 7even under a human form74#ai ,at the last stages of his descent1 if one asks1 who are you8 he replies3 ,i come from the world of the moon1 the wages of the deeds done during my life merely for the sake of reward4 ,i am again invested with a body2 ,i have suffered in the womb of my mother1 and in leaving it2 ,i hope finally to acquire the knowledge of ,him who is all things1 to enter into the right way of worship and of meditation without any consideration of reward4 ,in the world of the moon1 one receives the reward of good works which are done without renunciation of their fruits1 of their merits2 but this reward has only a fixed time1 after which one is born again in an inferior world1 a wicked world1 a world which is the recompense of evil4 ,by the renunciation of all pleasure1 and of all reward by seeking ,god only1 with unshaken faith1 we reach the sun which has no end1 the great world1 whence we return no more to a world which is the recompense of evil4#bj ,the ,egyptians1 having borrowed this doctrine from the ,hindoos1 made it the basis of their religious worship4 ,herodotus informs us1#ba that1 according to the ,egyptians1 the human soul1 on issuing from a completely decomposed body1 enters into that of some animal4 ,the soul takes three thousand years to pass from this body through a series of others1 and at the conclusion of this interval1 the same soul returns to the human species1 entering the form of a newly-born infant4 ,the ,egyptians employed excessive caution in the preservation of human bodies4 ,they embalmed the corpses of their relatives or of personages of importance to the state1 and thus prepared the mummies which are to be seen in all our museums4 ,the universal practice of embalming was not intended1 as has been supposed1 to keep the human body ready to receive the soul1 returning at the end of three thousand years1 to seek its primitive abode4 ,it had another object4 ,it was supposed that the soul did not commence its migrations after the death of the human body1 while any portion of the corpse remained entire4 ,hence the efforts made by the ,egyptians1 to retard the moment of separation by the preservation of the corpse as long as possible4 ,servius says3 ,the ,egyptians1 renowned for their wisdom1 prolonged the duration of corpses1 that the existence of the soul1 attached to that of the body1 might be preserved1 and might not pass away quickly to others4 ,the ,romans1 on the contrary1 burn corpses1 so that the soul1 resuming its liberty1 might immediately re-enter nature4 ,the most ancient and remarkable of the ,greek philosophers1 ,pythagoras1 found out the doctrine of the metempsychosis1 in his travels in ,egypt4 ,he adopted it in his school1 and the whole of the ,greek philosophy held1 with ,pythagoras1 that the souls of the wicked pass into the bodies of animals4 ,hence the abstinence from flesh meat1 prescribed by ,pythagoras to his disciples1 a precept which he also derived from ,egypt1 where respect for animals was due to the general persuasion that the bodies of beasts were tenanted by human souls1 and1 consequently1 that by ill-treating animals1 one ran the risk of injuring one's own ancestors4 ,empedocles1 the philosopher1 adopted the ,pythagorean system4 ,he says1 in lines quoted by ,clement of ,alexandria3-- ,i1 too1 have been a young maiden1 ,a tree1 a bird1 a mute fish in the seas4 ,plato1 the most illustrious of the philosophers of ,greece1 accords a large place to the views of ,pythagoras1 even amid his most sublime conceptions of the soul1 and of immortality4 ,he held that the human soul passes into the body of animals1 in expiation of its crimes4 ,plato said that on earth we remember what we have done during our previous existences1 and that to learn is to remember one's self4 ,cowards1 he says1 are changed into women1 vain and frivolous men into birds1 the ignorant into wild beasts1 lower in kind and crawling upon the earth1 in proportion as their idleness has been more degrading2 stained and corrupt souls animate fishes and aquatic reptiles4 ,again1 he says3 ,those who have abandoned themselves to intemperance and gluttony enter into the bodies of animals with like propensities4 ,they who have loved injustice1 cruelty1 and rapine assume the bodies of wolves1 hawks1 and falcons4 ,the destiny of souls has relation to the lives which they have led4 ,plato held that the soul took only one thousand years to complete its journey through the bodies of animals2 but he believed that this journey repeated itself ten times over1 which gives a total of #aj1jjj years for the completion of the entire circle of existences4 ,between each of these periods the soul made a brief sojourn in ,hades4 ,during this sojourn it drank of the waters of the river ,lethe1 in order to lose the recollection of its previous existence1 before re-commencing its new life4 ,plato exalted the dogma of the animal metempsychosis by his grand views upon spiritual immortality and the liberty of man1 ideas which even at the present time are quoted with admiration1 but for whose recapitulation we have not space4 ,the metempsychosis holds less rank in the ,platonic doctrine than in the ,pythagorean and ,egyptian systems4 ,all its importance was resumed among the philosophers of the ,alexandrian school1 who continued1 in ,egypt1 the traditions of the ,platonic philosophy1 and revived the days of the schools of ,athens on the soil of the ,pharaohs4 ,plotinus1 the commentator of ,plato1 says1 concerning the doctrine of the transmigration of souls3 ,it is a dogma recognized from the utmost antiquity1 that if the soul commits errors1 it is condemned to expiate them by undergoing punishment in the ,shades1 and then it passes into new bodies to begin its trials over again4 ,this passage proves that the ancients held the sojourn of the soul in hell to be only temporary1 and that it was always followed by fresh trials1 terrible and painful in proportion to the errors which were to be repaired4 ,when1 says ,plotinus1 we have gone astray in the multiplicity of our corporal passions1 we are punished1 first by the straying itself1 and afterwards1 when we resume a body1 by finding ourselves in worse conditions4 ,the soul1 on leaving the body1 becomes that power which it has most developed4 ,let us1 then1 fly from base things here below1 and raise ourselves to the intelligent world1 so that we may not fall into the purely sensational life1 by following images which are merely of the senses1 or into the vegetative life1 by indulging in mere physical pleasure and gluttony2 let us raise ourselves to the intelligent world1 to intelligence1 to ,god4 ,those who have exercised human faculties are born again as men4 ,those who have used their senses only pass into the bodies of brutes1 and especially into the bodies of wild beasts1 if they have been accustomed to yield to violent impulses of anger2 so that the different bodies which they animate are conformable to their various propensities4 ,those who have done nothing but indulge their appetites pass into the bodies of luxurious and gluttonous animals4 ,others1 who1 instead of indulging concupiscence or anger1 have degraded their senses by sloth1 are reduced to vegetate in the plants1 because in their previous existences they have exercised nothing but vegetative power1 and have only worked to become trees4 ,those who have loved the enjoyment of music over much1 but have led lives otherwise pure1 pass into the bodies of melodious birds4 ,those who have governed tyrannically1 but have no other vice1 become eagles4 ,those who have spoken lightly of celestial things are changed into birds which fly towards the higher regions of the air4 ,he who has acquired civil virtues becomes a man again1 but if he does not possess these virtues to a sufficient extent1 he is transformed into a sociable creature1 such as the bee1 or some other being of that species4 ,every one knows that among our own ancestors1 and the ,druids or high-priests of the ,gauls1 the metempsychosis was held almost in the same sense as among the ,egyptians and the ,greeks4 ,it is1 so to speak1 a national faith to us1 for it has been held in honour1 its dogmas have flourished1 in the same countries in which we now dwell4 ,we have recalled these facts1 and collected these passages from ancient writers1 only in order to define the manner in which the ,egyptians1 as well as the ,greeks1 and1 in later times1 the ,gauls1 understood the metempsychosis4 ,our system differs from the old oriental conception1 which was embraced by the ,egyptians1 the ,greeks1 and the ,druids1 in our denial that the human soul can ever return to the body of an animal4 ,we believe that the human soul has already passed through this probation1 and that it never can be renewed4 ,in nature1 in fact1 the animal has a part inferior to that of man2 it is below our species in its degree of intelligence1 and it cannot have either merit or demerit4 ,its faculties do not invest it with the entire responsibility of its actions4 ,it is but an intermediate link between the plant and man2 it has certain faculties1 but we cannot pretend that those faculties assimilate it to moral man4 ,thus1 we reject this doctrine of the return of the human soul to conditions through which it has already passed4 ,retrogression has no place in our system4 ,the soul1 in its progressive march1 may pause for an instant1 but it never turns back4 ,we admit that man is condemned to re-commence an ill-fulfilled existence1 but this new experience is made in a human body1 in a new covering of the same living type1 and not in the form of an inferior being4 ,the oriental dogma of the metempsychosis misapprehended the great law of progress1 which is1 on the contrary1 the foundation of our doctrine4 ,fourth objection4 ,it will be said to us3 ,you maintain that our souls have already existed in the bodies of animals2 do you1 then1 share the belief of those naturalists who derive man from the monkey8 ,no1 certainly not4 ,the ,french and ,german naturalists1 who1 applying ,darwin's theory of the transformation of species to man1 have declared man to be derived from the monkey1 rely entirely on anatomical considerations4 ,vogt1 ,bruchner1 ,huxley1 and ,broca compare the skeleton of the monkey with that of primitive man2 they study the form of the skull of each respectively1 they measure the width and the prominence of the jaws1 c41 c4 ,from the results1 they draw the conclusion that man is anatomically derived from a species of quadrumane4 ,the soul is not taken into any consideration by these men of science1 who argue precisely as if nothing of the thinking kind existed in the anatomical cavities which they explore and measure4 ,it is1 on the contrary1 by comparing the faculties of the human soul with the faculties of animals that we arrive at our conclusion4 ,the animal forms signify nothing to us2 the spirit1 in its various manifestations1 is our chief object4 ,why1 indeed1 should we seek to derive man from the monkey1 rather than from any other mammiferous animal1 rather than from the wolf1 or the fox8 ,is there much difference between the skeleton of the monkey and that of the wolf1 the fox1 or any other carnivorous beast8 ,put three or four of those skeletons together1 and you will not find it easy to distinguish one from the other1 if1 instead of selecting a monkey of a superior species1 you take an inferior quadrumane1 a striated monkey1 a lemur1 or a macao4 ,interrogate the physiological functions of the monkey4 ,you will find them1 and the organs which serve those functions1 perfectly similar in all animals1 and those organs identical in their structure4 ,why1 then1 should you derive man from the monkey1 rather than from the wolf or the fox8 ,is it because the monkeys in our menageries have a distant resemblance to man1 in their occasional vertical attitude1 and in certain features which are caricatures of those of the human face8 ,how many of the species among the immense simial family of the two hemispheres present this resemblance8 ,hardly five or six4 ,all the others have the bestial snout in its fullest development1 and are very inferior in intelligence to most of the other mammifers4 ,if it be from the organic point of view that you derive man from the monkey1 because certain species of quadrumanes are caricatures of men in their physiognomy1 why may he not be derived as reasonably from the parrot1 which emits articulate sounds1 the caricature of the human voice1 or even the nightingale1 because that melodious songster of the woods modulates his notes like our singers8 ,the consideration of animal forms is of very little importance in our estimation1 when the matter in hand is to determine the place occupied by a living being in the scale of creation1 for these forms are similar in type among all the superior animals1 the body varying very slightly in structure in all the great class of mammifers2 and also because the physiological functions are discharged in a similar manner by all4 ,the basis on which we ground our researches is quite different1 it is the spiritual basis2 we ask the faculties of the mind to supply our materials of comparison4 ,it must not be supposed1 therefore1 that we espouse the doctrines of ,darwin and those who agree with him1 because we hold that the soul has a previous dwelling in the bodies of several animals1 before it reaches the human body2 because we admit that the spiritual principle begins in the germ of plants1 and that this germ grows and develops itself in passing through the bodies of a progressive series of animal species1 to issue at length in man1 the end of its elaboration and perfection4 ,the ,darwinists take into consideration only the anatomical structure1 and put aside the soul4 ,we consider its faculties only4 ,we are guided1 not by the materialistic idea which directs and inspires these men of science1 but on the contrary1 on a reasoned-out spiritualism4 ,our system of nature may be criticised1 or rejected4 ,we offer it merely as a personal view1 and would not impose it on any reader4 ,the merit of this philosophical and scientific conception1 if it has any1 consists in the vast synthesis by which it binds together all the living creatures which people the solar world1 from the minute plant in which the germ of organization first appears1 to the animal2 from the animal to the man2 and from the man to the series of superhuman and archhuman beings who inhabit the ethereal spheres2 and finally1 from them to the radiant dwellers in the solar star4 ,in collecting together1 on the one hand1 all that modern chemistry has learned of the composition of plants1 and the physical phenomena of their respiration1 and on the other hand1 everything which is known of the physical and chemical properties of solar light1 the idea struck us that the rays of the sun form the vehicle by whose means the animated germs are placed in the plants4 ,while meditating upon what has been written by the philosophers ,charles ,bonnet1 ,dupont de ,nemours1 and ,jean ,reynaud1 upon the physical condition of resuscitated human beings1 and dwelling upon the destiny of men beyond the formidable barrier of the tomb1 in short1 while drinking at the most various springs of philosophical and scientific knowledge1 we have composed this attempt at a new philosophy of the universe4 ,this system may be erroneous1 and another1 more logical and more learned1 may be substituted for it4 ,but there will remain1 we may hope1 the synthesis which we have established from all the facts of the physical and moral order which we have collected together1 the links by which we attach all the beings of creation one to another1 which comprehends both the moral and organic attributes of these beings2--a vast ladder of nature1 on whose steps we place everything that has life2 the endless circle1 in which we link all the rings of the chain of living beings4 ,the theoretic explanation of all these facts1 thus grouped1 may not perhaps be accepted1 but we believe that they are correctly placed in juxtaposition1 and that any theory which pretends to explain the universe must be established upon the basis of that grouping4 ,if our explanation be contested1 we hope that our synthesis of facts will remain4 ,besides it is only thus1 i4e41 by creating a system1 that the sciences1 exact as well as moral1 are made to progress4 ,chemistry was not1 as some have pretended1 created by ,lavoisier2 it was founded by ,stahl1 it was not the pneumatic theory of ,lavoisier1 but really the system of phlogiston devised by ,stahl1 which instituted chemistry in the last century4 ,stahl1 it is well known1 had the immense merit of collecting all the facts known up to his time1 into a general theoretical explanation of composing a summary of them1 and of creating the system of phlogiston4 ,this system was1 undeniably1 incorrect1 but the facts which had been collected towards its construction had been perfectly well selected1 and included every useful element of information or research4 ,thus1 when ten years later than ,stahl1 came ,lavoisier1 he had only1 so to speak1 to turn the system of his predecessor inside out1 as one turns a coat4 ,for phlogiston ,lavoisier substituted oxygen2 he preserved all the facts1 and changed only the explanation4 ,thus chemistry was founded4 ,a well constructed synthesis must necessarily precede every theory of nature4 ,descartes1 when working out his system of whirlwinds1 formulated a conception which was certainly very inexact2 but the facts upon which this theory rested were so well selected1 they responded so exactly to the requirements of science1 that when ,newton came1 with his system of attraction1 it only remained to apply the new hypothesis to the facts collected by ,descartes for his whirlwinds1 and there was real astronomy1 the true physics4 ,when ,linnus created his system of botany1 he made an undeniably artificial distribution of the vegetables1 and ,linnus himself perfectly understood the defects of his system4 ,but1 owing to this artificial method1 he succeeded in grouping all the plants into a methodical catalogue4 ,if the principle of classification was bad1 the service rendered to botany by this catalogue was immense4 ,it was not1 in fact1 until after ,linnus' time that the immense mass of facts which he collected could be put in order1 and the study of the vegetable world made to progress from those data4 ,botany dates from the publication of the systema natur of the immortal botanist of ,upsal4 ,we do not pretend to put forward an irreproachable theory of the universe in this work1 but simply to collect together and methodically group the facts upon which such a theory ought to rest1 facts physical1 metaphysical1 and moral4 ,,footnotes3 #ah ,la ,pluralit des existences de l'me1 ,paris1 p4 #dej4 #ai ,la ,religion des ,hindous selon les ,vdas1 par ,lanjuinais1 ,paris1 p4 #bhf4 #bj ,la ,religion des ,hindous selon les ,vdas1 pp4 #cbd1 #cbe4 #ba ,histoires1 ,vol4 ,,ii4 ch4 cxxiii4 7translated by ,m4 ,larcher47 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,the ,,nineteenth4 ,,sequel ,,to ,,objections4--,,it ,,is ,,incomprehensible ,,how ,,the ,,rays ,,of ,,the ,,sun1 ,,being ,,material ,,substances1 ,,can ,,be ,,the ,,germs ,,of ,,souls1 ,,which ,,are ,,immaterial ,,substances4 ,,our system of nature may be met with the following final objection4 ,it will be said1 how can the rays of the sun1 being material bodies1 convey animated germs which are immaterial substances8 ,these terms exclude each other4 ,we find1 in the ,scriptures1 a magnificent comparison1 of which we shall avail ourselves in order to answer this objection1 or rather1 this question4 ,saint ,matthew speaks of a grain of mustard seed1 that is to say1 of a tree germ1 which1 cast into the earth1 produces a herbaceous plant1 then a tree with majestic branches1 and he is astonished to behold the imposing lord of the forests1 which1 laden with flowers and fruit1 towers aloft in majestic beauty1 and gives shelter under its shadow to the weary birds1 springing from a humble little seed4 ,not only1 says the evangelist1 is there no resemblance between the tree and its original seed1 but there does not exist in the tree a single atom of the matter of which the seed was primarily composed4 ,to our mind1 this grain of mustard-seed is an image of the sun1 which1 falling upon the earth1 sows animated germs in its bosom1 which produce plants that afterwards give birth to animals1 and later still to man1 and thus to the entire series of creatures1 invisible to us1 which succeed him in the domain of the heavens4 ,the little cold1 colourless1 scentless seed is nothing to look at1 nothing distinguishes it apparently from the neighbouring dust4 ,nevertheless1 it contains that mysterious leaven1 that sacred being1 so to speak1 which we call a germ4 ,and what wonderful things are to be born from that sacred being6 ,in the obscurity of the cold1 damp earth the germ transforms itself1 it becomes a new body without any resemblance to the seed which contained it4 ,it produces a plantlet1 a subterranean1 but perfectly organized creature1 possessing a root which fastens itself into the soil1 and a stalk which takes the opposite direction4 ,between the two portions lies the seed1 split1 gutted1 having allowed the germ to escape1 its part in the matter ended4 ,the subterranean plantlet is a new being2 it has no longer anything in common with the seed from whence it came4 ,the plantlet is dull and colourless1 but it breathes1 it has channels1 in which liquids and gases are circulating4 ,in a little while the plantlet comes up above the earth1 it greets the daylight1 it appears to our eyes1 and then it is a very different being from the subterranean creature4 ,the new-born vegetable is no longer as it was when in the bosom of the earth1 dull and grey2 it is green1 it breathes like other vegetables1 producing oxygen under the influence of life1 whereas in the bosom of the earth it gave out carbonic acid4 ,instead of the dull and sombre subterranean plantlet1 you have a green and tender shoot1 provided with special organs4 ,where is the grain of mustard seed8 ,presently our shoot grows1 and becomes a young plant4 ,it is still weak and hidden under the grass1 but nevertheless the young plant has its complete individuality4 ,it resembles neither the shoot nor the plantlet1 its subterranean ancestor4 ,the shoot grows1 and becomes a twig1 that is to say1 the adolescent of the vegetable kingdom1 with the ardour and the energy of the young among herbaceous creatures4 ,in this state the plant has already renewed its substance several times1 and nothing remains of the organic and mineral elements which existed in the different beings that have preceded it on the same little corner of the earth which have witnessed the changing phases of its curious metamorphoses4 ,wait a while1 and you will see the twig growing long and large4 ,its respiration becomes active1 its leaves spread out1 and vigorously exhale the carbonic acid gas of the air4 ,the exhalation of watery vapour over all the surface takes place1 and a young and vigorous tree is there1 which day by day grows more robust and more beautiful4 ,during this growth1 during this transition from the shrub to the young tree1 with a separate and upright stem1 a new being has been formed4 ,organs which it had not have come to it1 and have made it a separate individual4 ,it has flowers1 it has branches1 it has new vessels for the circulation of the sap1 and the juices which were not previously elaborated4 ,the structure of the surface of its leaves has been changed1 so that absorption may be more successfully accomplished4 ,where is the shoot1 from which our vigorous young shrub sprung8 ,what relation1 what resemblance is there between these two beings8 ,we can only discern differences4 ,one individual has succeeded to another individual4 ,the vegetable has been renewed1 not only in matter1 which is changed1 but in the form of its organs4 ,a series of new forms have succeeded each other in the shrub1 since it was a simple shoot1 just peeping above the soil4 ,it is still the history of change1 when the young tree has become adult1 when1 in the progress of years1 its trunk has grown hard1 and become incrusted with layers of accumulated bark1 when its branches have multiplied1 and flowering and fruitage have modified all its internal and external parts4 ,it is then a grand cedar tree1 whose majestic and imposing shade covers a considerable extent of the soil2 or a superb oak1 whose robust and gnarled branches spread far and wide2 or a flexible chestnut1 which flings about its polished and shining arms4 ,the organs of these luxuriant vegetables1 the pride of our forests1 have no relation to those which belonged to them in the first years of their life4 ,their flowery crowns in spring-tide1 the fruits which succeed to them1 the seeds shut up in the protecting shelter of those fruits1 these are all peculiarities of organization1 belonging to these noble trees1 without any analogy in nature4 ,where is the grain of mustard seed which formerly sucked the juice of the earth in darkness8 ,everything is changed2 the place of habitation1 which is no longer the earth1 but the air2 the form1 and the physiological functions4 ,not only has all this changed1 but it has changed a great number of times4 ,not only does nothing remain of the matter of which the tree was composed in the earlier stages of its life1 but nothing has been retained of the organic forms which were proper to the infancy of the vegetable4 ,nevertheless1 ,o great mystery of ,nature1 in the midst of all these changes1 notwithstanding this continual succession of beings1 which mutually replace each other1 there is something which remains immovable1 which has never changed1 which has preserved a constant individuality1--it is the secret force which produced all these changes1 which presided over all these organic mutations4 ,in our belief1 this force is the animated germ which the young plant has received from the seed1 whence it has proceeded4 ,in the midst of all the transformations which the vegetable creature has undergone1 in spite of the numerous phases through which it has passed1 and which have produced a series of different beings succeeding each other in its material substance1 the spiritual principle1 cause and agent of all this long activity1 has remained the same4 ,this animated germ which now exists in the adult vegetable is the same which was there during its growth1 the same which was there when it was a shoot1 the same which slept in the seed which was thrown into the bosom of the cold and humid earth4 ,in that majestic tree which1 coming forth from an imperceptibly minute seed1 has had a whole genealogy of successive beings1 replacing each other1 differing in form and size1 and has preserved1 throughout its incessant development1 the sole and immutable principle of its activity1 we behold the faithful image of the persistent1 indestructible soul1 in the midst of the beings or different bodies which it has animated in succession4 ,issuing from a germ1 it has never ceased to grow1 to develop1 to become amplified1 still remaining itself4 ,the grain of mustard seed1 or the seed of the tree1 is according to us1 the plant or inferior animal into which the sun has thrown the animated germ4 ,the subterranean plantlet corresponds to the animal whose mission it is to perfect the germ transmitted by the plant1 and which develops and amplifies this germ2 for example1 to the fish or the reptile1 perfecting the spiritual principle which they have received from the zoophyte or the mollusc4 ,the shoot which1 having burst out of the earth1 grows in the shade of the grass1 and tries its air organs1 corresponds to the animal somewhat more elevated in the organic scale1 such as the bird1 in which the animating principle--derived from the reptile or the fish--increases in intellectual power4 ,the young vegetable1 arrived at the condition of the twig1 which lives a completely arial life1 corresponds to the mammifer4 ,the tree1 grown tall1 and pushing out its young boughs1 corresponds to man1 perfecting the soul which he has received from a mammifer4 ,finally1 the powerful and vigorous forest lord1 over-topping all the neighbouring trees in size and majesty1 with mighty girth of stem1 and noble crest1 with wide-spreading branches and splendid flowers1 this grand creature corresponds to the superhuman being who lives in the bosom of the ethereal fluid1 and who is himself destined to be replaced by a series of superior creatures1 who shall climb from stage to stage1 from height to height1 even to the radiant kingdom of the sun1 where those absolutely spiritual beings1 whose essence is entire and perfect immateriality are enthroned4 ,thus1 the animating principle remains immutable and identical with itself1 during all the transformations undergone by the beings who are successively charged to receive this precious deposit4 ,from the vegetable1 in which it had its first domicile as a germ1 and through the whole series of living creatures1 from the plant and the zoophyte to the man and the superhuman being1 the same spiritual principle is preserved in its identity1 perfecting and amplifying itself without cessation4 ,let us complete the comparison4 ,when the forest tree has ripened its fruits1 the fruits burst open1 the seeds escape from it1 and fall into the soil1 or are dispersed by the caprice of the winds4 ,if the seeds fall into damp earth1 they germinate1 and1 according to the laws of nature1 young vegetables are produced1 as we have previously explained4 ,multitudes of similar vegetables are produced by a single oak1 a single cedar1 a single chestnut tree4 ,just as the majestic adult tree lets fall from its thousand branches upon the soil the countless seeds which are to germinate there1 so the spiritualized beings who dwell in the sun shed their emanations1 their animated germs1 upon all the planets4 ,these germs1 carried to the earth by the sunbeams1 and falling upon our globe1 produce the vegetables which afterwards give birth to the various animals1 by the effect of the successive transmigrations of the same soul into the bodies of these creatures4 ,we can now reply to the objection which we have placed at the beginning of this chapter3 ,how can the solar rays1 being material substances1 convey animated germs1 which are immaterial substances8 ,when the physicists professed ,newton's theory of the nature of light1 in the theory of emission1 it was necessary to regard light1 and1 consequently the solar rays1 which produce it1 as material bodies4 ,but science has now rejected this theory1 and replaced it by the theory of undulation1 founded by ,malus1 ,fresnel1 ,ampre1 and all the constellation of great physicists and mathematicians of the commencement of this century4 ,facts1 collected on every side1 prove that the solar rays are not matter which transports itself from the sun to the earth1 but that light1 like heat1 results from a primitive disturbance produced by the sun upon the ether1 which is spread over all space4 ,this disturbance communicates itself from molecule to molecule1 from the planetary ether down to us1 and produces the phenomena of light and heat4 ,we cannot here develop at greater length1 or explain more scientifically1 the theory of undulations1 which will be found sufficiently demonstrated in works on physics4 ,we merely desire to prove that1 according to the principles of modern science1 the solar rays are not material bodies1 but that they result from a simple vibration of the planetary ether4 ,if1 then1 the rays of the sun are not material substances1 there can be no difficulty in admitting that these rays 7immaterial substance7 are the bearers of the animated germs1 which are immaterial substance4 ,if we be driven to a closer definition of the problem1 if we be asked to explain with greater precision how these immaterial germs journey through space1 we reply that we must guard against the mania for insisting on everything being explained4 ,absolute explanation is forbidden to the limit of our intelligence4 ,we are forced to confess our powerlessness whenever we try to explain the phenomena of nature rigorously4 ,what is the true cause of the fall of bodies1 of the gravitation of the stars1 of electricity1 of heat8 ,what is the cause of the circulation of our blood1 of the beating of our hearts8 ,the deepest obscurity veils the primary causes of these phenomena1 which we all behold every day2 and the more earnestly we desire to penetrate the secret essence1 the more the darkness deepens in our minds4 ,since the time of ,newton1 the physicists have laid down a wise and excellent principle4 ,they have agreed to study the laws of physical phenomena with sedulous care1 to measure with exactness the effects of heat1 weight1 electricity1 or light1 but1 also1 never to disquiet themselves by researches into the causes of these phenomena4 ,the more we learn1 the further we advance in the knowledge of the universe and its laws1 the more we become convinced that man knows absolutely nothing about first causes1 that he ought to esteem himself happy in knowing the laws according to which the effects of these first causes manifest themselves2 that is to say1 the physical and vital actions which are visible to us1 but that he ought1 in the interests of his own peace of mind1 to lay down a rule that he would never seek to know the wherefore of things4 ,pliny1 speaking of first causes1 said3 ,latent in majestate mundi1 7,they are hidden in the majesty of the world47 ,the thought is as fine as the phrase is eloquent4 ,let us1 then1 leave to nature her secrets1 and1 if we are led to believe that the sun sheds animated germs upon the earth and the planets1 let us not try to penetrate further into the essence of this mysterious phenomenon4 ,let us not ask of the earth why she turns1 the stone why it falls1 the tree why it grows1 our hearts why they beat--nor the rays of the sun why they produce life on earth1 and immortality in the heavens4 ,illustration ,illustration ,,chapter ,,the ,,twentieth4 ,,practical ,,rules ,,resulting ,,from ,,the ,,facts ,,and ,,principles ,,developed ,,in ,,this ,,work4--,,the ,,ennobling ,,of ,,the ,,soul ,,by ,,the ,,practice ,,of ,,virtue1 ,,by ,,seeking ,,to ,,know1 ,,through ,,science1 ,,nature ,,and ,,its ,,laws4--,,the ,,rendering ,,of ,,public ,,worship ,,to ,,the ,,divinity4--,,the ,,memory ,,of ,,the ,,dead ,,to ,,be ,,retained4--,,we ,,ought ,,not ,,to ,,fear ,,death4--,,death ,,is ,,only ,,an ,,unfelt ,,transition ,,from ,,one ,,state ,,to ,,another1 ,,it ,,is ,,not ,a ,,termination1 ,,but ,a ,,metamorphosis4--,,the ,,impressions ,,of ,,the ,,dying4--,,they ,,whom ,,the ,,gods ,,love ,,die ,,young4--,,reunion ,,with ,,those ,,who ,,have ,,gone ,,before4 ,,we will conclude our work by laying down certain practical rules which result from the facts and the principles that have been explained in its course4 ,since man can raise himself to the range of a superhuman being only when his soul has acquired the necessary degree of purification in this life1 it is evidently his interest to apply himself to the culture of his soul1 to preserve it from every stain1 to keep it from falling4 ,be good1 generous1 and compassionate2 grateful for benefits1 accessible to the suffering1 the friend of the oppressed4 ,console those who suffer and who weep4 ,practise every form of charity4 ,endeavour to raise your thoughts above terrestrial things4 ,strive against those material instincts1 which are the stigmata of human existence4 ,aspire to the good and the beautiful4 ,live in the most elevated spheres1 those which are the least bound to lower things4 ,it is only thus that you can elevate and ennoble your soul1 and render it fit to enjoy the higher existence which awaits it in the ethereal spheres4 ,for1 if your soul be vicious and corrupt1 if1 during all your terrestrial life1 you have been sunk in material interests1 exclusively given up to purely physical occupations and enjoyments1 which make you the fellow of the animals2 if your heart has been hard1 your conscience dumb1 your instincts low and evil1 you will be condemned to recommence a second existence on the earth4 ,once1 or many times again you will have to bear the burthen of life on this disinherited globe1 where physical suffering and moral evil have taken up their abode1 where happiness is unknown1 and unhappiness is the universal law4 ,there is another motive for our careful cultivation of the faculties of the soul1 and for our constantly purifying ourselves by the practice of good4 ,noble and generous persons1 elect souls1 are1 as we have said1 the only ones capable of communicating with the dead1 with the beloved beings whom they have lost4 ,if1 therefore1 we be stained with moral evil1 we shall not receive any communication1 any succour from the beings who have left us1 and whom we loved4 ,this is a powerful motive for our constant striving towards perfection4 ,one of the most effectual means of perfecting and ennobling the soul1 of raising it above terrestrial conditions1 and bringing it near the higher spheres1 is science4 ,study1 labour to learn of nature1 to comprehend the plans and the phenomena which surround you1 to explain to yourselves the universe of which you form a portion1 and your soul will grow in strength and wisdom4 ,it is very sad to contemplate the shameful ignorance in which almost all humanity is sunk4 ,the population of our globe numbers #a1cjj1jjj1jjj1 and of all this multitude hardly #aj1jjj1jjj can be said to have studied the sciences1 and really cultivated their minds4 ,all the rest of mankind are abandoned to an intellectual passiveness1 which almost reduces them to the level of the animals4 ,the earth is but a vast field of ignorance4 ,as far as knowledge is concerned1 almost all men die as they were born1 they have not added a single idea1 a single branch of knowledge to those which their parents--themselves ignorant--have inculcated in their youth4 ,nevertheless1 thanks to the labours of some few men of uncommon mind and energy1 the knowledge we possess at the present time is immense1 we have made great progress in the study of nature and its laws4 ,we understand the mechanism and the regulation of the universe1 we have learned to reject the fallacious testimony of our senses1 we have discerned the courses of the different stars1 which look so much alike1 when they shine in the firmament by night4 ,we know that the sun is motionless in the centre of our world1 and that a company of planets1 among which the earth figures1 revolve around him1 in an orbit whose mathematical curve has been precisely fixed4 ,we know the cause of the days and nights1 as well as that of the seasons2 we can predict almost to a second the return of the stars to a certain point of their orbit1 their meetings1 eclipses1 and occultations4 ,the globe which we inhabit has been surveyed and explored with care which has hardly missed a nook of it4 ,we know the causes of the winds and of the rains1 we can point out the exact course of the sea-currents1 and foretell the hour and the height of the tides all over the globe4 ,we know why glaciers exist at the northern and southern extremities of the earth1 and why other glaciers crown the great mountain heights4 ,the movements of the earth1 which formerly produced chains of mountains1 and which at present occasion volcanic eruptions and earthquakes1 are quite comprehensible to us4 ,the composition of all the bodies which exist on the surface1 or are hidden in the depths of the earth1 has been fixed with certainty4 ,we know what air contains1 and what water is composed of4 ,there is not a mineral1 not a particle of earth to which we cannot assign its composition4 ,more than that1 we can tell what is the composition of the soil of the planets1 and of their satellites1 those stars which roll at incalculable distances above our heads1 and which we can reach only with our eyes4 ,science has performed this miracle1 the chemical analysis of bodies which it cannot touch1 and which it can only see across millions of miles in space4 ,we have studied1 classified1 demonstrated all the living beings1 animals and plants which people the earth4 ,there is not an insect hidden in the grass of the fields which has not been described1 which has not had its just place in creation assigned to it2 there is not a blade of grass which has not been reproduced by the pencil of the naturalist4 ,beyond all this1 science has penetrated far beyond the reach of our vision4 ,it has invented a marvellous instrument which has unveiled an entire world to our astonished gaze1 a world whose existence we never should have suspected without its aid4 ,the world thus revealed to us is that of infinitely little things4 ,we know that myriads of living creatures1 both animals and plants1 exist in a drop of water2 that those creatures1 in all their prodigious littleness1 have a complete existence1 and are as well organized as those of great size which are analogous to them1 and that the physiological functions of all these imperceptible beings are fulfilled as perfectly as our own4 ,just as we have penetrated into the life of infinite littleness1 so we have pierced the depths of celestial space1 and scrutinized with our eyes the magnified image of the stars which revolve at an incalculable distance above us4 ,the telescope shows us the surface of the moon1 the depths of its ravines1 and the rough serrated edges of its enormous mountains1 furrowed with deep circular crevasses4 ,we can cast our eyes over the lunar disc as if it were a distant landscape of our own globe4 ,we can even1 thanks to the magnifying powers of the telescope1 form an idea of the aspect of the surfaces of those planets which are almost lost in the infinite distances of the heavens4 ,after this faint and incomplete sketch of that which human science has been able to accomplish1 it might be supposed that every inhabitant of the earth is impatient to make all this knowledge his own1 that every one must desire to fill his mind with its treasures4 ,alas6 the great majority of the human species is ignorant of even the elements of all this4 ,take away the ten millions of individuals1 to whom we have already alluded1 and who1 numerically1 are hardly to be counted in considering the population of the globe1 all people imagine that the earth is a flat surface which extends to the limits of the horizon1 and is covered with a blue cupola1 called heaven4 ,if you assert that the earth revolves1 they laugh1 and point to the motionless earth1 and the sun which rises on the right hand and sets on the left1 a manifest proof that the sun comes and goes4 ,the poets will have it that the sun rises from his bed in the morning1 and returns to it in the evening4 ,people believe that the stars which shine by night1 in the celestial vault1 are simply ornaments1 an agreeable spectacle1 made to please our eyes1 and that the moon is a beacon4 ,nobody inquires into the causes of the rain or fine weather1 of heat or cold1 of the winds or the tides4 ,every one shuts his eyes to natural phenomena1 so as to avoid the trouble of explaining them4 ,nature is a shut book for the majority of mankind1 who live in the midst of the most curious and various phenomena1 but who occupy themselves in eating and drinking1 and trying to harm their fellows4 ,it is a sorrowful spectacle to behold humanity thus preoccupied by its more material necessities1 and utterly without interest in any mental exertion1 and one grieves to think that such is the condition of almost all the inhabitants of the globe4 ,how far is he superior to the great mass of his fellows1 who has cultivated his mind1 enriched it with various and useful ideas1 and appropriated to himself at least one branch of the varied tree of the exact sciences4 ,what breadth and power must be acquired by a mind thus fortified6 ,strive1 ,o my reader1 to study and to learn4 ,initiate yourself into the secrets of nature1 try to understand all that surrounds you1 the universe and its infinite productions1 admire the power of ,god in learning the wonders of ,his works4 ,then shall you not approach the tomb with your soul void as on the day of your birth4 ,at the supreme hour of death you will be wise1 instructed1 and1 finding yourself nearer to the sublime essence of superhuman beings1 you will be eager to follow them into the ethereal spheres4 ,in order to elevate and perfect the soul1 it is not sufficient only to apply ourselves to the practice of moral virtues and to learning2 we must also endeavour to understand ,god1 the ,author of the universe4 ,therefore1 let men enter into the temples1 and prostrate themselves before ,god according to the forms and rites of worship in which they have been reared4 ,all religions are good1 and ought to be respected1 because they permit us to pay the homage of gratitude and heartfelt submission to the ,author of nature4 ,the ,christian religion is good1 because it is a religion4 ,the religion of ,mahomet is good1 because it is a religion4 ,for the same reason ,buddhism and ,judaism are good1 and the religion of the wild ,indians who worship the sun in the depths of their forests4 ,the fourth practical rule which we derive from the principles and theories which we have laid down1 is that the remembrance and commemoration of the dead should be preserved4 ,let us not efface from our hearts the memory of those whom death has snatched from us4 ,to forget them is to cause them the most cruel anguish1 and to deprive ourselves of the aid and guidance which they can give us here below4 ,the ancients sedulously kept up the memory of the dead4 ,they did not put the idea of death away from them with terror1 like the modern peoples2 on the contrary1 they loved to invoke it4 ,among the ,greeks and ,romans the cemeteries were places of meeting1 used for festivals and promenades4 ,the ,orientals of our days preserve this ancient tradition4 ,their cemeteries are perfectly kept gardens1 whither festive crowds resort on festal occasions4 ,they visit the relatives and friends who are buried in the shrubberies and the flower-beds1 and revel in the pleasures of life amid the pretty dwelling-places of the dead4 ,in ,europe we know nothing of this wholesome philosophy4 ,but we may remark1 that peasants1 unlike dwellers in cities1 who are not brought into familiar daily contact with nature1 are far from shunning the idea of death1 or avoiding the cemeteries where their relatives and friends rest4 ,they recall the remembrance of their dead1 they speak to them1 they question them1 they consult them1 as though they were still seated by the family fireside4 ,the custom of funeral repasts1 which dates from the time of primitive man1 is still observed in several countries4 ,on returning from the cemetery the company seat themselves before a well-spread table1 in the house of the deceased1 and wish him a happy journey to the land of shadows4 ,in our cities1 it is the people who hold it a duty to carry flowers to the graves of their relatives4 ,among the higher classes of society people hold themselves exempt1 in general1 from this pious care1 and they are wrong4 ,piety towards the dead1 and reverent commemoration of them1 are prescribed by the laws of nature4 ,finally1 we would impress upon the reader1 as a consequence and a practical rule resulting from all that has gone before1 that he ought not to fear death4 ,let him regard with firm heart and tranquil eye that moment which all men dread so much4 ,we have said that death is not a conclusion1 but a change1 we do not perish1 we are transformed4 ,the grub which seems to die1 enclosed within a cold shell1 does not die1 but is born again1 a brilliant butterfly1 to flutter joyously in the air4 ,thus it shall be with us4 ,though our miserable frames remain on earth1 and restore their elements to the common reservoir of universal matter1 our souls shall not perish4 ,they shall be born again1 brilliant creatures of the celestial ether4 ,they shall leave a world in which pain and evil are the constant law1 for a blessed domain where every condition of happiness shall be realized4 ,why1 then1 should we dread death8 ,if we do not desire it1 we ought at least to await it with hope and tranquillity4 ,death must unite us to those beings whom we have loved1 whom we do love1 and whom we shall love for ever4 ,what an immense source of consolation during the remainder of our life6 ,what a store of courage for the terrible moment of our own end6 ,the beloved dead1 who have never ceased to be present to our memory1 have done us the sad1 supreme service of softening the anguish of death to us4 ,the sadness of our last moments will be calmed by the thought that they are awaiting our coming1 that they are ready to receive us on the threshold of the other life1 that they are gone before to lead us into the new domain of existence beyond the tomb6 ,the fear of death1 which is so prevalent among men generally1 loses its intensity when the last hour has come4 ,those who are accustomed to witness death know that the last agony is rarely severe4 ,he who dies after a long and honourable existence knows at that solemn moment that he is going to a new and better world4 ,he is happy1 and his words and looks express happiness4 ,the only thought which makes him sorrowful is the grief which his loss must occasion to those whom he loves and is about to leave4 ,the observations which follow have been made by persons accustomed to observe the dying4 ,but deaths occasioned by maladies which destroy consciousness1 or reason1 or speech1 must not be included in these observations4 ,in order to judge of the thoughts which occupy the dying we must consider those who preserve the integrity of their intellectual faculties until their latest breath4 ,they always die calmly4 ,consumptive patients1 the wounded1 those who die from an affection of the stomach or of the intestinal tube1 of those slow fevers which consume the strength without impairing the intellectual faculties1 these generally remain in the full possession of their intelligence to the last1 and die with great tranquillity1 even satisfaction4 ,in almost all these cases death is preceded by a gradual decline of strength and sensation1 so that the individual has hardly any consciousness of the change he is about to undergo1 and looks forward to the moment of death with perfect indifference4 ,there is a period1 which frequently lasts for several hours1 during which1 life having completely left the body1 it is already a corpse which is under the eyes of the spectators1 and yet that corpse still moves and speaks4 ,but the soul which survives in the body1 really dead1 is not the soul of the terrestrial man1 but of the superhuman being4 ,the dying person has the consciousness1 and perhaps even the prevision of the ineffable happiness which awaits him in that new world upon whose threshold he is standing1 and he expresses his happiness by his words and looks4 ,in a sigh of supreme joy he exhales his last breath4 ,this extraordinary state1 in which the dying are partly on earth1 and partly in the new world to which they are destined1 explains the touching eloquence1 the sublime words which sometimes come from their feeble lips4 ,an uneducated poor man will express himself upon his death-bed with eloquence incomprehensible to those who are listening to him4 ,it also explains the prophecies1 justified by subsequent events1 which have been uttered by the dying4 ,they have a knowledge of things of which1 in their ordinary condition as belonging to the human species1 they could not possibly have had any notion4 ,therefore1 we ought to treasure up their last words with pious care1 and scrupulously fulfil the wishes which they express4 ,in ,moldavia1 when a peasant has escaped death in a severe illness1 after having been on the brink of the grave1 his friends press around his bed to ask him what he had seen in the other world1 and what news he has for them from their dead relatives4 ,then the poor invalid interprets his visions for them as well as he can4 ,a modern writer1 who has left some small books on spiritualist philosophy1 ,m4 ,constant ,savy1 relates in his ,penses et ,mditations1 an extraordinary dream which he had when he was1 apparently1 at the point of death4 ,we transcribe this curious and interesting document from ,m4 ,pezzani's work3-- ,i felt very ill1 writes ,constant ,savy1 ,i had no strength1 it seemed to me that my life was making efforts to resist death1 but in vain1 and that it was about to escape4 ,my soul detached itself little by little from the matter spread all over my frame2 ,i felt it retiring from all those parts with which it is so intimately united1 and1 as it were1 concentrating itself upon one single point1 the heart1 and a thousand obscure1 cloudy thoughts about my future life occupied me4 ,little by little nature faded from before me1 taking irregular and strange forms1 ,i almost lost the faculty of thinking1 ,i only retained that of feeling1 and this feeling was all love1 love of ,god and of the beings whom ,i had most cherished in ,him2 but ,i could not manifest this love2 my soul1 withdrawn to one single point in my body1 had almost ceased to have any relation with it1 and could no longer command it4 ,my soul experienced some distractions still1 caused by the pain of the body1 and the grief of those who surrounded me1 but these distractions were slight1 like the pains and the perceptions which caused them4 ,my life was now attached to matter by one only of the thousand links which had formerly bound it1 and ,i was about to expire4 ,suddenly1 no doubt to mark the passage from this life to the other1 there came a thick darkness1 to which succeeded a brilliant light4 ,then1 ,o my ,god6 ,i saw ,thy day1 that daylight ,i had so much desired6 ,i saw them1 all assembled together1 those beings whom ,i had so dearly loved1 who had inspired me during my life in this world after they had left me1 and who had seemed to me to dwell in my soul1 or float about me4 ,they were all there1 full of joy and happiness4 ,they were waiting for me1 they welcomed me with delight4 ,it seemed to me that ,i completed their life and that they completed mine6 ,but what a difference was there in the happiness ,i now felt from the sensations of the world ,i left6 ,i cannot describe them6 ,they were penetrating without being impetuous2 they were mild1 calm1 full1 unmixed1 and yet they admitted the hope of a yet greater happiness6 ,i did not see ,thee1 my ,god6 ,who can see ,thee8 ,but ,i loved ,thee more than ,i had loved ,thee in this world6 ,i comprehended ,thee better1 felt ,thee more strongly1 the traces of ,thee which are everywhere1 and on everything1 appeared more plain and bright to me1 ,i experienced such admiration and astonishment as ,i had never hitherto known1 ,i saw more distinctly a portion of the wonders of ,thy creation4 ,the bowels of the earth hid no more secrets from me1 ,i saw their depths1 ,i saw the insects and other creatures which dwell in them1 the mines known to men1 and undiscovered by them1 the secret ways and channels of the earth4 ,i reckoned its age in its bosom as one counts that of a tree in the heart of its trunk2 ,i saw all the water-courses which feed the seas2 ,i saw the reflux of these waters1 and it was like the motion of the blood in a man's body2 from the heart to the extremities1 from the extremities to the heart2 ,i saw the depths of the volcanoes2 ,i understood the motions of the earth and its relations with the stars1 and1 just as if the earth had been turned round before my eyes that ,i might be made to admire ,thy greatness1 ,o my ,god6 ,i saw all countries with their various inhabitants1 and their different customs1 ,i saw every variety of my species1 and a voice said to me3 ',like thyself1 all these men are the image of the ,creator2 like thyself1 they are ever journeying towards ,god1 and conscious of their progress6' ,the thickness of the forests1 the depth of the seas could not hide anything from my eyes2 ,i had power to see everything1 to admire all1 and ,i was happy in my happiness1 in the happiness of the dear objects of my tender love4 ,our joys were in common4 ,we felt ourselves united by our former affections which had now become much more deep1 and by the love of ,god3 we drew happiness from one and the same source2 we were but one1 we each and all enjoyed this happiness1 which was far too great to be expressed4 ,i am silent now1 that ,i may feel it more deeply4#bb ,it is easy for us to verify to ourselves the fact that men who are condemned by nature to a premature death1 are endowed with a great serenity of mind4 ,this moral condition is1 in our opinion1 an indication that they have the presentiment or even the anticipated possession of the new life which awaits them after death4 ,why are consumptive people so gentle and sensitive8 ,we believe it is because1 being already half out of this world1 they are partially endowed with the moral attributes of superhuman beings4 ,they are1 as it is well known1 always confident in their destinies1 they make projects of happiness1 and for the future1 when their last hour is striking1 they feel hope and joy when the by-standers are thinking of their burial4 ,it is customary to explain this anomaly by saying that persons in consumption do not understand the gravity of their illness1 but we believe that they have1 on the contrary1 a confused notion of their state1 that nature reveals to them the approach of an existence of cloudless happiness1 and that it is this secret conviction which gives them hope and confidence in the future4 ,the future which they foresee is not of this world1 but the future of the heavens4 ,this applies not to consumptive persons only4 ,every man destined to die young seems to be marked with that inner stamp of the soul which lends him now a gentle and charming melancholy1 anon vivacity or sensibility which his parents admire1 and which is too often only an indication that he is not to remain with them4 ,the charming qualities of many young people are often only the precursors of their death4 ,when they have so much intellect1 children have brief lives1 says ,casimir ,delavigne4 ,whom the gods love1 die young1 said the ,greeks4 ,let us1 then1 not fear death2 but await it1 not as the end of our existence1 but as its transformation4 ,let us learn by the purity of our life1 by our virtues1 by the culture of our faculties1 by our knowledge1 by the exercise of the religion of our ancestors1 to prepare ourselves for the critical moment of that natural revolution which shall usher us into a blessed sojourn in the ethereal spheres on the day after death4 ,illustration ,,footnotes3 #bb ,quoted by ,m4 ,pezzani1 in his ,pluralit des ,existences de l'me1 pp4 #bfa-bfc4 ,illustration ,,epilogue4 ,,in ,,which ,,we ,,seek ,,for ,,god1 ,,and ,,in ,,our ,,search1 ,,describe ,,the ,,universe4 ,,the author now asks his reader's leave to relate a conversation which took place between himself1 and a friend named ,theophilus1 to whom he had confided the manuscript of ,the ,day ,after ,death1 in order to obtain his opinion and impressions of the work4 ,he will allow the interlocutors to express themselves in the ordinary form of dialogue4 ,theophilus1 7who comes into the ,author's study1 and lays the manuscript upon the table74 ,i have read your work1 and ,i will tell you presently my impressions of the details1 but ,i must in the first place point out the great deficiency of the book4 ,the ,author4 ,what is wanting in it8 ,theophilus4 ,god4 ,the ,author4 ,but---- ,theophilus4 7,interrupts him47 ,you are going to remind me that you frequently mention the sacred name1 that ,providence1 the ,author of nature1 the ,creator of the worlds1 and so on1 are words you constantly employ4 ,that is true1 but it is equally true that you restrict yourself to these vague expressions1 that you say nothing about the person of ,god1 that you assign to ,him no place in the world which you range over in company with more or less spiritualized souls4 ,why this reserve8 ,since you tell us that entirely spiritualized souls inhabit the sun1 why do you not tell us where your system places ,god1 the sovereign master of those souls6 ,what is your motive for leaving aside a question of such great importance8 ,the ,author4 ,i have several4 ,in the first place1 ,i have everybody's motive4 ,the idea of ,god which must be formed in order to place ,him in harmony with the boundless immensity of this universe which is ,his work1 so far surpasses the limit of the human intellect1 it is so overwhelming to our mind1 that we stop1 powerless and even frightened at our boldness1 when we venture to ask ourselves1 what is ,god8 ,theophilus4 ,nevertheless1 ,i am surprised at your hesitation4 ,when a system of the universe is to be constructed1 one does not pause in the task1 and ,i can hardly believe that when you venture1 as you do1 to place on the ladder-steps of your theory all the elements of the solar world--the planets and their satellites1 stars and asterods1 plants1 men and animals1 creatures visible and invisible1 bodies and souls1 matter and spirit--you have not assigned a place to the ,creator4 ,have you classified everything in this immense edifice of the worlds1 except its ,sovereign ,architect8 ,the ,author4 ,no1 my friend1 you are not mistaken2 ,god has ,his place in my system4 ,theophilus4 ,why1 then1 have you not said so6 ,why have you kept silence on this point8 ,the ,author4 ,my book contains so many daring assertions1 ,i have already exposed myself so fully to the animosity of both the learned and the ignorant1 that ,i feared to furnish an additional pretext to their diatribes4 ,theophilus4 ,that is not a reason4 ,if you dread discussion and fear detraction1 why do you take up your pen at all8 ,you were at liberty to keep your ideas on the origin and the destiny of man to yourself1 but1 when you decided on submitting them to the public1 you became bound to explain all your mind on the subject4 ,if you believe in your system1 you must explain it without any reserve4 ,the ,author4 ,your words are wise1 and ,i ought therefore to bow to them1 and follow your imperative advice4 ,nevertheless ,i cannot make up my mind to do so1 absolutely4 ,i am going to propose a middle course to you4 ,in confidence1 and between ourselves1 ,i will explain my ideas about ,god to you1 ,i will tell you in what part of the immense universe ,i place this dazzling personality4 ,if the idea seems to you absurd1 untenable1 or even too hazardous1 you will frankly tell me so1 and thus duly warned1 ,i will keep my theory to myself2 if not---- ,theophilus4 7,interrupting him47 ,an excellent plan4 ,there can be no objection to that4 ,go on1 ,i am listening4 7,at this point1 ,theophilus seats himself1 his elbow resting on a book1 and a cigar in his mouth1 and composes himself to listen1 with an expression of grave attention1 dashed with suspicious severity1 suitable to the arbitrator in a literary and philosophical matter47 ,the ,author4 ,you want to know1 my dear ,theophilus1 where ,i place ,god8 ,i place ,him at the centre of the universe1 or1 ,i had better say1 at the central focus1 which must exist somewhere1 of all the stars which compose the universe1 and which1 carried along by a common motion1 circulate in concert around this central focus4 ,theophilus4 ,forgive me1 but ,i do not seize your meaning exactly4 ,the ,author4 ,you will understand it presently4 ,remember1 to start from1 that ,i place ,god at the common focus of the actual motion of the entire universe4 ,but1 where is the common focus8 ,in order to know that1 we must first of all know the universe1 and all the order of its movements4 ,theophilus4 ,all that is explained in the course of your work4 ,the ,author4 ,no1 my friend1 you are mistaken4 ,in my work ,i have spoken of the solar system only1 and a very incomplete and insufficient idea would be gained of the universe by contemplating that system alone4 ,we must not1 as is too often done1 confound the world and the universe4 ,the world is our world1 that is to say1 the solar system1 of which we form a part2 the universe is the agglomeration of all the worlds or systems similar to our world1 or solar system4 ,in the manuscript which you have just read1 ,i have only been able to expound one little corner1 one insignificant fraction of the universe4 ,theophilus4 ,you call the solar world a little corner4 ,the ,author4 ,yes4 ,our whole solar system1 the sun1 with its immense following of planets and asterods1 with the satellites of those planets1 with the comets which from time to time come sweeping on1 to fall into the burning furnace of the radiant star1 all that1 compared with the universe1 is no more than an ear of corn in a huge granary1 than a grain of sand upon the shore1 than a drop of water in the ocean4 ,the terrible vastness of the universe is such that it is absolutely inaccessible to our measurement1 and it is for us the image of the infinite1 or the infinite itself4 ,now1 my friend1 attend to me4 ,most certainly ,god1 as to ,his nature1 is absolutely inconceivable by our minds4 ,his essence escapes us1 and always must escape us4 ,we can only affirm that ,he is infinite in ,his moral perfections1 and in ,his intellectual power4 ,but if1 on the one hand1 ,god is ,the ,infinite in the moral order1 and if1 on the other hand1 the universe is ,the ,infinite in the physical order2 if one is ,the ,infinite in spirit1 and the other is ,the ,infinite in extent1 these two ideas1 although in themselves inaccessible to human intelligence1 are nevertheless of the same order1 and may be regarded in contiguity4 ,it is then possible1 without laying one's self open to the charge of presumption or absurdity1 to place the ,infinite1 which is called ,god1 in the ,infinite which is called the ,universe1 in other words1 to locate the person of ,god at the common focus of the worlds which compose the ,universe4 ,theophilus4 ,your reasoning is just4 ,but you must prove1 or1 if you prefer the phrase1 you must teach me that the universe is truly ,the ,infinite by its extent4 ,i could not admit that assertion without very convincing evidence4 ,the ,author4 ,very well4 ,lend me your best attention1 and excuse me if my demonstration resembles a lecture on astronomy4 ,i have said that our solar system is only a little corner of the universe4 ,when you look at the vault of the sky on a bright clear night1 you see it thickly strewn with stars1 which1 you will at once acknowledge1 it would be impossible to count4 ,but all that you see with the naked eye is next to nothing4 ,take a good telescope1 and direct it to any part of the sky4 ,there where a moment before you saw nothing1 you will now discern legions of stars1 bright spots will come out upon the darkness of space1 like diamonds upon the velvet lining of a casket1 each of them a star1 exactly like those which we see at night in the sky4 ,and now1 let me ask you1 do you know what a star is8 ,theophilus4 ,yes1 ,i know from your manuscript1 and ,i had already known1 that the stars which we see by night1 but which the greater light of the sun hides from us in the day-time1 are self-luminous orbs1 each the centre of attraction and the lamp to the particular world it lights1 and which revolves around it4 ,as a whole company of planets1 satellites1 asterods1 and comets revolve round our sun1 receiving heat1 motion1 and light from that great central orb1 so1 the stars dispersed throughout space1 communicate motion and activity to a vast aggregate of planets and satellites4 ,these planets1 which revolve round the stars1 constitute stellar worlds1 analogous to our solar world4 ,we cannot see the planets1 which accompany these stars1 by reason of their smallness1 and the prodigious distance between us and them1 beyond the reach of the most powerful telescopes2 we only see the suns which govern them1 i4e41 the stars4 ,but the existence of the fixed stars1 like our sun1 implies the existence of planets revolving around them4 ,the ,author4 ,perfectly correct4 ,thus1 our solar world is not unique1 it is only one member of the family of stellar worlds1 which resemble our world in the disposition and the motions of the stars within them4 ,the universe is composed of the agglomeration of them all4 ,you know all this1 but there is one fact which1 as it is the result of recent discoveries1 you may not be aware of2 it is1 the great variety of disposition or of physical aspect presented by certain stars1 in which a kind of overturn of that which constitutes nature on our globe has taken place4 ,while they remain similar to our world in the order of their movements1 certain stars differ widely in the forces which govern nature in them4 ,theophilus4 ,pray explain your meaning4 ,the ,author4 ,while our solar system is governed by a single central star1 there are stellar systems which are governed by two1 three1 and even four suns4 ,it is evident that worlds which have two or three centres of light and heat must present physical and mechanical peculiarities of which we have no idea4 ,there are also other differences proper to many of the stellar worlds4 ,the light of our sun and of the greater number of the stars is constant3 it never undergoes either augmentation or diminution4 ,but this is not the case with many of those distant suns which we call stars4 ,we see their light alternately fade and revive2 sometimes they shine brightly1 then become almost imperceptible1 and anon brilliant again4 ,some of them become altogether extinct4 ,the decrease in lustre of several stars has been noted by different astronomers4#bc ,stars which have been observed in other times no longer exist4#bd ,others have suddenly appeared1 shone with excessive lustre1 and at the end of some years have been seen no more4 ,these successive augmentations and diminutions of luminous brilliance are not uncommon in the stars with which we are acquainted4 ,according to ,m4 ,flammarion1#be star of the ,whale varies very much in luminous intensity and the constellation itself frequently disappears4 ,star of the ,swan passes from the fifth to the tenth size under our eyes1 the thirtieth star of the ,hydra1 which is of the fourth size1 almost always disappears at intervals of #ejj days4 ,these variations must1 as ,m4 ,flammarion observes1 produce strange results4 ,to-day1 the radiant star is shedding floods of light and fire upon the planets which it governs1 and the soul of that planet is warmed by its burning rays4 ,a few months later1 without the least cloud in the sky1 the shining of the sun becomes fainter1 and then1 by degrees1 the obscurity increases1 until at length the planet is plunged into thick darkness4 ,when the diminution of the light of the sun is periodical1 this universal night lasts for a fixed time1 at the end of which the light returns1 if not1 the darkness is dispersed after varying periods4 ,the light grows1 little by little1 until at length the radiant star reappears in all its primitive brightness4 ,the fine days1 the glorious light returns1 until the moment when the same fading recommences and the darkness sets in once more4 ,can we picture to ourselves the strange alterations which nature undergoes in regions which are subjected to torrid heat and glacial cold by turns8 ,i am convinced that the glacial period which geologists have defined in the history of our globe1 during which an extraordinary and sudden lowering of the temperature caused the death of multitudes of living beings1 and covered ,europe with glaciers from the mountains--was caused by a momentary weakening of the intensity of the sun's light4 ,when it resumed its ordinary brightness1 the sun dispersed the ice which had covered the earth with a death mantle4#bf ,i have said that there are double stars1 that is to say1 worlds illuminated by two suns1 and sometimes even by three or four4 ,it is a strange fact that in almost every instance one of these suns is white1 like ours1 but the second is coloured1 blue1 red1 or green4 ,in the constellation ,perseus for example1 a double star can be distinctly seen by the aid of a good telescope4 ,the star is in fact accompanied by a second1 which makes part of the same solar system4 ,now1 this second star is blue4 ,in the constellation ,ophiochus there is a similar system of double stars1 one of which is red and the other blue4 ,the same peculiarity exists in the constellation of the ,dragon4 ,in a double star of the constellation of the ,bull1 there is a red sun1 and a blue sun4 ,there are double solar systems red and blue2 such are the constellations ,hercules and ,cassiopia4 ,other double solar systems are yellow and green1 and sometimes yellow and blue4 ,in all the worlds which are illuminated by these coloured suns1 the effect of light must be very strange4 ,no painter could represent them1 and indeed we1 who know only the white light of our own sun1 cannot form any idea of them4 ,theophilus4 ,these features of the stellar worlds are very interesting1 and ,i am glad to learn them4 ,but are we not straying from our subject8 ,the ,author4 ,no4 ,after having made you understand that the solar system which we inhabit is only a member of an immense family of other solar worlds1 only a small fraction of the universe1 ,i wished to show you by the diversity of those worlds1 the facility with which nature varies the forces and the physical conditions proper to the stellar worlds1 and consequently the living and inanimate types which make a portion of these different stellar worlds4 ,now that you understand the prodigious diversity of the solar worlds which compose the universe1 ,i will go on to our principal object4 ,i have not lost sight of my intention of proving to you that the universe has no limits1 that in its extent it is really the ,infinite4 ,i am now approaching this great question4 ,by the consideration of the stars1 ,i am going to bring out into relief the immeasurable vastness of the universe4 ,let me speak1 first1 of the appalling distances which separate the stars from the earth1 and the figures will show you that on that side we fall into the ,infinite1 and then ,i will speak of the numbers of the stars which people space2 and on this side also the abyss of the ,infinite will yawn before us4 ,first1 as to the distances which separate the stars from the earth1 from whence we may logically infer the distances which separate these stars from one another4 ,the distance between the earth and the sun is #ch1jjj1jjj leagues1 and this shall be our unit1 our standard of measurement1 by which to estimate the distance of the stars4 ,i do not know1 my dear ,theophilus1 whether you have formed an exact idea of this extent of #ch1jjj1jjj leagues1 which lie between us and the sun4 ,in general1 we can only conceive prodigious distances such as astronomy deals with1 by representing them by the interval of time which certain movable bodies known to us would consume in traversing them4 ,let us then have recourse to comparisons of this kind4 ,a cannon-ball weighing #ab kilogrammes1 exploded by #f kilogrammes of powder1 proceeding at a uniform rate of #ejj metres a second1 would take #aj years to travel from the earth to the sun4 ,supposing sound to travel at the same rate as on the surface of the air1 and at a uniform rate1 it would take #ae years to accomplish this journey4 ,if a railway were laid through space between the earth and the sun1 a train travelling at express speed1 #ab leagues an hour1 would not arrive at its destination until the end of #cch years4 ,this imaginary train1 if dispatched from the earth in ,january1 #ahgb1 would arrive at the sun in the year #bbaj4 ,the light from the sun1 which travels #gg1jjj leagues in a second1 takes #g minutes #ac seconds to reach the earth4 ,theophilus4 ,the distance between the earth and the sun is1 then1 #ch1jjj1jjj miles--that is our unit of measurement for the distances of the stars4 ,now let us hear about these distances4 ,the ,author4 ,i will deal first with those stars which are nearest to us4 ,one of these is a star in the constellation of the ,swan4 ,this star is distant from the earth #eea1jjj times our unit of measurement1 that is to say1 that we must multiply #eea1jjj times the distance of the earth from the sun to represent the distance of the star which we are considering1 and yet it is one of the nearest to the earth4 ,if we wish to represent this distance by the time occupied in the transit of light1 supposing this light to travel1 like that of our sun1 #gg1jjj leagues a second1 it would take #i years to travel from the star to us4 ,now1 if you wish to know the distance of other stars1 and remember that ,i only speak of the nearest1 look at this table1 which ,i found in an astronomical treatise3 ,,distance ,,of ,,certain ,,stars ,,from ,,the ,,earth4 ,names of the ,distances from ,time of transit ,stars4 the ,earth4 of light4 ,of the ,swan #eea1jjj times #i years and a half4 ,of the ,lyre #a1ccj1gjj #ba years4 ,of the ,great ,dog #a1cge1jjj #bb years4 ,of the ,great ,bear #a1eej1hjj #be years4 ,polar ,star #c1fgh1jjj #ej years4 ,thus1 the star of the ,lyre is distant from us more than #a1ccj1jjj times as far as the earth is from the sun1 and its light takes #ba years to reach us4 ,if1 by any celestial catastrophe1 star of the ,lyre were to disappear1 to be annihilated1 we should still see it for #ba years1 as its light takes that time to reach us4 ,theophilus4 ,it is then possible that our astronomers are now observing stars which no longer exist1 and are only visible to us because the light which they omitted is still travelling towards the earth4 ,the ,author4 ,just so4 ,but to continue4 ,i have begun with the stars which are nearest to the earth4 ,there are the stars of first and second magnitude4 ,you know1 ,i suppose1 the signification of those terms first1 second1 and third magnitude in astronomy8 ,theophilus4 ,yes1 ,i know that the word magnitude is only applied to the luminous appearance of the star1 and not to its real bulk4 ,a star of the first magnitude is one which forms part of the group of the most luminous stars2 a star of the second magnitude is one which comes next in point of brilliancy4 ,the ,author4 ,you must bear in mind that the word magnitude signifies in astronomy the opposite of that which it expresses4 ,the more luminous a star appears to us1 the nearer it is to us2 the paler and less visible1 the farther it is away4 ,the brilliance diminishes in proportion as the figure increases4 ,this is an introversion of terms1 sufficiently exceptional to be taken note of1 and it ought to be remembered1 for fear of mistakes4 ,hitherto we have considered only stars of the first and second magnitudes4 ,those of the third1 fourth1 fifth1 and sixth1 lead us to the contemplation of such immense distances1 that the unit which we have adopted1 enormous as it is1 is no longer of use4 ,the instruments of celestial observation which may be applied to the examination and measurement of stars of the first and second magnitudes1 do not serve for stars of the third and following magnitudes1 and1 because the small visible diameter of those stars make them appear mere specks of light1 measuring instruments are equally inapplicable to them4 ,in estimating the distances of the stars after the third magnitude1 a method of comparison1 based on the amplifying power of the telescopes successively used1 is employed4 ,i cannot enter into details of this method1 which we owe to ,sir ,william ,herschel1 but must content myself with explaining its results1 which are as follows in the case of stars of the sixth magnitude4 ,from certain stars of that class1 light would take #ajdb years to reach us3 from others it would take #bgjj4 ,after the sixth magnitude1 the stars can only be discerned by the aid of the telescope1 and their distances become perfectly stupefying in immensity4 ,certain of these telescopic stars are so far from the earth1 that their light can only reach us in #ejjj1 and even #aj1jjj years after it leaves the luminous centre4 ,from the stars of the last category 7fourteenth magnitude71 light would take #ajj1jjj years to reach the earth1 supposing it to travel at the same rate as the light of our sun1 i4e41 #gg1jjj leagues per second4 ,theophilus4 ,but1 if we are to accept the results of the labours of recent naturalists1 man exists on the earth only within #ajj1jjj years1 and some of those stars may have been extinct during all that time1 so that the human race may have been contemplating stars no longer in being for #ajj1jjj years4 ,to what strange consequences does such a science lead us6 ,the ,author4 ,yes1 the luminous rays which these stars send us from the deepest depths of space may perhaps be emanations from solar systems no longer in existence4 ,the present shows us only the past4 ,there may be stars so profoundly lost in immensity1 that their light has not yet had time to reach us4 ,they exist1 but we cannot see them1 not because the telescope could not discover them1 but because thousands of centuries are required for the journey of their luminous rays to our earth1 and those thousands of centuries have not yet elapsed2 so that this grand spectacle is reserved1 in that awfully remote future1 for our descendants4 ,and now1 my friend1 will you not acknowledge with me1 that the universe1 considered merely by the distances which separate us from the stars1 and the stars from each other1 is truly the ,infinite8 ,theophilus4 ,yes1 it is the ,infinite which unfolds itself before my eyes4 ,let me breathe a moment4 ,the ,author4 ,if we contemplate the number of the stars1 we shall also have the perspective of the ,infinite4 ,it is easy to reckon those of the first magnitude1 i4e41 the nearest to us4 ,they are #bj4 ,those of the second magnitude are #fe2 of the third1 #agj4 ,the number of the stars increases as their visibility diminishes1 in a very rapid proportion4 ,the number of stars of each class of visibility1 in apparent magnitude1 is three times greater than that of the stars of the preceding class4 ,there are #ejj stars of the fourth1 #aejj of the fifth1 #dejj of the sixth magnitudes4 ,the stars visible by the naked eye are #fjjj in number4 ,a practised eye can succeed in counting the #fjjj stars in the two hemispheres4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 #f4--;,a ,corner of the ,constellation of ,gemini4 ,but the telescope enables us to push the numbering of the suns much farther3 it opens up to us the depths of the heavens4 ,instead of the small number of stars which our eyes can see1 it shows us a myriad of others1 so thickly thronged together that they seem to cover the sky with fine silver sand4 ,here1 for instance 7fig4 #f71 is the aspect which one corner of the constellation of ,gemini presents to the naked eye4 ,and here is the same portion of the sky seen by the telescope4 ,by the aid of this wonderful instrument stars of the thirteenth and fourteenth magnitudes have been distinguished4 ,the number of stars of the twelfth magnitude is #i1eef1jjj1 which1 joined to the number of the same stars proper to the preceding categories1 gives a total of more than #ad1jjj1jjj4 ,in the third magnitude1 a total number of #db1jjj1jjj of stars is counted4 ,thus1 reckoning those visible to the naked eye1 and by the telescope1 we have #ef1jjj1jjj of suns1 and we stop at this number only because the telescope does not enable us to see smaller stars than those of the fourteenth magnitude4 ,but1 let the telescope be brought to greater perfection1 and the whole region of the sky will be seen to be covered with this silver sand1 with this diamond dust1 of which each grain is a sun4 ,and such will be the accumulation of these suns1 in the depths of space1 that nothing will be seen on the field of the telescope but a luminous network1 formed by the agglomeration of the suns1 which will appear to touch each other4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 #g4--;,a ,corner of the ,constellation of ,gemini1 seen through the telescope4 ,theophilus4 ,the ,infinite is beginning again4 ,let me shut my eyes4 ,the ,author4 ,wait1 ,i have not said all1 ,i have only begun4 ,i am coming to the nebul4 ,here1 indeed1 you may expect to grow giddy4 ,the telescope has dispersed all the theories on which the different explanations of the nebul were built1 and has shown us that they are collections of stars1 which1 in consequence of their excessive number1 and their closeness to each other1 appear to form a whole1 a single vague and continuous brightness4 ,but1 when their dimensions and distances are amplified by the telescope1 this diffused light transforms itself into a brilliant point1 analogous to that presented by the sky1 tapestried with small stars1 in the same telescope4 ,these nebul are groups of enormous numbers of stars1 and even their nearness to each other is only in appearance4 ,they are1 in reality1 separated by enormous distances1 and it must not be supposed that they are all in the same plane2 they belong1 on the contrary1 to very unequal depths in space1 and it is only an optical effect which gathers them together on the field of the telescope in the same apparent plane4 ,the nebula of the ,centaur is one of the most wonderful4 ,to the naked eye it is but a dimly-lighted point in the sky2 but1 looked at through a good telescope1 it takes the aspect represented by figure #h4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 #h4--,the ,nebula of the ,centaur4 ,on examination of this figure1 it will be seen that a nebula is not the result of a collection of stars simply spread out upon a level in space1 but of that of an assemblage of stars all placed at unequal distances1 and forming almost a sphere4 ,in fact the stars are crowded towards the centre1 and are1 on the contrary1 more and more distant from one another as the outer edge is approached4 ,if a spherical assemblage of stars were observed from a distance1 it would present a similar aspect4 ,this leads us to believe that the nebula of the ,centaur1 like the greater number of agglomerations of this kind1 is spherical4 ,is it possible to reckon the stars which form a nebula8 ,only approximately4 ,arago estimates the number of stars which form a nebula no larger than the tenth part of the apparent disc of the moon1 at twenty thousand1 at least4 ,this result may give us an idea of the swarms of suns contained in the nebul1 for these stellar masses are very numerous in the sky4 ,in the depths of the nebul there are luminous points whose nature is as yet unrevealed by the telescope1 which cannot be resolved into stars2 but analogy leads us to believe that they are other and still more distant nebul1 which1 by reason of their apparent littleness1 elude the scope of our instruments4 ,but the time will come1 when1 thanks to the perfection which our telescopes shall have attained1 this theory will be confirmed1 and we shall thus see deeper and farther into immensity4 ,the stars which form the nebul are sometimes grouped so as to form regular shapes1 spheres1 or more or less lengthened ellipses4 ,sometimes the sphere is hollow in the centre1 and so forms a ring4 ,nothing more varied1 nothing more strange can be imagined than the forms of those nebul which have hitherto been examined1 and which already number more than a million1 of which no two are precisely alike4 ,certain nebul seem to be double1 or joined4 ,others are lengthened out1 like serpents1 as in that of the ,shield of ,sobieski1 represented in figure #i4 ,lord ,rosse was the first to discover that curious disposition of the nebul called spiral4 ,such a form is inexplicable1 but it is certain that the suns which compose the nebul are often grouped1 not around a centre1 not in shapeless heaps1 but in regular curves1 on a system which seems to reveal the existence of some mysterious force acting upon those stars1 which are distributed along lines representing spirals of different diameter4 ,illustration3 ,fig4 #i4--,the ,shield of ,sobieski4 ,in speaking of the stars1 ,i have said that there are coloured stars or suns4 ,i will add here that nebul are observed coloured red1 green1 and yellow1 which is an additional proof that they are only agglomerations of stars4 ,that immense semi-luminous band which traverses the celestial vault1 girding it with a silver belt1 is not1 as it was long supposed to be1 a diffused quantity of luminous matter4 ,the telescopic analysis of the ,milky ,way shows that it consists of a long series of nebul4 ,the length of the ,milky ,way is from #gjj to #hjj times the distance from ,sirius to the sun1 a distance which is #a1cgc1jjj times that from the earth to the sun4#bg ,theophilus4 ,can any idea be formed of the number of stars comprised in the ,milky ,way8 ,illustration3 ,fig4 #aj4--,the ,milky ,way4 ,the ,author4 ,herschel1 having examined the sky of the southern hemisphere from the ,cape of ,good ,hope1 in applying his observations to the whole extent of the ,milky ,way1 estimated the number of suns comprised in that immense nebul at #ah millions4 ,i have just told you the length of the ,milky ,way4 ,a ray of light emitted from a star at one of its extremities1 and reaching the other1 would take #ae1jjj years to accomplish the transit4 ,so that1 when we are looking through the telescope at one of the suns of this nebula1 we receive the impression of a ray of light emitted from that star #gjjj or #hjjj years ago1 i4e41 long before the dawn of the historic ages4#bh ,the measurement of the ,milky ,way enables us therefore to measure the extent of other nebul1 still more distant from us4 ,there are1 as ,i have already said1 masses of diffused light in the midst of nebul which telescopic analysis has resolved into stars1 which are probably much more distant nebul4 ,the real distance of these luminous masses can be fixed4 ,if it were asked1 to what distance the ,milky ,way should be removed in order to offer us the aspect of an ordinary nebula1 ,arago would answer that according to his researches1 the ,milky ,way ought to be removed to a distance equal to #ccd times its length4 ,according to this the ,milky ,way would be seen from the earth at an angle of #aj1 and its light would take #e1jaj1jjj years to travel that distance4 ,thus1 light would take more than five millions of years to travel from one of the telescopic nebul to our earth4 ,such are the intervals which exist in the universe1 and which our instruments can appreciate4 ,it seems to me that we are now on the borders of the ,infinite4 ,theophilus4 ,we are indeed4 ,the ,author4 ,when we know that those terrible distances1 which appal the imagination1 are only the results of observations made by our telescopes1 and capable of any amount of extension2 when we reflect that the innumerable worlds thus revealed to us continue farther and farther1 that ever new agglomerations of suns1 planetary earths and their satellites add themselves to those which we can measure1 without limit and without end1 that the imagination cannot err in following them to the uttermost limits of its powers2 then1 my dear ,theophilus1 we comprehend that the universe is truly infinite4 ,and if you consider that these endless ranks of solar systems have all their following of planets and satellites1 filled with living beings1 plants1 animals1 men1 and superhuman creatures1 that flaming comets traverse the orbit of each world at intervals and plunge into the burning furnace of its sun2 that these milliards of suns are endlessly various1 and that all the complicated motions of these different systems are accomplished with perfect order1 without any mutual disturbance1 you will find that the universe is not only the infinite in extent1 but1 also in order1 harmony1 equilibrium of motion1 and laws6 ,theophilus4 ,the mind loses itself in such thoughts2 for the idea of the infinite is not made for our feeble intelligence4 ,let us go no farther1 or our reason will fail us4 ,the ,author4 ,nevertheless1 ,i must pursue my long argument to the end4 ,i must add that in the midst of this boundless space1 above this immense cortge of stars1 which are the dwelling places of living creatures and sentient souls1 there exists the ,supreme ,author1 the ,sovereign ,ordainer1 from ,whom1 as their sacred source1 all that our eyes behold1 our souls feel1 and our intelligence admires1 is derived4 ,he1 whom ,i bless with all the gratitude of my heart--,god6 ,theophilus4 ,thus1 then1 you have reached the true object of your discourse4 ,this journey through space is undertaken to prove that ,god1 being infinite in moral perfections1 may be placed in that infinitude in extent1 called the universe4 ,it only remains now to say in what precise spot you place the sojourn of the ,divinity1 for ,i do not see how there can be a centre to the ,infinite1 seeing it has neither beginning nor end4 ,the ,author4 ,i am about to explain myself on this point4 ,the absolute fixity of the sun and the stars was an astronomical principle1 which1 in the time of ,newton1 appeared to be indubitable4 ,but science never stands still4 ,observations made in the present century have proved that the fixity1 the immobility of the sun is only relative4 ,the truth is that the sun1 and with him the entire system of planets1 asterods1 satellites1 and comets1 which he carries1 in his train1 change their places1 very slightly no doubt1 but still appreciably4 ,our sun appears to advance slowly1 with all the planetary family1 towards that part of the sky in which the constellation of ,hercules is situated1 at the rate of #fb1jjj1jjj of leagues each year1 or two leagues each second1 describing an orbit which comprehends millions of centuries4 ,that which is the case with our sun is equally the case with the other suns1 that is to say1 the stars4 ,this general motion of translation must be common to all the stellar systems1 and it is indubitable that the countless millions of solar systems suspended in infinite space1 are moving more or less quickly towards an unknown point in the sky4 ,now1 there is nothing to forbid the supposition that all these circles or ellipses traced by myriads of solar systems1 have a common centre of attraction1 towards which our system and all the others gravitate4 ,thus1 all these celestial bodies1 without exception1 all this ant-hill of worlds which we have enumerated1 may be turning round one point1 one centre of attraction4 ,what forbids us to believe that ,god dwells at this centre of attraction for all the worlds which fill infinite space8 ,theophilus4 ,now ,i understand your thought1 and ,i am struck by its grandeur4 ,this ,god1 placed at the mathematical centre of the worlds which compose the universe1 this infinite intelligence1 throned in the centre of the infinite universe1 and presiding over the movements of all the innumerable phalanxes of heavenly bodies which our imagination can conceive1 responds to the idea which we form of ,god1 if we venture to face the awful personality of ,his ,omnipotence4 ,you have done well to develop this theory in your work4 ,it will be in harmony with the kind of religious spirit which animates it1 and which is1 besides1 the expression of the desires1 and the aspirations of the men of our time4 ,in the present day a deep and profound need of belief in ,providence makes itself felt4 ,men want to render homage to ,god1 in whom they feel there is truth1 peace1 and safety for the present and in the future4 ,but the established religions leave many minds in cruel uncertainty4 ,in ,the ,day after ,death you have endeavoured to lay the foundations of the religion of science and of nature4 ,these principles respond1 as ,i believe1 to the prevalent wishes of mankind4 ,they satisfy the mind and the heart1 sentiment and reason2 they console and strengthen2 in short1 they consecrate the idea of ,god1 without laying aside either the universe or nature4 ,the ,author4 ,so be it6 ,,the ,,end4 ,,billing ,,and ,,sons1 ,,ltd41 ,,printers1 ,,guildford ,,footnotes3 #bc ,arago4 ,astronomie ,populaire1 ,vol4 ,i41 pp4 #cgb-cgf4 #bd ,arago4 ,astronomie ,populaire1 ,vol4 ,i41 pp4 #cgf-chj4 #be ,flammarion4 ,pluralit des ,mondes habits1 page #aie4 #bf ,see the ,author's work3 ,the ,earth before the ,deluge1 pp4 #djb-ddj4 #bg ,flammarion4 ,pluralit des ,mondes ,habits1 page #bjc4 #bh ,flammarion4 ,pluralit des ,mondes ,habits1 page #bjc4 ,,macmillan',s ,,library ,,of ,,english ,,classics ,,edited ,,by ,a4 ,w4 ,,pollard4 ,a ,series of ,reprints of ,standard ,works in ,library ,form4 ,demy #hvo4 ,cloth elegant4 ,price #cs4 #f;d4 net per volume4 ,also in ,roxburgh ,binding4 ,specially suitable for ,presentation4 ,green ,morocco ,backs1 ,cloth ,sides1 and ,gilt ,tops4 ,price #es4 net per volume4 ,,bacon',s ,,essays3 ,colours of ,good and ,evil2 and 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,,matthew ,,arnold4 ,by ,,herbert ,w4 ,,paul4 ,,ruskin4 ,by ,,frederic ,,harrison4 ,,tennyson4 ,by ,sir ,,alfred ,,lyall4 ,,richardson4 ,by ,,austin ,,dobson4 ,,browning4 ,by ,g4 ,k4 ,,chesterton4 ,,crabbe4 ,by ,,alfred ,,ainger4 ,,fanny ,,burney4 ,by ,,austin ,,dobson4 ,,jeremy ,,taylor4 ,by ,,edmund ,,gosse4 ,,dante ,,gabriel ,,rossetti4 ,by ,a4 ,c4 ,,benson4 ,,hobbes4 ,by ,sir ,,leslie ,,stephen1 ,k4,c4,b4 ,,maria ,,edgeworth4 ,by the ,hon4 ,,emily ,,lawless4 ,,adam ,,smith4 ,by ,,francis ,w4 ,,hirst4 ,,jane ,,austen4 ,by the ,rev4 ,,canon ,,beeching4 ,,sydney ,,smith4 ,by ,,george ,w4 ,e4 ,,russell4 ,,andrew ,,marvell4 ,by ,,augustine ,,birrell1 ,k4,c4 ,,mrs4 ,,gaskell4 ,by ,,clement ,,shorter4 ,,thomas ,,moore4 ,by ,,stephen ,,gwynn4 ,,charles ,,kingsley4 ,by ,g4 ,k4 ,,chesterton4 ,,shakespeare4 ,by ,,walter ,,raleigh4 ,english ,men of ,action ,series4 ,crown #hvo4 ,cloth4 ,with ,portraits4 #bs4 #f;d4 each4 ,,campbell 7,colin74 ,by ,,archibald ,,forbes4 ,,clive4 ,by ,sir ,,charles ,,wilson4 ,,cook 7,captain74 ,by ,sir ,,walter ,,besant4 ,,dampier4 ,by ,w4 ,,clark ,,russell4 ,,drake4 ,by ,,julian ,,corbett4 ,,dundonald4 ,by the ,hon4 ,j4 ,w4 ,,fortescue4 ,,gordon 7,general74 ,by ,sir ,w4 ,,butler4 ,,hastings 7,warren74 ,by ,sir ,a4 ,,lyall4 ,,havelock 7,sir ,henry74 ,by ,a4 ,,forbes4 ,,henry ,v4 ,by the ,rev4 ,a4 ,j4 ,,church4 ,,lawrence 7,lord74 ,by ,sir ,,richard ,,temple4 ,,livingstone4 ,by ,,thomas ,,hughes4 ,,monk4 ,by ,,julian ,,corbett4 ,,montrose4 ,by ,,mowbray ,,morris4 ,,napier 7,sir ,charles74 ,by ,colonel ,sir ,w4 ,,butler4 ,,nelson4 ,by ,professor ,j4 ,k4 ,,laughton4 ,,peterborough4 ,by ,w4 ,,stebbing4 ,,rodney4 ,by ,,david ,,hannay4 ,,strafford4 ,by ,h4 ,d4 ,,traill4 ,,warwick1 the ,king-,maker4 ,by ,c4 ,w4 ,,oman4 ,,wellington4 ,by ,,george ,,hooper4 ,,wolfe4 ,by ,a4 ,g4 ,,bradley4 ,twelve ,english ,statesmen4 ,crown #hvo4 #bs4 #f;d4 each4 ,a ,series of ,short ,biographies1 not designed to be a complete roll of famous ,statesmen1 but to present in historic order the lives and work of those leading actors in our affairs who by their direct influence have left an abiding mark on the policy1 the institutions1 and the position of ,great ,britain among ,states4 ,,william ,,the ,,conqueror4 ,by ,,edward ,a4 ,,freeman1 ,d4,c4,l41 ,,ll4,d41 late ,regius ,professor of ,modern ,history in the ,university of ,oxford4 ,,henry ,,ii4 ,by ,mrs4 ,j4 ,r4 ,,green4 ,,edward ,i4 ,by ,t4 ,f4 ,,tout1 ,m4,a41 ,professor of ,history1 ,the ,owens ,college1 ,manchester4 ,,henry ,,vii4 ,by ,,james ,,gairdner4 ,,cardinal ,,wolsey4 ,by ,bishop ,,creighton1 ,d4,d41 late ,dixie ,professor of ,ecclesiastical ,history in the ,university of ,cambridge4 ,,elizabeth4 ,by ,e4 ,s4 ,,beesly1 ,m4,a41 ,professor of ,modern ,history1 ,university ,college1 ,london4 ,,oliver ,,cromwell4 ,by ,,frederic ,,harrison4 ,,william ,,iii4 ,by ,h4 ,d4 ,,traill4 ,,walpole4 ,by ,,john ,,morley4 ,,chatham4 ,in preparation4 ,by ,,frederic ,,harrison4 ,,pitt4 ,by ,lord ,,rosebery4 ,,peel4 ,by ,j4 ,r4 ,,thursfield1 ,m4,a41 late ,fellow of ,jesus ,college1 ,oxford4 ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co41 ,,ltd41 ,,london4 ,transcriber's ,note4 ,variable spelling and hyphenation have been retained4 ,minor punctuation inconsistencies have been silently repaired4 ,corrections4 ,the first line indicates the original1 the second the correction4 p4 #hd3 we maintain that heat tranforms we maintain that heat transforms p4 #aaj3 ,the fall of these asteriods ,the fall of these asteroids p4 #aab3 it has been calculated that a dimunition it has been calculated that a diminution p4 #aba3 authoritative duductions of modern science4 authoritative deductions of modern science4 p4 #abe3 itself by the phemonena of dreams4 itself by the phenomena of dreams4 p4 #aej3 and the plant resumes it appearance of placid health and the plant resumes its appearance of placid health p4 #aei3 that they reciprocately nourish that they reciprocally nourish p4 #ahg3 whose formidable shapes1 and collossal dimensions whose formidable shapes1 and colossal dimensions p4 #aih3 the gigantic mososaurus the gigantic mosasaurus p4 #bje3 and in one latitute of our globe and in one latitude of our globe p4 #bae3 they have not cuitivated their faculties they have not cultivated their faculties p4 #bhh3 that ,he is infinite in his moral perfections1 and in ,his intellectual power that ,he is infinite in ,his moral perfections1 and in ,his intellectual power