,,dreams ,,of ,,an ,,astronomer ,,dreams ,,of ,,an ,,astronomer ,by ,,camille ,,flammarion ,translated from the ,french by ,e4 ,e4 ,,fournier ,d',,albe ,d4 ,,appleton ,,and ,,company ,,new ,,york ,,mcmxxiii ,,published1 #aibc1 ,,by ,d4 ,,appleton ,,and ,,company ,all rights reserved ,,printed ,,in ,,the ,,united ,,states ,,america ,,contents ,,chapter ,,page ,i4 ,a ,,voyage ,,in ,,the ,,sky #i 7#a7 ,,two ,,hundred ,,and ,,forty ,,thousand ,,miles ,,from ,,the ,,earth #ab 7#b7 ,,thirty-,,seven ,,million ,,miles ,,from ,,the ,,earth #ae 7#c7 ,,at ,,seven ,,hundred ,,and ,,fifty ,,million ,,miles #ah 7#d7 ,,two ,,thousand ,,five ,,hundred ,,million ,,miles ,,from ,,the ,,sun #bj 7#e7 ,,at ,,twenty-,,five ,,billion ,,miles #cf 7#f7 ,,at ,,sixty ,,thousand ,,billion ,,miles #dd 7#g7 ,,in ,,infinite ,,space #di ,,ii4 ,,the ,,world ,,of ,,long ,,ago #fe ,,iii4 ,,the ,,world ,,to ,,come #gi ,,iv4 ,,venus ,,the ,,beautiful #ie ,v4 ,,the ,,planet ,,mars #aaa ,,vi4 ,,the ,,giant ,,world ,,of ,,jupiter #abc ,,vii4 ,,heartbeats ,,across ,,space #aca ,,viii4 ,,ideas ,,concerning ,,communication ,,between ,,the ,,worlds #ada ,,ix4 ,,stabs ,,and ,,atoms #aeg ,x4 ,,are ,,other ,,planets ,,inhabited8 7,a ,,discussion ,,of ,,scheiner',s ,,arguments7 #agi ,,general ,,remarks #ahb ,,historical #ahd ,,the ,,origin ,,of ,,life #aic ,,the ,,conditions ,,of ,,life #aif ,,the ,,planets ,,of ,,our ,,system #bja ,,the ,,possible ,,existence ,,of ,,beings ,,of ,,different ,,chemical ,,constitution #baj ,,remarks #bae ,,index #bbc ,i4 ,a ,,voyage ,,in ,,the ,,sky ,,chapter ,i ,a ,,voyage ,,in ,,the ,,sky ,,introduction ,,it ,,was at ,venice4 ,the lofty windows of the ancient ,ducal ,palace of the ,speranzi opened upon the ,grand ,canal4 ,the orb of night was mirrored in the waters by a furrow of silver spangles1 and the immensity of the sky stretched over the towers and cupolas4 ,when the musicians borne by the gondolas had turned the corner of the canal to glide towards the ,bridge of ,sighs1 their last choruses vanished in the night1 and ,venice seemed to go to sleep in that profound silence known to no hive of humanity but the ,queen of the ,adriatic4 ,this ,venetian silence was untroubled save by the cadenced beats of the old clock1 and perhaps ,i should not have appreciated the whole depth of the universal muteness but for the regular oscillation of that apparatus designed for measuring time4 ,the continuous 8tick-tock0 marked out the silence1 and1 curiously enough1 seemed to intensify it4 ,seated in the embrasure of the high window1 ,i contemplated the shining disc of the ,moon enthroned in an azure sky filled entirely with its light1 and ,i remembered that this luminary of the night1 so tranquil and calm in appearance1 moved a thousand yards in space at each beat of the clock4 ,this fact struck me for the first time with a certain force1 perhaps on account of the enveloping solitude4 ,gazing upon the lunar globe1 in which ,i could distinguish with the naked eye the ancient seas and geographical outlines1 ,i bethought myself that it was still perhaps inhabited by beings organised differently from ourselves who can live in an extremely rarefied atmosphere2 but what struck me even more forcibly was its rapid revolution round the ,earth1 at the rate of #a1jjj yards at each beat of the clock1 making #ch miles a minute1 #b1bhj an hour1 #ec1hjj a day1 or #a1ejj1jjj miles for each lunar month4 ,i saw in my mind the ,moon revolving round us from west to east in less than a month1 and at the same time ,i felt1 so to speak1 the daily movement of the ,earth about its axis1 also from west to east1 which makes the sky appear to move in the opposite direction4 ,while ,i was still reflecting1 indeed1 the ,moon had actually shifted and descended in the west towards the steeple of the ,chiesa4 ,these terrestrial and celestial movements1 softer than those of the gondolas gliding on the limpid waters1 bear us along through reality as through a dream4 ,they measure the days and the years as we pass1 like fleeting shadows1 while they endure for ever4 ,the silent ,moon1 sphinx of the sky1 shone already on the waters silvered by her splendour millions of years ago1 while terrestrial humanity was still awaiting its slow unfolding in the limbo of future possibilities4 ,strange animals peopled the forests which covered the continents1 fantastic fishes pursued each other in the floods1 vampires clove the air1 and two-footed crocodiles1 which seem to be the ancestors of those of ,egyptian mythology1 showed themselves in the clearings on the banks of the rivers4 ,later the same ,moon shone on the birth of the flowers1 on the nests of the first birds4 ,but how many nights had she not illuminated with pale beams before the first glance from a human eye fell upon her1 before the first human thought ascended towards her6 ,to-night she shines upon a populous and active humanity1 flourishing cities1 marble palaces1 built amid the clouds4 ,just now1 at my feet1 in a gondola a pair of lovers called upon her to witness their eternal vows1 forgetting that her rapid phases are the symbol of our changefulness and our shortness of life4 ,yes1 she has been the confidante of many mysteries1 and for a long time yet will radiant youth sing under her sky its eternal song of love4 ,but one day1 a poor1 enfeebled lamp1 she will only shine upon a cemetery of ice2 there will be no more clocks for measuring hours nor human beings to count them4 ,thus ,i mused1 in the bright moonlight which seemed to intensify all the shadows and to deepen all the abysses between the palaces plunging into the black water4 ,this neighbouring world exists at a distance of #bdj1jjj miles from us4 ,our thoughts fly thither in a flash4 ,with the speed of light1 the distance is covered in #a second4 ,in imagination ,i took flight up to the distant luminary4 ,i forgot ,venice1 the ,adriatic1 and the ,earth1 and ,i felt myself carried beyond the confines of the terrestrial atmosphere4 7#a7 ,,two ,,hundred ,,and ,,forty ,,thousand ,,miles ,,from ,,the ,,earth ,i seemed to approach the pale ,phbe and to arrive suddenly above the immense chain of the lunar ,apennines1 which separate the 8,sea of ,vapour0 from the 8,sea of ,rain10 not far from the central meridian4 ,i recognised1 just as ,i had so often observed them in the telescope1 the amphitheatres and craters of ,archimedes1 ,autolycus1 and ,aristillus1 and ,i hovered for some time over the steep cliffs of the 8,sea of ,serenity40 ,i saw the traces of old submersions and ,i distinguished several craters almost obliterated by formidable land-slides4 ,i got accustomed to this view the more rapidly for the fact that astronomical instruments have long familiarised us with this neighbouring world1 and that certain details of lunar geography are better known than are many points of terrestrial geography4 ,those immense amphitheatres1 those yawning craters1 those steep-walled mountains1 those deep valleys1 those numerous cracks in the soil--we have studied them all and we know them4 ,we find there the geographical result of considerable volcanic activity1 craters #b miles in depth and #fj1 #ajj1 or #aej miles wide1 mountain peaks #d or #e miles high1 plains and valleys where the traces of successive selenological epochs are traceable4 ,in the lower depths ,i observed the effects of a sensible atmosphere1 surface changes produced over immense stretches of ground by the action of the ,sun's rays during days fifteen times as long as ours1 changes of aspect due to the frost of the long lunar night and the thaw under the midday ,sun1 long white streaks traversing the circular plains2 something like geysers in activity2 short-lived plants without any terrestrial analogy--a whole world still alive1 apparently in its last death-struggle4 ,my thought and my gaze rested on the pale figure of the ,earth's satellite1 and ,i asked myself whether there was not alive at that moment1 in some ancient city at the bottom of a crater or a valley1 some thinking being1 with its eyes raised to the sky1 contemplating the ,earth where we are and asking the same question3 whether any intelligent beings lived on the surface of that immense globe throning for ever over their heads1 and presenting to their minds the same riddle which their abode presents to us4 ,while ,i thus reflected about our neighbour in space1 the orb of night had sunk in the west1 and ,i saw at some distance from it on the left a star shining with a reddish glow1 shedding rays of fire over the heavenly vault4 ,i was not long in recognising in this ardent star our neighbour the planet ,mars1 and ,i forgot the moon over this other celestial island1 the sister of our own1 which has so many analogies with our planet4 ,here1 said ,i to myself1 is the planet of greatest interest to ourselves1 the one we know best4 ,it gravitates round the sun along an orbit traced at a mean distance of #adc million miles from the central luminary4 ,our ,earth passes through its annual revolution at a distance of #ib million miles4 ,there are1 therefore1 on an average1 #ea million miles between the two orbits4 ,on the night of my vigil1 ,mars happened to be at its minimum distance from the ,earth4 ,fortunately1 as the two orbits are neither circular nor parallel1 the real distance is sometimes reduced to #cg million miles4 ,light1 which takes #a second to traverse the distance between the ,earth and the ,moon1 takes #bjj seconds1 or #c minutes #bj seconds1 to cross the celestial abyss which separates ,mars from the ,earth1 ,it seemed to me that ,i really spent those #c minutes in flying the distance1 and ,i entirely forgot the high window of my ,venetian palace over the aspect of the new world to which the flight of my thought had brought me4 7#b7 ,,thirty-,,seven ,,million ,,miles ,,prom ,,the ,,earth ,it is not very far1 astronomically speaking4 ,it is1 in fact1 quite near1 a few paces away4 ,the world of ,mars is the first station of the solar system1 the first planet we meet on leaving the ,earth to visit the remote regions of the heavens4 ,the farther we move away from the ,earth1 the smaller grows the apparent size of our own world4 ,seen from the ,moon1 our planet hangs in the sky like an enormous moon1 four times the size of our own satellite1 and sixteen times as luminous1 for it is isolated in space and reflects the light received from the ,sun1 as is done by the ,moon and the various planets of the solar system4 ,from about #bej1jjj miles1 therefore1 the ,earth still appears of a considerable size1 being about four times the size of the full ,moon4 ,at #b million miles it appears ten times smaller in diameter1 but still shows a perceptible disc4 ,at the distance of the orbit of ,mars1 at the time when the planets are in greatest proximity 7#cg million miles71 the ,earth no longer shows a sensible disc1 but is still the biggest and brightest star in the entire heavens4 ,the inhabitants of ,mars1 therefore1 admire us as a brilliant star in the sky1 showing aspects similar to those which ,venus shows to us4 ,we are their morning and evening star1 and no doubt their mythology has erected altars to us4 ,when ,i arrived on that planet1 it was about midday on its central meridian4 ,i noticed two small moons revolving rapidly in their sky1 and ,i alighted on the slope of a mountain overlooking a distant sea4 ,the sea was shallow and full of water-plants4 ,the panorama reminded me of that which one sees from the terrace of the ,nice ,observatory1 and ,i seemed to see a ,mediterranean of calm water1 of a rather dark bluish-green colour4 ,but it was a different element1 and ,i saw that the plants were of a species unknown on ,earth4 ,airy navies consisting of a sort of bird-fishes glided through the atmosphere1 and ,i soon found that the inhabitants of this celestial territory have received by natural evolution the enviable privilege of flying through the air1 and that their method of locomotion is particularly aviation4 ,gravity is feeble on the surface of the planet1 and hence the density of beings and objects on that planet is much less than it is with us4 ,engineering science has for many centuries reached a high degree of perfection4 ,they have carried out immense works1 incomparably superior to those achieved on our planet during the last century1 and they have transformed their globe by gigantic operations which earthly astronomers are just beginning to appreciate by means of the telescope4 ,one may easily understand1 indeed1 that that world should be more advanced than ours1 because it is more ancient chronologically1 and because1 being smaller than our globe1 it has cooled down more rapidly and has run through the phases of organic evolution at a greater rate4 ,its years are nearly twice as long as ours1 in the proportion of #cfe days to #fhg4 ,while we count #cg years on ,earth1 the ,martian only counts #bj1 and a man of #gi years on ,earth is only #dj ,martian years old4 ,this is an advantage of #hh per cent4 ,its condition of habitability1 its climate and meteorology1 its days and its nights1 are analogous to ours4 ,even from where we are we can observe its continents1 its polar snows which melt in the spring1 its canals which also change with the seasons1 its humid plains periodically varied by vegetation1 its clouds1 generally very light1 but dense enough towards the polar regions1 its mists in the mornings and especially in the evening1 above all1 the perpetual changes1 incomparably more intense than those of the ,earths surface--in a word1 all those manifestations of an activity greater than that of our own home of the present day4 ,i only delayed on ,mars for the time necessary to form a general idea of the life which animates our neighbouring globe and to make sure that it is more active than that of terrestrial humanity1 and ,i found myself1 some moments later1 transported to the annular world of ,saturn4 7#c7 ,,at ,,seven ,,hundred ,,and ,,fifty ,,million ,,miles ,the conception of time1 the appreciation of duration1 are essentially relative to the state of our mind4 ,if we sleep profoundly for seven or eight hours1 that time will have made a gap in our life of no greater length than that produced by ten minutes of sleep4 ,the miners who by the collapse of a shaft are entombed for five or six days before being rescued1 always believe that they have not been cut off for more than twenty hours4 ,buried on a ,tuesday1 for instance1 they will not believe that they have had to wait till ,sunday4 ,on the other hand1 one may seem to pass several hours1 very slowly1 in a dream of a few seconds4 ,a friend of mine told me that one day1 as he was riding through a wood1 his horse bolted and threw him into a ravine4 ,he said his fall had certainly not taken more than three seconds1 but that during those three seconds he had passed in review at least ten years of his life in all their successive details and without any apparent hurrying of events4 ,then1 again1 who has not observed how long the minutes may seem during some hours of waiting8 ,the orbit of the ,earth round the ,sun being #ib million miles1 and that of ,saturn #hhh million1 there are #gif million miles between the two orbits4 ,light traverses this gap in #gj minutes4 ,my fancy flew this distance with the speed of light1 and ,i was aware of these #b1bdj seconds required to cover the distance at the rate of #ahf1jjj miles a second4 ,yet ,i am sure that ,i did not spend all that time in traversing the distance to ,saturn1 nor even the lesser time corresponding to the distance between ,mars and the ringed planet1 for the first stroke of ten had sounded on the old clock when ,i forgot ,mars and fixed my attention on ,saturn1 and ,i arrived at my destination before the hour had finished striking4 ,i alighted on the tenth satellite1 whence one can easily appreciate the grandeur of the ,saturnian system4 ,the enormous planet of1 a diameter more than #i times that of our globe1 with a surface #ij times that of the ,earth1 and a bulk #gde times that of our floating home1 is surrounded by gigantic rings measuring #agh1jjj miles across4 ,girt by this multiple ring1 the planet presides over a retinue of ten satellites revolving round it in a system having a radius of #h million miles1 a system which in itself constitutes a universe larger than that known to the ancients4 ,until the age of truth inaugurated by the conquests of modern astronomy1 nobody on our planet1 no poet1 no philosopher1 no thinker1 had guessed the real grandeur of the proportions on which the universe is constructed4 ,how small our ,earth appears seen from the ,saturnian system6 ,it is barely seen1 once in six months1 as a small luminous dot near the sun1 shining for a few minutes in the evening after sunset1 or a few minutes in the morning before sunrise4 7#d7 ,,two ,,thousand ,,five ,,hundred ,,million ,,miles ,,from ,,the ,,sun ,in the depths of space1 at a distance from the sun more than #cj times our own1 under a glow of light and heat #ijj times feebler than that which we enjoy1 there roams the world of ,neptune1 among conditions of life quite different from those which obtain on ,earth4 ,those short-sighted naturalists who affirmed even quite recently1 with professorial emphasis1 that the abysses of the ocean are condemned to an eternal sterility1 because the conditions of light and pressure are absolutely different from the conditions near the surface1 have received from ,nature herself the rudest contradiction which can be inflicted upon the pedantic science of pretenders to infallibility4 ,this contradiction1 however direct and absolute1 has not discouraged them all1 for there are still some who declare that life can only exist on worlds having conditions identical with ours4 ,always the reasonings of the fish who affirms--quite sincerely--that it is impossible to live outside water6 ,let us leave these teachers to their illusions and continue our ascent4 ,astronomy must be the great teacher of philosophy4 ,the distant world of ,neptune1 on which every year equals nearly #afe of our years1 and where ten years represent the whole historical interval which separates us from the ,romans 7we must remember than #a1fej years ago the ,romans reigned at ,paris and in ,gaul1 and neither ,france nor any of the present-day nations were thought of71 this neighbouring world1 ,i say1 is well fitted to teach us to enlarge our narrow and personal conceptions1 especially as regards the measurement of time4 ,the calendar of that planet is just as exact1 just as precise1 as ours1 and a ,neptunian year is not longer to those slow and reflective beings who inhabit the place than is a terrestrial year to those hurrying and agitated persons who swarm in our turbulent cities4 ,yet a ,neptunian adolescent of #bj has really lived nearly #c1cjj terrestrial years1 without knowing that such a time is called 8very long0 by the inhabitants of our planet1 whom such a life would carry back to the epoch of ,homer and ancient ,greece4 ,it would be impossible even with the most careful examination to discover any point of comparison between the beings which live on the ,neptunian world and those which we know on ,earth4 ,none of our classifications1 whether of the animal kingdom1 vast and diversified though it be1 or of the vegetable kingdom1 highly complex in itself1 could be applied to them4 ,it is another world1 absolutely different from this one4 ,spectrum analysis indeed establishes the fact that its chemical composition is quite other than that of our terrestrial home4 ,the organisms which live on the surface of the different planets are the resultant of the forces acting upon them4 ,the origin of the human form lies in the ancestral forms of the long animal series whence it has gradually emerged1 and of which it is the highest perfection1 and these primitive animal forms go back in an unbroken chain to the rudimentary organisms unprovided with the senses which are the glory of man1 organisms which inaugurated the manifestations of life1 but which can hardly be described as living4 ,they are neither animals nor plants4 ,they appear to be organised substances1 already distinct from the inorganic kingdom1 but as yet only simple chemical combinations endowed with a sort of diffused vitality1 an elementary protoplasm1 the germ of all developments of terrestrial life1 both animal and vegetable4 ,the first organised beings were formed in the bosom of the warm waters of the oceans which covered the entire surface of the earth at the time when the geological periods began4 ,their intrinsic nature1 their properties1 their faculties1 were already the resultant of the chemical composition of those waters1 of the density and temperature of the surrounding medium2 the variation of this medium and of the condition of existence have brought about corresponding changes in the development of this genealogical tree1 and1 according to the habitat of the organisms1 whether in the deep1 middle1 or upper regions of the waters1 on the sea-shore1 in the low-lying plains1 on sunny slopes or mountain-tops1 the genealogical tree gave rise to more and more diversified organisms4 ,present-day terrestrial humanity is the last flower1 the last fruit of this tree4 ,but all this life is terrestrial from root to summit1 and on every planet the tree is different4 ,life is ,neptunian on ,neptune1 ,uranian on ,uranus1 ,saturnian on ,saturn1 ,sirian on the system of ,sirius1 ,arcturian on that of ,arcturus1 appropriate to every medium1 or rather1 more strictly speaking1 produced and developed by each world according to its physical state and in harmony with that primeval law which all nature obeys3 the law of progress4 ,this immense symphony of life1 adapted to every world according to conditions of space and time1 develops like a universal choir1 the parts of which are separated from each other by deserts of space and by eternities of time4 ,it appears to us discontinuous because we can only hear one note at a time4 ,but in reality there is no absolute separation either in space or time4 ,jupiter will not be inhabited by thinking beings for millions of years to come2 from the point of view of the ,absolute1 the interval is not greater than that which separates yesterday from to-day4 ,all this happens and accomplishes itself naturally1 and as if ,god did not exist4 ,and indeed the being whom the inhabitants of the ,earth have hitherto defined as ,god does not exist4 ,the ,buddha of the ,chinese1 the ,osiris of the ,egyptians1 the ,jehovah of the ,hebrews1 the ,ormuzd and ,ahriman of the ,persians1 the ,teutates of the ,gauls1 the ,jupiter of the ,greeks1 8,god the ,father0 or 8,god the ,son0 of the ,christians1 or the great ,allah of the ,mussulman1 are human conceptions1 personifications invented by man in which he has embodied not only his highest aspirations and his sublimest virtues1 but also his grossest prevarications and ugliest vices4 ,man has conceived as ,god in his own likeness4 ,it is in the name of this pretended ,god that monarchs and pontiffs have in all the ages and under cover of all religions bound humanity in a slavery from which it has not yet freed itself4 ,it is in the name of this ,god who 8protects ,germany10 8protects ,england10 8protects ,france10 8protects ,italy10 8protects ,russia10 8protects ,turkey10 protects all the divisions and all the barbarities1 that even in our own day the so-called civilised people of our planet have been armed in war against each other and1 like mad dogs1 have hurled themselves upon one another in a conflict over which falsehood and hypocrisy1 seated on the steps of the thrones1 figure a 8,god of ,armies0 as presiding1 a ,god who blesses the daggers and plunges his hands in the smoking blood of victims to mark the foreheads of kings4 ,it is to this ,god that altars are raised and ,te ,deums are chanted4 ,it is in the names of the ,gods of ,olympus that the ,greeks condemned ,socrates to drink the hemlock2 it is in the name of ,jehovah that the high-priests and ,pharisees crucified ,jesus4 ,it is in the name of ,jesus1 himself become ,god1 that fanaticism ignominiously condemned to the stake men like ,giordano ,bruno1 ,vanini1 tienne ,dolet1 ,john ,huss1 ,savonarola1 and so many other heroic victims2 that the ,inquisition ordered ,galileo to belie his conscience2 that thousands and thousands of unfortunates accused of witchcraft were burnt alive in popular ceremonies2 that ,ravaillac stabbed ,henry the ,fourth4 ,it was with the express benediction of ,pope ,gregory the ,thirteenth that the butchery of ,st4 ,bartholomew drenched ,paris in blood and the free thinkers of the reformation were chased out of ,france2 it is for the extermination of supposed heresies that many thousands of brave people have been burnt alive2 it was with cross in hand that the peaceful natives of ,america were savagely massacred by the ,spaniards2 it was in the names of the gods worshipped in ,rome that the ,christian martyrs suffered the most awful tortures2 it was in the name of the ,christian ,god that the fanatics1 led by ,bishop ,st4 ,cyril1 stoned the beautiful and learned ,hypatia1 and that in later times the ,bishop of ,beauvais led the virgin of ,domremy to the stake2 it was in the name of the ,bible that the kings of ,god's 8chosen people0 savagely exterminated their neighbours2 it was in the name of ,allah that the standards of ,mahomet covered ,europe with armies of assassins and that even now millions of fanatics are ready to rise against the ,europeans on the cry of a 8,holy ,war10 that ,mahomet the ,second painted the walls of ,st4 ,sophia with the blood of his steed1 that ,genghis ,khan and ,tamerlane marked their paths of conquest with pyramids of severed heads2 it is to the glory of these imaginary deities that even now so many and useless souls condemn themselves to strange penances in the convents1 that the ,russian stropzi mutilate themselves1 that the howling and dancing ,dervishes writhe in mad contortions1 that certain sects kill their babies and drink their blood4 ,religious wars have been the most horrible and odious of all1 and the most insensate4 ,people have killed each other for the sake of a word or its interpretation1 for the sake of an adjective1 for the 8consubstantiality0 of the ,father and the ,son of the ,trinity1 for 8homoousios0 against 8homoiousios10 for a thousand other crotchets placed above the most elementary reason and proclaimed articles of faith in the name of a ,god6 ,this symbol of the oppressions of peoples1 of murder and robbery1 this infamous being1 does not exist1 and has never existed4 ,in making a god in their likeness1 as miserable as themselves1 men resemble monkeys1 who1 raising themselves to the idea of ,god1 would figure him as a ,grand ,ape1 dogs who would make him a ,grand ,dog1 fleas who would represent him in the shape of a ,grand ,flea4 ,but it does not follow that1 because this inferior god does not exist1 therefore the universe goes on without thought1 without a destiny1 and without laws4 ,if the believers of all religions are in error1 those who deny the existence of any intellectual principle in the world are equally mistaken4 ,yes1 the evolution of nature takes place without the acts of an anthropomorphic deity1 without malice and without miracles4 ,the only name which would fit ,god would be the ,unknowable4 ,god remains hidden by the very perfection of nature's mechanism4 ,in a healthy body we do not feel the passage of the blood through the heart1 nor the circulation of blood in the brain1 nor that of the air in the lungs1 nor the liver1 nor the kidneys1 nor the stomach1 nor the bowels4 ,the attention is not directed to those organs unless they work badly4 ,the world is so arranged that they appear to work by themselves1 and that is its divine quality4 ,everything functions regularly by means of a perfect construction1 the gearing of which is invisible and silent1 but which we can only judge by the infinitesimal fraction of which we form a part1 and the author of which is a transcendental thought1 impenetrable to mankind4 ,force governs matter2 mens agitat molem2 but ,thought guides nature4 ,yes1 the supreme being is unknowable4 ,the human mind cannot comprehend the infinite1 eternal1 immutable spirit1 the organising power of that ,all of which the ,earth and ,man are but particles as imperfect as they are mediocre4 ,this ,infinite is to the infantile deity imagined by man as the midday sun is to the muddy obscurity of a mole-burrow under the roots of meadow grass4 ,his existence is proved by the universal organisation4 ,everything is organised1 from the humblest leaf to the world system4 ,an invisible1 immaterial element of a spiritual nature1 as yet imperfectly revealed by our means of investigation1 manifests itself within us and around us4 ,this spiritual principle should be revered as enveloping the world and enfolding us4 ,but the clergy of all religions1 of all times and of all countries1 have always monopolised the idea of ,god and appropriated it to their exclusive and intolerant purpose of domination4 ,when they speak of ,god1 they mean their own ,god4 ,the free spirits who do not acknowledge their figure-head are treated as atheists and hated and persecuted as such4 ,they will not admit that one may be a ,deist and yet anticlerical4 ,but they are not too unintelligent to know that it is an injustice1 a stupidity1 and a lie to treat as atheists those thinkers who deny the divinity of ,jesus4 ,the people who dare to reduce ,god to their size and even to put ,him in their pocket are the greatest blasphemers4 ,it is strange that ,man1 still in a coarse1 savage1 and barbarous state1 hardly emerged from the primitive shell of ignorance1 incapable of knowing even his own body1 hardly able to spell the great book of the universe1 should have considered himself capable of describing ,god4 ,he does not know his own little ant-heap and he pretends to discover the unknowable4 ,at a time when nothing was known1 when astronomy1 physics1 chemistry1 natural history1 and anthropology were as yet unborn1 when the feeble and meandering human mind was still surrounded by illusions and errors1 human audacity conceived the so-called religions and the gods placed at their heads4 ,that ,confucius1 ,buddha1 ,moses1 ,socrates1 ,jesus1 or ,mahomet should have striven to give to mankind a code of morals destined to deliver them from barbarism and to teach them the idea of good1 such efforts and achievements cannot but receive the homage and admiration of all who value the intellectual and moral progress of humanity4 ,that the founders and organisers of religious rites should place at the head of every cult an ideal1 an inviolable being in whose name they pretend to govern1 even that can be recognised as a work of social utility1 of a value not rising above the worldly standard1 and having no object beyond the general good of man and societies4 ,but that those gods invented by man should be considered as really existing1 and in an absolutely imaginary heaven which perished in the first conquests of astronomy1 that they should have been1 and are still1 adored by a certain portion of the human race1 and that even in our time legislators of all nations dare to base their politics on divine right1 to show the 8finger of ,god0 in the most monstrous plagues of the social body1 and decorate their battle-flags with a local providence1 as in the time of ,joan of ,arc1 of ,constantine1 or of ,david--that is the shocking anachronism1 a mixture of imposture and credulity1 of hypocrisy and stupidity unworthy of the era of sincere and positive research in which we live1 and which should load the functionaries who live at the expense of such a system with the contempt of every independent man4 ,definitions are misleading4 ,were pagans like ,socrates1 ,plato1 ,aristotle1 ,marcus ,aurelius1 ,plotinus1 not more spiritual than ,pope ,alexander the ,sixth or ,cardinal ,dubois1 who were true atheists8 ,the search for the nature of the ,first ,cause--,i do not say the 8knowledge of ,god10 which would be an expression worthy of a 8theologian0 and absurd in itself--but simply the search for the ,absolute ,being1 for the origin of the energy which sustains1 animates1 and governs the universe1 for the intelligent force which acts everywhere and perpetually through infinity and eternity and gives rise to the appearances which strike our eyes and are studied by our science--this search1 ,i say1 could not be undertaken nor even properly conceived before the first discoveries of astronomy and modern physics1 that is to say1 before the investigations of ,galileo1 ,kepler1 and ,newton4 ,it is only two centuries ago that the purely religious idea1 free from idolatries1 from all sorts of mythologies1 of errors and superstitions produced by primitive ignorance--it is only during the last two centuries that it was possible for this idea to arise out of modern scientific evolution4 ,all the religions existing at the present day have been founded during ages of ignorance1 when we knew nothing about the earth or the heavens4 ,true religion1 i4e4 the union of free spirits in the search for truth1 can only be the work of an epoch like ours1 in which some courageous and disinterested spirits free from the hypocrisy of false doctrines1 yet without falling into the puerile atheism of superficial minds which only see the outer shell1 will sincerely and freely apply all branches of science to the search for the intimate constitution of the universe and of the human being4 ,the future will teach us4 ,to-day we know but little2 we are only beginning to learn4 ,the unknown ,god conceived by the thinkers1 by ,socrates1 by ,plato1 by ,marcus ,aurelius1 by ,voltaire 7as ardent a ,deist as he was a violent anticlerical71 by ,newton1 by ,descartes1 by ,linn1 by ,euler1 by ,spinoza1 by ,kant1 by all pure ,deists1 surpasses in his grand immensity all the poor inventions of the clergy of all denominations4 ,one cannot see the creator of the hundred million suns of the ,milky ,way looking down upon a small village in ,judea and inspiring ,judith to seduce ,holophernes with the object of cutting off his head after betraying him with her caresses2 or conferring on ,joshua the power of arresting the movement of the solar system to give him time to exterminate the besiegers of ,gibeon6 ,what sort of opinion had such writers of the ,supreme ,being8 ,and what opinion of him is still held by those preachers who continue to teach this 8,holy ,scripture08 ,the ,infinite cannot be comprehended by the ,finite4 ,he who has made the tour of the world1 who has visited ,europe1 ,asia1 ,africa1 and the ,americas1 reasons in a manner wider beyond comparison with the state of humanity than he who has never left his country4 ,between the narrow1 incomplete1 and false ideas of the latter and the judicious1 exact1 and just appreciations of the former there is the difference of night and day4 ,unfortunately we preach to the deaf4 ,for one man who reasons there are a hundred who do not4 ,the struggle against the domination of the spiritual directors is very platonic and the clergy despise it4 ,the ,church has organised marriage1 birth1 and death into ceremonies which seduce the imagination and please the women4 ,compare the civil marriage and the religious marriage2 the former cold1 dull1 insipid2 the latter impressive and attractive with the altar garlanded with flowers1 and the enchantment of the music which makes the creator descend into the bosom of the spouse1 8,veni1 ,creator ,spiritus40 ,it will be centuries before the religious form of marriage is entirely replaced by the civil4 ,a certain free-thinking father refrained from having his four boys baptized so as to leave them entire liberty of conscience4 ,all four got baptized on the eve of their marriage as their brides wished to be married in church4 ,faith or convention1 that is how the world goes--and the priests smile at the simplicity of the layman4 ,what is ,sunday for most ,christians but a day for fine clothes8 ,tradition has created a distinguished society often permeated with hypocrisy1 but to belong to which is 8good form40 ,ancient errors are preserved without being credited4 ,convention governs the 8well-disposed0 people4 ,independence of spirit is the rarest of phenomena4 ,all religions are sacred and respectable if they raise our thoughts to a higher ideal1 when they console the afflicted and relieve misery4 ,but let them not be exploited1 and let there be no killing in their name6 ,ideal and sentiment are part of the domain of thought1 with as much right as ,reason4 ,it is a mistaken policy to suppress them1 and it plays into the hands of reactionaries1 who profit by the errors4 ,to claim that science demonstrates the non-existence of ,god and of the soul is an unscientific argument4 ,an education without ideals or responsibility1 which neglects conscience and proclaims rights without duties1 is as false as that of the ,catechism which teaches the creation of ,adam and ,eve1 the temptation of the serpent1 the universal deluge1 the incarnation of ,god1 the ,virgin ,birth1 the resurrection and ascension of ,jesus to the right hand of ,god the ,father1 or the resurrection of our bodies 7articles of faith which cannot1 without heresy1 be interpreted as symbols1 but must be taken literally71 and it is socially more dangerous1 as we see by its fruits for the last thirty years1 the gradual increase of crime and the rule of the ,apaches and anarchists of all sorts4 ,why not follow the way of enlightened wisdom8 ,if the socialists were permeated with spiritual truth1 they would hold the world2 they would continue the work of their predecessor1 ,jesus ,christ1 in the light and with the positive methods of modern science4 ,the false gods invented by man1 the legends1 the superstitions1 the errors1 lies1 and hypocrisies1 are not necessary to secure a place in the educational system for the sense of honour1 of duty1 of justice1 and of personal conscience2 and this is often forgotten by modern educators who have suppressed everything without putting anything in its place4 ,let us have no sectaries of any kind6 ,humanity grows up4 ,we are no longer children4 ,at the distance from the ,earth which suggested such reflections1 the distance of the planet ,neptune1 the farthest limit of the solar system known at present to astronomy1 our judgment on the works of man is quite different from that which satisfied us before we left our country4 ,we contemplate the solar system in all its grandeur1 we recognise the smallness of our own little planet compared with the vast space in which it moves1 and the short time of its revolution round the ,sun1 and we feel that our ordinary terrestrial estimates have hitherto been based upon those narrow and limited sentiments circumscribed by the horizon of the church tower4 ,we free ourselves from them and find ourselves in a position to judge the immensity of creation with greater liberty1 independence1 and integrity4 ,but far as ,neptune is from our terrestrial home1 it still forms1 like ourselves1 part of the solar family4 ,other planets still unknown to terrestrial astronomy gravitate beyond ,neptune1 the first of them probably at a distance #dh times as great as the distance between the ,earth and the ,sun1 that is to say1 at #g1ejj million miles1 in an immense orbit which it takes at least #ccj years to accomplish4 ,the celestial voyage which ,i have begun takes me beyond the outermost regions of the solar system4 ,flinging myself into the infinite heavens1 ,i arrived at another system by penetrating into the cosmic domain of a star4 7#e7 ,,at ,,twenty-,,five ,,billion ,,miles ,every star is a sun shining by its own light4 ,the ,sun which illuminates us has #a1cjj1jjj times the volume of the ,earth and weighs #ccc1jjj times as much4 ,the dimensions and the masses of the stars are of the same order4 ,a large number of them are much more voluminous and their masses are still more considerable4 ,whatever star we approach1 we find in it a sun like a blinding furnace4 ,these innumerable centres of light1 heat1 electricity1 and gravitational attraction only appear to us as small luminous points on account of the immense abysses which separate us from them4 ,the nearest sun1 our nearest star in space1 burns at #bgf1jjj times the distance which separates us from the ,sun1 i4e4 #be billion miles from here4 ,travelling with the speed of an express train flung into space at #dj miles an hour towards the nearest star without any stoppage or any slowing down1 we should not arrive at our destination until after an uninterrupted flight of #ge million years4 ,travelling with the speed of the swiftest projectile which the most ingenious man-killers have yet constructed1 a speed which we can reckon as double that of sound1 or #b1bjj feet per second1 we should yet require a million and a half years to cover that distance4 ,if that star were to burst with a terrific explosion1 and if the noise of the catastrophe could be transmitted to us at the ordinary speed of sound in air1 we should not hear that explosion until three million years had elapsed after its occurrence4 ,we should see the star shining steadily in the sky for four years after the catastrophe which had destroyed it1 because light travels through space with a speed of #ahf1jjj miles a second1 and it would have to travel with this constant velocity more than four years before reaching us4 ,seen from that distance1 our brilliant ,sun is reduced to the rank of a simple star4 ,the planets which gravitate around it1 the ,earth1 ,venus1 ,mars1 ,jupiter1 ,saturn1 and their brothers of the solar family1 are crowded up against it by the perspective of the distance and are invisibly lost in its rays4 ,considered at that distance in the sidereal universe1 these provinces of the solar empire are recognised as insignificant even by the most optimistic spirit4 ,even if they did not exist at all1 the suns of infinite space would none the less shed their rays of life and light all around4 ,our planet1 which to us seems so important1 becomes a microscopic point impossible to discover by means of senses such as ours1 and its history told at that distance becomes like the flight of a dragon-fly or even less1 since we should never suspect its existence if we did not know it4 ,it is at such moments especially that the pretensions of ,pontiffs and the dogmatic assurance of their adepts show forth in all their absurdity4 ,i felt transported into the system of that star1 the nearest of all those whose distances have been measured1 a star belonging to the constellation of the ,centaur2 it is the ,alpha of that constellation4 ,this system is curious and more interesting than ours4 ,instead of a single sun corresponding to that which shines upon us1 two twin suns gravitate one round the other in a time equalling #ha of our years1 and separated from each other by a distance of #b1jjj million miles4 ,these twin suns are both of considerable brightness 7first and second magnitude1 seen from here71 and greatly superior to the central hearth of our own system4 ,planets circulate around each of these luminaries under their protecting wings1 and receive from their radiation the sources of their fertility and their life4 ,they are illuminated by two different suns1 sometimes united in the same sky1 sometimes separated and alternating1 differing in magnitude and brightness according to the variation of the distances in consequence of the revolutions of these worlds round their respective centres4 ,these are very different conditions of existence from those which govern the destinies of the ,earth and of the planets of our group4 ,two suns6 ,what curious alternations of seasons6 ,what variations in the climates6 ,what transformations in the doubtlessly very rapid changes of their vitality6 ,what complications of their calendars1 in the succession of their years1 their summers and winters1 their days and nights6 ,the sole fact of the existence of such a system1 relatively near to us and already well-known to terrestrial astronomers1 testifies to the infinite variety disseminated in the starry depths of the cosmos4 ,what multiplicity of manifestations of the diverse forces of nature must have been produced in this wealth of solar development--manifestations strange to the phenomena studied on our planet1 and which are doubtlessly felt and appreciated by means of senses differing absolutely from those existing in terrestrial organisms1 senses awakened1 determined1 and developed in those distant worlds by their own natural forces4 ,on worlds illuminated1 heated1 and regulated by two suns life can only have appeared and organised itself in forms very different from those on ,earth1 having no doubt an alternating double life1 served by other modes of perception1 other organs1 and other senses4 ,the thinker1 the astronomer1 the physiologist1 can no longer regard terrestrial life as the type of all life4 ,all we could learn1 study1 or know on ,earth will never be more than an infinitesimal and absolutely insufficient part of the immense reality embodied in the innumerable creations of the ,infinite4 ,yet it is a point which must be insisted upon before pursuing our terrestrial investigations further1 that whatever may be the variety of stellar systems1 the differences of volume1 temperature1 density1 illumination1 electrification1 movement1 chemical constitution1 etc41 of the various globes which people the immensity of the universe1 all these worlds are linked amongst themselves by the same invisible and imponderable ,power which combines them all in a network of extreme sensitiveness4 ,the prodigious extent of the distances which separate these systems one from the other does not prevent their being connected together by some sort of maternal link4 ,the distance from the ,earth to the ,moon is #bdj1jjj miles4 ,the ,moon acts constantly upon all the molecules of our globe and upon the entire ,earth1 and every one of us weighs a little less when that body shines over our heads than when it is on the horizon4 ,the distance from the ,sun to the ,earth is #ib million miles2 the ,sun makes our planet move with a speed corresponding to that distance1 and the ,earth in its turn displaces the ,sun in the heavens4 ,the distance from the ,sun to ,neptune is over #b1ejj million miles4 ,the central globe acts upon that distant world and makes it revolve round it1 and on the other hand ,neptune makes the ,sun revolve round their common centre of gravity1 which is at a distance of #add1jjj miles from the centre of the ,sun4 ,jupiter displaces the ,sun by #dfj1jjj miles1 and ,saturn by #be1jjj miles4 ,the ,moon disturbs the ,earth to the extent of #b1ijj miles4 ,at the same time ,jupiter acts upon the ,earth1 the ,earth upon ,venus1 and so on4 ,on account of this reciprocal influence of all the heavenly bodies upon each other1 not a single point can remain in repose for an instant1 and no heavenly body can ever come back to the place it previously occupied4 ,all that we call matter is in perpetual motion under the irresistible power of invisible1 intangible1 and imponderable force4 ,we have here a fact of capital importance1 the consideration of which must always be associated with the conception we can form of the real nature of the universe4 ,we have seen just now that the distance which separates our ,sun from the star ,alpha ,centauri is #be billion miles4 ,but this distance is traversed by gravitational attraction4 ,in reality the two suns are not absolutely separated4 ,they know each other1 they feel each other's attraction1 and they feel the attraction of all the other suns of infinite space4 ,they both roam about1 our own ,sun with a speed calculated at about #bjj million miles per annum and ,alpha ,centauri with a speed of approximately #djj million4 ,the other suns of which we know the distance and the movement rush on with similar speeds4 ,some of them fly with incomparably greater velocities1 which attain #bjj miles a second1 #aa1jjj miles per minute1 #fjj1jjj miles an hour1 #ae million per day1 and #e or #f thousand million miles per annum1 veritable starry projectiles of the heavenly fields4 ,but our whole sidereal universe itself is moving with its hundred million stars through the immensity of infinite space4 ,the movements which we measure are relative and not absolute4 ,our sun and its companions are driven through space by some initial force and by the combined attraction of the innumerable stars of our visible universe4 ,whether this force of attraction is a property inherent in every atom of matter1 whether these theoretical atoms by which we explain the appearance of matter in order to account for observed phenomena are centres of force1 mathematical points of concentration1 or nodes and crossings of ethereal vibrations and undulations1 the fact which dominates our analytical contemplation of the universe is that the innumerable worlds which people space are not isolated from each other1 but are united by a perpetual and indestructible link4 ,here we have a new and important conception of the unity of nature4 ,and what is equally worthy of attention is that this sort of communication between the worlds cannot be defined better than by the word 8attraction40 ,attraction is therefore the supreme law among the worlds1 among atoms1 and among beings4 ,the stars which gravitate in the depth of space1 the ,earth which revolves in the solar rays1 the ,moon which raises the tides on the surface of the ocean1 the molecules of stone or iron which cling together by molecular attraction1 the plant which pushes its roots into the nourishing soil or raises its stem in response to light1 the flower which turns towards the ,sun1 the bird which flies from branch to branch seeking a place for its nest1 the nightingale which with incomparable song charms the sweet mistress of the night1 the man whose heart is troubled at the appearance of a beloved being1 the sound of a beloved voice1 or a fond memory--all these beings1 all these things obey the same law1 that of universal attraction which in diverse forms governs all nature and guides it--whither8 ,towards yet another attraction1 to the attraction of the unknown6 ,amid the ignorance of the ,absolute which surrounds us in spite of the manifold1 courageous1 and persevering efforts of science1 the fact of the existence of such a force uniting all worlds together must be appreciated at its proper value4 ,it would be impossible to exaggerate its importance4 ,let us then not forget it3 the worlds are in mutual communication by means of attraction4 7#f7 ,,at ,,sixty ,,thousand ,,billion ,,miles ,continuing my celestial voyage1 ,i left the system of ,alpha ,centauri to penetrate into the starry depths of the ,southern ,cross4 ,i traversed sunny shores and deserts of night1 passing from sun to sun1 from system to system1 flying past stars which blinded me one moment and then were engulfed by the infinite night4 ,the normal state of the universe is night and silence4 ,there is no light except round the suns and planets2 there is no sound but in their immediate neighbourhood1 in their atmosphere4 ,in skirting stellar groups1 ,i noticed enormous globes rolling in a strange light1 and ,i often seemed to feel electric shocks1 magnetic disturbances1 certain indefinable sensations which warned me1 by a sort of malaise1 that such spheres are unsuitable for our mode of existence1 and that they are inhabited by beings whose perceptions1 feelings1 and thoughts differ from ours4 ,i remember particularly having seen in the course of my flight a group of many-hued worlds illuminated by three suns1 one a ruby red1 one an emerald green1 and a third a sapphire blue1 and so singularly illuminated by this false light--false to us1 but natural to them--that ,i asked myself whether ,i was not the victim of an illusion and whether such creations really exist1 though1 indeed1 having observed those well-known associations of coloured suns hundred of times in the telescope1 ,i ought not to have been in doubt for an instant4 ,i stopped and approached one of those worlds and saw that it was inhabited by beings who seemed to be woven out of light4 ,to their eyes1 certainly1 the inhabitants of our planet would appear so sombre1 heavy1 and coarse that they might legitimately ask whether we were alive and whether we felt ourselves to be alive4 ,those are worlds peopled by aerial organisms whose brightness surpasses the tint of the freshest roses and purest lilies4 ,these beings live on the very atmosphere which they breathe1 without being condemned1 like the inhabitants of our planet1 to be constantly killing innumerable animals with which to fill their bodies4 ,their beauty1 delicacy1 and brightness reminded me by contrast of the conditions imposed by terrestrial life4 ,i remembered that brute force reigns supreme here1 that millions of beings are killed every day to assure the existence of the rest1 that war is a natural law amongst animals1 and that humanity is so little freed from animal barbarism that nearly all people continue to accept1 as in primitive times1 slavery and servitude4 ,being so far from the ,earth1 ,i judged of the colossal stupidity of the inhabitants of our planet4 ,but if1 down to our own times1 the nations have made their greatest glory consist of international butcheries1 that state is transitory4 ,every tree bears fruit after its kind4 ,tortoises and bears cannot aspire to the wings of the swallow or the song of the thrush4 ,the military glories of ,alexander1 ,csar1 ,charlemagne1 ,napoleon1 or ,bismarck1 being of the order of carnivorous animal instincts1 last no longer than the brutal repast itself1 and a few centuries suffice to efface them from the history of the planet4 ,endeavouring to estimate the real importance of this history and of our planet itself1 ,i searched space1 not only for the ,earth which had become invisible long ago1 but even the ,sun2 but ,i could neither find the ,sun nor any of its brightest neighbours such as ,alpha ,centauri or ,sirius1 nor any of the stars which one sees from the ,earth4 ,the whole region of space where our floating island gravitates had disappeared long ago as an insignificant point in the depths of space4 ,austerlitz1 ,waterloo1 ,sevastopol1 ,magenta1 ,sadowa1 ,keichshofen1 ,sedan1 were but microscopic agitations in a ,lilliputian ant-heap1 amusement of infants delighting in muscular exercises involving blood and smoke4 ,why blame them8 ,why pity them8 ,they do what pleases them and nobody forces them to do it4 ,why should astronomy use a magnifying-glass to study the microbes on a planet ,t ,the system of many-coloured suns1 the blinding organic wealth of which had inspired me to return to the earthly twilight1 revolves at a distance of #fj1jjj billion miles4 ,light takes more than ten years to traverse this distance4 ,yet this is nothing extraordinary in the way of astronomical distance4 ,sirius1 the most brilliant star of our sky1 transported to that distance1 would be #c1ejj times farther away than it is in reality1 and it would send us #ab million times less light4 ,it would be a small point1 still within the range of the new photographic processes4 ,it would be a telescopic star of the #ahth magnitude4 ,this sidereal milestone would be far from marking the limit of the space accessible to telescopic investigation1 which includes stars of the #bjth magnitude1 and which1 according to ingenious calculations1 is occupied by about #ajj million suns4 ,and indeed1 as ,i advanced in my celestial voyage1 ,i crossed new abysses and discovered far ahead and above me new stars which became suns1 shone in the night and appeared single1 double1 treble1 quadruple1 even quintuple1 radiating a silver or golden light1 or emitting the most vivid and various colours2 and ,i guessed in passing at celestial earths peopled by unknown humanities floating in these rays1 before these worlds in turn rolled away and disappeared beneath me in the night4 ,they rushed with different speeds in every direction through space1 like luminous globes in the bouquets of fireworks1 and seemed to fly away in a starry rain4 ,when ,i reached the confines of our sidereal universe1 the suns and systems became sparser1 and as ,i continued my ascent ,i found myself engulfed in a black and desert void whence ,i could see the outer form of our universe1 resembling one of those many star clusters which are seen in every telescopic field4 ,this cluster became smaller and smaller as ,i flew on into the outer darkness4 ,then1 in the infinite night ,i perceived above me another universe which appeared in space as a pale and distant nebula1 and ,i understood that all we can see with our eyes in the clearest night and all that telescopic vision has yet allowed us to discover represent nothing but a local region in an animated immensity1 and that there are other universes besides that of which our ,sun forms a star4 7#g7 ,,in ,,infinite ,,space ,i approached this second universe1 which became larger and larger like an archipelago of stars1 and ,i soon arrived at its outskirts4 ,as ,i traversed it from end to end ,i saw that it also was composed of several million suns separated from each other by thousands of millions of miles4 ,then ,i found beyond it another dark abyss resembling that which ,i had crossed to reach the second universe4 ,continuing my flight1 ,i saw a third1 and ,i crossed it4 ,a fourth approached1 then another1 and yet another4 ,and as ,i crossed those deserts which separated them1 in whatever direction my gaze endeavoured to pierce the void1 everywhere it discovered new universes in the distance4 ,the splendid spiral nebul are not balls of gas but agglomerations of suns1 ,milky ,ways situated outside our sidereal universe4 ,then ,i understood that all the stars which have ever been observed in the sky1 the millions of luminous points which constitute the ,milky ,way1 the innumerable celestial bodies1 suns of every magnitude and of every degree of brightness1 solar systems1 planets1 and satellites1 which by millions and hundreds of millions succeed each other in the void around us1 that whatever human tongues have designated by the name of universe1 do not in the infinite represent more than an archipelago of celestial islands and not more than a city in the grand total of population1 a town of greater or lesser importance4 ,in this city of the limitless empire1 in this town of a land without frontiers1 our ,sun and its system represent a single point1 a single house among millions of other habitations4 ,is our solar system a palace or a hovel in this great city8 ,probably a hovel4 ,and the ,earth8 ,the ,earth is a room in the solar mansion--a small dwelling1 miserably small4 ,thus in the general economy of nature our planet has no more importance than a poor little room in a considerable house4 ,that house in turn is lost in the middle of an immense town4 ,and that immense town1 which to us represents the entire universe1 is in fact nothing but a universe beyond which in every direction there exist other universes4 ,how far is this reality from human pretensions1 both ancient and modern1 which imagine that our world represents the infinite1 that ,god stops the ,sun to illuminate one of ,joshua's battles--a miracle renewed1 says history1 for ,charlemagne and ,charles ,v--and that the great ,sower of stars took upon himself a human shape to dwell among us6 ,what simplicity among sincere theologians6 ,what imposture among the chiefs of states who still dare to invest themselves with titles of divine mandatories to enslave the people6 ,are not the real atheists those either ignorant or insincere people who make the sublimest idea the accomplice of all their mediocrities1 and are not the real ,deists the independent searchers whose sole ambition is laboriously to look for the causes and gradually to work up to truth8 ,with what strange religious systems has humanity up to now enveloped its barren imagination6 ,the ,israelite who believes he is agreeable to ,god in practising circumcision or in buying a new knife to be sure that it has not touched pig's fat2 the ,christian who imagines he can make ,god descend upon a table and who is told by his preachers that prayers and fasts have an influence upon the weather and agriculture2 the ,mahommedan who sees the gate of ,mahomet's paradise opening before him as he stabs a missionary2 the fanatic who casts himself under the wheels of the ,juggernaut2 the ,buddhist who remains fascinated in the beatific contemplation of his navel1 or works a prayer-mill for the remission of sins--these surely form the most ridiculous and infantile ideas of the unknown and unknowable ,being4 ,all these littlenesses are related to the primitive illusion of the smallness of the universe1 which was considered as a sort of screen studded with golden nails and enclosing the earth in its centre4 ,certainly if astronomy had had no other result than to enlarge our general conceptions and show us the relativity of terrestrial things in the bosom of the absolute1 to deliver us from this ancient slavery of thought and make us free citizens of the infinite1 it would deserve our veneration and our gratitude1 for without it we should still be incapable of forming true conceptions4 ,some conservatives will perhaps object that there are even in ,french observatories astronomers who go to ,communion1 tell their beads1 and carry candles in the churches1 and that the same mentality can be found in certain ,english1 ,spanish1 ,italian1 ,german1 ,russian1 and other observatories4 ,yes1 without a doubt1 the fact is undeniable4 ,such a psychological phenomenon has two explanations4 ,either these hybrid beings are sincere or they are not4 ,if they are believers1 they are illogical and in perpetual conflict with their scientific reason1 and we must not be astonished at the strange arrangement which their conscience is capable of constructing between two conceptions of nature which directly contradict each other4 ,while incapable of explanation1 such sincerity can be respected1 like that of the innocent infant who believes all one tells him4 ,in the second1 case it is hypocrisy1 falsehood1 rascality1 personal interest2 and this sort of conscience is suitably judged by every honest man4 ,these anomalies and limitations have not hindered astronomy from bringing light and independence to spirits who can understand it and who have the courage and the freedom of their opinions4 ,but in telling of my ,venetian dream ,i did not want to indulge in irritating polemics1 and my only object was to show to some open eyes the horizons of astronomical philosophy1 and ,i hasten to return to my sidereal voyage and to describe its last phase4 ,i shall1 however1 add another word concerning our tiny planet1 remarking that its inhabitants are as a rule so unintelligent and so incapable of judgment that they imagine that all have an equal intellectual and moral value and that in the most civilised country of this globe the vote of an imbecile or a drunkard has the same weight as that of an educated thinker1 so that the legislative chamber entrusted with the fate of the country is an incoherent mass of persons incompetent to deal with any of the questions likely to arise4 ,half of them are ignorant and are preoccupied with their private concerns4 ,in this system of pretended equality1 ,judas is the same as ,jesus1 ,philip ,,ii equals ,marcus ,aurelius4 ,torquemada is the same as ,st4 ,vincent de ,paul1 ,fouquier-,tinville the same as ,mirabeau1 and the wine-merchant at the corner is the equal of ,archimedes and ,pythagoras4 ,there is no reasoning4 ,our little planet is as insignificant morally as it is physically4 ,among terrestrial humanity only one man in a hundred is intelligent4 ,humanity is practically no older than four or five years as regards intelligence compared with what it ought to be normally4 ,i had traversed several universes analogous to our galactic system1 universes separated from each other by abysses of nothingness1 and what had struck me most in this general survey was meeting a number of humanities foreign to our own living in various regions of space1 living their own lives and carried along to their destiny in the whirlpool of their personal affairs4 ,while the inhabitants of the ,earth reduce creation to their own size1 thousands1 millions1 billions1 of other humanities live in every degree of intellectual advancement on solar systems which to them are the very centre of observation and from which our terrestrial home appears lost in the infinite distance4 ,i also saw dead worlds4 ,it is a fact worthy of attention that all existence tends towards death4 ,beings only come into existence to die4 ,the worlds only attain periods of vitality to descend again into decadence and the tomb4 ,suns only burn to be extinguished4 ,death would therefore be the supreme law1 the final result4 ,the mathematician can now calculate with great accuracy the date when our ,sun will become extinct aid when the ,earth will roll on through the eternal night like an icy cemetery4 ,the entire history of terrestrial humanity will have arrived at an absolute zero4 ,the time will come when even the ruins will be destroyed4 ,on account of the tendency of energy to establish itself in a state of stable equilibrium in the universe1 life will have an end on our planet as well as the other worlds4 ,if everything appears thus to tend to extinction and death1 it is because we do not know the secret of the conservation of energy4 ,an end such as ,i have indicated is really unthinkable4 ,the terms of the problem contain their own condemnation4 ,it is admitted that force and matter can be neither created nor destroyed1 and have therefore existed and acted from all eternity4 ,if therefore the final result of the radiation of suns into space is their extinction and consequently the extinction of life on their attendant planets1 then since an eternity has already elapsed during which energy has tended to equilibrium1 there ought to be not a single sun1 star or planet in existence4 ,now relatively1 not to an eternal duration but only to a period like a lightning flash compared with that1 say a trillion years1 the life of a human race1 of a planet1 or even of a sun1 is very short4 ,geologists talk of #bj to #cj million years for the whole duration of the geological eras from the origin of life on earth2 physicists talk of #ajj million for the constitution of the terrestrial globe from the liquid to the solid state2 astronomers also assign #ajj million years to the age of the ,sun1 and even less to its future duration4 ,even if we doubled or trebled these numbers1 even if we multiplied them by ten or even a hundred1 we should not arrive at the millionth part of a trillion years6 ,thus without going back to a previous eternity1 if the energy of suns had no other final result but extinction we should not exist now and nothing that is would be4 ,the universe was not made of one piece at the origin of things4 ,this origin does not in fact exist4 ,we find in space suns of every age4 ,there are old ones1 there are new ones4 ,here are cradles1 yonder are tombs4 ,if the first creations formed by matter and energy had not been renewed1 there would no longer be a universe4 ,all primitive energy which had animated the suns would be used up4 ,besides1 matter and energy are but one4 ,just as in passing through a forest we find oaks in decay1 green trees1 and new growths1 thus also does the celestial traveller encounter in space worlds long dead1 dying worlds1 worlds in full activity1 and budding stars4 ,everything dies1 but everything lives again4 ,among the last worlds in full vitality which ,i visited on my voyage among distant universes there was one which appeared particularly remarkable on account of the high state of social progress4 ,although this world is the most distant of all those suspected to exist in the depths of space1 yet the human race which dwells there is not very different from ours1 physically4 ,it is divided into two sexes1 and the organic forms somewhat resemble those of our race4 ,but the social state is distinctly superior to ours4 ,a perpetual harmony reigns among all the members of this vast family4 ,simple and modest1 each of these beings has no higher ambition than gradually to raise himself in the knowledge of things and in moral perfection4 ,the atmosphere is not entirely nutritious1 and there1 as here1 one is obliged to eat in order to live4 ,but they live exclusively on fruit and vegetables1 and kill no living being4 ,the functions of material life only take up a very short time1 and life is mainly intellectual4 ,instead of personal rivalries1 great and small1 and the various ambitions which agitate the entire lives of the men and women of our poor little world1 those beings are mainly occupied in study and pleasure4 ,there is no money4 ,there are no rich nor poor4 ,the fruits necessary for nourishment can be picked anywhere beyond all needs4 ,summer is perpetual and no sort of clothing has been thought of because the bodily forms always keep their beauty1 and coquetry would have nothing to conceal4 ,there is no old age4 ,on reaching a ripe age one goes to sleep and the body dissolves like a cloud1 which becomes invisible by the change of state of its molecules4 ,no law has instituted the marriage bond4 ,as it would be impossible to contract for interest1 because there are neither castes nor fortunes1 love alone guides the choice4 ,on rare occasions the years reveal some divergence of character sufficient to lead to a desire for another choice1 but when this divergence shows itself there is no chain to break4 ,besides1 they always remain lovers and never become married4 ,the desire of change1 of variety1 of curiosity1 hardly arises because the persons who have freely chosen each other love each other beyond all others and have only chosen each other because they knew each other4 ,friendships are sure and faithful1 and there is no example of treason dictated by the vile sentiment of jealousy4 ,contrary to what happens on earth1 every person whose life is ruled by the sentiment of personal interest or ambition would be considered as a monster beyond all explanation and thoroughly despised4 ,in that world they do not1 as we do here1 meet people who are constantly unhappy on account of a desire to occupy all the best places1 are never satisfied with their own lot1 and who1 being indefatigable opportunists1 grab everything in their insatiable egoism1 and die full of honours and vanities4 ,there is no frontier4 ,humanity forms a single family4 ,communications are established over the whole globe by a sort of language which passes with the speed of lightning4 ,an administrative council controlled by universal suffrage directs public education1 science1 art1 and justice2 and this universal suffrage is enlightened1 and exercises its choice among the best and wisest spirits4 ,the dregs of the population are not represented2 the deputies do not shine by numbers and incompetence1 but by worth4 ,in a country corresponding to ,france1 their number would be reduced from #fjj to #ajj1 every deputy possessing a special competence in legislative questions4 ,it is superfluous to add that a ,ministry of ,war has never been thought of there4 ,the people1 led by reason1 do not follow a fetish4 ,besides1 no patriotic sentiment can there be exploited or brutally debased1 since no frontier divides humanity1 and patriotic sentiment consists solely in the recognition of intellectual worth4 ,no institute of so-called official science has been established there4 ,no ,sorbonne has condemned the theory of the ,earth's movement1 no ,academy has disapproved of the doctrine of perpetual peace4 ,there are no titles1 no decorations4 ,nothing is appreciated but personal1 intellectual1 and moral worth4 ,the word 8infallibility0 does not exist in the language of that people4 ,only one religion reigns in their hearts3 natural religion1 founded upon astronomy4 ,their faculties1 more transcendent than ours1 their senses1 more numerous and more penetrating1 their more powerful instruments of observation1 have long ago placed them in communication with neighbouring worlds1 and they have been able to utilise astral magnetism for purposes of transport from one world to another4 ,they have discovered the mystery of the union between force and matter1 and know that there is a fundamental identity between them4 ,in their own religions1 they have never given ,god a name1 and have never dared to play at a cult1 knowing that such puerility and such pride would be unworthy of their merit4 ,their religion consists in a belief in immortality based on the knowledge of the intimate nature of being1 in preparations for the future life1 in efforts to make themselves better and more perfect by a continual study of creation1 and a mutual love based on an enlightened sentiment of justice and equity4 ,they consider ,reason as the highest prerogative of the human race1 and would consider any doctrinaire mad who would forbid the exercise of that faculty for the sake of any religious system whatever4 ,from that world1 nobody has ever yet perceived the ,earth1 and nobody suspects its existence4 ,their senses are more perfect and more subtle4 ,while our human race is less endowed than certain animals which can foresee a storm1 the changes of the seasons1 and earthquakes1 they possess the sense of orientation1 which we lack entirely1 although on our own planet certain species like the dog1 the cat1 the pigeon1 and the swallow possess it4 ,they seemed to me absolutely happy1 though exceedingly sensitive4 ,they spent the greatest part of their existence amid the most refined pleasures4 ,their world is a perpetual paradise ever born afresh4 ,perfumes arise from the bosom of splendid and varied flowers1 and woods are balmy with intoxicating spices1 and the light of day plays upon fairy-like scenery4 99 99 99 99 99 ,when ,i contemplated this marvellous spectacle1 ,i felt surrounded and penetrated1 so to speak1 with waves of sound which cradled my enraptured soul in the most delicious melody my ears had ever heard4 ,the sensation of a celestial attraction seemed to carry me on a cloud and make me slowly descend towards an island on which a palace of flowers appeared4 ,i felt a sort of electric shock and--,i felt myself in a high ogival window of ,venice4 ,a gondola filled with musicians was returning from the ,lido by the ,grand ,canal4 ,groups chanted harmonious choruses1 the sky shone with stars1 the moon was setting behind the domes1 and ,mars was descending towards the horizon4 ,the old clock sounded slowly the twelve strokes of midnight4 8,well10 ,i exclaimed1 8,i have been sleeping4 ,here ,i have been for two hours at this window4 ,meanwhile the ,moon has flown #d1hej miles in its orbit round the ,earth1 and the ,earth has traversed #daj1jjj miles in its revolution round the ,sun1 drawn by that wonderful attraction which rules the world across the voids of space2 perhaps it also rules our souls through the voids of time4 8,thou beautiful starry sky10 ,i murmured1 8who hast taught us so much already1 wilt thou not soon solve for us the riddle of the great mystery8 ,thou art our hope1 thou alone canst teach us1 thou alone canst open before our eyes the panoramas of infinity and eternity40 ,,ii4 ,,the ,,world ,,of ,,long ,,ago ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,world ,,of ,,long ,,ago ,i ,,had a dream1 which yet was not a dream4 ,i found myself as an observer of the world as it was #ajj million years ago1 inhabiting a planet in attendance upon one of those distant stars of space1 in the middle of a sidereal universe analogous to that which exists at present1 though it was not the same1 for the universe of that time was destroyed long ago and the universe of to-day did not yet exist4 ,at that time1 also1 there were stars and constellations1 but they were neither the same constellations nor the same stars4 ,there were suns1 moons1 inhabited earths1 days1 nights1 seasons1 years1 countries1 beings1 impressions1 thoughts1 facts2 but they were not the same as now4 ,the ,earth which we inhabit was not yet in existence4 ,the materials which compose it floated through space in a state of diffused nebulosity1 gravitating about the slowly condensing solar focus4 ,there were as yet neither water1 nor air1 nor earth1 nor heavens1 nor planets1 nor animals1 nor any one of those bodies reputed to be simple by chemistry1 as oxygen1 hydrogen1 nitrogen1 carbon1 lead1 copper1 etc4 ,the gas 7which by its condensations and final transformations was eventually to give rise to the various gaseous1 liquid1 and solid substances at present constituting our globe and its inhabitants7 was a single homogeneous gas1 containing within it1 like an unconscious chrysalis1 the possibilities of the future4 ,but no prophet could have foreseen the unknown which slumbered amid its mysteries4 ,our planet showed at that time the aspect of those vague gaseous nebul which the telescope discovers on the floor of the skies and which the spectroscope analyses4 ,the solar nebula in the course of condensation floated among the stars4 ,all humanity with its history1 every one of us with all his energies1 all the living beings of this ,earth1 were contained in the germ of that nebula and its forces2 but the beings and the things which we know were not to come into existence until after a long incubation of centuries4 ,in the place of what was destined to be the ,earth1 there was nothing but a gas floating in starry space4 ,nor was it in the real 8space0 where we are now1 for the ,earth1 the planets1 and the whole solar system came from afar and flew swiftly across the void4 99 99 99 99 99 ,in the history of creation1 #ajj million years pass like a day2 they dwindle and disappear1 a fugitive dream1 into the bosom of that eternity which absorbs all4 ,then1 although our planet did not exist1 there were stars1 suns1 solar systems1 and inhabited worlds as there are now4 ,the humanities which peopled those worlds lived their lives as we live ours4 ,it would have been a wonderful spectacle for the thinker to contemplate the great work of all those beings4 ,in passion or indifference1 in pleasure or pain1 in laughter or tears1 in movement or repose1 they lived2 fighting1 forgiving2 accusing1 forgetting2 loving1 hating2 being born and dying2 drawn into the fatal whirlpool2 blindly succeeding each other through the generations and centuries1 not knowing what gave them birth2 ignorant of the fate in store for individuals and souls2 playthings of that ,nature which forms worlds and beings1 stars and atoms1 centuries and minutes1 like soap-bubbles blown by a child into the air2 and all plunging into the sea1 like those whirls of sand which the desert wind raises and blows along in the typhoon or the breeze4 ,it is the same spectacle as that which the earth offers to-day2 living multitudes fighting for life and knowing only death4 ,the thought which must strike us most in our retrospective contemplation is that at that time the ,earth did not exist4 ,not one of those human beings who live now1 who will live in the future1 or who have lived in the past1 were then thought of4 ,nothing of all that now exists around us existed then4 ,yet in those ancient worlds which have disappeared long ago1 the humanities which animated them had their vivid history1 with flourishing cities1 fights and struggles1 laws and law-courts1 judges of spiritual things1 historians1 economists1 politicians1 theologians1 literary men1 who took pains to tell the true from the false and to write down conscientiously what they1 too1 called 8universal history40 ,for them1 all creation stopped in their era and in their place2 for all of them1 creation was finished2 the rest of the universe and of limitless eternity was lost in insignificance in comparison with what they called the 8,present40 ,they never thought of the eternity which had already passed before them1 nor of the eternity which would come after them4 ,they lived1 learned or ignorant1 famous or obscure1 rich or poor1 opulent or miserable1 religious or sceptical1 they all lived as if their era would never come to an end4 ,some of them1 without losing a minute1 amassed a fortune which their heirs hastened to dissipate2 some spent their time in dreams and contemplations without thinking of the morrow4 ,in one place there would be battalions inflaming the populace with their patriotic shouts2 in another loving couples united their souls in mystery4 ,under the pressure of what they believed to be affairs of imperative importance1 driven by the attractions of pleasure or borne on the wings of ambition1 the inhabitants of that ancient world1 like those of ours1 flung themselves into the whirlpool of life4 ,they1 like ourselves1 had days of glory and of sorrow2 they had their '#hi and '#ic1 their ,austerlitz and ,waterloo1 and political drama had its #ahth ,brumaire and its #bnd of ,december4 ,thus recently on our own ,earth shone the life of ,babylon1 of ,thebes1 of ,memphis1 of ,nineveh1 of ,carthage1 the glory of ,semiramis1 ,sesostris1 ,solomon1 ,alexander1 ,cambyses1 and ,csar2 and to-day the silence of funeral solitude reigns supreme over the ruins of the palaces and temples1 in the slumber of the invading night4 ,in the history of the universe it is not only peoples1 kingdoms1 and empires which have disappeared1 but it is whole worlds1 groups of worlds1 archipelagoes of planets1 visible universes6 ,for eternity did not begin1 it was never begun4 ,the forces of ,nature have never been inactive4 ,for ,nature itself1 our measures of time1 our conceptions of duration1 do not exist4 ,she has no past and no future1 but a perpetual present4 ,she remains immutable throughout her incessant manifestations and transformations4 ,we pass away2 ,she remains4 ,one can hardly think without terror of the innumerable beings which have lived on the worlds now lost1 of all the leading spirits who have thought1 acted1 guided humanity in the path of progress1 light1 and liberty4 ,one cannot think of ,platos1 ,pascals1 and ,newtons of the vanished worlds without asking what has become of them4 ,it is easy to reply that that is nothing1 that they died as they were born1 that all is dust and returns to dust4 ,it is an easy answer1 but it is not satisfying4 99 99 99 99 99 ,certainly1 nobody can be so foolish as to claim to have found a solution of the great mystery4 ,for treating those profound problems of eternity and infinity1 we are about in the position of ants attempting to gain a knowledge of the history of ,france4 ,in spite of all their mental gifts1 which have indeed been fully recognised1 in spite of their goodwill1 their gallant attempts and all their efforts1 it is quite probable that they would not get beyond the history of their ant-heap and would not arrive at any reasonable conclusions concerning human beings and their affairs4 ,to them1 naturally1 the proprietors of the woods and fields are the ants1 and the plant-lice domesticated by them4 ,and the parasites of the ,earth are those inedible insects which interfere with them4 ,do they know that birds exist8 ,it is doubtful4 ,as regards men1 they do not know of their existence1 though it may be that the ants in civilised countries have in their antennal language an expression corresponding to the idea of 8sugar-maker10 or cook1 or confectioner1 or for some implacable enemy such as a gardener4 ,but even if they suspected our existence1 they could not form any idea about the human race or its history but--the ideas of ants4 99 99 99 99 99 ,it would no doubt be as useless as it is foolish to lose ourselves in the nebulosity of metaphysics to attain a solution which will escape us for ever4 ,but it is no doubt a proper subject for the exercise of our mental faculties to think of this particular aspect of creation3 ,time2 to think that from all eternity earths inhabited like ours have floated in the light of their suns1 that from all eternity there have been humanities enjoying the pleasures of life1 and that from all eternity the end of the world has sounded on the hoary timepiece of destiny1 burying in turn the universes and their inhabitants in the tomb of annihilation and oblivion4 ,for it is impossible for us to conceive a commencement which was not preceded by an eternity of inaction1 and as far as the observational sciences can take us1 they show us forces in perpetual activity4 ,if infinite space dazzles us by its limitless immensity1 an eternity without a beginning and without end arises1 still more formidable perhaps1 before our terrified gaze4 ,the voices of the past speak to us from the abyss3 they speak of the future4 ,the past of extinct worlds is the future of the earth4 99 99 99 99 99 ,in #ajj million years1 the earth where we live will no longer exist1 or if any wreck of it remains1 it will only be a funereal desert4 ,the various worlds of our system will have achieved their circle of life1 the histories of its human race will long ago have been finished1 our own ,sun1 no doubt1 will have lost its light and will roll along a dark star1 through the realms of night4 ,it may be that1 thrown back by destiny into the melting-pot of perpetual change1 united in a supreme climax with some old dead sun traversing the same abyss1 it will arise like a phnix from its ashes by the conversion of motion into heat4 ,but1 then as now1 the nebul will have given birth to suns1 then as now1 endless space will be filled with stars without number gravitating in the harmony of their mutual attraction1 the planets will swing in the rays of their suns1 mornings and evenings will follow each other1 blue sky will spread overhead1 clouds will float in the twilight mysteries1 perfumed breezes will blow through the woods and valleys1 mysterious sounds will stop the songs of the birds1 and eternal love will sway a later youth with the divine rapture of insatiable aspirations4 ,marvellous ascension of life6 ,nature will chant1 as it does to-day1 the hymn of youth and happiness1 and an imperishable spring will bloom for ever in this immense universe where the historian of the past sees nothing but tombs6 ,if there are no limits to space1 if1 whatever part of the sky our thought may essay1 it can always pass on without being stopped by anything1 however swift or prolonged its flight1 if1 in a word1 space is infinite in every sense1 it is the same with eternity3 there is no possible limit to it1 and whatever end we may imagine1 whatever hour or minute fixed for its end1 our thought immediately leaps the obstacle and continues on its way4 ,infinity even now is filled with budding worlds1 worlds reaching maturity1 decadent worlds1 dead worlds1 disseminated in all regions of an unlimited space1 gaseous nebul1 hydrogen suns1 oxidised stars1 planets in the course of formation1 congealed satellites1 disintegrated comets--the forces of ,nature are everywhere active1 the energy of creation remains constant1 neither increasing nor diminishing1 and all the scientists agree in testifying that what we call destruction and annihilation is only transformation4 ,astronomy reveals to us ,time as it has revealed ,space4 ,it shows that there is nothing peculiar about our present epoch in the history of ,nature1 nor about our present position in space1 and it combines ,time and ,space1 the two forms of reality1 in the same synthesis as the two grand aspects of the development of the universe4 99 99 99 99 99 ,no1 this dream was no dream4 ,for to the human race which lived on the different worlds of space during the ages preceding the formation of our solar system1 the ,earth with all its history was only a possibility of what the future might bring forth4 ,it might never have existed at all4 ,the writers of history of terrestrial peoples1 ,moses1 ,herodotus1 ,manetho1 ,ma-,tuan-,lin1 ,titus ,livius1 ,tacitus1 ,gregory of ,tours1 ,bossuet1 all those who have attempted to write universal histories1 the great ,leibnitz himself1 who placed the commencement of the history of a small ,german duchy at the time of creation of the world1 and even the delightful author of the ,metamorphoses1 who tells of the history of the birth of the ,earth and ,heaven--the astronomer smiles at their annals1 as he has smiled at the genealogies of the kings and the conquests of the ,csars-- 8,battles of ants in microscopic space40 ,simple illusions of infants who fondle their dolls6 ,let them invent new microscopes for distinguishing ,charlemagne and ,napoleon in the ant-heap of ,lilliput2 we cannot find them6 ,and the whole ,earth1 where is it8 ,by an abstraction of thought1 we manage to live before it and after it2 its whole history has disappeared like a lightning flash which passes in the calm of a long summer day4 99 99 99 99 99 ,as ,i contemplated those panoramas of time and space1 as the bygone ages passed slowly across my view1 with their long trails of past glories1 and as the races which peopled the worlds arose from the depths of space1 shedding their winding-sheets and walking again in the flowery paths of life1 all this prodigious secular past became present1 and the millions of suns extinguished through the ages lighted up and shone again4 ,the sky was bright with innumerable stars which our eyes had never seen1 and the light of life shed its rays on celestial shores stretching away to infinity6 ,suddenly1 an immense black veil fell from the skies and hid the view1 and ,i saw no more4 ,in front of this veil1 our planet flew along with its speed of #fb thousand miles an hour4 ,i found myself again in the ordinary condition of an ,earth-dweller1 who sees nothing beyond the horizon1 and who imagines that1 in time as in space1 our mediocre humanity exists alone on the world4 ,,iii4 ,,the ,,world ,,to ,,come ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,world ,,to ,,come ,the future is as real as the past4 ,the world to come is in the mind's eye as substantial as the world of long ago4 ,,once upon a time1 in a solar system belonging to the constellation ,andromeda1 a planet a million times the size of our ,earth bore on its surface a very advanced human race4 ,the eyes of its inhabitants were constructed differently from ours and received radiations which are dark to us4 ,also1 instead of five senses those human organisms possessed twelve4 ,their subtle and far-seeing industry had invented instruments of great space-penetrating power1 and they had succeeded in determining at immense distances the volumes1 masses1 densities1 physical and chemical constitutions1 the movements1 and the intrinsic nature of worlds at present quite indiscernible to us4 ,amidst the glories of a sumptuous civilisation1 those human beings1 whose form did not at all resemble ours1 thought1 in spite of their progress in astronomy1 that they were the centre1 the final goal1 and the justification for the existence of the universe4 ,some of their philosophers had indeed put forward the idea of a probability of inhabited worlds1 but this idea1 received with scepticism by most of the learned men and resolutely rejected by the theologians1 was only accepted by the most liberal spirits with a reservation concerning the intellectual superiority of their race1 considered as the necessary and normal type of all humanity4 ,to them it seemed impossible that ,nature should create anything other or better than what had been established in their own world2 the zoology of their own planet set a standard1 and living beings1 they thought1 could not be organised otherwise than as they knew them4 ,to their minds1 the area accessible to their observation included all the possible manifestations of the forces acting throughout the cosmos4 ,it was only possible to have twelve senses1 neither more nor less4 ,there came a time when some transcending genius discovered among the stars of the constellation which terrestrial astronomers call ,centaurus the star which we call the ,sun and around which we gravitate4 ,he noticed round this star nine principal spheres circulating round it1 and1 by some secret sympathy1 he directed his attraction chiefly to the globe which we now inhabit4 ,the star--our own ,sun--and the nine planets we have just mentioned were invisible in our sense of the word4 ,they only emitted dark rays1 black light4 ,for a long time already1 in fact1 the ,sun had been extinct1 and the humanities who had lived on the surface of the ,earth1 of ,mars1 ,venus1 ,mercury1 ,jupiter1 ,saturn1 ,uranus1 and ,neptune1 of the trans-,neptunian planet and its sisters1 had died in turn and had been gradually erased from the great book of universal life4 ,but by means of the superior methods of investigation which this ,andromedic astronomer had at his disposal1 he succeeded1 after a laborious study which it took him #bej years of continuous work to complete1 in reconstructing the history of the terrestrial globe1 which interested him specially1 and in discovering that it had been formerly inhabited by animals of different species1 and in particular by certain bipeds endowed with relative intelligence4 99 99 99 99 99 ,this obscure globe1 a black bullet revolving round another black bullet1 had a whole history of its own4 ,it had contained in former times an intense and luxuriant life4 ,the springs and summers had brought forth a profusion of flowers and fruit in the sunlit fields1 the land had unfolded its golden carpet of corn1 springs had murmured among the hills1 birds had sung in the trees1 the perfumed breezes of meadows and woods had been wafted through the valleys1 rivers had rolled through the vast plains1 villages and towns had grown up along their banks1 human communities had gradually peopled the world1 inventing fruitful industries1 delightful arts1 brilliant sciences2 prodigious cities had1 in different ages1 raised palaces for kings and temples for gods2 ,memphis had succeeded ,babylon1 ,athens had followed ,memphis1 ,rome had cast ,athens into oblivion1 ,paris had eclipsed ,rome1 and had vanished in its turn2 hundreds of millions of brains had thought1 hundreds of millions of hearts had beaten1 eternal loves had been sworn1 divine embraces had united loving souls1 innocent children1 charged by the light of day1 had held out their arms for the kisses of their mothers1 and life in all its forms had sparkled for millions of years in sheaves of light ever renewed like universal and inextinguishable fireworks4 ,struggles1 miseries1 lies1 rivalries1 ambitions1 battles1 despairs1 tears1 mournings1 had too often disfigured with black tempests the sky whose clearness had1 in the springtime of life1 seemed unchangeable4 ,what had dominated everything was a wise and impenetrable trickery by which ,nature persuaded all young girls to become women1 to adorn themselves with irresistible allurements1 and to open their arms to men in order to assure the continuity of life1 hiding from their truthful eyes the dangers and sufferings to which she condemns them by surrounding them with flowers4 ,and thus humanity had continued without a stop1 believing that its destiny was to enjoy without end and progress without a limit2 and thus it had finally reached the annihilation of the race and the planet1 without leaving anything behind of its splendours and its conquests4 ,what is past is past4 ,neither terrestrial humanity nor its abode remained4 ,all had disappeared1 all had been suppressed1 except the spirit4 ,the universal spirit still reigned4 ,but the metamorphoses of matter had transformed everything4 ,the entire history of our globe had been wiped off the slate by the sponge of ,time2 and the sidereal universe went on as if that history had never been written4 99 99 99 99 99 ,for several millions of centuries1 the ,sun had been a globe of gas1 shedding light and heat around it4 ,after being a brilliant white it had become yellow and then red1 passing1 in the course of its cooling process1 through the successive stages of white1 yellow1 orange1 and red suns like ,sirius1 ,arcturus1 ,betelgeuse1 and ,antares4 ,as it had grown cooler1 terrestrial life had become attenuated4 ,the ,sun had finally been covered with a solid crust1 often pierced by the pressure of the incandescent lava within1 and giving rise to prodigious volcanoes4 ,with the failure of light and heat1 the joys and pains of terrestrial life had come to an end4 ,and the radiant day-star of former days had become an obscure globe covered with oceans and clouds1 without a new sun to illuminate it1 without day or twilight1 careering through space in the eternal night1 and gradually enveloped in a winding sheet of ice and snow consisting of carbonic acid4 ,all the nations of the ,earth had gone to rest in as many cemeteries4 ,the dying ,sun had recapitulated in its evolution the phases of its ancestors4 ,in infinite space1 the extinct suns are much more numerous than the luminous suns1 and the stars revived by collision with another are the exception4 ,temporary stars1 which only shine a short time1 are exceptional occurrences4 ,thus our extinct ,sun still roamed through the void1 carrying along its retinue of defunct planets and travelling with great speed through empty and unconcerned space4 ,and at the time of which we are speaking1 the stars still shone in the sky1 the worlds still gravitated around the suns in space2 but they were no longer the same stars1 nor the same suns1 planets1 or humanities2 it was neither the ,earth nor its contemporaries4 ,life continued to blossom2 but it was not our life4 ,just as1 before the birth of the ,earth1 other worlds had flourished in space1 so also after the death of our planet will the universe continue to exist1 as it existed during the human era4 ,and in the world of which we speak1 a new and flourishing humanity shone in the joy of another sun4 ,what had happened was in direct opposition to what terrestrial theologians had taught us concerning the end of the world4 ,for them the end of the world was to have meant the end of the living universe and the establishment of a celestial and infernal world4 ,for every one of the mortals inhabiting the future globe of which we speak1 life passed with the fugitive and inexorable speed of the river which flows from its source to the sea1 day by day1 month by month1 year by year1 so swiftly that at the end of its course all the moments of that life seem to touch4 ,the inhabitants of the world of ,andromeda lived on their immense globe and occupied themselves with their personal affairs as if our ,earth had never existed and without suspecting that long before them1 in the past1 our human race had played the game of destiny1 cradled in the illusion that they existed alone in the world4 ,nobody thought1 amid the common people1 that worlds succeeded each other in time as well as in space4 ,only the thinkers standing on the heights from which the whole of things and events can be surveyed1 realised that important truth1 that the doctrine of the plurality of worlds applies to eternity as well as to infinity4 99 99 99 99 99 ,in our attempts to arrive at an idea of the constitution of the universe1 two questions constantly and inevitably present themselves to our minds3 the questions of ,space and ,time4 ,they are correlative1 but their interpretations are far from being identical1 as is often supposed4 ,space does not exist by itself1 nor does time4 ,it is impossible to imagine the suppression of space4 ,it is asserted in vain that space is the interval which separates two objects1 and that if the objects are suppressed1 space vanishes also4 ,that is a pure scholastic sophism4 ,the definition is not exact4 ,one can safely say that it is impossible to suppress by a thought the place where objects could be4 ,the place1 the locality1 that void1 if you like1 by whatever noun it is designated1 is there quite ready to receive any object which our imagination can suppose to be there4 ,even though the universe did not exist1 if nothing1 absolutely nothing1 existed1 that nothing would still be space1 empty space ready to receive an object4 ,we are then forced to conclude that space exists by itself1 even if it cannot be measured in any way4 ,it is not the same with time4 ,time is created by the movements of the heavenly bodies4 ,if the earth did not turn1 nor the stars1 if there were no succession of periods1 time would not exist4 ,it is astronomy which has created time4 ,if you suppress the universe1 space continues to exist1 but time ceases1 vanishes1 disappears4 ,we measure the duration of a second1 of an hour1 of a day1 of a year1 because the heavenly bodies are there as points of reference between which we can count4 ,besides1 it is all relative4 ,if the ,earth moved twice as slowly1 the days would be twice as long1 but would be apparently the same4 ,if our calendar were different1 it would still be our measure of time1 and we should be none the wiser4 ,one may put all the clocks forward or backward by one hour1 and all the calendars by one day1 one month1 or one year1 change the reckoning of the centuries1 or modify the time system in any way one pleases1 but it would not change the real course of nature4 ,the terrestrial days and years do not count in the heavens4 ,the time which can be measured in our own system on the nearest planets1 ,mars1 ,jupiter1 ,saturn1 ,venus1 ,neptune1 although simultaneous with that which we measure here1 is not relative to ours4 ,time is essentially local4 ,if we did not exist there might be other measures of time1 but it would not be time according to our conception4 ,in fact our impressions are relative1 there is nothing absolute in time4 ,if we suppress life1 the sensation of time disappears1 time itself ceases to exist4 ,in empty space1 a thousand centuries are no longer than one minute1 because they do not exist4 ,it is we who say 8yesterday0 and 8to-morrow40 ,to nature1 everything is 8to-day40 ,besides1 every one of us has had the opportunity of proving for himself that time does not exist when we sleep4 ,to sleep one hour or five hours is the same to us as regards the appreciation of time4 ,time being purely relative1 a sleep of a decillion years would be the same as the sleep of an hour4 ,renan the philosopher1 who expressed this truth1 added3 8,heaven does not exist2 in a decillion years it may possibly exist4 ,those whom a tardy justice places there will believe that they have died the previous evening4 ,to have been1 means to be4 ,succession is the absolute condition of our mind2 but in a material object1 succession and simultaneity are confounded4 ,when in the presence of death1 we ask whether the night will be long1 we are as simple as the child who asks the same question in going to bed1 because he loves the daylight in which he plays40 ,if our thinking monads are associated with these worlds to come1 eternity is their empire4 ,speaking in the absolute1 time does not exist4 ,but space exists4 ,it might be objected that space itself is a measure1 and when we cannot measure it we cannot know it4 ,no doubt if the terrestrial globe were #ajj times smaller1 #h feet would barely be as long as one inch1 and the man measuring 8#f feet0 from head to foot would really only be inch high4 ,but nothing would appear smaller1 because the metre would still be the ten-millionth part of the quarter circumference of the ,earth1 and everything would be reduced in the same proportion4 ,as in the case of time1 measurement is essentially relative and has nothing absolute about it4 ,but this does not alter the fact that time only exists by the succession of events1 whereas space exists absolutely4 ,empty space1 which is nothing to our senses unless we measure it by some length1 cannot be suppressed4 ,whether we measure it or not this is nothing to do with its existence by itself4 ,these measures of space which we take have no common measure with infinity1 nor with absolute space2 yet they are taken in absolute space1 and depend upon our means of observation4 ,in the infinite void we can imagine several measures of space1 all very different3 for example1 a fourth dimension which for us has no dimensions at all1 and in which modes of investigation unknown to us can discover other dimensions which we cannot even guess at1 since for us three dimensions exhaust all possible measurements of space4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the past which is no longer in existence1 the future which is not yet1 is contained as a germ in the present4 ,to the universal eye1 everything is in the present4 ,in transporting ourselves1 as we have done1 into future times1 we observe the events of those future times as if they were already present and already past4 ,we are ephemeral atoms floating in the bosom of eternity1 seen for an instant in a beam of light4 ,we regard our epoch as a permanent reality--the illusion of a grain of dust which appears and disappears in the beam4 ,he who contemplates nature must live in those ages as yet uncreated as well as in those which have passed away4 ,and the future as well as the past are even more real than the present1 which does not exist1 since from one second to another time climbs up into the future only to fall ,lack into the pit of the past4 ,shall we say that the 8present0 is the present hour8 ,no1 for an hour is long4 ,the present minute8 ,no1 for the minute is long to the observing astronomer or physicist4 ,the present second6 ,no1 for it is exceedingly long to electrify4 ,shall we reduce the 8present0 to the tenth of a second8 ,yes1 if you like1 but it is still relative to our sensations4 ,still1 let us agree to that4 ,here1 then1 is the present--a tenth of a second6 ,all the rest is past or future1 and eternity is the only permanent reality4 99 99 99 99 99 ,thus1 from that point of space and time where we were placed in that celestial region of the constellation of ,andromeda1 we have seen arise before us1 like a mummy awakening from a long sleep1 the history of the dead ,earth1 while we saw life shaping itself in a world which1 in our twentieth century1 was not yet in existence4 ,thence1 reascending through the ages1 we watched the slow secular evolution of our humanity1 until sunlit days became night and we lived in a new present which1 in its turn1 seemed unique and eternal4 ,the world to come is there1 in the future eternity1 just as the world of long ago is there1 in the eternity of the past1 and all is present in the ,absolute4 ,god does not look either forward or backward4 ,he does not remember1 he does not foresee3 he sees4 ,we can write our verbs in the different times1 past1 present1 and future4 ,in transporting ourselves by means of thought beyond even the distant era of which we have sketched an episode1 we could describe even this episode as an ancient event4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the history which we have written took place--a hundred million years after to-day6 ,,iv4 ,,venus ,,the ,,beautiful ,,chapter ,,iv ,,venus ,,the ,,beautiful ,e 4 7,hesperus1 most beautiful of stars in the sky47 ,,homer1 ,iliad4 ,,it was ,homer who1 #c1jjj years ago1 saluted ,venus as the most beautiful of stars4 ,who has not been struck with her wonderful brilliance8 ,who can refrain1 when she shines so marvellously in the heavens1 from greeting her as the brightest of the stars and asking what mysteries are hidden in that light8 ,this radiant star of eve has been the first to be noticed since the earliest ages2 it is the only planet mentioned by ,homer2 ,isaiah celebrated her splendour under the name of ,lucifer2 at the time of the pyramids the ,egyptians called her 8the celestial bird of morn and eventide20 thirty-five centuries ago the ,babylonians observed one of its transits across the sun2 the ,indians called her 8the brilliant10 and the ,arabs 8,zorah1 the splendour of the sky40 ,from the earliest days of the world she was the goddess of beauty and love4 ,let us raise our eyes to the heavens to-night3 there is the star chanted by ,homer and ,virgil4 99 99 99 99 99 ,how many events have happened since those far-off days6 ,nations1 languages1 religions1 all have changed4 ,where are the eyes which looked upon ,venus #c1jjj years ago8 ,where are the hearts which confided to her their vows of love for all eternity8 ,and who will be our successors when1 #c1jjj years hence1 the ,parisians of the fiftieth century admire1 as we do now1 the star of the ,iliad twinkling in their sky8 ,the history of man passes quickly1 the waves succeed each other and disappear in the ocean of the ages2 the heavens remain1 and the astronomer smiles at great ambition and puny achievements4 99 99 99 99 99 ,venus passes every eighth year through the period of greatest brilliance 7#ahhi-ahig-aije-aiac-aiba-aibi74 ,she is then so bright that she casts a shadow like a small moon4 ,this is easily seen either in a dark room or when walking past a wall in the country4 ,she can be seen in daylight with the naked eye1 not only before sunset1 but at midday if one knows where she is4 ,no star or planet attains anything comparable to such brightness4 ,this visibility of ,venus in daylight has been noticed for a long time2 sometimes it becomes a public event1 as in the spring of #aije4 ,that year among others our beautiful neighbour was under exceptionally favourable conditions of observation4 ,everyone could see the radiant planet flaming in the west in the spring2 in ,february1 ,march1 and ,april1 the proximity of ,jupiter1 and sometimes of the ,moon showed to all eyes a most charming spectacle4 ,the astronomical ignorance of the inhabitants of the ,earth is so universal that a free rein was given to fancy1 and in ,france one could read in the papers1 under the title3 8,the ,luminous ,phenomenon of ,cherbourg10 a series of the oddest and most contradictory descriptions4 ,they spoke of an oval disc describing curves in the sky2 the appearance of an electric meteor2 a halo due to the deviation of the sun2 of an illuminated captive balloon1 of a new kind of maritime signals1 of an unknown star1 of a comet1 even of a 8constellation06 ,and there was more to come4 ,on the eleventh day of observation1 ,april #aa 7the strange apparition had commenced on ,april #a1 and mariners might have thought of an ,april hoax71 the maritime prefect of ,cherbourg ordered the commander of the ,chasseloup-,laubat to study the luminous phenomenon1 ,a vessel was sent to look for ,venus6 ,the naval officers could not explain the mystery2 one of them1 however1 wrote that it might be the planet ,jupiter6 ,other commanders1 having heard of the comet discovered at the ,nice ,observatory by ,m4 ,giacobini1 announced that the 8unexplained light0 might well be that comet6 ,they did not know that that comet was a telescopic one1 invisible to the naked eye4 ,in the night of ,april #aj-aa a meteorite was seen at ,tunis4 ,the question arose whether it was not this meteorite which had first been seen every evening at ,cherbourg6 ,the phenomenon was signalled from ,perpignan1 ,montauban1 ,nantes1 le ,hvre1 ,la ,role1 ,amlie-les-,bains1 etc4 ,and so on4 ,every sort of stupidity was given out on the subject4 ,well1 a star resplendent with light shone every evening in the western sky4 ,it was ,venus1 the famous ,shepherds' ,star4 ,it was seen from every point of ,france1 from ,europe1 ,asia1 the ,united ,states--and from ,cherbourg as well4 ,for three months it reigned on high every evening4 ,it was also at its maximum brilliancy1 and so bright that it cast a shadow1 as we have said4 ,and nobody at ,cherbourg spoke of ,venus1 nobody compared with ,venus the new star situated in the same region of the sky1 nobody thought that this mysterious heavenly body might be none other than the radiant planet4 ,nobody seemed to know that ,venus was there6#a ,the story repeated itself from ,december #aiab to ,march #aiac4 ,venus queened it over the first hours of the night1 moving ever nearer to us and remaining a little longer every evening above the horizon4 ,on the very rare date recorded by the postmarks as #ab-ab-ab 7#ab ,dec41 #aiab71 the conjunction of ,venus and the ,moon attracted general attention1 especially as the weather was fine4 ,it was the same at the other conjunctions1 ,january #aiab1 ,february #aa1 and ,march #aa4 ,this association of radiant ,venus with the lunar crescent in the evening sky offers to the eyes the most inspiring of spectacles4 ,the sensation caused at ,cherbourg in the spring of #aije by the brilliant star of the evening shining upon the sea and taken for a mysterious instrument of espionage was renewed in #aiac1 especially in ,england4 ,those who saw it1 blinded by its radiant beauty1 were led to confound the ,shepherds' ,star with ,german airships1 and accused them of espionage4 ,one could read1 in fact1 in the paper1 that the authorities on the other side of the ,channel were greatly alarmed by the nocturnal flight of mysterious dirigibles which came under cover of the shades of the evening and hovered over ,british ports4 ,the cars and the balloons themselves were1 so it was said1 invisible on account of the darkness1 but the powerful searchlights thrown upon the earth revealed the unusual presence of the aerial intruder6 ,at the same time we received from ,russia similar stories of the fear inspired by ,venus among the people1 who professed to recognise in its bright light the fires of ,austrian aeroplanes spying out the upper atmosphere4 ,in ,roumania1 ,venus was taken for a ,russian aeroplane2 and in ,bessarabia 7,russia71 rifle-shots were fired at the beautiful planet1 in the belief that it was a ,roumanian dirigible4 ,yet it would be sufficient to use quite a small telescope or even a good opera-glass to correct this error1 for ,venus showed phases which would have immediately completed the identification1 and certainly not allowed it to be confused with aerial vehicles4 ,such popular emotions caused by the appearance of ,venus are not confined to our own times4 ,in ,december #agig the young ,general ,bonaparte1 after his wonderful conquest of ,italy1 returned to ,paris to receive from the ,directory the honours which presaged the consulate4 ,attended by a brilliant staff1 he was going on horseback to the palace of the ,luxembourg1 where the ,directory awaited him1 when he was surprised to see1 in the ,rue de ,tournon1 all the people who stood ready to greet him turn round and look at a point in the sky instead of looking at him4 ,his aide-de-camp told him that a star shone in the sky and that the ,french saw in it the star of the conqueror of ,italy4 ,it was ,venus1 then at its maximum brightness4 ,political conditions have changed1 but the star remains4 ,it was there in mythological times3 ,venus ,astarte1 daughter of the sea1 ,shook off her mother's tears amid her fond caresses ,and fertilised the earth in wringing out her tresses4 ,she was there1 receiving the lovers' holocausts within the temples consecrated to her in ,greece1 ,egypt1 ,india1 all over the world1 for it was from her brilliant or mysterious aspects of the morning and evening that the cult of her charming personality was derived4 ,even nowadays many an observer sees in her only a radiant beauty in an ethereal dwelling-place1 and does not remember that science has explained the idol and transfigured the star4 ,from its greatest easterly elongation to its greatest westerly elongation the brightness of the planet is such that when it is not quite close to the sun it is usually seen with the naked eye in daylight4 ,its phases are always curious and interesting4 ,their discovery by ,galileo was of great importance to the beginning of modern astronomy in proving that the planets are globes without light of their own1 similar to the globe which we inhabit4 99 99 99 99 99 ,venus is no longer for us an allegorical symbol lost in the incense of the clouds and reigning over enslaved hearts2 the ,earth is no longer an inferior abode controlled by celestial influence2 the horizon is grown wider1 our planet has been liberated in unlimited space2 ,venus has become a celestial ,earth1 our sister and neighbour1 and the better-informed eyes which contemplate it to-day see in her1 not1 like ,homer and ,manilius1 a luminous point shining above our heads and controlling the feelings of our hearts and the movement of our blood1 but a world corresponding to the world we ourselves inhabit1 gravitating like us round the same sun1 living on the same light and heat1 and fit like ours to bear a thinking race for whom the ,earth we inhabit is itself a star in the sky4 ,venus1 the brightest star which ever shines in the limpid glory of the western sky1 is not a star1 strictly speaking2 it is a planet1 a world like ours1 and of the same size1 which only shines by reflecting the ,sun's light into space4 ,when one remembers that it is the same with us1 and that1 seen from the distance of some ten million miles1 our ,earth shines with a similar lustre1 one is forced to admit that we are much more beautiful from afar than we are close by4 ,there is indeed no possible comparison between the two aspects4 ,seen close at hand1 we are agitation1 the struggle for existence1 fight1 battle1 envy1 jealousy1 drama1 hunger1 often misery2 seen from afar1 we are calm1 serenity1 pure nobility1 celestial light1 almost an image of ,god6 ,it is probably the same with ,venus1 so white and so radiant seen from here2 possibly if we could go close to her1 we should hear the cries of wild beasts in the forests1 the battles of men devouring each other in so-called civilised lands1 and we might witness geological and human revolutions1 more formidable on account of the fact that ,venus1 younger than ourselves1 is less advanced in evolution4 ,being nearer the ,sun than we and enveloped in a very dense atmosphere1 ,venus must have a higher temperature than the ,earth4 ,its atmosphere is heavily charged with hot vapours4 ,its sky is always overcast2 thunder and lightning must be never-ending4 ,electricity plays no doubt a prominent part4 ,but1 although many things are imperfect1 there is good everywhere4 ,it is one of the charms of astronomy that it enables us to see through time as well as through space4 ,those who remain in ignorance of the elements of this science do not even know that they are depriving themselves of the most agreeable satisfactions of the mind4 ,they are like travellers who pass through a wonderful landscape without even asking where they are4 ,this planet consecrated to ,venus1 the goddess of beauty and love1 who1 in the days of ancient ,greece1 was said to have emerged from the waves to charm gods and men1 and whose mythical history brings us such eloquent evidence of the influence of celestial aspects upon the origin of religions--this planet1 we say1 owes its terrestrial glory to its situation between the ,earth and the ,sun4 ,while our globe gravitates round the ,sun at the distance of #ib million miles1 in a year of #cfe days1 ,venus passes along the orbit contained within our own1 at the distance of #fe million miles from the ,sun1 in a year numbering #bbe days4 ,it follows that from time to time it passes between the ,sun and ourselves1 approaching to within #be million miles or even less1 since the two orbits are not circular1 but elliptical4 99 99 99 99 99 ,one of the finest achievements of astronomy is having made man a citizen of the heavens4 ,the planet which we inhabit is a heavenly body1 just as is ,venus1 ,mars1 or ,jupiter1 and far from occupying the centre of creation1 it lies in the depths of infinite space as do the most distant stars of the ,milky ,way4 ,venus possesses no more light of her own than does the ,earth2 she simply receives the rays of the ,sun and sheds them into space as the ,moon does4 ,take1 for instance1 a small finder telescope and direct it towards ,venus2 you will see the form of a crescent4 ,it is no longer ,venus1 but ,diana4 ,take a rather more powerful telescope1 and you will see that the border of this crescent is not regular1 and the southern pole is blunted and rounded1 while the northern pole is pointed4 ,on increasing the power of your instrument you will perceive the atmosphere by the gradual transition between the illuminated hemisphere and the dark hemisphere1 or by the blinding clouds and light shadows which fleck its disc4 ,if you go still farther and give yourself the pains and the pleasure of doing a few astronomical calculations1 you will see that the diameter of its globe is just the same as that of the ,earth--within one thousandth part6--but that ,venus is a little lighter than the ,earth1 its density being only four-fifths of ours1 whence it results that objects weigh a little less on its surface than they would on ours3 #a1jjj grammes transported on ,venus would only weigh #hhj grammes2 on ,mars they would weigh even less1 viz4 #cgf grammes2 and even less on the ,moon1 viz4 #afe grammes4 ,we are very heavy down here4 ,astronomy alone teaches us that this young sister of ours is in communication with us1 not only by means of light1 but also by attraction1 and that space1 so far from being a separation between worlds1 is a real link1 an invisible hyphen4 ,for example1 when the distance between us and ,venus is #be million miles1 light only takes #b minutes to cross that distance4 ,is that a serious separation8 ,even in ,france a telegram1 in spite of its name1 takes more than an hour to be delivered a few hundred miles away1 on account of intermediate links4 ,if astronomers ever succeeded in establishing celestial telegraphy1 communication would be much more rapid between one world and another than between one part of modern ,babylon and another4 ,an interplanetary telephone would be almost instantaneous4 99 99 99 99 99 ,if the luminous beams from ,venus to the ,earth only take two or three minutes to reach us1 according to its proximity1 the attraction between the two planets is transmitted still more rapidly1 for it does not even take a whole second4 ,and just think6 ,at the distance of millions of miles we feel the mysterious influence of ,venus1 we abandon for a moment the regular course of our orbit round the ,sun to follow in her path4 ,celestial mechanics calculates this displacement and accounts for it in its determinations4 ,if the ,sun were not the strongest1 the two sister-planets1 ,earth and ,venus1 would gradually approach each other and would graze one another like two dragon-flies roaming together through the fields of the sky4 ,but fortunately for us1 the omnipotent ,sun soon resumes its rights1 and everything is restored back to order4 ,the years of ,venus are shorter than ours4 ,their precise duration is #bbd days #af hours #di minutes #h seconds4 ,we do not yet know the diurnal rotation1 i4e4 the length of its days4 ,according to certain observations1 this appears to be about #bd hours1 while others indicate that this planet does not turn upon its axis at all1 or rather1 that its rotation is equal to its revolution and that it always turns the same side towards the ,sun4 ,it is extremely difficult to determine its rotation1 for two reasons4 ,firstly1 because its atmosphere is very dense and always full of clouds1 so that it is impossible to make out its geography and to follow in the telescope the displacement of its surface details2 this is so easily done in the case of ,mars1 whose atmosphere is always clear1 and whose rotation is known with perfect accuracy1 its period being #bd hours #cg minutes #bb seconds4 ,the second reason is the difficulty presented by the phases of ,venus4 ,the closer the planet approaches us in its orbit round the ,sun1 the more does its disc apparently grow in size and the less we see of its surface1 because it at the same time passes between the ,sun and us1 so that its illuminated hemisphere1 being naturally turned towards the ,sun which illuminates it1 is hidden from us4 ,my personal observations lead me to believe that the period of rotation is about #bd hours4 ,at the ,juvisy observatory we have often observed and photographed snowy patches in the north and south1 probably marking the extremes of an axis and therefore a rotation4 ,this special point is not yet decided4 ,it is quite possible that the days are very long there1 or rather1 that they last for ever--perpetual day on one side and perpetual night on the other side4 ,that would make it a very singular world4 ,on one side light1 heat1 and life2 on the other1 the icy coldness of death4 ,some might choose for their abode perpetual sunlight2 others might prefer a night illuminated perhaps by electric light2 yet others might prefer to dwell in the dawn or the twilight4 ,beautiful ,venus would then have one hemisphere in perpetual night and one in perpetual day4 ,how strange6 ,how our worlds must differ in the form of their organisms and the nature of their inhabitants6 99 99 99 99 99 ,the science of the stars opens unexpected outlooks on extra-terrestrial life4 ,we know already that ,venus1 the ,earth1 and ,mars are three floating homes controlled by the same forces1 governed by the same attraction and cradled in the fluctuation of the same magnetism4 ,regarded from this point of view1 ,venus is more interesting to us than she ever was in mythological times4 ,is not the knowledge of those celestial sympathies a first stage of the road leading to the conquests of other worlds8 ,footnote #a3 ,the astronomical annuals had announced the brilliant appearance of ,venus4 ,but who reads the ,nautical ,almanac8 ,people prefer to read the almanacs which falsely predict rain and fine weather and guess at the political events of the year4 ,humanity prefers its ignorance and its illusions4 ,v4 ,,the ,,planet ,,mars ,,chapter ,v ,,the ,,planet ,,mars ,,the inhabitants of the ,earth are at last beginning to take some interest in the sky4 ,tired of living as blind strangers to their own country1 they are beginning to know that the world on which they move about is a planet gravitating round the ,sun1 and that other sister-planets swing round at the same time in the harmony of the solar system4 ,mars is now spoken of in public as one speaks of politics and of socialism4 ,in ,america as well as in ,europe1 at ,buenos ,ayres1 ,mexico1 or ,caracas1 as well as at ,paris1 ,milan1 ,petrograd1 ,budapest1 and ,stockholm1 the latest telescopic results are discussed4 ,it is known that this neighbouring planet sometimes approaches the ,earth within #cg or even #ce million miles2 that astronomers have their eyes on the planet and that they have observed luminous flashes on it1 the explanation of which is puzzling them4 ,people remember that in a certain year1 #ahgg1 the planet being in its greatest proximity1 straight lines resembling canals were discovered1 and that the question of possible inhabitants of this new country and future communication with them has been raised4 ,questions are put and answers are given1 discussions give rise to curious confusions and exaggerations1 but the net result is that an interest is created in these high questions which raise us above the vulgarities of ordinary life1 and a general knowledge of the universe is advanced4 ,that is the main thing4 ,the last occasions on which ,mars was in close proximity to us were #ahig1 #ahii1 and #aiji4 ,this remarkable development of public curiosity is easily explained by the marvellous achievements of contemporary astronomy and the admirable precision of certain results obtained4 ,unless one has a stone instead of a heart and a lump of fat in the place of a brain1 it is difficult not to feel some emotion over the achievements of science4 ,if we declare1 for instance1 that we know the general geography of ,mars better than we do that of our own planet1 the listener or reader is at first inclined to be somewhat sceptical4 ,but if we show him1 either in a telescope or in a diagram1 the snows of the north or south poles of ,mars1 he will admit that nobody has as yet had a complete view of these regions on the ,earth1 in spite of the discoveries of polar explorers1 and he will be convinced that we do know those ,martian regions better than our own poles4 ,that is already a fact of some interest2 but we can go farther than that4 ,it is not only the pole1 but the whole surrounding country that is better known on ,mars than on the ,earth1 not only from the geographical1 but also from the meteorological point of view4 ,thus1 for instance1 we can almost constantly measure the extent of the polar snows1 and we find that it varies with the seasons4 ,we see with our own eyes the melting of these snows taking place very rapidly under the light and heat of the ,sun1 night after night1 so to speak1 during a summer which is twice as long as ours4 ,the snows disappear almost entirely1 and only a little ice remains on a region which we know1 and which represents the pole of extreme cold1 situated #bab miles from the geographical pole4 ,in spite of the perseverance and heroism of arctic explorers1 none of these climatological facts have been witnessed on ,earth4 ,it is possible that the ,martians are ignorant of their own phenomena if they have been unable to reach their poles4 ,still1 since their poles are free at the end of the summer1 they are much better able than we to explore their polar regions4 ,we may say that in general the meteorology and climatology of ,mars are better known than those of the ,earth4 ,at the time when you read these lines you do not know1 and nobody can tell you1 what sort of weather you will have to-morrow4 ,but we do know almost certainly what the weather will be to-morrow1 next week1 next month1 on such and such a region on ,mars3 if we do not wait till the winter comes1 we know that it will be fine4 ,hardly do we see a cloud between the vernal equinox and the autumnal equinox1 neither in the equatorial nor the temperate regions1 and hardly even in the circumpolar regions4 ,if we are unable to make a drawing of the telescopic image of the planet1 the difficulty hardly ever arises from the ,martian atmosphere1 but from our own1 which is so often overcast or turbid4 ,all the geographical configurations1 seas1 rivers1 plains1 covered with vegetation according to the moisture available1 water-courses varying with the seasons1 canals and oases1 are mapped out with precision2 we know in advance which country will pass across the field of our telescope2 and the period of rotation1 as already mentioned1 is known to the #ajjth of a second4 ,it is #bd hours #cg minutes #bb4eh seconds4 ,we also know that the ,martian year contains #ei1cee1jda seconds1 i4e4 #fhf terrestrial days #bc hours #cj minutes #da seconds4 ,but since that planet turns on its axis a little more slowly than the ,earth1 there are only #ffh ,martian days in the ,martian year4 ,in fact the ,martian calendar is composed of two successive years of #ffh days and a leap year of #ffi days4 ,as in our case1 there is no exact number of days in the ,martian year4 ,perhaps their calendar has also been reformed several times without being made perfect4 ,but let us hope that they are not as stupid as we1 with our months of #bh1 #bi1 #cj1 and #ca days1 and calling the ninth1 tenth1 eleventh1 and twelfth month the seventh1 eighth1 ninth1 and tenth respectively2 with our disagreement about dates1 ,russia only arriving at the #ast of ,january when the rest of the civilised world has reached the #adth2 with our three kinds of days3 the civil day which commences at midnight1 the astronomical day which commences the next midday1 and the naval day which commences the previous midday2 we who waited thousands of years before we could fix an exact hour1 because we counted from conventional meridians1 and the various countries could not agree upon the single meridian4 ,being probably more advanced than ourselves in its planetary age1 ,martian humanity is most likely more reasonable and is not mixed up with the littleness of frontiers1 dialects1 customs1 national rivalries1 etc4 ,for a long time already1 no doubt they form a simple unit4 ,one may also suppose that they do not celebrate their new-year festival and its rejoicings amid the winter frosts1 but in the hopeful days of the equinox4 99 99 99 99 99 ,one of the most curious observations which have been made on this neighbouring planet1 or rather which have1 apart from the canals1 attracted the greatest attention1 is that of the luminous flashes4 ,it has been said that these flashes are all seen at the edge of the disc1 or beyond it4 ,this is not correct2 they show themselves on the line which separates the hemisphere illuminated by the ,sun from the dark hemisphere--the line called the 8terminator40 ,they are only seen when the globe of ,mars offers a sensible phase1 and only along the line of that terminator4 ,the phenomenon is a slight projection1 swelling1 or puffing-up of the terminator4 ,it is not a more extraordinary observation than that of the irregularities in the lunar diameter at certain phases3 the ,sun illuminates1 either before its rising or before its setting1 the summits of mountains whose bases are still in darkness1 and such summits sometimes appear on the ,moon as luminous points detached from the disc4 ,some fertile imaginations have interpreted these flashes as forests on fire or as signals sent out by the ,martians4 ,this is going too far4 ,but the possibility of the population of ,mars by a human species more intelligent than ours is quite a natural conclusion from the observations4 ,one may also guess without scientific heresy that the canals of ,mars are rivers straightened with a deliberate intention of distributing water which has become a rarity over that planet4 ,the astronomers who deny these possibilities show a very poor spirit4 ,but1 on the other hand1 there is no reason to see nothing on that world but human activity4 ,among several explanations of observed phenomena one must always prefer the simplest4 ,in the case of luminous dashes on the terminator1 the illumination of mountain-tops or clouds by the ,sun suffices to account for them4 ,doubts were raised concerning this explanation by the height of #bjj1jjj feet found by an astronomer for the elevation of these mountains4 ,i went over the calculation and found only #ae1jjj feet4 ,these mountains would not therefore be higher than ,mont ,blanc1 and perhaps less4 ,we should also remember that those luminous projections appear every time that the planet returns to the same condition of illumination with regard to the ,earth4 ,they were observed in #ahij1 #ahib1 #ahid1 #ahii1 #aijg1 #aiji1 #aiaa1 #aiac1 etc4 ,the regions where they appear are a sort of island called ,noachis1 another called ,hesperia1 and a third called ,tempe4 ,according to all appearances1 we have to do with high mountains covered with snow and with still higher clouds4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the epoch at which the inhabitants of ,mars can communicate with us has not yet arrived1 or perhaps it has already passed away4 ,all cosmological studies agree in presenting this planet as older than ours1 since it is farther from the ,sun1 and as having passed through its phases of astral life more rapidly than we1 on account of its smallness and lightness4 ,we cannot pretend to know the forms which living beings may have assumed there2 but we cannot imagine1 on the other hand1 that the forces of nature1 being the same as here and exercised under almost identical conditions 7atmosphere1 climate1 seasons1 water1 vapours1 etc471 have been sterilised by a perpetual miracle of annihilation while on ,earth the cup of life overflows all round and the generative force of living beings everywhere surpasses continual and permanent production4 ,but whatever may be the forms of ,martian humanity1 they must be superior to us1 for several reasons4 ,the first of these is that it would be difficult for a human species to be less intelligent than ours1 because we do not know how to behave and three-quarters of our resources are employed for feeding soldiers4 ,the second reason is that progress is an absolute law which nothing can resist4 ,if therefore the inhabitants of ,mars have passed their infancy1 the centuries have brought them to an age of reason1 and their present state represents what our race will be in several million years4 ,a third circumstance is that they are better situated than ourselves for escaping from the heaviness of matter4 ,a given bulk of water1 earth1 or other substance is only seven-tenths of the weight it is here2 #a1jjj grammes taken to ,mars would only weigh #cgf grammes there2 and the woman weighing #h stone would only weigh #c stone there4 ,and1 finally1 the climatic conditions appear to be much more agreeable there4 99 99 99 99 99 ,those are all advantages in favour of the ,martians4 ,if1 therefore1 the idea has occurred to them to make signals to us1 it is probably not at the present time4 ,there is no reason that they should think of it at the same time as we and should wait for us4 ,perhaps they tried #bjj1jjj or #cjj1jjj years ago1 before the appearance of man1 at the time of the cave-bear or the mammoth4 ,perhaps they addressed themselves to our planet at the time of the ,iguanodon and the ,dinosaurus4 ,perhaps they tried again #b1jjj or #c1jjj years ago4 ,never having seen any sign of life1 they will have concluded that either there are no inhabitants on the ,earth1 or that they are busy with other things besides the study of the universe and eternal truths4 ,that was true yesterday--and it is true to-day4 ,,vi4 ,,the ,,giant ,,world ,,of ,,jupiter ,,chapter ,,vi ,,the ,,giant ,,world ,,of ,,jupiter ,,everybody notices1 year by year1 in a southerly direction1 a bright star which half the spectators believe to be the evening star1 but which so far from being ,venus1 is its very antithesis4 ,to mistake ,jupiter for ,venus is a sufficiently gross error4 ,but even this error is preferable to nothing4 ,it is better to be mistaken than not to see anything4 ,a large portion of the human race sees nothing at all1 thinks nothing1 and passes its whole life in the stupidity of plants and slugs4 ,to notice the star in the sky1 even to give it a wrong name1 is something1 at all events4 ,it shows that one does not go about with eyes cast on the ground or occupied with worldly affairs and with the spirit absorbed by material interests4 ,venus1 the ,shepherds' ,star1 the morning and evening star1 is never far from the sun4 ,it is never in the south1 neither in the evening nor at midnight4 ,its orbit round the ,sun lies within our own4 ,jupiter1 on the contrary1 revolves round the same ,sun along an orbit outside our own1 five times as far as the central luminary1 at #dhe million miles instead of #ib million miles4 ,the distance between us and ,jupiter is therefore always greater than #cic million miles except when the ,earth reaches the extremity of its elliptical orbit 78aphelion07 at a time when ,jupiter is in 8opposition0 to the ,sun4 ,we often see it at a medium distance of #dej million miles4 ,if the atmosphere extended over all that distance1 an aeroplane flying without a stop at #fb miles an hour1 and therefore covering #a1ejj miles a day1 would take no less than #cjj1jjj days or #hab years to complete the voyage4 ,it would be wise to take some provisions with us6 ,but on what sort of a world should we arrive8 ,a giant world1 an immense world1 a strange world4 ,it is only a thousand times smaller than the ,sun--that is to say1 #a1jjj times larger than the ,earth1 or even more4 ,jupiter is eleven times larger in diameter than our globe1 i4e4 #a1cjj times larger in volume4 ,gravitation is enormous at its surface1 #b times what it is here4 ,a man weighing #aj stone here would weigh #be stone there4 ,but its density is very low1 being one-quarter of that of the earth4 ,it is a world of water and more or less dense gas4 ,astronomers observe it with great interest since they see it furrowed with various currents and enveloped in clouds and vapours4 ,the currents at the surface revolve with different speeds1 so that it is difficult to know what is the rotation of the planet itself4 ,at the equator1 this rotation is accomplished in #i hours #ej minutes #cj seconds2 not far from the equator1 in the subtropical regions1 it takes #i hours #ee minutes #da seconds4 ,since ,jupiter's year is twelve times as long as ours1 there are more than #aj1jjj days per annum4 ,here is a curious circumstance3 on account of the difference of rotation1 the ,jovian year comprises #hg more 7,jovian7 days at the equator than it does in the subtropical zone4 ,if it were the same on our globe1 the inhabitants of the ,congo1 ,colombia1 ,borneo1 and ,sumatra would have a day more in their year 7and even five in four years7 than those of ,senegal1 the ,antilles1 ,siam1 or ,india1 a difference of #abe days per century6 ,it would be difficult to keep their calendars in agreement4 ,there are seven or eight kinds of currents between the equator and the poles1 so that one can say of ,jupiter1 as of the ,sun1 that it does not turn in one piece4 ,and those speeds themselves vary with the years4 ,in the southern tropical zone there is a curious spot which has been followed with some interest for fifty years4 ,although it is much larger than the ,earth1 it seems to float in the current4 ,constant observation shows its period of rotation to have been #i hours #ee minutes #da seconds in #aijj and #i hours #ee minutes #ci seconds in #aijf1 and its period returned in #aiac to the figure of #aijj4 ,what is the nature of this floating spot8 ,in #ahij its colour was red4 ,it then gradually got paler1 and then pink once more4 ,its shape was that of a long oval1 measuring #bf1jjj miles in length1 or more than three times the diameter of our globe4 ,the current in which it floats has not the same period of rotation as the spot itself4 ,the spot is pushed from west to east1 and it has shifted #eg degrees in two years4 ,now1 a degree on the globe of ,jupiter in that latitude represents #gbj miles4 ,this ,jovian formation has1 therefore1 been displaced #da1jjj miles1 or a distance more than five times the diameter of our planet4 ,it is as if ,australia were to detach itself from the bottom of the sea and float about on the surface of the ,pacific ,ocean6 ,does this oscillation1 which we only see in plan1 and not in elevation1 indicate the formation of a satellite trying to disengage itself from its parent planet and not succeeding8 ,it looks as if there were on this giant world of ,jupiter no surface at all1 but irregular aerial layers one over the other1 and full of clouds4 ,the temperature must be very high1 and enormous masses of vapour are formed1 to wrestle in prodigious storms4 ,though mythology is of no importance here1 it is evident that ,jupiter is indeed the god of thunder-storms4 ,jupiter is a world in the making1 a sun which has lost its light1 but not its heat4 ,its density1 nearly equal to that of the ,sun1 is barely greater than that of water4 ,a globe of vapour varied by mountains of clouds1 impalpable ,himalayas1 aerial ,alps in convulsions1 fluid and constantly agitated ,pyrenees6 ,its colossal bulk has prevented its cooling as fast as our ,earth1 and it will no doubt take tens of hundreds of millions of years to arrive at a temperature fit for inhabitants4 ,in all probability there is nobody yet on ,jupiter1 neither men nor animals nor plants4 ,this immense world is in its primordial state and prepares itself for the future4 ,spectrum analysis shows that the substances which abound there are different from terrestrial substances4 ,any living beings who may develop there will probably be chemically different from terrestrial beings1 and consist not of oxygen1 hydrogen1 carbon1 or nitrogen1 but of combinations of other substances4 ,it will be a differently constituted world4 ,our interest in observing it is not lessened by that consideration4 ,the thinking mind knows that our present era is of no particular importance4 ,it has been preceded by other eras and will be succeeded by other cycles4 ,it is not because we live at this particular moment that our time can be said to be of any special value4 ,the years contemporary with ,jesus ,christ or with the ,pharaohs who built the pyramids had just as much value as ours1 and when we shall no longer be there1 the ,earth will continue to revolve and measure out their days to our successors indefinitely4 ,whether ,jupiter is inhabited this year or in #ejj1jjj years or in #aj1jjj1jjj years is the same to the philosopher4 ,everything to him is present1 both the future and the past 444 this great subject has already been dealt with1 and there is no need to refer to it again4 ,let us greet ,jupiter as the symbol of the future4 ,behind him1 among the constellation1 there are stars whose light1 starting at the time of the siege of ,troy1 has only arrived to-day4 ,thus in the same celestial record the past and the future are thrown together1 and they tell us that if there is anything interesting in human life it is ,thought1 the mind which contemplates the universe1 which lives intelligently1 and without which all ,nature would be but the play of an automaton4 ,,vii4 ,,heartbeats ,,across ,,space ,,chapter ,,vii ,,heartbeats ,,across ,,space ,,across #ib million miles of space the magnetic pulses of the solar heart are transmitted to the earth1 and they make the small and light compass needle1 ever trembling and seeking its pole1 vibrate on its pivot4 ,this magnetic needle does not remain fixed in the magnetic meridian1 but oscillates every day to the right and left of the line1 i4e4 to the east and west4 ,the greatest deviation is produced at about #h a4m4 ,the needle stops and returns to the magnetic meridian of the time 7it varies from year to year71 crosses it a little after #aj a4m41 and continues to deviate towards the west1 reaching its greatest deviation about #a4ae p4m4 ,it then returns to the meridian1 which it reaches about #f p4m4 and crosses to the east4 ,it moves very slowly1 with a slight oscillation between #h and #aj p4m4 to the east1 attaining at #h a4m4 the greatest easterly deviation with which we began4 ,such is the daily oscillation of the needle1 a process expressive of the unknown and mysterious vital current which traverses our planet and manifests1 so to speak1 the soul of the earth4 ,this phenomenon is absolutely general and is observed on the entire globe1 from the equator to the poles1 in the same manner2 the amplitude of the oscillation increases with the latitude but not proportionately2 it only amounts to #a or #b minutes of arc in the tropics1 to #i minutes in ,france1 and #g minutes in ,norway4 ,this variation corresponds sensibly to the variation of temperature1 the amplitude of which increases from the tropics to the poles4 ,heat1 electricity1 water-vapour1 and barometric pressure are all associated with it4 ,there are certain perturbations1 to be mentioned presently1 to which some human beings are sometimes a little too sensive4 ,we live enveloped in an invisible world4 ,the amplitude of this daily oscillation varies from day to day1 from month to month1 from year to year4 ,if we take the mean of the observations of a whole year1 we find that from one year to another it changes from a certain amount to double that amount and that this annual variation is regulated by a law4 ,it is periodic1 and the average period is eleven or twelve years4 ,for instance1 in #ahgj the oscillation was twelve minutes of arc and in #ahgh it was six minutes4 ,i take the figures for ,london1 ,prague1 ,munich1 ,rome1 and ,milan--not those for ,france1 for no observations were made in that terrible year1 or they were made badly1 and ,i made many enemies by insisting upon them4 ,that year1 #ahgj1 was a maximum4 ,there were other maxima1 but not quite so great1 in #ahhc1 #ahic1 #aije1 and in #aiaf4 ,the cycle varies from ten to thirteen years4 ,now1 this behaviour of the magnetic needle corresponds exactly to the state of health of the ,sun1 i4e4 its activity or the number of sunspots or whirlpools which indicate it as well as its gigantic flames1 protuberances1 facul1 and the various manifestations of its radiating power4 ,there was a very considerable maximum of sunspots in #ahgj4 ,another maximum occurred in #ahhc and another in #aije1 but the latter were less marked than that of #ahgj4 ,in #aiah another very well defined maximum occurred4 ,minima of sunspots1 protuberances1 and facul were observed in #ahgh1 #ahhi1 #aija1 and #aiac4 ,now1 these maxima and minima correspond exactly with the variation of the compass needle1 as is shown in the tables and curves published in my ,astronomie ,populaire4 ,if curves are traced for solar activity on the one hand and magnetic oscillation on the other hand1 it is found that the two curves are absolutely parallel4 ,science has been able to trace this parallelism very far1 as far back indeed as the eighteenth century1 and it is found to include the aurora borealis1 which is a magnetic phenomenon4 ,the concordance is evident and absolutely incontestable4 ,thus there constantly emanates from the ,sun a force different from light and heat1 a force we do not perceive with our senses and which places our small and mobile planet in constant communication with our central star1 which is more than a million times greater in volume4 ,the ,sun sometimes experiences violent expansions1 perturbations1 tempests1 and magnetic storms4 ,the smallest disturbances which happen in our formidable star are transmitted to us4 ,for instance3 the years #aijd to #aijh were very strange so far as the ,sun was concerned4 ,instead of the single maximum which is usually observed1 there were two maxima1 one in #aije and another in #aijg1 #aijf being less active4 ,the curve traced to represent the number of sunspots shows two peaks1 in #aije and #aijg respectively1 with a depression in #aijf4 ,it is the same with terrestrial magnetism3 maxima in #aije and #aijg1 with a slight weakening in #aijf4 ,when ,i discovered this unexpected coincidence for #aijf1 several sceptics were greatly surprised4 ,yet it is true4 ,it was the same when ,i accused the ,sun of being the author of the interruption of telephonic and telegraphic communication on ,september #be1 #aiji1 which took place over the whole of ,france1 in all ,europe1 and throughout the world4 ,the telephone girls were unjustly blamed and the telegraph engineers were equally innocent4 ,why had no newspaper thought of it8 ,perhaps because politics are cultivated more than science in the papers of our unbalanced days4 ,i do not accuse our country more than another1 the ,english1 ,german1 ,american1 ,australian1 and other editors having been equally astray concerning the cause of the perturbation4 ,on that day the intensity of the earth-currents which produced the breakdown was #ej million amperes1 whereas the instruments work regularly with #aj to #ab milliamperes4 ,the whole terrestrial globe had been plunged into a magnetic field of great intensity1 into a veritable dynamic ocean originating in a solar torrent4 ,a large group of sunspots surrounded by facul had arrived on the eastern limb of the solar globe on ,september #ag1 and had gradually advanced towards the central meridian of the solar hemisphere turned towards us by the ,sun's rotation4 ,on the #aith1 this group had become much larger4 ,the spectroscope had indicated violent eruptions4 ,the enormous group of sunspots was visible to the naked eye and numerous photographs of it had been taken at the ,juvisy ,observatory4 ,it passed the central meridian of the ,sun on the morning of ,september #bd and continued its course towards the western limb1 disappearing from sight on ,october #a4 ,the magnetic perturbation which struck our planet arrived #cj hours after the passage of this group of sunspots across the central meridian of the solar hemisphere facing us4 ,we had already1 on ,october #ca1 #aijc1 observed a similar cosmic phenomenon1 and previously on ,november #ah1 #ahhb1 and ,august #c1 #ahgb4 ,even before that date a similar event took place on ,september #a1 #ahei4 ,but memory is short1 and in any case astronomical ignorance is universal4 ,the magnetic link1 invisible but powerful1 joins our ,earth to the central body of the solar system4 ,pebus ,apollo holds us in the hollow of his hand at a distance of #ib million miles1 and we feel his pulse as he feels our feeble heart-beats4 ,it is not only gravitation1 nor only light1 nor yet only heat1 which throws a celestial bridge from the ,sun to the ,earth2 it is also electricity2 it is also magnetism2 it is a force still unknown and unexplained which no doubt maintains communication between all the worlds4 ,for the ethereal wave touches ,mercury1 ,venus1 ,mars1 ,jupiter1 ,saturn1 ,uranus1 and ,neptune as it touches us1 and if we could utilise it we could communicate with our neighbours in the heavens4 ,interstellar magnetism6 ,at each stage in the advance of science new horizons open out1 unexpected perspectives reveal themselves1 enlarging the field of our conquest over nature1 but what we do know already is a mere nothing in comparison with what we are yet to know4 ,what is the nature of the wave or substance which leaves the ,sun and reaches the ,earth to produce those agitations of the magnetic needle1 those magnetic storms and auror boreales8 ,contemporary physics has been busy for twenty years about ions1 electrons1 and electric particles4 ,the great perturbations described above are supposed to be due to the arrival in the upper atmosphere of torrents of electrons projected by the ,sun and impinging upon the ,earth with a speed of several thousand miles per second4 ,the phenomenon is most intense when these emanations from the day-star hit the ,earth directly4 ,when they pass on one side1 nothing out of the way happens4 ,it may be that the torrent projected in a certain direction by the ,sun on ,september #bd filled space in the direction of projection1 and that our globe1 travelling along its orbit at #fg1jjj miles an hour1 only passed through that region on the following day4 ,ions and electrons1 those convenient goblins of present-day physics1 do they exist8 ,nobody has ever seen them4 ,perhaps they are only ingenious interpretations4 ,what does certainly exist is electric force4 ,we may also think of the repelling force exerted by the ,sun1 which blows so strongly upon the nuclei of comets and produces tails several million miles long and always in the direction opposed to the ,sun4 ,electricity plays a great part in the appearance1 the illumination1 and the dislocation of comets' tails1 as we see nearly every year in the photographs taken at the ,juvisy ,observatory and which make such picturesque and suggestive revelations 7it even plays a part in organic cells and among microbes74 ,whatever may be the real nature of the force in action1 it is certain that the magnetic link differs from universal gravitation1 but it is no less intimate and all-pervading4 ,the twin forces of gravitational and magnetic attraction between worlds can only be likened to the universal force of love1 which attracts souls towards each other4 ,,viii4 ,,ideas ,,concerning ,,communication ,,between ,,the ,,worlds ,,chapter ,,viii ,,ideas ,,concerning ,,communication ,,between ,,the ,,worlds ,,that in a future1 which is perhaps not very far distant1 say in a century or two1 the inhabitants of our planet might enter into optical1 electrical1 or telepathic communication with those of another planet of the solar system is an event which we have some right to expect1 though it is not a matter of to-morrow4 ,about the year #ahdj the astronomer von ,littrow1 ,director of the ,vienna ,observatory1 put forward the idea of attempting an optical communication with the ,moon4 ,a triangle traced upon the soil of the ,moon by three luminous lines each from #g to #i miles long would be visible from here by means of our telescopes4 ,we even observe much smaller detail1 such as the singular topographical designs noticed in the lunar circle which goes by the name of ,plato4 ,thus a triangle1 a square1 or circle of that size1 constructed by us on a vast plain by means of luminous points1 either during the day by the reflection of sunlight1 or during the night by means of electric light1 would be visible to the astronomers of the ,moon1 if such astronomers exist and if they have optical instruments equivalent to ours4 ,the rest of the argument is of the simplest4 ,if we observed on the ,moon a correctly constructed triangle1 we should be considerably interested4 ,we should ask ourselves whether we had observed wrongly or whether an accidental geographical movement might have given rise to a regular figure4 ,we should no doubt end by admitting that exceptional possibility4 ,but if we suddenly saw that triangle change into a square1 and some months later be replaced by a circle1 we should then admit logically that an intelligent effect proves an intelligent cause1 and we should think with some reason that such figures undoubtedly reveal the presence of geometers on the neighbouring world4 ,from that position to a search for the reason for the formations on the ,moon's surface and to the question why and with what object those unknown comrades drew those figures would be a short step quickly taken4 ,would it be with the idea of entering into communication with us8 ,the hypothesis would not be absurd4 ,it would be put forward1 it would be discussed1 it would be rejected as far-fetched and defended as ingenious4 ,and after all1 why not8 ,why should the inhabitants of the ,moon not be more curious than we1 more intelligent1 of higher aspirations1 less stuck in the bog of material necessities8 ,why should they not suppose that the ,earth can be inhabited as well as their own world1 and why should these geometrical appeals not be made with the object of asking us whether we exist8 ,besides1 it is not difficult to reply4 ,we are shown a triangle1 we reproduce it here4 ,a circle is traced1 we imitate it4 ,and so communication is established between the ,heavens and the ,earth for the first time since the beginning of the world4 ,geometry being the same for all the inhabitants of the universe1 and twice two making four in all the regions of infinite space1 and the three angles of a triangle always being equivalent to two right angles1 signals thus exchanged between the ,earth and the ,moon would not even have the obscurity of the hieroglyphics deciphered by ,champollion1 and the communication1 once established1 would become regular and fertile4 ,besides1 the ,moon is close by4 ,its distance of #bdj thousand miles is only thirty times the diameter of the earth1 and many a rural postman has covered that amount of ground on foot during the course of his life4 ,a telegram would arrive there in a second and a quarter1 and light takes the same time to cover that distance4 ,the ,moon is a celestial province joined to our destiny by ,nature herself4 ,up to now we have noticed nothing on the ,moon which might lead us to suspect the existence of a thinking humanity inhabiting that small celestial island4 ,tet the astronomers who specially observe our satellite and who study its singular aspects with attention and perseverance are generally of opinion that that heavenly body is not as dead as it seems4 ,we must not forget that in the present state of optical science it is difficult in practice to apply to the study of the ,moon a magnification greater than a thousand times4 ,to see our satellite a thousand times closer than it really is still leaves it at a distance of #bdj miles4 ,now1 what can be distinguished at such a distance8 ,it is certain that mysterious variations actually occur on the surface1 notably in the arena of the amphitheatre of ,plato as mentioned above4 ,what is also certain is that the lunar globe1 #di times smaller than the earth and #ia times lighter1 exerts on its surface a gravitational attraction six times less than that which exists at the surface of our own planet1 so that an atmosphere analogous to the air we breathe would be more rarefied and difficult to perceive from here4 ,it is therefore not surprising that this neighbouring world is so different from ours4 ,besides1 seen from a balloon #c or #d miles above ground1 the ,earth appears deserted1 uninhabited1 as silent as an immense cemetery1 and whoever arrived from the ,moon in a balloon could ask himself even at that small distance whether there were any people in ,france or any sound in ,paris4 ,such at least is the impression conveyed to me by my aerial voyages4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the cold and deathly aspect of our pale satellite was not encouraging for the realisation of the original project of the astronomer ,j4 von ,littrow1 and soon afterwards1 forgetting our nearest neighbour1 the imagination of some physicists was bold enough to consider the planet ,mars1 which is never nearer than #ce million miles1 but is the best known of all the countries of the sky and which offers so many points of resemblance with our world that we should hardly feel exiled if we were to transport our household gods thither4 ,the aspect of ,mars indeed tends to comfort us after that of the ,moon4 ,one could imagine oneself in some terrestrial region4 ,the seasons1 summer and winter1 autumn and spring1 days and night1 mornings and evenings1 waters1 clouds1 snows1 atmospheric variations1 plains adorned with various vegetations--all these things present many resemblances to our own world4 ,the years are longer there since they last #fhg days1 but the extreme variations of the seasons are about the same as with us since the inclination of the axis is about the same4 ,the days are also a little longer1 since the diurnal rotation is #bd hours #cg minutes #bc seconds1 but the difference is not great4 ,and you will notice that this is all known with great precision1 that diurnal rotation1 for example1 is known to within one-tenth of a second1 or we might even say one-hundredth of a second4 ,when1 on a fine starry night1 we examine this world through the telescope1 when we see the polar snows which melt in the spring1 the finely marked continents1 the mediterraneans with long gulfs1 the eloquent and varied geographical configuration1 one cannot help asking whether the ,sun which illuminates that world as it does ours shines on nothing living1 whether those rains fertilise anything1 whether that atmosphere is breathed by any living being1 and whether that world of ,mars which rolls swiftly through space resembles a railway train travelling empty without either goods or passengers4 ,the idea that the ,earth where we are could swing round the ,sun as it does without being inhabited by any creature whatever appears so absurd as to be hardly worth thinking about4 ,by what permanent miracle of sterilisation would the forces of nature which act there as they do here have remained eternally inactive and barren8 99 99 99 99 99 ,it is therefore conceivable that one might apply to ,mars the plan originally proposed for the ,moon4 ,the distance of that planet is such that although it is much larger than the ,moon in volume1 it appears #fc times smaller when it is nearest to us4 ,yet one may understand that a telescope which magnifies #fc times enlarges ,mars to the size of the ,moon as seen with the naked eye1 and that a magnification of #fcj gives it a diameter ten times larger than that of our satellite4 ,yet if ever the attempt is made to put any sort of project of communication between us and ,mars into practice1 the signals would have to be carried out on a much vaster scale4 ,it would not be triangles1 squares1 circles1 of several miles which would have to be constructed1 but figures of #gj miles or more1 always supposing 7#a7 that ,mars is inhabited1 7#b7 that these inhabitants occupy themselves with astronomy1 7#c7 that they have optical instruments analogous to ours1 and 7#d7 that they carefully observe our planet1 which to them is a brilliant star of the first magnitude1 the morning and evening star1 and in fact the brightest heavenly body4 ,is this fourfold hypothesis acceptable6 ,if that question were put to the vote of the citizens of the ,earth1 without asking the opinion of the ,central ,african savages or the ,south ,sea ,islanders1 but only the numerical majority of the ,european population1 one may safely wager that they would not even understand the question1 for the majority of mankind does not know that the ,earth is a planet and that the other planets are ,earths4 ,and then there is sound common sense which reasons so justly on account of the excellence of its education4 8,we are10 it says1 8without doubt the most intelligent beings of creation4 ,why should other planets have the honour of being enriched by intellectual excellence such as ours8 ,can we even admit the existence of beings similar to ourselves80 ,no doubt one could perhaps remark that the most gifted nations of the ,earth do not know how to conduct themselves1 that their intelligence is chiefly exercised in devouring each other and in ruining themselves1 that they mortgage the future like blind fools1 that thieves are not uncommon1 nor even murderers4 ,but apart from that we are obviously very superior beings1 and it is hardly likely that on any of the myriads of worlds which gravitate in the immensity of space nature should have given birth to intelligences of our calibre4 ,why therefore should we attempt an optical correspondence with the planet ,mars8 ,if it is inhabited1 the inhabitants have not our powers1 and our trouble would be thrown away4 ,even should they see our signals1 they would never think that they were meant for them4 ,also1 we shall never attempt it4 99 99 99 99 99 ,but is it possible that the inhabitants of ,mars have already commenced and that it is we who do not understand8 ,according to geological computations1 the minimum age of the ,earth as a habitable sphere since the formation of the first dry land is #bj million years3 #aj million #gjj thousand for the primordial age1 #b million #cjj thousand years for the secondary age1 #dfj thousand years for the tertiary age1 and #ajj thousand for the quaternary age4 ,man has existed on ,earth since the end of the tertiary age1 that is over #ajj thousand years4 ,astronomical instruments were only invented in #afji1 and ,mars was not observed nor recognised in its principal geographical details until #aheh4 ,complete observations of ,martian geography only date back to #ahfb4 ,the first detailed triangulation of the planet1 the first map comprising the smallest objects visible in the telescope and measured by micrometer was only commenced in #ahgg1 continued in #ahgi1 and completed in #ahhb4 ,it is therefore only a few years since ,mars entered into the sphere of our practical observations4 ,i may add that only very few of the ,earth's inhabitants have seen it in all its details1 one of the foremost of these being the astronomer ,schiaparelli1 the ,director of the ,milan ,observatory4 ,according to the most probable cosmogonic theory1 ,mars is older than our planet by several million years and much more advanced along its path of destiny than ours4 ,the inhabitants of ,mars may have been signalling to us for #ajj thousand years4 ,nobody on our planet would have suspected it4 ,it is only since the seventeenth century that astronomers may have thought1 not of discovering such signals1 for their instruments were not sufficiently powerful1 but of the possibility of some day seeing a little more of what happens on that neighbouring world4 ,in fact it is only a few years that we have had any hope of distinguishing these minute details1 not to speak of explaining them4 99 99 99 99 99 ,now1 this is what happened4 ,the map of the planet ,mars was made with infinite care by the able astronomer of ,milan4 ,one sees on this chart in several regions certain points where the observer has found the presence of luminous patches shining like snow illuminated by the sun4 ,that these luminous patches are due to snow is not likely1 because some are seen near the equator in the tropics as well as at higher latitudes4 ,nor does it seem likely that they are the tops of mountains1 for they are close to the seas and arranged symmetrically to certain straight canals4 ,besides1 several of them seem to trace out meridians and parallels of latitude1 and on seeing them one involuntarily thinks of ,geodesic signals4 ,one sees triangles1 squares1 and rectangles4 ,that these luminous points should have been established by engineers or astronomers on ,mars is not my idea4 ,that the #fj great rectilinear parallel canals which we admire on that planet and which establish communication between the ,martian seas should be the work of the inhabitants of this neighbouring planet would be presumptuous to imagine4 ,that is not the conclusion ,i would arrive at4 ,nature is so rich in procedure1 so varied in its manifestations1 so multiple and so complex in its effects1 and often so strange and original in its play1 that we have no right to limit its mode of action4 ,but it is none the less true that if the inhabitants of ,mars wished to send us any signals1 that method of procedure would be one of the simplest and it is in fact the only one which has been devised among ourselves4 ,they could not do better than thus dispose luminous points at certain distances according to geometrical figures4 ,for instance1 one finds the intersection of the #bfgth meridian with the #adth degree of northern latitude a region limited by points situated at distances from each other corresponding to ,amiens1 ,orleans1 and ,le ,mans4 ,if the inhabitants of ,mars wished to send us signals they could not have chosen better places for their luminous stations4 ,i am far from saying that this is so and that there is any intention in this arrangement4 ,yet if it were so1 it would be we who did not understand4 ,and there is nothing surprising in this4 ,the inhabitants of the ,earth take no interest in the ,heavens4 ,ninety-nine per cent1 of them among the #a1ejj million ,earth-dwellers do not know what they walk on and have no conception of the reality4 ,they are busy with eating1 drinking1 and reproducing themselves1 with amassing various objects1 with patriotically devouring each other1 and with dying4 ,but as regards asking where they are or what is the universe1 that is no concern of theirs4 ,their native ignorance suffices them4 ,they live in the middle of the ,heavens without knowing it and without the slightest enjoyment of intellectual happiness which some select spirits find in the recognition of truth4 ,the inhabitants of ,mars1 on the other hand1 being more ancient than ourselves1 can be much more advanced in the way of progress and can live an enlightened and intellectual spiritual life4 ,we are safe in supposing that they know our world much better than we know theirs1 and that our astronomical science is only child's place beside theirs4 ,if1 therefore1 the people of ,mars1 living perhaps for a long time already in the harmony of a peaceful and intelligent life1 had thought of attempting to send signals to the ,earth1 with the idea that perhaps our planet is also inhabited by an intellectual race1 then since they have never received any answer from us they will have concluded that we are not on their level1 that we do not busy ourselves with the matters of the sky1 that astronomy and optics are not very advanced among us1 and that in all probability we have not yet emerged from clumsy material instincts4 ,is their conclusion very far from the truth8 ,perhaps also the ,martian academies declare the ,earth uninhabitable and uninhabited3 7#a7 because it is not absolutely identical with their planet1 7#b7 because we have only one ,moon whereas they have two1 7#c7 because our years are too short1 7#d7 because our sky is very often overcast1 whereas theirs is almost always clear1 7#e and #f7 for a thousand other reasons1 each as cogent as the rest4 ,as we have seen above in the chapter on ,mars1 one often notices besides the luminous points we have mentioned certain more extensive brilliant projections which appear on the terminator and which must be caused by the reflection of the rising or setting sun on snowy peaks or on clouds which are certainly not signals4 ,however this may be1 of all the bodies which blaze in the skies on a clear night1 and particularly of all those bodies which gravitate with us round the ,sun1 there is one which engages with a captivating interest the attention of astronomers4 ,it is the singular little world of ,mars4 ,but it is not so easy to communicate with it as was supposed by that good lady of ,pau1 ,madame ,guzman1 who left a legacy to the ,acadmie des ,sciences in the shape of a prize of #ajj1jjj francs to be given to the first person who should discover a means of communicating between the ,earth and another world--with the exception of the planet ,mars1 because it would be too easy6 ,so true it is that on our planet the best intentions are often mixed up with a few grains of folly4 ,after steam1 the electric light and the telegraph and the telephone1 the discovery of unmistakable signs of the existence of humanity inhabiting another region of our solar archipelago1 would that not be the most marvellous apotheosis of the scientific glory of the twentieth century8 ,and cannot wireless telegraphy be some day applied to this problem8 ,electro-magnetism is an immense invisible world still insufficiently explored4 ,let us wait1 observe1 and study4 ,,ix4 ,,stars ,,and ,,atoms ,,chapter ,,ix ,,stars ,,and ,,atoms ,,last night in the calm silence of midnight1 while all nature slept1 ,i observed in the telescope a small fixed star lost in the multitude of the heavenly host1 a pale star of the seventh magnitude separated from us by an almost immeasurable distance4 ,in my thoughts ,i travelled up to it4 ,i remembered that this star is not visible to the naked eye2 that there are #ai stars of the first magnitude1 #fj of the second1 #ahb of the third1 #ecj of the fourth1 #a1fjj of the fifth1 and #d1hjj of the sixth magnitude 7which gives a total of about #g1jjj stars visible to the naked eye in the case of persons gifted with acute vision72 bub that the stars of the seventh magnitude1 one of which ,i was observing1 are #ac1jjj in number1 and those of the eighth magnitude #dj1jjj2 that the number grows progressively as we ascend beyond natural vision4 ,i remember that the sum of the stars of the first ten magnitudes amounts to #efj1jjj1 that of the first twelve magnitudes to #d million1 and that we reach more than #dj millions in taking the first fifteen magnitudes4 ,without losing myself in the profundity of infinite perspectives1 ,i concentrated my thought as ,i had already concentrated my gaze upon this simple seventh-magnitude star of the constellation of the ,great ,bear1 which never descends below the horizon of ,paris1 so that we can observe it almost any night in the year1 and ,i remembered that it shines #bjj billion miles from here--a distance which an express train rushing along at #ge miles an hour would take no less than #cbe million years to traverse4 99 99 99 99 99 ,transported to such a distance1 the glorious sun which illuminates us would lose its splendour and its glory4 ,not only would it be invisible to the naked eye1 not only would it fail to contribute to the brightness of the midnight sky1 but it would fall considerably below the star of the seventh magnitude above mentioned and would only be discoverable by the most careful telescopic search4 ,that small star1 therefore1 which is only a small brilliant point in the starry heavens1 is in reality an immense sun of giant size1 greatly in excess of that on which our planet depends for its light4 ,the latter is already #ccc1jjj times heavier than the ,earth and #a1cjj1jjj times more bulky4 ,in claiming for that small star a weight more than a million times that of our globe and a volume equalling that of several million ,earths we should be well within the region of possibility4 99 99 99 99 99 ,these views in connection with a simple star almost forgotten among the multitude of its sisters bring us face to face with the most formidable realities of the constitution of the universe4 ,but they do not yet represent the most interesting aspect of our contemplation4 ,it is a singular fact1 quite unexpected by the ancient philosophers1 fantastic and hardly conceivable to the seeker after truth who endeavours to comprehend its real value3 ,it is that these suns of the infinite1 far from being fixed as they seem to be on account of their immense distance1 are travelling through space with tremendous speed4 ,the star in question#b runs1 flies1 hurls itself across the immensity with a speed of about #bj million miles per day6 ,there are no fixed stars4 ,yes1 #f1hjj million miles per annum6 ,and yet1 in ten years1 in fifty years1 in one hundred years1 this star will be barely displaced in the sky6 ,the speed of a bullet or a shell fired by one of our most powerful guns being only #b1cdj feet per second and that of this star being a million feet per second1 we see that the speed of the star surpasses that of the shell in the proportion of #deg to #a6 ,can the most daring imagination picture such a flight6 ,in five days and some hours the star would cover the #ib million miles which separate us from the ,sun1 a distance which a gunshot would take seven years to cover4 ,it is clear that such a speed is marvellous1 yet it exists1 and has been measured by delicate and precise operations4 ,it cannot in any case be less than the figure we have indicated4 99 99 99 99 99 ,this speed is a symbol1 and it is as such that ,i wish to present it here4 ,all the stars are endowed with such movements more or less rapid1 and not only all the stars--each of them a sun and most of them the centres of planetary systems1 dispensers of light1 heat1 and harmony1 around which gravitate habitable earths1 the present1 past1 or future abodes of various beings and terrestrial things--not only1 ,i say1 are all the stars thus driven through the void1 but all the planets1 all the satellites1 all the worlds and systems1 all creation4 ,the ,earth swings round the ,sun carried along with a speed of #a1fjj1jjj miles per day1 meanwhile rotating on its axis1 animated by a dozen different sorts of movements1 lighter and more mobile than a child's balloon floating in the air1 solicited by the attractions of various neighbouring bodies1 a veritable plaything of cosmic forces which carry us along in an immense whirlpool4 ,the ,moon revolves round the ,earth1 constantly deranging us in our progress and subjecting us to perpetual undulations4 ,the ,sun carries us along with all its cortge towards the constellation ,hercules1 so that since its very origin our ,earth has never passed through the same place twice1 but describes in space1 not closed ellipses1 but spirals which roll on without end4 ,the suns adjoining ours move with their systems in various directions4 ,the constellations are dislocated from one century to another1 each star being animated by a proper movement which produces a constant modification of the figures in the sky4 ,in addition to all this1 our whole sidereal system is carried along in space by a joint movement4 ,and thus everything moves1 everything circulates1 everything rushes1 with breathless speed1 towards a goal which is unknown and which is never reached4 ,this is not a romance1 a dream of pure contemplation1 an outside view of ourselves3 it is our own history1 fatal and inevitable4 ,since an hour ago1 every one of us1 reader or writer1 rich or poor1 wise or ignorant1 infant or greybeard1 whether we are active or asleep--since an hour ago every one of us has described in the sky an invisible track of more than #fj1jjj miles1 for our planet traces out #ehj million miles per annum merely by its revolution round the ,sun1 and a centenarian lives to mark out a distance of #eh1jjj million miles4 ,now1 it is found that these speeds are the very condition of the stability of the universe3 the heavenly bodies1 the ,earth1 planets1 satellites1 suns1 stellar systems1 star clusters1 galaxies1 and remote universes1 are mutually sustained by the equilibrium of their attractions4 ,they are all suspended in the void and maintain themselves in their ideal orbits simply because they turn quickly enough to create a centrifugal force equal and opposite to the attraction exerted upon them1 so that they remain in an unstable but perpetual equilibrium4 ,our ,sun carries us along towards the constellation of ,hercules3 this has been known for a hundred years2 but we know now that the constellation of ,hercules forms part of our sidereal universe and that that universe is travelling in a certain direction4 ,we therefore only perceive relative movements4 ,whither are we going8 ,vain question4 ,we are going--into infinite space4 ,formerly people were troubled1 not without reason1 concerning the solidity of the foundations of the world1 for before the isolation of our planet in space and its movement round the ,sun had been demonstrated it seemed indispensable to give to the ,earth an unshakable foundation and an unlimited route4 ,but since the heavenly bodies rise and set and pass under our feet this foundation had to be given up1 apart from the fact that it did not satisfy the most far-seeing minds4 ,it is quite impossible for us to conceive a material pile1 however solid or thick1 even as thick as the ,earth's diameter and rooted in infinite space1 just as one cannot imagine the real existence of a stick which has only one end4 ,however far the mind can descend towards the base of that material pillar1 the end must come at last1 since only empty space can be without end1 and then that terrestrial pillar serves no purpose at all since it is itself without a support4 ,besides1 travellers succeeded one day in voyaging all round the globe1 and nowhere was this imaginary pillar discovered4 ,the modern conception of force in contrast with the ancient idea of matter has a philosophical import without precedent in the whole history of the science4 ,it teaches1 proves to us1 and convinces us that the visible1 palpable1 material universe rests on the invisible and the immaterial1 on imponderable force4 ,that is a fact against which the misleading testimony of the senses can no longer prevail4 ,the ,earth1 which was believed to be the stable basis of creation1 is itself not sustained by anything material1 but by invisible force4 ,the void extends above and below1 right and left1 and to infinity in every direction4 ,it is sustained by solar attraction and by its own movement4 ,the same applies to all worlds1 to all heavenly bodies1 to everything which composes the universe1 to the intimate constitution of bodies as well as the sidereal total4 ,the ,earth1 the planets1 the suns1 the stars1 the stellar systems1 are the mobile atoms of the grand organism of the universe4 ,the ,milky ,way is a dust in which every grain is a sun4 99 99 99 99 99 ,from the infinitely great1 let us now descend to the infinitely small ,the substances which appear to us most solid and hard are composed of molecules which do not touch each other4 ,every one of these molecules is invisible to the naked eye and is itself made up of still smaller atoms which do not touch either4 ,a bar of iron1 for example1 is composed of molecules which do not touch1 which are in perpetual vibration1 which separate under the influence of heat and close up under the influence of cold4 ,exposed to the ,sun1 the temperature of that bar reaches about #fj degrees centigrade2 cooled by the ice of winter1 it descends a few degrees below zero4 ,now1 the length of that bar varies between the first condition and the second1 and its molecules can be further separated by heating them to a higher temperature3 they can thus be so far separated from each other that they exercise no further mutual attraction4 ,when that happens1 the bar melts and forms first a liquid and then a gas4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the ,eiffel ,tower is a little higher in summer than in winter and in the afternoon than the morning1 on account of the variation produced by solar heat4 ,the difference in height can attain #f inches4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the smallness of molecules surpasses anything one can imagine4 ,in the gold-beating industry gold-leaf has been obtained so thin that a quarter of a million leaves go to the inch4 ,each gold-leaf1 therefore1 has only a thickness of a #a_/aj1jjj of a millimetre4 ,now1 it is composed of molecules a considerable number of which is required to fill up that thickness4 ,two hundred of them arranged in a line and separated by intervals equal to their own diameters would just fill up the thickness of a gold-leaf4 ,in experiments made on the action of oil upon the surface of water for calming the waves1 it has been found possible to cover #djj square yards on the ,lake of ,geneva with #bj c4cm4 of oil1 which reduces the layer of oil also to #a_/bjj1jjj of a millimetre4 ,supposing that under these conditions the molecules of oil are in contact and in a single layer1 they would at the most have that diameter4 ,by mechanical means a millimetre has been divided on a plate of glass into a thousand equal parts4 ,there are animalcul so small that their whole body placed between two of these divisions does not touch them4 ,these living beings then measure at the most #a_/a1jjj of a millimetre1 or what is nowadays called a micron4 ,they have members1 organs1 muscles1 nerves1 etc4 ,these organs are composed of cells and the cells of molecules4 ,if the latter were only a hundredth part of the dimensions of the body 7they are probably much smaller71 these molecules would measure1 if separated by intervals equal to their own size1 #a_/bjj1jjj of a millimetre as before4 ,molecules or atoms1 whatever may be the name applied to the ultimate particles of matter1 are declared by present-day science to be equal to stellar systems or microcosms4 99 99 99 99 99 ,this modern teaching of microscopy was anticipated for a long time by thinkers4 ,in his ,commercium ,philosophicum1 published in #agde1 ,bernoulli wrote to ,leibnitz concerning the imaginary inhabitants of a grain of pepper4 8,if these animalcul had an intelligent mind and were capable of reasoning1 they could flatter themselves that they and the drop of liquid which they inhabit constituted the entire universe4 ,imagine that a small grain of pepper in which under the power of the microscope we discover a million animalcul had all its parts proportional to the corresponding parts of our world1 that is to say1 its sun1 its fixed stars1 its planets with their satellites1 its earth1 and its mountains1 its fields1 its forests1 its rocks1 its rivers1 its lakes1 its seas1 and its diverse animals1 can one suppose that the inhabitants of the grain of pepper1 these pipericols1 who would perceive all objects under the same visual angle and consequently in the same size as we do1 would not believe that outside their grain nothing exists1 and would have the same right to believe it as we believe that our world includes everything8 ,for1 ,i ask you1 what reason or what experience would they have which would convince them of the contrary or would show to these poor little animals that there is another world incomparably greater than their own with inhabitants incomparably greater than themselves80 ,therefore1 concludes ,bernoulli1 if these pipericols cannot know that1 who is there among us who knows that this whole visible world is not perhaps a grain in comparison with another world incomparably greater8 ,the learned geometrician of ,basle summarises his idea as follows3 8,i believe that there can exist in nature other animals who are in size as far above us and ordinary animals as we and our animals are above microscopic animalcul1 and who observe us in our world with their microscopes as we observe that infinite multitude of animalcul with ours4 ,i go further and maintain that there might be beings incomparably larger again1 and ,i suppose as many degrees upward as are found in going downwards1 for ,i do not see why we should constitute the highest degree40 ,leibnitz replied to ,bernoulli3 8,i am not afraid of advancing the opinion that there are in the universe animals that are as much our superiors in size as we are above the animalcul which we only discover by means of a microscope1 for nature knows no limits4 ,on the other hand1 it may be and it must be that there are in the small grains of dust and in the smallest atoms worlds which are not inferior to ours in beauty and variety40 ,the exceedingly small microscopic organisms discovered and studied by ,ehrenberg at the beginning of the nineteenth century seemed to place this population in evidence4 ,pascal had written1 as early as #affj1 or perhaps even in #afed1 in his ,penses3 8,what is man in the infinite8 ,let a flesh-worm offer him in the smallness of its body parts which are yet smaller4 ,legs with joints1 veins in those legs1 blood in those veins1 humours in that blood1 drops in those humours1 vapours in those drops4 ,suppose that in dividing up these last things he should spend his forces of imagination and that the last object at which he could arrive be the subject of our present discussion4 ,he will perhaps think that that is the extreme of smallness in ,nature4 ,but ,i shall open for him a new abyss4 ,i shall not only paint for him the visible universe but the immensity of nature which one can conceive within the range of this small atom4 ,let him see in it an infinity of worlds1 every one with its firmament1 its planets1 its earths1 in the same proportion as the visible world1 on that earth animals and finally flesh-worms in which he will find again what the first flesh-worms presented to him4 ,let him go on finding the same thing without end and without rest4 ,let him lose himself in those marvels as astonishing in their smallness as the others are in their size1 for who would not be astonished that our body1 hardly perceptible in the universe which itself would be imperceptible in the grand totality1 should now be a colossus1 a world or rather a universe in comparison with the nothingness which we can never arrive at4 8,whoever follows these thoughts will be afraid of himself and1 considering himself sustained by the weight which nature has given him1 between those two abysses of the infinite and nothing1 he will tremble in face of those marvels1 and ,i believe that as his curiosity changes to admiration1 he will be more disposed to contemplate them in silence than to seek them with presumption4 8,for indeed what is man in nature8 ,a nothing in comparison with the infinite1 a universe in comparison with nothing1 a mean between nothing and all4 ,infinitely removed as he is from comprehending the extremes1 the goal and principle of things are invincibly concealed from him in an impenetrable secret2 he is equally incapable of seeing that nothingness whence he sprang or that infinite which swallows him up40 ,more than one of our contemporary savants has republished this conception of 8the atom as a world system10 imagining that it is new and without appearing to recollect either ,bernoulli or ,pascal4 99 99 99 99 99 ,as we have seen before1 the invisible world is the basis of creation and the visible universe is composed of invisible bodies4 ,what we see is made up of things which we do not see4 ,in the sky every star of the ,milky ,way being below the seventh magnitude is quite invisible to our eye4 ,yet we see the ,milky ,way4 ,on the ,earth we see and touch crowds of molecules every particle of which could be neither seen with our eyes nor felt with our touch nor perceived with any of our senses4 ,and yet one meets very often so-called scientific men in the world who say peremptorily3 8,i only believe what ,i see40 ,a large number of different measurements of the speed of light agree in proving that this speed is #ahf1jjj miles a second4 ,that is a fact of observation absolutely proved by astronomy and by physics4 ,these #ahf1jjj miles amount to #ihb million feet or #aa1ghe million inches4 ,now1 certain measurements of the same degree of precision show that in a ray of red light there are #db1cjj waves to the inch or #a1fff to the millimetre4 ,each of these waves therefore measures #f_/aj1jjj of a millimetre4 ,those of the extreme red measure #g_/aj1jjj2 beyond the red1 wave-lengths of #h or #i_/aj1jjj are found2 the blue waves measure #d to #e_/aj1jjj and the violet #d_/aj1jjj4 ,expressed in millionths of a millimetre1 as is usual in spectroscopy1 these wave-lengths are the following3-- ,,wave-,,lengths ,,of ,,light ,infra-red #ijj or more ,extreme-red 7,a7 #gfj ,red 7,b7 #fhg ,orange 7,c7 #fff ,yellow 7,d7 #fhi ,green 7,e7 #fag ,blue 7,f7 #dhf ,indigo 7,q7 #dca ,violet 7,h7 #hig ,ultra violet #chj and less 7,these figures are those of the solar spectrum1 measured for the first time by ,frauenhofer a century ago47 ,those are waves in the ether1 which is in perpetual movement4 ,if we multiply #cjj1jjj million millimetres by #a1fff1 we find the number #ejj billion4 ,that is the number of waves which enter our eye in one second when we look at red light4 ,it requires #b1bcj waves of violet light to fill up a millimetre and #gjj billion shocks per second to give the sensation of that colour4 ,between the red and the violet all the other colours range themselves4 ,the vibrations which give the impression of red are the slowest and their waves are the longest4 ,this subtle substance1 ether1 penetrates all the bodies2 it surrounds the most minute atoms of objects and beings1 solids and liquids4 ,studies in molecular physics have led to this conclusion1 that in a cubic centimetre of air the molecules which compose it only occupy a third of a cubic millimetre1 that is to say1 the #c_/a1jjj part of the total volume4 ,it is like a cathedral in which children's balloons might float1 the remaining space being empty4 ,all these molecules1 all these systems of atoms1 are in perpetual motion like the worlds in space1 and the structure of bodies is organised by invisible force4 ,in hydrogen1 at ordinary temperature and pressure1 every molecule is endowed with a speed of translation1 vibration1 and circulation1 of more than a mile per second4 ,every body1 organic or inorganic1 air1 water1 plant1 animal1 man1 is thus formed of molecules in movement4 ,the analysis of bodies1 both organic and inorganic1 therefore brings us into the presence of movements of atoms controlled by forces1 and the infinitely small speaks to us the same language as the infinitely great4 ,the powerful microscopes of to-day and instruments of projection show in these microbian movements in these cells a fantastic life such as that of organisms which circulate by the thousand million in our own blood4 ,the molecule1 intangible and invisible1 and hardly imaginable by our minds accustomed to superficial judgments1 constitutes the only true matter1 and what we call matter is1 singularly enough1 the effect produced upon our senses by the movements of molecules1 constituting as it were an incessant possibility of sensation4 ,it follows that matter1 like the manifestations of energy1 is only a mode of motion4 ,at the temperature of absolute zero1 matter1 as we know it1 would cease to exist4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the name of materialist1 still borne to-day by certain people who see no farther than the ordinary appearances of things1 could only be considered by the thinker as an outworn expression without meaning4 ,the visible universe is not at all what it appears to be to our senses3 it is the invisible universe which constitutes the essence and basis of creation4 ,in fact1 this visible universe is composed of invisible atoms which are not in contact2 it hangs in the void1 and the forces which control it are themselves invisible and immaterial4 ,you may look for matter1 but you will not find it2 it is a mirage which recedes as we advance towards it2 it is a spectre which disappears whenever we seem to seize it4 ,it is not the same with force1 the dynamic element2 it is invisible and imponderable force that we find in the last analysis and which represents the basis1 the support1 and the very essence of the universe4 ,in the deep and silent night everything moves driven by the breath of ,god4 ,in these hours of calm reflection1 do we not hear the voices of the infinite8 ,night is the normal condition of empty space1 and we only have day during a half-rotation of the ,earth because we dwell in the immediate neighbourhood of a star4 ,night fills all2 but it is not darkness2 it is the soft light shed by millions of stars4 ,we can thus better appreciate how everything is in vibration4 ,the movements of every atom on earth and in the heavens are the mathematical result of all the ethereal undulations which arrive in time from the abysses of infinite space4 ,the moon attracts the ,earth1 the ,earth attracts her sister-planets1 these beckon and call her1 the stars attract the ,sun2 and1 like those motes of dust which one sees oscillating and vibrating in a beam of light1 so also glide1 turn1 circulate1 fly1 vibrate1 and palpitate all the worlds and all the universes1 out to infinity1 amidst limitless and bottomless space4 ,a geometrician has dared to say that by stretching out his hand he could disturb the ,moon in its course4 ,this is a vivid expression of the extreme mobility of things intended to show that the feeblest displacement of the centre of gravity has a far-reaching effect4 ,when the ,moon passes over our heads it raises the whole ,earth1 displaces the waters of the ocean1 and makes every one of us weigh #ah milligrammes less than when it is on the horizon4 ,when ,venus passes at #be million miles from here or when ,jupiter passes at #cge million miles1 both displace our whole planet from its normal position4 ,have you ever brought a bit of iron near a freely suspended magnetic needle8 ,what a marvellous spectacle is offered by the mobility1 the oscillations1 the mad rushes of the needle under the influence of an object apparently inert which acts upon it at a distance4 ,we observe a compass needle at the bottom of an hermetically sealed vessel3 a regiment passes on a neighbouring road and the needle becomes agitated1 influenced at a distance by the steel bayonets4 ,an aurora borealis appears in ,sweden1 the compass feels it in ,paris2 nay1 we have seen above that the fluctuations of the magnetic needle are in relation with the spots and eruptions on the ,sun4 ,the new physics is the proclamation of the invisible universe4 99 99 99 99 99 ,it is under this aspect which it appeared to me interesting here to contemplate the visible universe1 inviting to this contemplation those among my readers who wish sometimes to think of profounder truths4 ,stars and atoms bring us face to face with an immense symphony4 ,those who only see the orchestra without hearing anything are the deaf4 ,behind the visible world1 our minds must feel the presence of the invisible world upon which we are based4 ,all that we see is appearance3 the real is the invisible1 the force1 the energy1 which moves all and carries all through infinity and eternity4 ,and indeed we are really in the infinite and the eternal4 ,the little star of which we spoke before1 an enormous sun a million times the size of the ,earth moves at such a distance that the fastest express train would take at least #cbe million years to reach it4 ,yet it is one of our neighbouring stars4 ,one can go still farther and farther and proceed with any speed through any number of centuries in any direction of space without ever coming to an end1 without ever advancing a single pace1 since the centre is everywhere1 the circumference is nowhere1 and eternity itself does not suffice to vanquish infinity4 ,footnote #b3 ,this star is called 8,no4 #ahcj ,groombridge40 ,x4 ,,are ,,other ,,planets ,,inhabited8 ,,chapter ,x ,,are ,,other ,,planets ,,inhabited8 ,,we have a tendency to remain geometric and anthropocentric and to believe that everything is created on the terrestrial model4 ,not long ago1 at one of the scientific soires of the ,solar ,festival which ,i founded in #aijd1 and which is almost always illustrated by a conference of learned men of philosophical attainments1 ,i requested my eminent friend ,edmond ,perrier1 ,member of the ,institut and ,director of the ,paris ,museum1 to discuss the question of the population of the planets in the light of the latest achievements of science1 in which he is past master4 ,his reasoning was1 that the same matter1 the same forces1 the same laws1 exist on the ,earth1 ,venus1 ,mars1 ,jupiter1 etc41 and that therefore the evolution of life is everywhere the same1 arrested in one place and developed in another according to the conditions and circumstances1 and that all organisms on all the planets can only have terrestrial forms4 ,our palontology would be repeated everywhere4 ,it seems to me that this idea1 shared1 by the way1 by other learned naturalists1 is really too 8naturalist10 too terrestrial1 too classical1 too professional1 too narrow1 too little in harmony with the grandeur of the universe1 with the immensity of its energy and the variety of vital manifestations found on our small planet4 ,on the contrary1 the diversity of beings1 already so prodigious on our little globe1 must be1 so to speak1 infinite1 and the extra-terrestrial living forms cannot be cast in the same mould4 ,there is no reason1 for instance1 why all the beings of the universe should be limited to our five senses4 ,there are inevitable differences3 gravitation1 density1 food-supply1 atmosphere1 temperature1 light1 the years1 seasons and days1 etc41 etc4--causes so different cannot fail to produce absolutely different effects4 ,a savant is a man accustomed to discussions and delighted to provoke them1 because he knows that they contribute to the advancement of science2 the naturalists whose views ,i dispute will not bear me any ill-will1 and this is not the first time that they will pardon me for being a recalcitrant microbe4 ,the philosophers who teach that the universe is both infinite and homogeneous resemble microbes who think that their cell is the universe4 ,let us imagine the microbes in a particle of rust attempting to reason on the life of iron according to their own observations4 ,for them1 the world is a bit of iron attacked by oxygen4 ,there is nothing else in nature4 ,all their science leads them to conclude that the universe is made of iron4 ,if they could have any vague notion about the existence of grass1 insects1 men1 the sun1 ,jupiter or ,sirius1 they would be firmly convinced that they were all made of iron4 ,if1 in their particle of rust1 they had observed the movements of translation and rotation in the constituent atoms of iron and could have risen to astronomical notions beyond their sphere1 they would conclude that the other planetary systems are also made of iron and that none but iron-dwellers can exist4 ,if we suppose that not only our own solar system but our visible universe and the other universes which succeed each other without end in the depths of infinite space are all constructed on the same zoological plan1 we reason like these microbes4 ,since the publication1 a long time ago 7#ahfb71 of my first work1 entitled ,the ,plurality of ,inhabited ,worlds1 in which ,i expounded and discussed the conditions of habitability of the planets of our system as known1 to science at the time of publication1 several astronomers and philosophers have taken up the same question of the different aspects4 ,among these studies there is one which seems particularly worthy of attention1 recently written by ,professor ,scheiner1 ,director of the ,potsdam ,observatory4 ,i here offer my readers a condensed translation1 asking them to excuse the ,germanisms which render the style a little rough4 ,but however bitter the rind1 the fruit is good4 ,,general ,,remarks 8,the aspect of the starry heavens during a clear and calm night gives a joy which only superior souls can feel4 ,in the bosom of the general silence of nature and in the calm of all our senses our immortal soul whispers an undefinable language and forms conceptions which are difficult to express4 ,if among the thinking beings of our planet there are vulgar spirits which remain slaves to vanity1 this globe is to be pitied for having given birth to such creatures1 but its value is enhanced by bearing on its surface intelligences capable of rising to the highest contemplations of the spectacle of nature40 ,it is with these words that ,kant in his ,natural ,history of the ,heavens terminates the last chapter1 which treats of the habitability of the planets4 ,they come from the soul of every thinking man who has preserved the spark of the ideal4 ,the aspect of the starry sky awakens all those who are not among these vulgar spirits the same sensations which manifest themselves in various ways according to the education of him who experiences them and according to his momentary disposition4 ,the astronomer also is delighted by this spectacle in spite of his regular observation of the sky4 ,the astronomer sees farther and clearer into the celestial spaces than the ordinary man1 his knowledge leads him by rapid deductions to vast considerations until he suddenly reaches a point where1 for the time being at all events1 an insuperable barrier presents itself to the human spirit1 and where an imperious halt reminds him of the truth that all science is incomplete4 ,the ordinary man looks upon the sky in quite a different way1 and so does a woman4 ,to both1 the spectacle of the starry sky offers an enjoyment independent of all research and all preoccupation4 ,a purely sthetic pleasure4 ,are these stars inhabited8 ,are they inhabited by thinking beings8 ,do love and hate reign there as they do here8 ,such are the questions which occur at once4 ,afterwards1 in hours when the need for hope and consolation is felt1 the desire arises to contemplate some day with our own eyes the splendours of those other worlds and to be able to soar up to them4 ,the most brilliant stars are the special objects of such wishes1 and if they could be fulfilled a population of loving souls would reside on these same stars3 ,sirius1 ,vega1 ,venus1 and ,jupiter4 ,the question of the population of the celestial bodies is as ancient as the discovery of the individual existence4 ,it has always occupied thinking humanity1 and many have sought to raise the veil which hides the answer4 ,we1 also1 should like to take a step towards this solution1 and it is with that object that we propose to quote here the actual facts bearing upon the conditions of habitability of the celestial bodies and to draw the most probable conclusions4 ,we can combine the astronomical data with the most recent use of physics1 and1 thanks to the progress recorded by these two sciences in the last ten years1 we may be able to draw some new conclusions4 7,here the author passes in review the older writers1 ,huygens1 ,kircher1 and ,fontenelle1 which ,i have summarised in my two books called ,the ,plurality of ,inhabited ,worlds and ,imaginary ,worlds4 ,he arrives eventually at the nineteenth century and at ,gruithuisen1 whom my readers know less47 ,,historical ,huygens1 the most celebrated mathematician and physicist of his epoch 7#afbi-ie71 takes it for granted that all the planets are inhabited 7he does not speak of the ,sun or stars71 and that consequently all of them offer the conditions vital and essential to us1 that is to say air and water4 ,he easily refutes the objections based upon the distance of the planets from the ,sun4 ,he supposes that the water on the other planets will have quite other qualities than ours2 on ,mercury1 for instance1 it would only boil at a very high temperature1 and on ,saturn--at his time the outermost planet known--it would not freeze at the lowest temperature then conceivable4 ,the mass of ,jupiter compared with that of our own globe would suggest that its air must be very dense and that its inhabitants could swim in it2 but the ,jovians would easily accommodate themselves to this state of things4 ,he supposed that the mind of the inhabitants of the other planets was about the same as ours and that their organism was analogous to our own2 for what would be the object of the ,sun illuminating those other planets if their inhabitants had no eyes8 ,one might indeed think that different species of reasonable beings might exist1 but not on the same planet1 for they would be in mutual conflict1 would struggle for supremacy1 and do each other every kind of harm4 ,he gives a very nave refutation of an opinion given before him that the height of the inhabitants would have to be inversely as the volume of the planet and consequently the men on ,jupiter would not be bigger than the mice on the earth4 ,this1 he says1 is not possible1 because such small beings would not1 as astronomers1 be capable of using large telescopes4 ,an important question1 according to ,huygens1 is whether the intelligence of the inhabitants has any relation to their distance from the ,sun4 ,he inclines to believe that the inhabitants of ,mercury are much more intelligent than we on account of the greater force and vitality of their spirit due to the greater heat of the ,sun1 but this is not confirmed by what happens on our own globe4 ,the same reason would lead one to believe that the inhabitants of ,jupiter are much less intelligent than ourselves1 although its four satellites would offer to the mind material for profitable astronomical studies4 ,what is also evident is the small value of a purely logical and philosophical reasoning based on insufficient premises4 ,we see how a man of sense and judicious spirit can be led to absurd conclusions when he is burdened with preconceived ideas and incomplete knowledge4 ,we shall have several more occasions to bring out this fact1 and that is why we have avoided pretending to resolve the question we have put4 ,the deductions which we formulate to-day may be reversed to-morrow by new discoveries furnished either by experience or by theory4 ,apart from his decided opinion concerning the habitability of all the planets1 ,huygens draws his conclusions logically enough1 inasmuch as he bases his affirmations on the knowledge of his time4 ,an entirely opposite method is used by the ,jesuit ,father ,kircher4 ,he starts from the point of view that the principal object of nature is man and that all the rest is created for him4 ,the planets are uninhabited because1 apart from man1 there could be no reasonable beings4 ,but since they have upon man an influence determined by their astrological value1 he finds the planets to be such as astrology represents them to be in their action upon us without considering their position with regard to the ,sun4 ,on ,mercury1 everything takes place gaily and joyously1 since all those who are born under its influence are inclined to lightness and mischief4 ,on ,venus1 everything is even better--or worse3 he finds everything gracious and charming2 a soft rosy light is spread over the planet1 perfumes are wafted about everywhere1 zephyrs mingle their murmurings with those of the brooks1 and gold and precious stones sparkle everywhere4 ,jupiter having1 like ,venus1 a beneficent influence upon man1 everything there is perfect3 the air is pure and wholesome1 the waters crystal-clear1 and the soil itself as bright as silver4 ,on ,mars1 on the other hand1 everything is of a warlike roughness1 forbidding and terrible1 rivers of boiling pitch overflow their banks and envelop the country in thick and suffocating smoke4 ,saturn1 as a planet1 is particularly accursed2 everything looks like a deserted grave4 ,the planets are not inhabited by human beings1 but by angels or genii who rule them4 7,all these arguments of ,kircher are not less infantile than those of ,huygens1 but they have left distinct traces in astrological literature1 and even ,victor ,hugo reflects them eloquently47 ,a contemporary of the two authors we have just mentioned is the ,nestor of ,french writers1 ,fontenelle1 who lived from #afeg to #ageg1 exactly a century4 ,he described with much detail the inhabitants of the planets1 and1 like ,huygens1 he starts from the basis that they are all inhabited1 and inhabited by beings formed according to the circumstances4 ,on ,mercury1 according to him1 the heat is so great that the rivers contain fused metals instead of water1 particularly gold and silver2 the inhabitants of this planet can therefore not imagine that there are worlds like the ,earth1 where gold and silver are solid and serve as money4 ,besides1 the inhabitants of ,mercury could not support the excessive heat if their planet was not animated by a movement of rotation so rapid that they are only exposed for a short time to the rays of the ,sun4 ,they are all inclined to be hot-heads and1 like fools and infants1 live without reflection and enjoy themselves in anticipation of the coolness of the night4 ,littrow remarks on this subject that ,bode1 the translator of ,fontenelle and at one time ,director of the ,berlin ,observatory1 is seriously astonished by this opinion of ,fontenelle and exclaims3 8,very strange6 for with us in ,berlin we find that a great heat makes people lazy and sleepy instead of lively and active40 ,the inhabitants of ,venus only render homage to the goddess of love4 ,they are not interested in philosophy or mathematics1 read no books or journals1 pass the whole day in their flirtations1 and practise in a superior manner the arts which appertain to them1 music1 poetry1 dance1 etc41 but they are not adept at cookery1 for they live almost entirely on air4 ,they are not beautiful1 but their amorous character prevents them being influenced by their ugliness2 they are ,celadons and ,sylvanders4 ,wieland certainly did not know the works of ,fontenelle1 or he would probably have located one of his romances or his love-stories on ,venus as depicted by that author4 ,fontenelle's procedure with regard to ,mars is rather singular4 ,he declares that that planet does not merit any attention4 ,our imaginative savant hardly wants to say anything about ,jupiter either4 ,he gives a description of the aspect offered by the whole solar system as seen from that planet4 ,he explains how ,venus and ,mercury are invisible there without the aid of a telescope1 and that the ,earth only appears as a point4 ,the volume of ,jupiter causes him some embarrassment1 for whereas the inhabitants of ,mercury on account of the small dimensions of that planet nearly all know each other1 those of ,jupiter cannot possibly do so4 ,on account of the extreme cold1 the life on ,saturn is still more disagreeable than that on ,jupiter4 ,if the ,saturnians were brought to the ,earth they would certainly die of heat even in ,lapland4 ,if the water on ,saturn is of the same nature as ours1 it must look like our polished stones1 and spirits of wine must resemble diamond4 ,in consequence the inhabitants of ,saturn cannot but be slow and phlegmatic2 they know no gaiety and remain like oysters in the place they were born in4 ,fontenelle continues in this way without attaining any depth1 under the impression that our planet is the type of the universe4 ,let us now pass to the nineteenth century4 ,graithuisen1 the ,director of the ,munich ,observatory1 published his chief works in the first thirty years of this century4 ,his researches relative to the habitability of the planets were1 therefore1 made at an epoch when we already possessed important data on their physical constitution1 an epoch when1 thanks to the work of ,bessel1 the golden period of astronomy had already begun4 ,one may therefore take it that the work of ,graithuisen marks a real progress beyond his predecessors1 as indeed he says himself without ceremony4 ,but as a matter of fact he is rather fruitless1 as is shown by the strange manner in which he deals with the earth-light on ,venus4 ,he already knew of the phenomenon1 which is insufficiently explained even in our day1 that during the phases of greatest visibility of ,venus the dark side appears to have a faint luminosity4 8,the simplest explanation to give of this10 he says1 8is that at the epochs when this faint light on ,venus is visible1 the inhabitants of the planet organise festivals and general illuminations1 which are the easier to arrange on account of the vegetations of ,venus being incomparably more luxuriant than even the virgin forests of ,brazil4 ,these festivals are probably celebrated on the occasion of political changes or according to religious periods4 ,now1 the principal observations of the ashen light on ,venus are those of ,mayer in #agei and of ,harding in #ahjf40 ,whence he draws the following conclusion3 8,between the observation of ,mayer and that of ,harding #gf years of ,venus and #dg ,earth years have elapsed4 ,if this period has a religious character1 we cannot see a justification for that number of years1 but it becomes more comprehensible if we assume that some ,alexander or ,napoleon then attained universal power4 ,if we assume that the ordinary life of an inhabitant of ,venus lasts #acj years of ,venus1 which amount to #hj terrestrial years1 the reign of such an autocrat could easily last #gf years as reckoned on ,venus4 ,i have no intention to press this opinion and do not claim its credibility1 even should it appeal to the reader's imagination2 but if my hypothesis is correct1 we at least receive direct testimony to the existence of inhabitants on ,venus4 ,even if the period were shorter1 the phenomenon might still be due to some other observance4 ,one could celebrate all the great festivals by similar illuminations which would sometimes follow close upon one another4 ,the fires would serve another purpose1 inasmuch as they would thin out the forests and provide fresh arable ground for an increasing population4 ,large migrations of people would be prevented1 and the consequent wars would be avoided and the race would remain united40 ,one must acknowledge that these ideas of ,gruithuisen are most fantastic4 ,i have frequently observed this unilluminated hemisphere of ,venus1 notably in ,september #ahie and in ,april #ahig3 it appeared to me of a violet colour1 and the idea of illuminations by the inhabitants is pure romance4 ,he also then passes in review the ideas of ,kant which one finds expounded in the two works cited above and which therefore ,i need not quote4 ,we know that for the ,philosopher of ,knigsberg the intelligence and the degree of perfection of the inhabitants of the planets is in proportion to their distance from the sun4 ,we may add to the remarks of ,m4 ,scheiner that the writers who have dealt with the question of the plurality of worlds have nearly all judged the planets from the appearances they present to us from our point of observation1 and have assumed the harmony of nature according to the manner of ,bernardin de ,st4 ,pierre4 ,for this occasion ,i have re-read his hook with some interest4 ,to this very simple member of the ,institut1 ,venus is a bright world peopled by amorous natives 8who give themselves up to dance1 festivals1 and songs1 or compete for swimming prizes1 like the happy islands of ,tahiti02 the inhabitants of ,mars are warlike1 8resembling the northern ,germans1 their forests and hills1 their atmosphere resounding to the warlike sound of their horns and that of drums and trumpets which announce the spilling of blood02 on ,jupiter 8they resemble the ,dutch1 being industrious1 patient1 wise1 reflective1 and tending their numerous herds in their vast fields10 etc41 etc4 ,the author of ,paul et ,virginie remains purely terrestrial in these descriptions1 which he believes to be astronomical4 ,but let us return to the dissertation of ,m4 ,scheiner4 ,he passes on to the purely scientific aspect of the question1 which is the only one which interests us here4 ,,the ,,origin ,,of ,,life ,the problem of knowing if worlds other than the ,earth1 being habitable1 are really inhabited1 depends really upon this question3 ,how did life appear on this ,earth8 ,it is irrefutable that there was a time when the ,earth was not habitable in the usual sense4 ,therefore life necessarily had a commencement4 8,this can have taken place in three different ways1 either by a special act of creation1 in which case it is of little importance to our problem to know whether this act was accomplished in a complete manner as taught by the ,bible or whether it was limited to the creation of the inferior forms of life2 or by spontaneous generation2 or1 lastly1 by the importation from space1 in which we can just as well imagine germs of life as gases and inorganic substances4 8,from the philosophical point of view1 these three hypotheses are equally well-founded1 for none is more easily conceived than the other and observation has not yet confirmed any of them4 8,if we admit the first hypothesis1 a creative act1 such a manifestation of the will of a ,supreme and ,impenetrable ,being is beyond the laws of nature4 ,in this case we have no means of reasoning on the purpose of the ,divine ,will4 ,we do not know if the creative act has been exercised duly once in favour of the ,earth1 or whether it is renewed on various occasions1 or whether it takes place in the same manner every time a heavenly body becomes fit to act as an abode of living beings4 ,we cannot express any opinion on that and therefore our initial question remains open4 ,in the narrow ,biblical sense the ,earth and mankind must be considered the last word in creation and the idea that other reasonable beings might exist is necessarily eliminated40 ,it seems to me that in our times none of the readers of this book need consider the first hypothesis as admissible4 ,everything shows us that living beings have not been directly created by a ,supernatural ,will1 but that they have slowly and gradually evolved during the geological periods which are known to us4 ,scheiner then passes on to the second hypothesis4 8,by spontaneous generation10 he says1 8is meant the formation by material molecules of an organism of the most rudimentary species1 which involves our attributing to an inorganic substance properties which end in the production of life4 8,the adoption of these properties is possible in two ways3 by a sudden coincidence of favourable circumstances1 or by a continuous process which1 thanks to a gradual development1 fills up the gap of continuity which at present appears to exist between inert matter and living matter4 8,if circumstances on our earth have favoured spontaneous generation1 there is no reason why they should not have done the same on other celestial bodies having a similar constitution1 and one may deduce with certainty that all the heavenly bodies which are in this condition are provided with similar organisms40 ,the author then examines the third hypothesis4 ,space can be filled with organised matter or matter capable of life distributed almost uniformly1 without being specially destined for any particular body1 since we must assume a commencement for each4 ,the surface of the heavenly bodies receives the organisable matter which1 when its finds the necessary conditions1 develops and forms living beings4 ,it is clear that in this case the presence of organised beings on all the heavenly bodies capable of entertaining life is not merely a probability but a certainty4 ,scheiner considers the three hypotheses as equally acceptable4 ,the first1 he says1 is a matter of sentiment4 ,it does not solve the question1 since it would involve a ,divine ,will4 ,out of the three hypotheses the last two would solve our problem in an absolutely affirmative manner1 whereas the first leaves it undecided4 8,we only wish to prove one thing by our argument1 and that is that the opinion that habitable heavenly bodies are really inhabited is much more probable than the contrary opinion1 and this authorises us to continue to develop our thesis40 ,,the ,,conditions ,,of ,,life ,the author here puts a fundamental question4 ,what is life and what is living matter6 ,libraries have been written on this subject but all to no purpose1 for we are as unable to seize the essence of life and of living matter as that of gravitation1 for instance1 though the latter appears to us infinitely simpler in its manifestations than what has been called vital force4 ,we only know that on our ,earth vital force is united to a special form of matter called organised matter1 and that when this organised matter disappears it ceases to exist as vital force and transforms itself--since energy is indestructible--into other forms of energy4 ,it is not of material importance whether vital force is regarded as a special force or a special aspect of a known force1 e4g4 electricity4 ,it follows from this intimate association of vital force with living matter that the vital manifestations 7nutrition1 growth1 reproduction1 etc47 can only take place under conditions in which living matter can exist2 in all other cases the manifestations of life cease and death ensues1 or the vital force becomes latent until favourable conditions return4 ,our problem of the habitability of heavenly bodies is therefore limited to the question of celestial bodies on which conditions are such that living matter can exist in a permanent form4 ,we must therefore enquire first of all what those conditions are1 after which we shall be able to use our astronomical resources to find whether these conditions are represented on the other centres of condensation of matter in the universe4 ,the conditions necessary to life are the more numerous the more complicated the structure of organic matter4 ,the maximum of requirements is therefore attained in the higher animals and in man4 ,the simpler the organism1 the simpler are its conditions of existence and the greater are in general the possibilities of supporting unfavourable conditions4 ,animals and plants living in caves or at great depths under water are deprived of light2 they have accommodated themselves to that privation and do not suffer by it4 ,animals require oxygen in air and in water2 plants also require a small quantity of carbonic acid for building up their tissues4 ,there are even animalcule in existence for whom oxygen is a poison4 ,as a general rule1 temperatures above #ej degrees centigrade are insupportable4 ,this is due to the fact that at that temperature albumen1 one of the most important substances in the animal organism1 coagulates4 ,inferior beings can resist higher temperatures and even for a short time #ajj degrees centigrade1 which is the boiling-point of water1 but they could not live long4 ,in its liquid form water is indispensable to organic life2 life of any duration below zero is impossible because the water contained in every organism would solidify and the parts composing the organism would lose their mobility4 ,lack of water does1 however1 not inevitably imply death1 and plants particularly can preserve for a long time a latent vitality while deprived of water4 ,cereals furnish a striking example1 for when dried they can preserve their germinating power for years4 ,although living matter can preserve its vitality so long1 it is none the less true that during that period all manifestations of life cease4 ,if therefore the lack of water is perpetual1 life must be considered as really suppressed4 ,even for the lowest forms of life three conditions must be regarded as essential3 water1 an atmosphere containing oxygen and carbonic acid1 and a temperature between the limits indicated above4 ,it is therefore really from these three points of view that we must study the heavenly bodies in order to be in a position to judge whether organic life as we know it is possible on them or not4 ,as regards knowing whether that life presents itself under forms comparable to those which we see here1 whether there are1 for instance1 beings analogous to humanity1 that is quite another question4 ,the means at the disposal of astronomy for determining the constitution of the heavenly bodies are of various kinds4 ,we can take into account phenomena which at first sight do not seem adapted to that end4 ,direct observation with the help of the telescope enables us to discover the surface details of the planets and any changes which take place in them4 ,such changes in most cases imply the existence of an atmosphere4 ,observations of occultations of stars by the ,moon or the planets lead to the same result4 ,theoretical astronomy tells us the distance between the planets and the ,sun2 physics tell us the quantity of light received by each planet from the ,sun2 and the period of revolution and the inclination of the planet's axis tell us about the course of its seasons4 ,photometry gives us the amount of sunlight reflected by the surface of the planet1 and thus furnishes indications concerning certain properties of the planetary surface1 properties which permit us to decide with certainty1 for instance1 whether light is reflected by a solid surface such as the ground or whether the rays do not penetrate so far and are sent back in the upper parts of the atmosphere by lays of clouds4 ,it is spectrum analysis which furnishes1 as we know1 the most important auxiliary information2 it presents the heavenly bodies to the eye of the mind as the microscope unveils to the eye of the body the marvels of the infinitely small4 ,the rays of light are messengers who1 having passed through the spectroscope1 bring to us news of the most distant worlds and tell us of the temperature of the fixed stars1 of the metals volatilised in their atmospheres1 of the incredibly low temperature of the nebul and of the gases which envelop the planets4 ,we do not here wish to intone a hymn to spectrum analysis2 we only wish to report briefly and simply what we know of the physical nature of the celestial bodies4 ,but we must admit that the greatest amount of that knowledge is due to the spectroscope4 ,,the ,,planets ,,of ,,our ,,system 7,we continue the translation of the essay of the ,potsdam astronomer47 ,in the light of contemporary astronomical knowledge let us make a rapid survey of the other worlds4 ,the ,moon ,our lady readers will not raise any objection if we occupy ourselves at first with the ,moon1 this confidante of every heart1 either happy or unhappy4 ,the most important thing about her for the moment can be put into one sentence3 she has neither air nor water1 and her temperature oscillates between extremes separated by more than #bjj degrees centigrade4 ,none of the conditions stated above is therefore fulfilled1 and accordingly no organic life could exist on her4 ,it is also interesting to see how the cessation on the ,moon of one of these vital conditions has entailed the cessation of the two others4 ,there is no occasion to doubt that the ,moon formerly possessed an atmosphere2 by analogy with the planets this must indeed be assumed as altogether certain4 ,the feeble mass of our satellite which1 on the one hand1 has been the cause of its rapid cooling1 has1 on the other hand1 brought about the dissipation into space of its atmosphere1 which was probably always of small density4 ,but the smaller the pressure of the air the more rapid is the evaporation of water1 and this is why its disappearance coincides with that of the atmosphere4 ,besides1 the complete absence of air allows the rays of the ,sun to penetrate without hindrance to the ground and to heat it to a high temperature during the #ad times #bd hours of duration of the lunar day4 ,during the night1 which is of equal duration1 there is radiation of heat into celestial space1 and the soil cools down to a temperature which cannot be very different from the absolute zero of the temperature of empty space4 7,i cannot entirely accept these allegations with regard to the habitability of our satellite4 ,the absence of air and even of water is pot proved4 ,the variations actually observed even prove that the moon is not altogether a dead world4 ,but let the author continue47 ,such a fate is also in store for the ,earth1 and nothing can save it4 ,our ,earth will also one day become a barren body1 incapable of supporting organic life1 a deserted grave of the civilisation created by the human spirit4 ,just as the isolated individual disappears1 so will humanity one day disappear entirely4 ,in a limited domain death is always finally victorious2 but1 on the other hand1 a new life flourishes elsewhere1 and when that new life is developed1 some day perhaps on another planet of our system a scientific article will be written on the question whether the ,earth is still habitable4 ,mercury ,our knowledge of the physical constitution of ,mercury is very slight4 ,it seems to be surrounded by a light atmosphere which contains water-vapour4 ,since the solar heat on ,mercury is about seven times stronger than on us1 the extreme limits of temperature above indicated must here be very considerably surpassed1 and water can hardly exist except in the form of vapour4 ,but the argument is entirely changed if we accept the recent discovery of ,schiaparelli1 according to which the duration of rotation of ,mercury would be identical with its period of revolution1 so that1 like the ,moon to the ,earth1 ,mercury would always turn the same face to the ,sun4 ,on that side the temperature would naturally be very high1 while the most intense frost would reign on the other side4 ,but between these two extremes there ought to be a mixed zone in which our three conditions might possibly be realised1 so that we may assume for ,mercury a limited habitability4 ,venus ,on ,venus the ,sun's heat is still very considerable1 and in the torrid zone it would be insupportable to us4 ,but1 on the other hand1 this planet is surrounded by a dense atmosphere1 which on account of the presence of water-vapour proves the existence of water on the planet4 ,the higher regions of the atmosphere are occupied by a thick layer of clouds which hardly ever allows our gaze to reach the ground1 but which is equally opposed to the passage of the ,sun's rays4 ,much more than half the solar radiation is reflected by that layer of cloud1 and we can suppose1 on the whole1 that the upper limit of a tolerable temperature is not passed at the surface of this planet4 ,and as we have already said1 since there is water and an atmosphere1 we have no reason to doubt the habitability of ,venus4 ,mars ,as regards ,mars1 which commences the outer series of planets1 we obtain a still more satisfactory result4 ,we can clearly recognise the subdivision of the surface into water and dry land4 ,its atmosphere has properties which agree with those of our atmosphere4 ,not only is there certain evidence of the existence of water-vapour1 but spectroscopic studies have proved also that the principal components of the atmosphere are the same as those of the ,earth's atmosphere--that is to say that there is oxygen and nitrogen4 ,sometimes the soil is hidden by groups of clouds1 sometimes they disappear to appear again in other places4 ,its poles are encased in snow and ice1 the white area of which varies in extent according to the seasons4 ,besides a number of enigmatical facts--we need only refer to the canals and their doubling--there are numerous meteorological phenomena on ,mars which frequently occur in our own atmosphere4 ,although the temperature of ,mars is1 on account of its farther distance from the ,sun1 sensibly below that of the ,earth1 the difference is not sufficiently considerable to oppose a serious obstacle to the stable existence of organised matter in the torrid or temperate zone4 ,the torrid zone of ,mars must correspond approximately in climate to our temperate zone4 ,we can therefore finally declare with entire conviction that the conditions offered by ,mars are suitable for life as we know it on ,earth4 ,jupiter1 ,saturn1 ,uranus1 and ,neptune ,with the planets ,jupiter1 ,saturn1 ,uranus1 and ,neptune we enter a region quite different from the preceding one4 ,these bodies all possess atmospheres of great density in which1 on ,jupiter for instance1 we can observe immense revolutions and violent cataclysms4 ,they also contain water-vapour1 but besides that they contain a substance characterised by a strong absorption of certain red rays4 ,this gas is found in a small quantity on ,jupiter1 but in much greater quantities on ,saturn and ,uranus4 ,on the latter planet the atmosphere1 apart from the water-vapour contained in it1 does not seem to have any analogy with ours2 strong absorption-bands show in the less refrangible portions of the spectrum4 ,as we have seen that oxygen is not absolutely necessary to organic life1 the single fact that the outer planets have an atmosphere may suffice to show that our first condition is fulfilled4 ,the presence of water-vapour in their atmosphere proves the existence of water and fulfils the second condition4 ,as regards the third condition1 ,jupiter also seems to satisfy that1 at least in equatorial regions1 especially if we take into account that radiation of heat into space is much limited by the thick atmosphere filled with clouds4 ,the farther we go away from the ,sun the more does the third condition become precarious1 and while we may have some doubt concerning ,saturn1 it cannot be denied that on ,uranus and ,neptune the solar heat is insufficient to support organised life in a durable way4 99 99 99 99 99 7,the atmospheres might be formed of gases which would make the radiation almost zero and would produce a relatively high temperature4 ,this certainly happens in the case of ,mars1 whose temperature is not lower than that of our globe1 where the polar snows are less dense than ours and melt more completely in the course of the summer47 99 99 99 99 99 ,but another peculiarity presents itself which may reverse all our ideas relative to the planets from ,jupiter outwards4 ,certain observations tend to show that ,jupiter is not yet cooled down1 that its real nucleus is still fused or perhaps even in the gaseous state1 and that it has not yet formed a solid crust upon which life might develop4 ,besides the phenomena directly observed or revealed in the spectroscope1 the very small specific gravity of these planets also supports that hypothesis--the density of ,saturn is about the same as that of cork4 ,it is very difficult to form an exact idea of the constitution of these planets4 ,on the other hand1 it is possible to believe that one of the extreme planets1 ,uranus for instance1 is sufficiently cooled to possess at least a liquid surface which1 on account of the internal heat of the planet1 may have preserved for a certain period a temperature sufficient to entertain life even after the solar heat is no longer sufficiently powerful ,but these are only hypotheses4 99 99 99 99 99 ,let us summarise in a few words the results of this chapter4 ,on the ,moon no organic matter can exist2 we may suppose living beings to exist in a small zone of ,mercury2 the surface of ,venus is very probably habitable in most of its regions2 ,mars is certainly habitable and probably under such conditions that certain species of our plants and animals could1 if transported to that planet1 continue to live there4 ,for the other planets the possibility of habitation cannot be entirely denied1 but the existence of living beings on their soil is not probable4 ,let us add1 for the sake of completeness1 that on the ,sun1 which radiates the most intense heat1 and on those innumerable other suns which we call stars and which the telescope reveals to us1 living matter certainly does not exist4 ,it follows that of the millions of stars visible to us in the universe there are only two or three which we could consider with any certainty capable of being inhabited as we conceive it4 ,that seems a rather unsatisfying result1 which allows an icy sentiment of loneliness in infinite space to take possession of our souls4 ,we have seen in the first part of our work how the speculations of those who formerly discussed the habitability of the planets not only raised the question whether such and such a planet was inhabited1 but also tackled the much vaster problem of the particular characters of the beings which lived there4 ,after attentively following the discussion1 nobody should ask to penetrate further into this question4 ,it has indeed been a great effort to obtain a positive result at all1 even while restricting the population of the planets to the simplest forms of organised matter4 ,the number of forms under which it shows itself on the ,earth is so considerable that we can only be dazed by its abundance1 and this impression must be even increased if we remember that the possible forms are far from being exhausted and that we only know those which1 satisfying terrestrial conditions1 have been able to survive by adapting themselves to their surroundings4 ,we do not exaggerate in declaring that ,nature recognises no limit to the number of forms which can harbour life1 and this observation is an argument in favour of those who desire to find reasonable or superior beings in distant worlds4 ,it indicates that as soon as the first germs of life exist1 the possibility of a complete development is there1 and that however different the external conditions may be1 ,nature is not at a loss for varieties of forms of life4 ,that is why we have the right to hope that on ,mars1 for instance1 there are beings who not only show manifestations of animal life1 but who are endowed with intellectual faculties4 ,that1 however1 is all we can acknowledge3 the right to hope and not to a certainty4 ,yet at the risk of exposing ourselves to a criticism similar to that which we have in the first part directed against other authors1 we would now invite the reader to follow us for a moment into the domain of speculation and hypothesis4 ,,the ,,possibility ,,of ,,beings ,,of ,,different ,,chemical ,,constitution ,in this chapter ,scheiner develops the idea indicated above 7page #abg7 on the possibility of the existence in other worlds of living beings entirely different from ourselves4 ,we have up to now 7he writes7 understood by organised matter something of which carbon1 combined with hydrogen1 nitrogen1 and other elements1 is the principal chemical component4 ,carbon is the essential constituent2 organic chemistry is the chemistry of carbon4 ,we do not know any other substance which would allow of such an array of combinations1 but the possibility of such a body cannot be denied4 ,while on ,earth all life is bound up with carbon compounds1 one may suppose that in entirely different circumstances another element might show itself capable of supporting the conditions of life in combinations which might resist greater heat without decomposition or greater cold without becoming torpid4 ,a few years ago we seemed to be on the track of something like that4 ,silicon is the element which has the greatest chemical analogy to carbon1 and in combination with oxygen it is found in enormous quantities in the form of silica1 and all its combinations have very characteristic properties4 ,just as in organic matter every being forms itself into cells by fission or conjugation1 so also can we produce from combinations of silicic acid a cell from which under our eyes an object develops which has a vegetable appearance4 ,this experiment1 easy to make1 is perhaps unknown to many of our readers1 and therefore we must say a little more about it4 ,most combinations of silicic acid with metals are insoluble in water4 ,some1 however1 and especially a combination with potassium known by the name of water-glass1 occurs in a soluble form4 ,if into such a solution we introduce a small quantity of any soluble metallic salt such as chloride of copper or silver nitrate1 decomposition takes place and the chloride of copper is converted into silicate of copper and chloride of potash4 ,a very curious phenomenon then takes place4 ,at the moment when the first traces of the metallic salt are dissolved1 the decomposition mentioned above takes place and the molecule of salt is covered with an extremely fine skin of insoluble silicate4 ,it is across this skin that the liquids are then exchanged by a process of osmosis which1 as we know1 plays a great part in the life of plants and animals and which here takes place as follows3 ,more liquid enters the membrane than issues from it2 consequently the internal pressure increases until it is great enough to break through the membrane1 somewhere allowing a drop of the liquid which is a solution of metallic salt to escape4 ,on account of the chemical decomposition1 this drop immediately surrounds itself with a new skin1 and the process of rupture and reformation is repeated until the metallic salt inside the membrane is completely decomposed4 ,we thus see arising under our eyes in a few minutes a marvellous arborescent structure which could at first sight be taken for some plant of inferior order4 ,the rupture of the membrane always takes place in the most recently formed portion1 because there the membrane1 which thickens gradually1 has as yet the least thickness2 that is generally the upper portion1 so that this offers another analogy to plant life4 ,the coloration of the cells differs with the nature of the metallic salt1 but we cannot trace any influence upon the forms obtained4 ,by throwing into the solution several different metallic salts1 one can form a many-coloured garden in a small bottle4 ,we are far from seeing in this experience anything but a quite external resemblance to the phenomena of living matter4 ,yet it leads us to other reflections1 especially as we do not yet know anything concerning the real nature of living matter4 ,among plants and inferior species of the animal world we cannot imagine a life conscious of itself4 ,but in common with our silica creature they show growth and the consumption of chemical substances4 ,in both cases that growth is arrested wherever and whenever the food gives out4 ,this happens in the silica solution when the provision of metallic salt is exhausted2 and these are not the only analogies which one can find4 ,but it will be said that there is in reality a capital difference3 in one case we have to do with real life for which we have no explanation2 in the other we have to do with a simple chemico-physical phenomenon4 ,we reply that a few centuries ago this chemical vegetation would have been an enigma as life itself is still to us1 and nobody would then have doubted that he was observing the development of some strange plant4 ,would they not then have taken the silicon cell for an organic cell8 ,what follows8 ,that the idea of living nature is quite relative1 that it changes with our knowledge1 and that an imaginative spirit is quite at liberty to endow the stare which we just excluded from life with a life quite different from ours4 ,apart from these possibilities1 the somewhat discouraging result of our previous study was that of all celestial bodies visible to us only two or three could be described with any probability as fit to support something resembling our terrestrial organic life4 ,we cannot object to this conclusion so long as we take it literally1 but we wish to point out that all depends upon the little restriction contained in the words 8visible to us40 ,we must therefore include the heavenly bodies which we cannot see and concerning which we know very little4 ,but here we encounter a very peculiar paradox4 ,we know nothing about these invisible stars1 and yet as far as our interests are concerned we know more about them than the others4 ,for mathematics comes to our aid1 and if we rely on the calculus of probabilities we arrive1 as we shall see1 at very clear results4 ,our ,sun has created for itself1 without counting the asteroids1 a retinue of eight planets1 which on account of their respective distances from the central body are placed in the most diverse conditions as regards temperature4 ,out of these eight planets one1 the ,earth1 is undoubtedly inhabited1 and two others1 ,mars and ,venus1 very probably4 ,from the fact that the ,sun has produced not one planet but eight1 we can conclude that very probably the other suns or fixed stars have also produced one or several planets1 and that those which escape from that law are the exception4 ,we must also admit that among these stellar planets there may be some in such a condition and at such a distance from their central sun that organic life is possible on their surfaces4 ,we shall make this calculation with figures so modest that we shall obtain results obviously below the truth4 ,the number of stars revealed by a telescope of moderate power amounts to #aj millions4 ,if we suppose that every star only has on an average one planet1 we obtain already the considerable number of #aj million planets4 ,it is true that with us three planets out of eight may be considered habitable1 but let us suppose the proportion in the universe is only one in a hundred4 ,we shall still have no less than a hundred thousand habitable planets4 ,this number1 evidently falling short of reality1 makes already quite another figure compared with the three habitable worlds we had before4 ,after that the universe no longer appears such a desert4 ,there is nothing to hinder us from giving rein to our fancy and imagining on the one hand the strangest forms of life among the innumerable planets gravitating round the stars1 and on the other hand thinking beings which surpass us considerably in intelligence and to whom our most difficult problems are as transparent as self-evident truths4 ,the conclusion is that in all sorts of degrees we must see ,life radiating into space and lighting up ,infinity4 ,,remarks ,to this interesting study of ,monsieur ,scheiner we may add in the first instance that the question is still more complex1 that we can consider the resources of ,nature as infinite1 and that 8positive0 science founded only upon our senses is quite insufficient1 though it may be the only basis of our reasoning4 ,it is through the eyes of the spirit that we must survey the universe4 ,as we have seen1 this new examination of the question of the habitability of other worlds by thinking beings presents a new interest1 and the author has been able to escape the usual error of scientific writers1 which consists in supposing that the first condition of habitability of another world is that it resembles the ,earth4 ,that is always the reasoning of the fish1 which would affirm without an absolutely logical conviction irrefutable to himself that it is impossible to live outside water4 ,but it seems to us that our conception of the universe can be even more vast and elevated than that of the learned ,german astronomer4 ,as regards the planetary systems differing from ours1 we are no longer obliged to fall back upon suppositions4 ,we know already with certainty that our ,sun is no exception1 as some theoreticians maintained even quite recently4 ,the discovery is of considerable interest4 ,it is surely a rather exceptional situation that a sidereal system consisting of a central sun and one or more bodies gravitating round it should have its system just in our line of vision so that the revolution of the bodies which compose it should bring dark bodies between us and the star and produce a more or less complete eclipse4 ,since1 on the other hand1 such eclipses would be our only means of proving the existence of these unknown planets 7except perturbations as in the case of ,sirius and ,procyon71 it seems that it would have been absolutely daring to hope for such a circumstance to discover solar systems different from ours4 ,yet this exceptional case occurs in various parts of the sky4 ,thus1 for example1 the variable star ,algol owes its variation of brightness1 which reduces it from the second to the fourth magnitude at intervals of #fi hours1 to the interposition of a body between it and the ,earth1 and celestial mechanics has already been able to determine with precision the orbit of this body1 its dimensions and its mass1 and even the ellipticity of the ,algol sun4 ,thus we have here a system of which we know the sun and one enormous planet whose revolution takes place in #fi hours with a very high velocity as measured in the spectroscope1 a planet still self-luminous1 although less luminous than its sun1 as the ,earth was long ago1 but a planet in the course of cooling and approximating to the state of ,jupiter4 ,the star ,delta ,cephei is in the same case3 it is an eclipsing variable with a period of #abi hours1 and its eclipsing planet also revolves in the plane containing our line of vision4 ,the star ,u ,ophinchi shows a similar system1 and observation has revealed several others4 ,if therefore chance has brought it about that a certain number of different solar systems should have been revealed to terrestrial observation by presenting side views1 that is evidence of the existence of innumerable solar systems disseminated through the depths of space1 and we are no longer reduced to mere conjectures4 ,on the other hand1 the analysis of the movements of several stars1 such as ,sirius1 ,procyon1 ,altair1 and many others1 proves that these far-distant suns have companion planets as yet unrevealed by the telescope1 and which possibly may never be discovered because they are dark and lost in the radiation of the star4 ,the companion discovered in the neighbourhood of ,sirius is not the only celestial body of that system4 ,scheiner speaks of about #aj million stars as constituting the sidereal universe4 ,but the photographic chart of the heavens which comprises stars down to the thirteenth magnitude is already expected to contain #cj millions4 ,if we go down to the lowest magnitudes we reach the figure of #ajj millions4 ,it is therefore not an army of #ajj1jjj worlds which appears before us1 but rather of several millions4 ,now1 this is a point of the greatest importance for the exact appreciation of the problem4 ,the terrestrial organisms from the lowest up to man are the result of forces in action on the surface of our planet4 ,the first organisms seem to have been produced by combinations of carbon with hydrogen and oxygen1 and their life consisted1 so to speak1 only in a few rudimentary sensibilities4 ,sponges1 corals1 polypi1 medus1 give us an idea of these primitive beings4 ,they were formed in the warm waters of the primary ages4 ,while there were yet no continents nor islands emerging from the universal ocean1 there were no air-breathing organisms4 ,the first aquatic beings were succeeded by amphibia and reptiles4 ,afterwards came the mammalia and the birds4 ,the constitution of beings stands in close relation with the substances of which they are composed1 the medium in which they live1 the temperature1 the light1 the density1 gravitation1 length of day and night1 seasons1 etc4--in a word1 all the cosmographic elements of the planet4 ,if1 for example1 we compare two such worlds as the ,earth and ,neptune1 which differ very much as regards distance from the ,sun1 we cannot imagine for a single instant that the organic forms should have had the same development4 ,the average temperature must be much lower on ,neptune than on the ,earth1 and so must the intensity of light4 ,the years and the seasons are #afe times longer than with us2 the density of materials is three times less1 and gravitation1 on the other hand1 is a little stronger4 ,under conditions so different from ours1 the activities of ,nature can only have been shown in other forms4 ,the elements also are not found present in the same proportions1 and spectrum analysis has even shown us that substances which prevail in the atmospheres of ,jupiter1 ,saturn1 and ,uranus1 as well as ,neptune1 are different from those which constitute our organisms4 ,lungs functioning in another atmosphere would have to be different from ours4 ,the same applies to the stomach and the digestive organs4 ,chemical constitution is not even the same4 ,instead of carbon as a fundamental element associated with hydrogen1 oxygen1 and nitrogen1 we can imagine with ,scheiner silicon and other bodies4 ,we must conclude that the organs and the senses cannot be the same as they are here4 ,the optic nerve1 for instance1 which has been formed and developed here from the rudimentary organ of the trilobite to the marvels of the human eye1 must on ,neptune be incomparably more sensitive than it is in our blinding sunlight and must perceive radiations which we do not perceive here4 ,it may even be replaced by another organ4 ,the bodily forms1 animal and human1 can resemble nothing on earth4 ,certain savants object that1 if the conditions are too different from terrestrial conditions1 life cannot exist at all4 ,but we have no right to limit the powers of ,nature by the narrowness of our sphere of observation1 or to pretend that our planet and our human race are the model for all planets4 ,that is an hypothesis as infantile as it is ridiculous4 ,others go still farther1 and imagine that life only appears on ,earth1 and that we have no sufficient reason to suppose that on other globes it has been the result of inorganic evolution4 ,this1 as we have often repeated1 would be a strange interpretation of the language of ,nature1 considering that our small planet is too small a cup to contain the whole of life1 that that life abounds everywhere1 fills the waters1 swarms in the air1 covers the entire surface of the globe1 and that the fertility of ,nature is such that she multiplies parasitic life at the expense of life itself1 rather than get tired of producing4 ,and the spectacle is the same for all the immense duration of the geological eras4 ,quite lately1 noticing a heap of fossils of the secondary era by the roadside in the country1 ,i took a stone to put it into a collection1 for it was entirely made up of shells petrified and cemented in a block4 ,in taking it up ,i exposed a swarming mass of living beings1 small snails1 wood-lice1 beetles2 and ,i caught two lizards2 while butterflies laid their eggs in the plants around4 ,life of former days1 life of to-day1 life everywhere4 ,life always6 ,certain minds are capable of supposing that for the whole duration of its existence1 for millions of years1 a world could come to nothing but the state of dead and barren rock and that the life which swarms on the surface of our planet is only a freak due to the fortuitous combination of elements of fruitfulness1 a parasitism of more or less large fleas which might never have been produced at all4 ,but that is a hypothesis contrary to the observation of ,nature1 and difficult to maintain seriously except as a pure play of the imagination1 which does not satisfy the most elementary logic4 ,and though our logic may not be that of ,nature1 yet we must not stray too far away from it if we want to reason4 ,but as we have already repeated so often in this book1 and what we must thoroughly absorb1 is the importance of time as well as of space4 ,just as our world is nothing but a small island1 a point in the universe1 so also our era is nothing but a moment in eternity4 ,the present moment has no more importance than the moments which have preceded or those which are to come4 ,there is no reason to believe that such and such other worlds are inhabited at present simply because we live at present and can observe them4 ,one world has been inhabited in the past1 another will be inhabited in the future4 ,let us not be personal1 like infants or the aged1 who see only their own room4 ,let us know how to live in the infinite and in the eternal4 ,,index ,alpha ,centauri1 #ch1 #db ,andromeda1 #gj1 #he ,animalcul1 #afe ,atmospheres1 planetary1 #aje ,atoms and stars1 #aeg ,aurora ,borealis1 #age ,bernoulli1 #aff ,bessel1 #ajj ,bode1 #ahh ,champollion1 hieroglyphics1 #adc ,cherbourg1 #ig ,communication1 interplanetary1 #ada ,earth currents1 #ace ,eiffel ,tower1 #afd ,electrons1 #acg ,fontenelle1 #ahd ,frauenhofer1 #aga ,galileo1 #aja ,giacobini1 #ig ,god1 #agd ,gravitation1 #aje1 #abd ,gruithuisen1 #ajj ,guzmann1 prize1 #aec ,habitability of planets1 #agj ,harding1 #aja ,hercules1 #afj1 #afb ,homer1 #ie ,huygens1 #ahe ,invisible universe1 #age ,jupiter1 #bc1 #da1 #abc1 #abe1 #ahg2 7red spot71 #abf ,juvisy ,observatory1 #ajg1 #ace1 #ach ,kant1 #ahb ,kircher1 #ahd ,leibnitz1 #aff ,life1 conditions1 of1 #ajf ,littrow1 ,j4 von1 #ada1 #ade ,magnetic variations1 #aca ,magnetic storms1 #acd ,mars1 #ad1aje1 #aaa1 #ade1 #ahg1 #bjd2 communication with1 #aag2 flashes on1 #aaa2 polar snows1 #aac2 rotation1 #aad ,materialism1 #agc ,mayer1 #aja ,mercury1 #ahe1 #bjc ,milky ,way1 #afc1 #agj ,molecules1 #afd ,moon1 #i1 #da1 #aje1 #aaf1 #ada1 #bja ,neptune1 #bj1 #ce1 #da1 #bai ,nice ,observatory1 #ig ,pascal1 #afh ,renan1 #hh ,saturn1 #ah1 #da1 #ahi ,scheiner1 #aha1 #aib1 #aie1 #baj1 #bae1 #bbj ,silicon1 #baj ,sirius1 #dg ,spectrum analysis1 #abg1 #bjj ,stars and atoms1 #aeg ,stars1 speed of1 #aei ,sunspots1 #acd1 #ace ,temperature of planets1 #abg1 #aig ,venus1 #ie1 #bjd2 rotation1 #ajg ,wavelengths of light1 #aga ,,the ,,end