Proctors Astronomical Lectures. 



. If we are to say the Almighty intended that 

 to no the abode of life, we have at once an enormous 

 di/Tieultv brought before us. Instead of the thing being 

 well-devised, it seetns ill-devised. It seems as if 

 the only time the ring reflected light was when it was 

 not wanted, and when it was wanted tbe ring came and 

 cut off a great part of the sun's lisht, and it does not 

 cut it off tor a short time, but for 8J years a certain por- 

 tion of sunlight is cut off, and for six of those years the 

 whole of the sunlight is cut off by the ring. 



THE ARGUMENT OF DESIGN. 



Tliat is an argument well worth considering. I am 

 quite aw are that in modern times men of science satis- 

 fled themselves that tbey bad disposed of that argu- 

 ment, and I think there is a great objection to the argu- 

 ment of design. We are too much in the habit of assum- 

 ing that we know the design of the Creator. Then comes 

 one who says the creation does not fulfill that design, 

 and it sometimes seems then, as If the beauty aud 

 perfection of the Creator's works had been done away 

 with. The difficulty is not in believing there is design, 

 but in becoming able to recognize what that design is. 

 Now the two schemes of these great planets, one contain- 

 ing four and the other eight orbs, are not, as we are 

 in the habit of supposing, insignificant. The 

 largest of the satellites of . Saturn is as large 

 as the planet Mars, and certainly as large as Mercury. 

 Tue least has a diameter of 1,000 miles. In the case of 

 Jupiter, those four orbs of Jupiter correspond in a very 

 singular way to the four orbs which form 

 the inner family of the sun. The dis- 

 tances of those four orbs of tho sun Mer- 

 cury, Mars, Earth, and Venus are represented by the 

 cumbers 4, 7, 10, 16. The distances of the four satellites 

 of Juniter are represented by numbers, not 4, 7, 10. 16, 



.. t 4, 6J, 10, 18 a very close resemblance. In fact, wa 

 uce in Jupiter a miniature picture of tho sun and the 

 .imer family of planets. Similarly in the relation be 

 tween Saturn and his satellites we have a complete pic- 

 'ure of the sun and his whole family of planets. 



BATCRN AND TITAN, 



The largest of the satellites of Saturn 19 called Titan, 

 and it is certainly larger than Mercury, an I probably 

 as large as Mars. How splendid must be the Hceno 

 which the planet 8 itnrn presents to Its inhabitants t It 

 does seem as though a scane of such wonderful beauty 

 was not intended to remain without spectators. It pre- 

 sents through the telescope the mo.st beautiful colors, 

 the most wonderful symmetry all presented to the in- 

 hamtants, if inhabitants there be. I pass over the in- 

 teresting facts in the discovery of the outer planets be- 

 cause the time that remains is short. 



It seems to me that Neptune and Uranus present an 

 intermediate condition. They are not large enough 

 to be supposed fit to be the centers of schemes of 

 world? to give out heat and light. Tuey are further 

 away from tho sun than Jupiter aud Sat- 

 urn. But it seems to me they might very 

 well be in an intermediate condition and still re- 

 tain enough of the heat they originally possessed 

 to be the abodes of light and heat that is, inherent light 

 and beat enough to sustain the life of creatures. What 

 I want you to notice is the division of ths solar family 

 into two parts, perfectly distinct from each other ; and I 

 was very glad to see, in the recent gather- 

 ing of the American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science, that a distinguished 

 mathematician of yours, Prof. Pcirce of the Coast Sur- 

 vey, has arrived at the conclusion that Jupiter and 

 Saturn are really unlike the earth. He arrived at his 

 conclusions from mathematical results educed from the 

 formation of those planets on the nebular hypothesis; 

 I come to mine by a different path, but the conclusions 

 are the same. So that I really think we may speak 

 confidently that Jupiter and S.iturn are not 

 what they have been supposed to be, but are semi-suns, 

 distinct t/om the inner planets. 



Now a few words remain to me on the general ques- 

 tion of life in tbe solar system. I must confess tha 

 more I study the matter, I am convinced we are not 

 bound, in order to reconcile us to the Almighty's work, 

 to adopt the theory that all or any considerable 

 portion, of the planets are inhabited. We loot 

 back at the past history of the earth, and 

 we find that the Creator is, in our eyes, wasteful 

 of His powers. But infinity can never bo wasted. So, 

 in the question of time there has been no special care to 

 make available every instant of the existence of the dif- 

 ferent worlds. We find that for millions of years back 

 our world was uninhabited, and we see, in regard 

 to future conditions, that even though thcra 

 should not bo destruction from fire, life will 

 probably by other causes pass away from tho 

 earth. So, far from considering that every member of 

 the solar family must be inhabited at the present time,, 

 tho chances really are millions of millions to one against 

 any special planet being inhabited, because tho time it 

 has been inhabited, if judged in analogy with our own 

 earth, must be a very, very small part of tho whole 

 time in which the planet exists. 



Here, again, we are brought face to face with another 

 difficulty: In the emission of light and heat from the 

 dim there seems to be waste ; but here, in- reality-, w- 



