43 



Trilune Extras Lecture ami Letter Scries. 



aftr-r eh-mse and cycle after cycle, until, wo uiay 

 lit.-lle.Ve, tli'- day hen. in tin- v...;,|- nt" t.ie j , 

 " Drawn cm l.y ji"x-r <( in ver-en ai.y Jatr. 



Tlie wnrl'i'- 

 A u ul licsutr. 



At rest on the In-art nf the ((reatcentr.il Son." 

 Tin. i HBHDINO CYCLES i-r mi. l i I n:E. 



On the contrary, inconceivable as the notion is to UP, 



we flud .- series Ol mailer, serie., after serie- oi 



tiuie-cliani.-! s. \Vi- :n-<-. lii'lc (.;, iu tin- comiiiion of a 



creat in- not knowing tli-- i.irl ilia! it wa- i of a rare 



that lii-foi-i- it- linn- others of the saim- r.iee li.nl 

 Uted, that aft r it h id \> >--< d a\\ay others of tho same 

 r.n B '.'. OUl : enine int'i In-unr. 



It M -cm- tn nil- iii.it these cycles arc unending, and, 



nltluni^h they art- inconceivable l>y us, wo must believe 



In tin- ir fiint i n ii.i 1 progresal pivei-r';y a- we believe ill 



the intiiiiM oi -p ice, although wo canuot form any con- 

 ception of that ; pten-ilya- \\c believo in a continual 



of mil'-, not i>flii -vim.-, as I Lave seen recently 

 In a -riial in this country, that progress 



a beginning, IM..UI.-O it implies nothing 

 of th<- k.n U It in inllnito in some cases, and 



we know in MUMI- t-a i - it inu-t be. Time anil space can 

 have no limits. Tin- .-pact- the inind tells us of is with- 

 out limit 111 the -far ueprh and so here science brings 

 before us \viiat I ronceivo to bo the true teach- 

 ing; not the materialistic, {jjwhich tells us that 

 wo may know evrrvthinj? aud may form an 

 opinion a-i to tin- \\i-.loiu and power of tlio 

 Almighty, 'nit tin- teaching which, after all, is expressed 

 in the Scripture-. Can-' thoii by searching Hud out 

 God! C.in-t thoii liml out II:s wisdom unto perfection ? 

 It i- as nuh as h.-a\ t-n, what canst thou dol as deep as 

 bell, what r.in-t thou Knowl" Aud apaln, those other 

 words of Jo!> when, -peakincof the wonders of creation, 

 lie says: "I.o! tin-.- are but a portion of God's ways; 

 they ntter but a whisper of His glory. Tho thunder of 

 Ilia power who can understand ?" 



LIFE IX OTHER WORLDS SECOND LEC- 

 TURE. 

 KOM: i.i- 11 u n \ M.TS FITTED FOR EXISTENCE MER- 



CDBT, VENUS, .IL'riTER. AND SATUKN TOO HOT 

 M\l:> AND TIIK MOON TOO COLD SOME 6ATKL- 

 IIII-> t)F JUPITER OR SATURN POSSIBLY 1IAB- 

 II \u; I. SPACE AND TIME EQUAJLLY BARREN OF 



l.n i:. 



I'rnf. 1,'ii-lianl A. Proctor gave tho second of his 

 opplemental Series of lectures at A-suriatinji Hall 

 on tho afiri iiniiii of April 4. As at the preceding 

 I'-rture, tlio aiiilifiico which gathered was very 

 rni'l :i|>i>ivriai ive, consisting largely of 

 '1 In- ItiinK! treated of the probability and 

 ]-'.--iliilify of " 1-ifo in Other Worlds," and the 

 conclusion uriivitl al by tho lecturer, as tho re- 

 mit of sririitiiir iiniuiis, wasadvcrso to tho popu- 

 lar theory that t In- ot In -r planets of the solar wystcin, 

 c-|.i rial! y the major ] il a m I .-. a i e a I J)l eSOtlt habi table. 



I-\i'irs A vi. < .I.N 1 1 i MI \ : [have received several lot- 

 ter- rai'iin: my al lent nm to tliei.n-t ili.it. many of the 

 nuilienn- v. hn liavi- i-olli-i-ri-il fo hi-ar tho present course 

 of lectures wen- not. al.le to afteaM tlie fm nn-r course, 

 rml that, ilit-n-fore, I oiuht m>t to i.r. r to m liter In th(> 

 foiiin-r lietures im though they h.ol In en heard. Of 

 thcso Ict'crd one linitusuio to ujention, 111 tlio course 



of the-e leftures, the ceueral facts relative to the translH 

 of V. nn-. Thes" Ictteis I wouhl likf io answer. In the 

 llr>t place, it will uot be just to repeat simply to-.lav, for 

 in-tance, that \\liich I i:ave before, on the EUU'8 family o! 

 jilamt-; Laving jrivi-n a prospectus and lectures 

 tini; that there woiiM be, a C -rt.iiu novel;,'. It 

 miL'lit he a pleasant but not a )ust thiiiL- to do, and all I 

 t an ,-av in reieri-nce to the r. c]iiesr, i.-, to touch on those 

 matters \\ hirh are neci ary io make my .subject com- 

 pK-te, and 10 touch tlie.u sutlii-icntly to demonstrate tho 

 tads in -co.-ary, but to make the subject, so far aa pos- 

 sible, new. In regard to the transit of Venus, T think 

 you have had enough of it. It is not a subject which is 

 perhaps sjiecially in\itinL r , and theretoro I do uot think 

 1 >hall cievoto any portion of these lectures to the treat- 

 ment of if. 



FUTURE MEANS FOK MAN'S KXISTENCE ON EAUTII. 



Now I pa-s to the special s'.il.ji-ct of to-day'a lecture, 

 iu which I am dealing with the .-u'.ject of other worlds 

 than ours, need I hardly say, the sun's familv of planets, 

 and I propose to-day, in.-t.-.id of civmg my con.-ideratiou 

 to the distinction which exists between the. two parts of 

 the two families, to discuss that sutject with 

 special reference to the new I henry to which I have been 

 led. Brcwster's theory was composed upon the Idea, 

 that other worlds, the planets and the satellites, 

 and possibly the suns them.-elves, are the 

 abode of life, and were intended to bo the 

 abode of lite, not merely for a portion of their 

 existence, but for all time. Ti-at is Brcwster's theory, 

 and it maybe considered a theory of the plurality of 

 worlds carried to its utmost possibility. Then there ia 

 the theory of Whewell. I shall hardly speak of it as if I 

 believed he really had any theory on tho subject, but ho 

 wrote a book to show what there was on the other side 

 of the tubject. Still It is a theory which is associated 

 with liis name, but ho really wrote the hook on the 

 Plurality of Worlds to show that our world is the 

 only inhabited world, and that tneiv are just 

 reasons for so repardintr our earth. Tho view to 

 which I have been led is this. I take the analogy of oe.r 

 earth, and looking back tlffoiifjh its past history, I flint 

 that lonjr before life bejran on the earth, even if we take 

 tho lowest i.irms of life, that Ion;: brtoro then, tho earth 

 existed as a s'o'>e, erlowin^ with intense he.it, aud for 

 many millions of years, a inucli ion:er tinn than sho 

 has been tho abode of life. Preceding that time, there 

 was a much louder period w:ie:i tin- cai-tii w.is a m.-r 

 mass of vaporous matter. T.ien looking forward, to the 

 future, wo seem to see tho tim apor lachia^ when the 

 earth will ease to bo tit. for the ah ) Io of life. Wo cannot 

 tell when that time will bi>. it may He that the, higher 

 forms of life will first suffer ; that I'm <|inlitv tdvcn to 

 mau by which he has the power of e\hiu<tin^ tin- sup- 

 plies uariit-red in the earth, thir. iiuilnvin whieli man 

 differs from the l.>nite cr.-atur.' h> lives on wh.it Un- 

 earth produce. that quality miyemi'd- a mm. to his 

 misfortune perhaps, to consume i he- su'-stane .< ; that 

 at last life will bo iiii]>ossibie to tin- human race. 

 It may bo then that man will llrst perish from 

 the face ot tin- earth ; alt- 'rlh it then- will be a time. 

 \\heiianimal life, will coiulmn' an I vei: dablo life may 

 remain as the, last form, asitwn th" I1.--I lurm of lifo 

 Oil the earth, aud with IhesiiWill folio .v mo; 1 eh.ui ,' ^. 

 hpokell of 111 the I'ooU--) of asl rouoill V t hi! eh lllLTes mat"- 

 rlal and iiliv.Mcal, bv wnicli the earth will bo rendered 

 unfit as an aln.de of life ; or it m.iv be that liTo will eeaso 

 first through the f.icr of t lies clrin',-.'.s. Now iu regard 

 to the future of the earth as an aliodi- of life, wo can 

 form no satisfactory opinion. We find, as the opiuiou of 



