LIGHT. 107 



represent so prominent an object of creation as he does when 

 represented by his own pencil. 



It seems to me no extravagant thought that, if alcohol 

 and hereditary disease do not destroy the human race, a time 

 may come when, from what will be known of the character- 

 istics of some of the planets, a reasonable hypothesis of the 

 characters of their inhabitants may be framed. 



At the beginning of the last century, if it had been stated 

 that a man could, from inspection of a fragment of bone, pro- 

 nounce a well-founded opinion on the form and habits of the 

 animal of which it had been part, such a conjecture would 

 have been deemed ridiculous. 



Could not the doctrine of Cuvier be extended ? To a 

 man who had never seen a fish, it would at first have seemed 

 impossible that an animal could live under water, immersion 

 in which had always, to his observation, proved fatal to ter- 

 restrial creatures ; but a more far-seeing philosopher might 

 argue from analogy that, as each part of the terrestrial sur- 

 face was peopled with different animals varying, according to 

 their organic adaptation, from a centipede to a kangaroo, it 

 might not be improbable that the depths of an ocean might 

 be inhabited by a suitable sentient creature. He might be 

 led, by the observation of analogies, to form some idea of 

 what would be the most suitable organism for respiration and 

 locomotion under water, and so arrive at a not unapt idea of 

 a fish. 



The same mode of reasoning might lead him on thus : 

 ' I see that the greater part of the surface of the globe I live 

 on has organic beings, which, by some process, have not 

 only become adapted to great varieties of climate, but which 

 inhabit earth, air, and water. I see that a certain solution of 

 salt in water which would be fatal to a trout is necessary to a 

 mackerel. I therefore cannot conclude that, because a planet 

 has a more attenuated atmosphere, a greater degree of heat, 

 or a less degree of attraction of gravitation, it is therefore 

 uninhabited.' He would be led to conclude, from all the 

 variety of organic forms which people the present surface, 

 Jakes, rivers, oceans, and atmosphere of this planet, that it is 



