THE PLACETS, ARE THEY INHABITED ? 



Fig. I. 



they are tlie habitations of organised tribes- 

 similar to those which inhabit the earth 

 having been very fully explained, we. 

 propose now to explain the circumstances, 

 which attend another of these groups. 



The manner in which the thirty-three 

 planets are distributed around the sun is 

 represented in fig. 1. The relative distances- 

 are there represented as nearly as is practi- 

 cable on their real scale. Twenty-five of 

 the entire number of planets are crowded 

 together at a distance from the sun about 

 two-and-a-half times greater than that of 

 the earth. These constitute a group apart,, 

 characterised by some very curious cir- 

 cumstances, which we shall explain here- 

 after. 



16. The four outer planets, Jupiter, 

 Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, form the 

 other group which we now propose to 

 examine. 



17. The relative distances of these bodies 

 from the sun, from each other, and from the 

 earth, are exhibited in the diagram (fig. l) r 

 where the fifth part of an inch represents, 

 one hundred millions of miles. The dis- 

 tance of Jupiter from the sun on the plan 

 being an inch, its real distance is, m 

 round numbers, five hundred millions of 

 miles. That of Saturn being l^g inch, that 

 of Uranus 3 5 6 5 inches, and that of Neptune- 

 5^ inches ; the actual distances of these. 

 three planets are 900, 1,800, and 2,800 

 millions of miles respectively, all the dis- 

 tances being, as before expressed, in round 

 numbers. 



18. When it is considered that the appa- 

 rent magnitude of the sun and the- 

 intensity of its light and heat decrease in- 

 a very high proportion as its distance is 

 augmented, it will be evident that that 

 body, considered as the means of illumi- 

 nation and warmth, must minister to- 

 these several globes extremely different 

 quantities of those necessary physical 



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