EVIDENCE CIRCUMSTANTIAL. 



that diminished distance without a telescope. Such is the extent 

 of the aid which we should derive from the instrument. Now, 

 let us see what this aid would effect. Take, for example, the case 

 of the moon, the nearest body in the universe to the earth. The 

 distance of that object is about 240,000 miles ; the telescope 

 would then place us at 240 miles from it. Could we at the 

 distance of 240 miles distinctly, or even indistinctly, see a man, a 

 horse, an elephant, or any other natural object ? Could we 

 discern any artificial structure ? Assuredly not ! But take the 

 case of one of the planets. When Mars is nearest to the earth, 

 its distance is about 50,000000 of miles. Such a telescope would 

 place us at a distance of 50,000 miles from it. What object could 

 we expect to see at 50,000 miles' distance ? The planet Venus, 

 when nearest the earth, is at a distance something less than 

 30,000000 of miles, but at that distance her dark hemisphere is 

 turned towards us ; and when a considerable portion of her 

 enlightened hemisphere is visible, her distance is not less than 

 that of Mars. All the other planets, when nearest to the earth, 

 are at much greater distances. As the stars lie infinitely more 

 remote than the most remote planet, it is needless here to add 

 anything respecting them. 



4. It is plain, that the telescope cannot afford any direct evidence 

 on the question whether the planets, like the earth, are inhabited 

 globes. Yet, although science has not given direct answers to 

 these questions, it has supplied a body of circumstantial evidence 

 bearing upon them of an extremely interesting nature. Modern 

 discovery has collected together a mass of facts connected with 

 the position and motions, the physical character and conditions, 

 and the parts played in the solar system by the several globes of 

 which that system is composed, which forms a body of analogies 

 bearing on this inquiry, even more cogent and convincing than 

 the proofs on the strength of which we daily dispose of the 

 property and lives of our fellow-citizens, and hazard our own. 



5. We shall first consider this interesting question so far as 

 relates to the group of planets, which from several striking 

 analogies which they bear to our own, have been called the 

 terrestrial planets. These planets, ir number three, and by 

 name Mercury, Venus, and Mars, revolve with the earth around 

 the sun, at distances from that luminary less in a great proportion 

 than the other members of the solar system. We shall next 

 extend the same inquiries to the other bodies composing that 

 system, as well as to those which are distributed through the 

 more distant regions of the universe. 



6. In considering the earth as a dwelling-place suited to man 

 and to the creatures which it has pleased his Maker to place in 



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