Feb 6, 1885.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE 



105 



OTHER WORLDS THAX OURS. 



A WEEK'S COX^-EESATION OX THE rLUliALITY OP 

 WORLDS. 



By Mons. de Foxtenelle. 



with notes by rich.\rd a. proctor. 



THE FOURTH EVEXIXO (continued). 



<' TTTELL," says the Marchioness, " I hope you will 

 , VV people these four moons, though you say they are 

 (jut little secondary planets, ai)pointed to give light to 

 another planet duriug its night," 



" Do not doubt it," I replied. " These planets are not a 

 lot the worse to be inhabited, for being forced to turn 

 round another planet of greater consequence." 



" I would have, then," says she, " the people of these 

 four moons to be so many colonics under Jupiter's govern- 

 ment ; they should, it it were possible, receive their laws 

 and customs fro:u him, and consequently pay him a kind of 

 homage, and not view his great planet without paying a 

 defrrence." 



" Would it not be convenient, too," said I, " that they 

 ehoiild send deputies with addresses to him 1 for he has 

 certainly a more absolute command over his moon than we 

 have over ours; though his power, after all, is but 

 imaginary, and consists chiefly in making them afraid : for 

 that moon which is nearest to him, sees that he is 360* 

 timeB bigger than our moon appears to us ; for in truth, he 

 is so much bigger than she : he is also much nearer to them 

 than our moon is to u.s, the which makes him appear the 

 greater, so that this formidable planet hangs continually 

 over their heads at a very little distance. And if the 

 Cauls were afraid heretofore that the heavens would fall 

 on 'em. I think the inhabitants of that moon may well be 

 apprehensive that Jupiter will at some time or other over- 

 whelm them." 



" I fancy," says she, " they are possessed with th it fear, 

 becau-e they are not concerned at eclipses. Every one has 

 their particular folly : we are afraid of an eclipse, and they, 

 that Jupiter will fall on their heads." 



" It is very true," said I ; " the inventer of the third 

 system, I told you t'other night, the famous Tycho Brahe, 

 one of the greatest astronomers that ever was, did not ap- 

 prehend the least danger from an eclipse, when everybody 

 •else was under the greatest coisternation ; yet this great 

 man had as an unaccountable a fear, did a hare cross him, 

 or if the Erst person he met in a morning was an old 

 woman, home presently went Tycho Brahe, he shut himself 

 up for that day, and would not meddle with the least 

 business. 



" It would be very unreasonable," reply'd she, " when 

 such a man could not redeem himself from the fear of 

 ■eclipses, without falling into some other whimsy as trouble- 

 some that the inhabitants of that moon of Jupiter, of which 

 we are talking, should come off upon easier terms. But 

 ■we will give them no quarter, they shall come under the 

 general rule, and if they are free from one error, shall fall 

 into another to put them upon an equivalent. But as I do 

 Dot trouble myself, because I cannot guess what the next 

 error may be, pray clear up one more difficulty to me, 

 which has given me pain for some minutes. Tell me, if 

 the earth be so little in comparison of Jupiter, whether his 

 inhabitants do discover us." 



" Indeed," said I, " I believe not ; for if we appear to 

 him ninety times less than he ajipears to us, judge you if 

 there be any pi.ssiljility. Yet this we may reasonably 

 conjecture, that there are astronomers in Jupiter who, after 



• It ahoald be about 1,300.— R. P. 



they have made the most curious telescopes, and taken the 

 clearest night for their observations, tliey may have dis- 

 covered a little planet in the heavens which they never saw 

 before. If they publish their discovery, most people know 

 not what they mean, or laugh at Iheni for fools ; nay, the 

 philosophers "themselves will not believe 'em for fear of 

 destroying their own opinion.s. Yet some few may bo a 

 little curious ; they continue their observations, discover 

 the little planet again, and are now assured it is no vision. 

 Then they conclude it has a motion around the sun, which 

 it com|>leats in a year ; and at last (thanks to tlie learned) 

 they know in Jupiter our earth is a world, every Ijody runs 

 to see it at the end of the telescope, tho' 'tis so little 'tis 

 hardly to be disccrn'd." 



" It must be pleasant," says she, "to sec the astronomers 

 of both planets levelling their tubes at one another, like 

 two files of musqueteers, and mutually asking, what world 

 that is 1 what peo|)le inhabit it 1 " 



"Not so fast neither," I replied, "for tho' they may 

 from Jupiter discover our earth, yet they may not know 

 us — that is, they may not have the least suspicion it is 

 inhabited ; and should any one there chance to have such a 

 fancy, he might be sufficiently ridicul'd, if not prosecuted 

 for it For my part, I believe they have work enough to 

 make discoveries on their own planet, not to troulile their 

 heads with ours ; and had Sir Francis Drake and Columbus 

 been in Jupiter they might have had good employments. 

 Why, I warrant you they have not yet discover'd the 

 hundredth j)art of their planet. But if IMercury is so little, 

 they are all as it were near neighbours ; and 'tis but taking 

 a walk to go round that planet. But if we do not api>ear 

 to 'em in Jupiter, they cannot certainly discover Venus and 

 Mercury, which arc much less than the earth, and at a 

 greater distance ; but in lieu of it, they see Mars, their 

 own four moons, and Saturn with his. This, I think, is 

 work enough for theii- astronomers, and nature has been 

 so kind to conceal from them the rest of the universe." 



" Do you think it a f\ivour, then t " says she. 



" Yes, certainly," said I, " for there are sixteen planets 

 in this great vortex. Nature saves us the trouble of 

 studying the motions of them all, and shows us but seven, 

 which I think is very obliging, tho' we know not how to 

 value the kindness, for we have recovered the other nine 

 which were hid from us, and so render the science of 

 astronomy much more difficult than nature designed it." 

 (To he continued.) 



CHAPTERS ON MODERN DOMESTIC 

 ECONOMY. 



XIV.— THE FRAMEWORK OF THE DWELLING-HOUSE. 

 GENER.IL PRINCIPLES OF CONSTRUCTION — {continued). 



IN the closing paragraph of our last communication we 

 had occasion to return briefly to the dry system for 

 dealing with house refuse, in order to record the most 

 important advance that has hitherto been made in that 

 department of dome.stic economy since its inauguration. In 

 doin" so, we find that we have anticipated the que.stion 

 asked by one of our readers in a satisfactory manner. The 

 disposal of liquid refuse has heretofore been the only serious 

 drawback to the adoption of the dry method in towns and 

 densely populated districts, and the populace at large un- 

 doubtedly owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Conyers Morrell 

 for his most recent invention, which is capable of ren- 

 dering all those liquid matters which are subject 

 to decomposition pure and innocuous before they are 

 passed on into the general aqueducts. Not only 



