94 IN STARRY REALMS. 



notice another point, in which the texture of our bodies is 

 arranged to suit the material contents of this globe on 

 which we dwell. 



It may seem strange to learn that the strength of 

 our bones and muscles has been adjusted not solely 

 with regard to the size of our bodies or the quantity of 

 matter they may contain, but with reference to the dimen- 

 sions and mass of the earth. Even though on another 

 globe there was an atmosphere exactly like our own 

 both in density and in composition, even though it 

 was supplied with water as ours is, even though it 

 provided us with abundance of suitable food and had a 

 climate agreeable to our constitution, yet it might be 

 wholly impossible for us to exist there by reason of an 

 incompatibility between the strength of our frames and 

 the mass of the globe on which we stood. Thus, to take 

 the case of the moon, which only weighs about one- 

 eightieth part of the earth ; the gravitation with which 

 the moon would draw all bodies towards it would be much 

 less than the similar gravitation on the earth. The weights 

 of all objects would be reduced to about one-sixth part of 

 that which we find them to possess here. The buoyancy of our 

 bodies would be so great that athletic feats would be easy 

 on a body the size of the moon, which could never be 

 attempted on this globe by beings with muscles like ours. 

 If a man of twelve stone were to be transferred to the 

 moon, the weight of his body would be reduced to about 

 two stone. If his muscles and his frame remained the 

 same it would seem as if he would be able to jump over 

 a wall twelve feet high on the small globe without any 

 greater exertion than wotil4 be required to clear a wall 



