Notices respecting New Boohs. 229 



the two bodies, the enunciation of which is eloquently treated by 

 our author ; and no less interestingly is the maintenance of these 

 mighty forces presented to the reader in the chapter on Meteors 

 and Comets, which strongly reminds us of Haidinger's theory of 

 the formation of the Solar system from the aggregation of " cosmical 

 dust." 



In treating of the special object of his work, the author calls 

 attention to the division of the orbs of the Solar system into two 

 classes, those of the minor and major planets, those nearer and 

 those further from the Sun ; aud he finds that among the nearer 

 orbs the conditions of life obtain to the greatest extent, while among 

 the four larger planets the conditions which he is able to detect are 

 incompatible with life such as we find on our own planetary abode — 

 but rather that the two which are most open to our scrutiny have 

 formerly borne, and may still to a certain extent bear, the relation 

 of suns to the systems of moons circulating around them, which he 

 considers may in all probability be so constituted as to sustain life 

 such as we are acquainted with. 



Having expressed in the fullest manner his views of the habita- 

 bility or otherwise of Solar orbs, Mr. Proctor passes on to consider 

 the question, Are the multitude of Stars which surround us Suus 

 similar to our own ? In treating of these bodies he divides them 

 also into two classes — one consisting of those in which the spectro- 

 scope reveals the existence of elements familiar to dwellers on the 

 Earth, the other of those which the author terms " minor stars," 

 and which he considers are situated among the lucid stars — the two 

 classes, with the Nebulae, constituting one great system, the outer 

 boundaries of which our most powerful telescopes are quite unable 

 to reach. Seasoning from the analogy of the Solar system, Mr. 

 Proctor suggests that the larger stars, some of which are consider- 

 ably larger than our sun, are surrounded by worlds of a similar 

 character to our own. The following quotation, which closes the 

 chapter on the Sun, embodies an epitome of his views : — 



" Lastly, turning from our sun to the other suns which shine in 

 uncounted myriads throughout space, we see the same processes at 

 work upon them all. Each star-sun has its coronal and its zodiacal 

 disks formed by meteoric and cometic systems ; for otherwise each 

 would quickly cease to be a sun. Each star-sun emits, no doubt, 

 the same magnetic influences which give to the zodiacal light and to 

 the solar corona their peculiar characteristics. Thus the worlds 

 which circle around those orbs may resemble our own in all those 

 relations which we refer to terrestrial magnetism, as well as in the 

 circumstance that on them also there must be, as on our own earth, 

 a continual downfall of minute meteors. In those worlds, per- 

 chance, the magnetic compass directs the traveller over desert 

 wastes and trackless oceans ; in their skies, the aurora displays its 

 brilliant streamers ; while, amid the constellations w T hich deck their 

 heavens, meteors sweep suddenly into view, and comets extend their 

 vast length athwart the celestial vault, a terror to millions, but a 

 subject of study and research to the thoughtful." 



