66 (36) ARE OTHER WORLDS INHABITED ? 



because, otherwise, there would be such a waste of space, 

 for on the sun are fifty fold more miles of surface than 

 on all the planets combined. 



Next to the sun in size is the planet Jupiter. Its sur- 

 face contains nearly twenty-three billion square miles. 

 This certainly is ample space for beings to live and enjoy 

 the wonders of nature. The Jovian heavens are beauti- 

 ful with all that is visible on the earth, except the planet 

 Mercury and possibly Venus, both at that distance being 

 probably hidden in the effulgence of the sun. Their loss 

 is more than compensated by four moons, each larger 

 than our own. But the best and latest observations 

 indicate that Jupiter is the scene of most violent action. 

 The planet, so far as we can see, cannot be solid for. 

 according to Prof. Newcomb, its equatorial regions 

 rotate in less time than the others. In this respect, and 

 in its exceeding levity, it resembles the sun. Further- 

 more, careful measurements of the light emitted by the 

 planet, indicate that it is, in some degree, self-luminous ; 

 in other words, it is heated until it is at least red-hot. 

 Here then are twenty-three billion miles of planet sur- 

 face, almost equal to that of all the other planets com- 

 bined, on which life is impossible 



Saturn measures nearly seventy-two thousand miles 

 in diameter ; its area consequently is fifteen billion nine 

 hundred million square miles. It is gifted with eight 

 moons and a set of marvelous rings. Astronomers have 

 exhausted their powers of description in seeking to 

 paint in words the complicated wonders of the Saturnian 

 sky. There, too, are days and nights and changing 

 seasons. What a residence for beings with minds capa- 

 ble of studying the wonders of the heavens ! 



But here, too, we are met by similar inexorable facts, 

 The exceeding levity of Saturn, and the fact that it 

 undergoes at times a remarkable change of form, as 

 observed by Sir Win. Herschel in 1805, and in 1808 by 

 Schroter, again by Mr. Airy and by Mr. Coolidge and 

 others, indicate that the planet is not solid, but is yet in 

 at least a partially gaseous condition. As stated by 

 Prof. Proctor, the light from Saturn, as in the case of 

 Jupiter, is too great to be due to reflection. The conclu- 

 sion is almost unavoidable, that this immense planet, 

 like its fellow, the giant Jupiter, is a miniature sun. Nor 



