72-(42) ARE OTHER WORLDS INHABITED \ 



lites undergoing as might be expected from their proxim- 

 ity to the intensely heated primary, great changes of 

 form and brilliancy. From these facts, I think we must 

 conclude that even the trilling space afforded by these 

 bodies cannot be granted to the advocates of the belief 

 that other worlds are inhabited 



There remain to be considered only the comets and our 

 own moon. The former appear to be masses of incandes- 

 cent vapor. They pass, like the spirits in Milton's hell, 

 from regions of intense cold in aphelion, to those of in- 

 tense heat in perihelion. It goes without saying, that 

 no corporeal life can exist in them. The moon — our moon 

 —has been studied from the earliest times, but only since 

 the invention of the achromatic telescope have astrono- 

 mers made much progress. At the present day its geog- 

 raphy, if I may use that word, is better known than is 

 that of the earth. 



It was long believed that certain peculiarities of color 

 forming irregular patches on the moon's face, were due 

 to large bodies of water, and accordingly they were called 

 seas and oceans. There was the "ocean of storms,' 1 the 

 " sea of tranquillity," the "rainy sea," &c. These names 

 remain, although the supposed seas when examined with 

 telescopes of higher power, are found to present a sur- 

 face of great roughness, such as by no possibility could 

 be formed by water. Moreover the light from these 

 spots, when examined by the polarixcope, lacks the 

 characteristic polarization which it should present if it 

 came from bodies of water. In short it is certain not 

 only that there are no seas in the moon, but that there is 

 not even the vapor of water. It has also been shown 

 that our satellite possesses no atmosphere, for when a 

 star passes behind the moon's disk, not the slightest 

 refraction can be detected. 



The lack of these two essentials, water and air, is fatal 

 to a belief in the existence of living creatures in the 

 moon, unless, indeed, as has been suggested, this side of 

 our satellite is much the higher, and in consequence, the air 

 and water have flowed around to the other side, and there, 

 out of reach of the telescopes of terrestrial astronomers, it 

 has been said, may be a teeming population. Even if it 

 be true, that on the other side of the moon, are air and 

 water, yet it is difficult to see how beings of flesh and 



