76-(46) ARE OTHEE WOELDS INHABITED ? 



from a lava-like condition through stages of growing- 

 viscidity and stiffness to a cold and solid planet, and 

 thenceforth, had been left to itself untouched by water, 

 either as rain or frost, or as running streams. 



The conclusion, therefore, which appears to me justi- 

 fied by the study of our system, is that at no time, either 

 in the past, or at present, have beings clothed with 

 bodies of flesh and blood, existed on any part of it. As 

 to the stars, if, as all believe, they are sources of light 

 and heat, like our sun, then undoubtedly their condition 

 is the same. They, too, are intensely heated, and their 

 surface torn by the most violent hurricanes, and agitated 

 by the most terrific convulsions. Hence, we must con- 

 clude that life is as impossible in them as in the sun. 

 Have they attendant systems to which they supply light 

 and heat ? I cannot say. Their immense distance for- 

 bids more than a conjecture. The little that we know 

 indicates systems, but systems unlike our own. There 

 are suns revolving around suns in pairs and in trios, and 

 perhaps in systems of greater complexity. A few appear 

 to have invisible companions whose mass must nearly 

 equal that of the visible star. What may be in those 

 dark stars we have no means of knowing. Unrestrained 

 by facts, imagination here may have loose reins, and 

 travel at will. 



If such be the condition of other worlds — unfit for 

 inhabitants — why were they made % Those who do not 

 admit the evidence of design in nature, have no right to 

 ask this question. A purposeless universe is, however, 

 to most persons inconceivable. They will insist upon an 

 answer. To say that God made the universe for his own 

 pleasure does not satisfy us. It surely is no pleasure to 

 Him to see the worlds go round and round ; nor can He 

 learn from them the laws of motion and light. For Him 

 absolutely nothing was to be derived from the contem- 

 plation of his own handiwork. What purposes he may 

 have which are to be developed in the future I do not 

 know. 



It is with the present only that I now have to do. So 

 far as that is concerned, I can discover no purpose which 

 the sun, moon and planets subserve save the welfare of 

 man. Perhaps some of my scientific friends can suggest 

 something else ; if so let them do it. Not only do these 



