92 Life Conditions in other Worlds. 



abundance of such dark lines in the orange, green, and blue, 

 and the stoppage of such portions of the spectrum leaves the 

 pale red tint which we see. Now if this be the rule in 

 coloured stars, it will follow that their planets receive rays 

 mixed in different proportions, and as different coloured lights 

 have a different effect upon the growth or organisms, we must 

 expect the planets of a red sun to have a different fauna and 

 flora from a green one. To what extent chemical rays are 

 stopped by certain sun atmospheres, and transmitted by either, 

 we have little knowledge ; but the actinic power . of some 

 brilliant white or sapphire stars is much higher than that of 

 others which are inclined to an orange tint.* When a binary 

 system exposes its planets to an alternate or varying influence 

 of two distinct coloured suns, not only would their skies and 

 scenery present a splendid and changing aspect, but the sort 

 of stimulus and the amount of excitement given to living 

 organisms would vary too. 



The last considerations we shall at present offer refer to a 

 large number of facts now in the possession of naturalists, which 

 show that particular types both of plants and animals may occupy 

 a widely different rank from that which we are accustomed to 

 see them in. Hedgeside weeds in this country are, in many 

 cases, the local representatives of plants that reach ample 

 dimensions in other lands, and the humble reptiles of our roads 

 and ponds claim relationship with gigantic creatures which were 

 little less than the lords of creation in earlier stages of our 

 planet's life. Who knows but that the plants and animals of 

 other worlds are so related to our own, a& that they may exhibit 

 the perfect condition of types that are only seen by us in a 

 rudimentary form ? 



* Most of our astronomical readers will remember a note to page 111 of Mr. 

 Webb's " Celestial Objects," in wbich it is stated, that " the American astronomers 

 at Harvard College, with the great 22-feet achromatic, have found that Wega 

 surpasses Arcturus in photographic power no less than seven times j presumably 

 from its different hue." 



