KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



27 



The introduction to the general question 

 is worthy a careful perusal ; and,; we feel 

 sure that none who read it will fail to pursue 

 it to the end. 



ARE THE PLANETS INHABITED ? 



When we walk abroad on a clear starlight night, 

 and direct our view to the aspect of the Heavens, 

 there are certain reflections which will present 

 themselves to every meditative mind. Are those 

 shining orbs, which in such countless numbers 

 decorate the firmament, peopled with creatures 

 endowed like ourselves with reason to discover, 

 with sense to love, and with imagination to expand 

 to their boundless perfection the attributes of Him 

 of " whose fingers the Heavens are the work ? " 

 Has He who " made man lower than the angels 

 to crown him" with the glory of discovering that 

 light in which He has " decked himself as with a 

 garment," also made other creatures with like 

 powers and like destinies, with dominion over the 

 works of His hands, and having all things put in 

 subjection under their feet ? And are those 

 resplendent globes which roll in silent majesty 

 through ~the ^measureless abysses of space, the 

 dwellings of such beings ? These are inquiries, 

 against which neither the urgency of business nor 

 the allurements of pleasure can block up the 

 avenues of the mind. 



Those whose information on topics of this nature 

 is most superficial, would be prompted to look 

 immediately for direct evidence on these questions ; 

 and consequently to appeal to the telescope. Such 

 an appeal would, however, be fruitless. Vast as 

 are the powers of that instrument, it still falls 

 infinitely short of the ability to give direct 

 evidence on such inquiries. What will a telescope 

 do for us in the examination of any of the Heavenly 

 bodies, or indeed of any distant object ? It will 

 accomplish this, and nothing more; it will enable us 

 to behold it as we should see it at a lesser distance. 

 But, strictly speaking, it cannot accomplish even 

 this : for to suppose it did, would be to ascribe to 

 it all the admirable optical perfection of the eye ; 

 for that instrument, however nearly it approaches 

 the organ of vision, is still deficient in some of the 

 qualities which have been conferred upon the eye 

 by its Maker. 



Let us, however, assume that we resort to the 

 use of a telescope having such a magnifying 

 power, for example, as a thousand : what would 

 such an instrument do for us ? It would in fact 

 place us a thousand times nearer to the object that 

 we are desirous to examine, and thus enable us to 

 see it as we should at that diminished distance 

 without a telescope. Such is the extent of the 

 aid which we should derive from the instrument. 

 Now, let us see what this aid would effect. Take, 

 for example, the case of the moon, the nearest 

 body in the universe to the earth. The distance 

 of that object is about 240,000 miles ; the telescope 

 would then place us at 240 miles from it. Could 

 we at the distance of 240 miles distinctly, or even 

 indistinctly, see a man, a horse, an elephant, or 

 any other natural object ? Could we discern any 

 artificial structure ? Assuredly not ! But take the 

 case of one of the planets. When Mars is nearest 

 to the earth, its distance is about 50,000,000 of 

 miles. Such a telescope would place us at a dis- 

 tance of 50,000 miles from it. What object could 



we expect to see at 50,000 miles' distance ? The 

 planet Venus, when nearest the earth, is at a dis- 

 tance something less than 30,000,000 of miles, 

 but at that distance her dark hemisphere is turned 

 towards us ; and when a considerable portion of 

 her enlightened hemisphere is visible, her distance 

 is not less than that of Mars. All the other 

 planets, when nearest to the earth, are at much 

 greater distances. As the stars lie infinitely 

 more remote than the most remote planet, it is 

 needless here to add anything respecting them. 



It is plain, that the telescope cannot afford 

 any direct evidence on the question whether the 

 planets, like the earth, are inhabited globes. Yet, 

 although science has not given direct answers to 

 these questions, it has supplied a body of circum- 

 stantial evidence bearing upon them of an ex- 

 tremely interesting nature. Modern discovery has 

 collected together amass of facts connected with the 

 position and motions, the physical character and 

 conditions, and the parts played in the solar 

 system by the several globes of which that system 

 is composed, which forms "a body of analogies 

 bearing on this inquiry, even more cogent and 

 convincing than the proofs on the strength of 

 which we daily dispose of the property and lives 

 of our fellow-citizens, and hazard our own. 



We shall first consider this interesting question 

 so far as relates to the group of planets, which, 

 from several striking analogies which they bear 

 to our own, have been called the terrestrial planets. 

 These planets — in number three, and by name 

 Mercury, Venus, and Mars — revolve with the earth 

 around the sun, at distances from that luminary 

 less in a great proportion than the other members 

 of the solar system. We shall next extend the 

 same inquiries to the other bodies composing that 

 system, as well as to those which are distributed 

 through the more distant regions of the universe. 



In considering the earth as a dwelling-place 

 suited to man and to the creatures which it has 

 pleased his Maker to place in subjection to him, 

 there is a mutual fitness and adaptation observable 

 among a multitude of arrangements which cannot 

 be traced to, and which indeed obviously cannot 

 arise from, any general mechanical law by which 

 the motions and changes of mere material masses 

 are governed. It is in these conveniences and 

 luxuries with which our dwelling has been so con- 

 siderately furnished, that we see the beneficent 

 intentions of its Creator more immediately mani- 

 fested, than by any great physical or mechanical 

 laws, however imposing or important. If — 

 having a due knowledge of our natural necessities 

 — of our appetites and passions — of our suscep- 

 tibilities of pleasure and pain — in fine, of our 

 physical organisation — we were for the first time 

 introduced to this glorious earth, with its balmy 

 atmosphere — its pure and translucent waters — the 

 life and beauty of its animal and vegetable king- 

 doms — with its attraction upon the matter of our 

 own bodies just sufficient to give them the requisite 

 stability, and yet not so great as to deprive them 

 of the power of free and rapid motion — with its 

 intervals of light and darkness — giving an alter- 

 nation of labor and rest nicely corresponding with 

 our muscular powers — with its grateful succession 

 of seasons, and its moderate variations of tempera- 

 ture, so justly suited to our organisation ; with all 

 this fitness before us, could we hesitate to infer 



