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COXDITIOXS OF HABITABILITY OF A PLA^'ET. 



brought over and which many of us examined very minutely with- 

 out finding any trace of his network of canals, and as pointed out 

 by Mr. Maunder, the larger the telescopes used the less did the 

 markings have the appearance of straight lines; the controversy 

 certainly took a humorous turn worthy of Punch, when the 

 advocates for the canal theory actually propounded the extraordin- 

 ary theory that many of the telescopes were too large to show 

 such small markings." 



Mr. Maunder truly points out that under certain conditions of 

 temperature, as are found in the earlier stages of the formation of a 

 world, the basis of living matter, as we know it, in plant and 

 animal structures, namely protoplasm, could not exist, but he also 

 states that among other worlds in the universe there con only be a 

 small proportion, at best, so well favoured as our Earth for 

 sustaining life ; now we find by means of the spectroscope that each 

 of the atoms comprising that protoplasm, namely, oxygen, hydro- 

 gen, carbon and nitrogen, are identically the same throughout the 

 whole universe, whether we observe them here in our laboratories 

 or when situated at the very limit of our perception, through 

 the greatest telescopes ; we also know that though each atom is 

 continuously pulsating and clashing with others billions of times 

 per second, they show absolutely no signs of wear or diminution 

 in activity in a million years, for we can examine side by side two sets 

 of say hvdrogen atoms, one of which is a million years older 

 than the other ; the atoms we examine here are, in time, a million 

 years in advance of those we examine through our astro-specti-o- 

 scope, as we are seeing these latter atoms only as they were a 

 million years ago, and yet wherever we turn to in space we find this 

 hydrogen atom and all other atoms identical to those not only in 

 the sun, but in our surroundings on this little Earth ; we also see the 

 same farces at work in the far off nebulae as we are experiencing in 

 this little corner. Does not this wonderful proof of unity of design 

 throughout the whole visible universe force upon us the con- 

 viction that round each of the myriads of other stars in our star 

 cluster, of which our sun is one, and probably round the suns in 

 countless other star clusters, are planets in the course of preparation 

 for sustaining life, life probably, as Mr. Maunder points out, based 

 upon protoplasm as we know it. but possibly under conditions 

 absolutely beyond conception from our present restricted outlook. 



