232 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



that led to the conclusion that our universe was finite, 

 and that we could almost, if not quite, see to its very limits, 

 were seldom commented on as more than isolated phenomena 

 — curiosities, as it were, of star distribution — but of no special 

 significance. To me, however, it seemed that they probably 

 had a meaning ; and when I further came to examine the 

 numerous facts which led to the conclusion that no other 

 planet in the solar system than our earth was habitable, 

 there flashed upon me the idea that it was only near the 

 centre of this vast material universe that conditions prevailed 

 rendering the development of life, culminating in man, 

 possible. I did not, however, dwell upon this idea, but 

 merely suggested it in a single paragraph on pp. 329-330 

 of my work, and I might probably never have pursued the 

 subject further but for another circumstance which kept 

 my attention fixed upon it. 



While I was still hard at work upon the book, the London 

 agent of the New York Independent wrote to ask me to write 

 them an article on any scientific subject I chose. I at first 

 declined, as having no subject which I thought suitable, and 

 not wishing to interrupt my work. But when he urged me 

 again, and told me to name my own fee, the idea struck me 

 that these astronomical facts, with the conclusion to which 

 they seemed to me to point, might form a very interesting, 

 and even new and attractive article. As the subject was 

 fresh in my mind, and I had the authorities at hand, it did 

 not take me very long to sketch out and write a paper of the 

 required length, which appeared simultaneously in the Inde- 

 pendent and in the Fortnightly Review^ and, to my great 

 surprise, created quite a sensation, and, still more to my 

 surprise, a considerable amount of antagonism and rather 

 contemptuous criticism by astronomers and physicists, to 

 which I replied in a subsequent article. 



But as soon as my agent, Mr. Curtis Brown, read the MSS. 

 he suggested that I should write a volume on the subject, which 

 he was sure would be very attractive and popular, and for 

 which he undertook to make arrangements both in England 

 and America, and secure me liberal terms. After a little 



