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globe , under other conditions , sensibility may be the property of some other combination of matter . To deny this absolutely , woull be as unjustifiable as to deny that a nation could possibly have firearms , because they had no nitre , and hence no gunpowder ; the truth , werhaps , bein g that this nation had gun-cotton , or some other
explosive material . What gun-cotton is to gunpowder , our unknown X may be to neurine . May be , one cannot say , it is . We conceive with Mr . Powell , " there can exist no difficulty in imagining the possibility of living beings , constructed with bodies of greater or less specific gravity , suited to the most widely different conditions of gravitation or atmospheric pressure in which they
might be destined to live , and with respiratory , muscular , digestive , or locomotive powers and capacities developed in infinitely varied degrees , according to the different conditions under which they might subsist , and the media in which they might have to move , yet always preserving an unbroken analogy with some grand and universal scheme of uniformity , of which we enjoy only partial glimpses ; while under any such variety of external form or condition , they may be equally capable with ourselves of being the recipients of
higher principles of intellectual , moral , or spiritual life . " The idea of a plurality of worlds is , after all , the sublimest thought , and appears to be sustained by the remarkable truth , that " the sun and the whole planetary system is advancing in space , and revolving round some distant and yet invisible centre . " This grandest cosmical truth in astronomy , forming the only link peculiarly connecting us with the sidereal universe , has been deduced by the most distinguished astronomers of all nations , by a rigorous induction , from the peculiarity of the fixed stars .
Sir Humphrey Davy ventured once to give unearthly forms to the inhabitants of Saturn , and presumed that they might enjoy spheres of sensibility and intellectual enjoyment superior to those enjoyed by us . "I saw , " says he , " moving on the surface below me , immense masses , the forms of which I find it impossible to describe . They had systems for locomotion similar to that of the morse , or sea-horse ; but I saw with great surprise , that they moved from place to place by six extremely thin membranes , which they used as wings . I saw
numerous convolutions of tubes , more analogous to the trunk of the elephant than to anything else I can imagine , occupying what I supposed to be the upper parts of the body . " We cannot believe that the creations of this great philosopher would bear the tests he would have applied to them had they been more substantial . The whole subject is , as it has been from the bemnninP ' . one of pure speculation . Of the members of our own
system we are purely ignorant ; how much more of those " Nocturnal suns ! So distant , says the sage , 'twere not absurd To doubt , if beams , set out at Nature ' s birth , Are yet arrived at this so foreign world , Though nothing half so rapid as their flight . "
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
globe , under other conditions , sensibility may be the property of some other combination of matter . To deny this absolutely , woull be as unjustifiable as to deny that a nation could possibly have firearms , because they had no nitre , and hence no gunpowder ; the truth , werhaps , bein g that this nation had gun-cotton , or some other
explosive material . What gun-cotton is to gunpowder , our unknown X may be to neurine . May be , one cannot say , it is . We conceive with Mr . Powell , " there can exist no difficulty in imagining the possibility of living beings , constructed with bodies of greater or less specific gravity , suited to the most widely different conditions of gravitation or atmospheric pressure in which they
might be destined to live , and with respiratory , muscular , digestive , or locomotive powers and capacities developed in infinitely varied degrees , according to the different conditions under which they might subsist , and the media in which they might have to move , yet always preserving an unbroken analogy with some grand and universal scheme of uniformity , of which we enjoy only partial glimpses ; while under any such variety of external form or condition , they may be equally capable with ourselves of being the recipients of
higher principles of intellectual , moral , or spiritual life . " The idea of a plurality of worlds is , after all , the sublimest thought , and appears to be sustained by the remarkable truth , that " the sun and the whole planetary system is advancing in space , and revolving round some distant and yet invisible centre . " This grandest cosmical truth in astronomy , forming the only link peculiarly connecting us with the sidereal universe , has been deduced by the most distinguished astronomers of all nations , by a rigorous induction , from the peculiarity of the fixed stars .
Sir Humphrey Davy ventured once to give unearthly forms to the inhabitants of Saturn , and presumed that they might enjoy spheres of sensibility and intellectual enjoyment superior to those enjoyed by us . "I saw , " says he , " moving on the surface below me , immense masses , the forms of which I find it impossible to describe . They had systems for locomotion similar to that of the morse , or sea-horse ; but I saw with great surprise , that they moved from place to place by six extremely thin membranes , which they used as wings . I saw
numerous convolutions of tubes , more analogous to the trunk of the elephant than to anything else I can imagine , occupying what I supposed to be the upper parts of the body . " We cannot believe that the creations of this great philosopher would bear the tests he would have applied to them had they been more substantial . The whole subject is , as it has been from the bemnninP ' . one of pure speculation . Of the members of our own
system we are purely ignorant ; how much more of those " Nocturnal suns ! So distant , says the sage , 'twere not absurd To doubt , if beams , set out at Nature ' s birth , Are yet arrived at this so foreign world , Though nothing half so rapid as their flight . "