II. Description of the Solar System III. The Geological Condition of the Earth IV. Analogy between the Earth and the other Planets 103 129 134 221 234 T. J. J. SEE MARE ISLAND, CALIF. MORE WORLDS THAN ONE. ΤΗ INTRODUCTION. HERE is no subject within the whole range of knowledge so universally interesting as that of a Plurality of Worlds. It commands the sympathies, and appeals to the judgment of men of all nations, of all creeds, and of all times; and no sooner do we comprehend the few simple facts on which it rests, than the mind rushes instinctively to embrace it. Before the great truths of Astronomy were demonstrated-before the dimensions and motions of the planets were ascertained, and the fixed stars placed at inconceivable distances from the system to which we belong, philosophers and poets descried in the celestial spheres the abodes of the blest; but it was not till the form and size and motions of the earth were known, and till the condition of the other planets was found to be the same, that analogy compelled us to believe that these planets must be inhabited like our own. B Although this opinion was maintained incidentally by various writers both on astronomy and natural religion, yet M. Fontenelle, Secretary to the Academy of Sciences in Paris, was the first individual who wrote a treatise expressly on the subject. It was published in 1686, the year before Sir Isaac Newton gave his immortal work, the Principia, to the world, and was entitled Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds. It consisted of five chapters with the following titles: I. The earth is a planet which turns round its own axis and also round the sun. 2. The Moon is a habitable world. 3. Particulars concerning the world in the Moon, and that the other planets are also inhabited. 4. Particulars of the worlds of Venus, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. 5. The Fixed Stars are as many Suns, each of which illuminates a world. In another edition of the work published in 1719, Fontenelle added a sixth chapter, entitled, 6. New thoughts which confirm those in the preceding conversations. The latest discoveries which have been made in the heavens. This singular work, written by a man of great genius, and with a sufficient knowledge of astro nomy, excited a high degree of interest, both from the nature of the subject and the vivacity and humour with which it was written. The conversations are carried on with the Marchioness of G, with whom the author is supposed to be residing. The lady is, of course, distinguished by youth, beauty, and talent, and the share which she takes in the dialogue is not less interesting than the more scientific part assumed by the philosopher. The Plurality of Worlds, as the work was called, was read with unexampled avidity, and was speedily circulated through every part of Europe. It was translated into all the languages of the Continent, and was honoured by annotations from the pen of the celebrated astronomer La Lande, and of M. Gottsched, one of its German editors. No fewer than three English translations of it were published, and one of these, we believe the first, had run through six editions so early as the year 1737. Wherever it was read it was admired, and though one hundred and sixty-seven years have elapsed since its publication, we have not been able to learn that any attempt has been made, during that long period, either to ridicule or controvert the fascinating doctrines which it taught. A few years after the publication of Fontenelle's |