The Senses and The Mind

There are few, at least among the reflecting portion of society, who have not either mentally or verbally asked the question: Is the sunis the moonare the planets, with their satellitesare the stars, those suns of other systems, tenanted, as is our planet, the earth, by living beings, which declare the omnipotence of God? This is one of many questions which cannot be answered. The probability, to judge from analogy, is, that some, if not all, are inhabited; that some are in a course of preparation for beings which God will, in his own time, call into existence; and that in all, changes have taken place more or less similar to those which have occurred on the globe we tenant, and which have been connected with the extinction of races, and the creation of others adapted and organized for an altered condition of the earth's surface, and of the circumambient atmosphere. But, granting these suppositions, it must be evident, that the living beings in the sun, the planets, and the asteroids, must not only be differently constructed from those which inhabit our planet, the earth; but, also, that in different worlds, the living inhabitants must be very diversely constituted, not only as regards their senses, but also their organization and their powers of locomotion.

We cannot conceive of beings unlike ourselves, and the animals, terrestrial and aquatic, which, called into existence by Almighty Power, people the surface of our earth; that, however, is no reason why such beings should not exist, for what is impossible with God? Nay, as it is, the senses, the operations, the powers, and economy of insects confound us, and lead us to suspect that they possess a sense, or senses, which, because denied to us, we cannot appreciate. In our world, atmospheric air, in which oxygen prevails, or water, also oxygenated, is essential to the maintenance of animal life. But cannot the Almighty construct organic beings, independent of our air or our watervitalized, in fact, on principles of which we can form no idea? Undoubtedly. If, for example, no aquatic water-breathing animals, as fishes, crustacea, etc., existed on our earth, could we conceive of the possibility of their being? or, were our race, and all other animals furnished with gills instead of lungs, and ordained to a sub-aquatic life, making the wide ocean our home, could we form any idea of what creatures could be constituted for living in the thin atmosphere, and actively enjoying life under its pressure? Again, let the attractive force of this earth be altered, the organization of every living thing must (granting its existence to be guaranteed) be altered accordingly. We take the following from Miss Somerville's "Connexion of the Physical Sciences," p. 73:"The densities of bodies are proportional to their masses, divided by their volumes. Hence, if the sun and planets be assumed to be spheres, their volumes will be as the cubes of their diameters. Now, the apparent diameters of the sun and earth, at their mean distance, are 1922, 8, and 17, 1552, and the mass of the earth is the 354,936th part of that of the sun, taken as the unit. It follows, therefore, that the earth is nearly four times as dense as the sun; but the sun is so large that his attractive force would cause bodies to fall through about 335 feet in 1; consequently, if inhabited by human beings, they would be unable to move, since their weight would be thirty times as great as it is here." A man of moderate size would weigh about two tons at the surface of the sun; whereas, at the surface of the asteroids, (the clusters between Mars and Jupiter,) he would be so light that he could not stand steadily, since he would only weigh a few pounds.

Dettagli