Another World: Fragments from the Star City of MontalluyahLumley, Benjamin
Science
Another World: Fragments from the Star City of Montalluyah
Lumley, Benjamin
Utopias
The Editor has reason to believe, though it cannot be stated with
confidence, that Montalluyah is the world known to us as the planet
Mars. Even in the following pages indications will be found of physical
features harmonizing with observations made here on that planet. On the
other hand, there is the seeming objection, that whereas Mars is more
distant than the Earth from the Sun, the Sun appears much smaller, and
its heat and light are less intense, on the Earth than in Montalluyah.
These facts would, in the first instance, seem to indicate, not a
longer, but a shorter distance of Montalluyah from the central luminary,
and to point rather to Venus or Mercury than to Mars. But, according to
the scientific theories of Montalluyah, the amount of light and heat
received from the Sun, and the aspect of that luminary, are governed,
not so much by proximity, as by the nature and electricity of the
recipient planet and its surrounding atmosphere. In illustration of this
point the fact is stated in one of the fragments, that in Montalluyah
the power of the telescope is regulated, not by the distance, but by the
attractive or repulsive electricity of the planet under observation, and
that more power is often required to view a nearer planet than one which
is far more distant.
The question as to which of the laws and customs of Montalluyah can be
beneficially imitated, wholly or partially, on our Earth, and which of
them merely pertain to physical accidents or to a peculiar state of
society, will afford matter for reflection. It must not be supposed
that, by relating the facts revealed to him, the Editor would recommend
all the laws which they suggest as capable of imitation here. Although
they are based on the principle of securing happiness to the community,
more especially to its worthiest members, he would no more think of
recommending them for adoption in their entirety than of upholding the
"Swan-Ship" of Montalluyah as a model for the steamers that cross the
Atlantic. Nevertheless, he trusts that his record of the "regulations"
of "Another World," even where they do not admit of imitation, may serve
to call attention to the evils which they were intended to remedy in
Montalluyah, and which certainly nourish in all their bad luxuriance
here.
ANOTHER WORLD.
I.
MONTALLUYAH.
"You forsake this earthly form which goes to dust, but you still
live on for ever and ever....
"This life is but the shadow of what your future lives will be."
The Heavens are studded with stars, works of an Almighty Creator; their
pale rays give but a feeble indication of the glorious brightness of
worlds, many peopled by beings of a beauty, goodness, and power
excelling all that human understanding can conceive.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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