the various elements, under peculiar circumstances favoring all these
conditions? That elements wherever found possess the same physical
properties when brought under the same influence of heat and moisture,
there can be no doubt, whether they are farther removed, or nearer to
the contact of the sun's rays. It is a fact, a well-established fact,
that different substances require varying degrees of temperature to
reduce them to a liquid, gaseous, or solid condition, and no matter
where the temperature is produced the result will be the same. If,
for example, a temperature can be procured on the surface of Uranus,
or Saturn, sufficient to melt iron, lead, or silver, these metallic
substances will melt at Uranus or Saturn as quickly as on the earth's
surface. The laws regulating radiation, absorption, dispersion, or
contraction, or any other phase the elementary substances may assume,
under heat or pressure, etc.--these laws will hold good on any of
the planets just as well as on this terrestrial planet.
It is therefore far from unreasonable to presume that the organizable
elements may have assumed a vitality on the distant planets, evolved
and developed creatures in accordance with known laws, or laws that
are still unknown to us. Because it is perfectly natural for these
substances to organize themselves into life, under a certain degree of
temperature, moisture, and electricity, when these necessary elements
are present--as natural as that oxygen and hydrogen make water, or
that the sun's heat sets all the elementary substances into a state
of activity.
We have no reason to doubt that these planets, or even the sun,
have not their own vital products just as well as this earth. These
vital products may be of low grade, or of a very highly organized
nature. We may assume, without fear of any great error, that wherever
there are air and water there is life. Because if there is heat it is
a sun's heat, otherwise there could not be air and water. If there
is a sun's heat, atmosphere, and water, there is certainly life,
lowly or highly developed.
The degree of organic development depends on the age of the
planet--whether it has been in existence a few millions of years more
or a few millions of years loss. These organic forms may have advanced
to any degree of perfection and possess qualities like or unlike our
own, or they may still exist in a very primitive state of evolution.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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