Knowledge, Theory of; Mind and body; Perception; Senses and sensation
There are few, at least among the reflecting portion of society,
who have not either mentally or verbally asked the question: Is the
sun--is the moon--are the planets, with their satellites--are 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
water--vitalized, 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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