The first organic forms of the protoplasm, the first aggregations of cells, the protozoons, the zoophytes or plant-animals, the gelatinous mussels of the still warm seas, were succeeded by the fishes, then by the reptiles, the birds, the mammals, and lastly man, who at present occupies the top of the genealogical tree, and crowns the animal kingdom.

Humanity is comparatively young upon the Earth. We may attribute some thousands of centuries of existence to it ... and some five years of reason!

The terrestrial organisms, from the lowest up to man, are the resultant of the forces in action at the surface of our planet. The earliest seem to have been produced by the combinations of carbon with hydrogen and nitrogen; they were, so to speak, without animation, save for some very rudimentary sensibility; the sponges, corals, polyps, and medusae, give us a notion of these primitive beings. They were formed in the tepid waters of the primary epoch. As long as there were no continents, no islands emerging from the level of the universal ocean, there were no beings breathing in the air. The first aquatic creatures were succeeded by the amphibia, the reptiles. Later on were developed the mammals and the birds.

What, again, do we not owe to the plant-world of the primary epoch, of the secondary epoch, of the tertiary epoch, which slowly prepared the good nutritious soil of to-day, in which the roses flourish, and the peach and strawberry ripen?

Before it gave birth to a Helen or a Cleopatra, life manifested itself under the roughest forms, and in the most varied conditions. A long-period comet passing in sight of the Earth from time to time would have seen modifications of existence in each of its transits, in accordance with a slow evolution, corresponding to the variation of the conditions of existence, and progressing incessantly, for if Life is the goal of nature, Progress is the supreme law.

The history of our planet is the history of life, with all its metamorphoses. It is the same for all the worlds, with some exceptions of orbs arrested in their development.

The constitution of living beings is in absolute relation with the substances of which they are composed, the environment in which they move, temperature, light, weight, density, the length of day and night, the seasons, etc.—in a word, with all the cosmographic elements of a world.

If, for example, we compare between themselves two worlds such as the Earth and Neptune, utterly different from the point of view of distance from the Sun, we could not for an instant suppose that organic structures could have followed a parallel development on these planets. The average temperature must be much lower on Neptune than on the Earth, and the same holds for intensity of light. The years and seasons there are 165 times longer than with us, the density of matter is three times as weak, and weight is, on the contrary, a little greater. Under conditions so different from our own, the activities of Nature would have to translate themselves under other forms. And doubtless the elementary bodies would not be found there in the same proportions. Consequently we have to conclude that organs and senses would not be the same there as here. The optic nerve, for instance, which has formed and developed here from the rudimentary organ of the trilobite to the marvels of the human eye, must be incomparably more sensitive upon Neptune than in our dazzling solar luminosity, in order to perceive radiations that we do not perceive here. In all probability, it is replaced there by some other organ. The lungs, functioning there in another atmosphere, are different from our own. So, too, for the stomach and digestive organs. Corporeal forms, animal and human, can not resemble those which exist upon the Earth.

Certain savants contend that if the conditions differed too much from terrestrial conditions, life could not be produced there at all. Yet we have no right to limit the powers of Nature to the narrow bounds of our sphere of observation, and to pretend that our planet and our Humanity are the type of all the worlds. That is a hypothesis as ridiculous as it is childish.

Do not let us be "personal," like children, and old people who never see beyond their room. Let us learn to live in the Infinite and the Eternal.

From this larger point of view, the doctrine of the plurality of worlds is the complement and the natural crown of Astronomy. What interests us most in the study of the Universe is surely to know what goes on there.

* * * * *

These considerations show that, in all the ages, what really constitutes a planet is not its skeleton but the life that vibrates upon its surface.

And again, if we analyze things, we see that for the Procession of Nature, life is all, and matter nothing.

What has become of our ancestors, the millions of human beings who preceded us upon this globe? Where are their bodies? What is left of them? Search everywhere. Nothing is left but the molecules of air, water, dust, atoms of hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, carbon, etc., which are incorporated in turn in the organism of every living being.

The whole Earth is a vast cemetery, and its finest cities are rooted in the catacombs. But now, in crossing Paris, I passed for at least the thousandth time near the Church of St. Germain-l'Auxerrois, and was obliged to turn out of the direct way, on account of excavations. I looked down, and saw that immediately below the pavement, they had just uncovered some stone coffins still containing the skeletons that had reposed there for ten centuries. From time immemorial the passers-by had trampled them unwittingly under foot. And I reflected that it is much the same in every quarter of Paris. Only yesterday, some Roman tombs and a coin with the effigy of Nero were found in a garden near the Observatory.

And from the most general standpoint of Life, the whole world is in the same case, and even more so, seeing that all that exists, all that lives, is formed of elements that have already been incorporated in other beings, no longer living. The roses that adorn the bosom of the fair ... but I will not enlarge upon this topic.

And you, so strong and virile, of what elements is your splendid body formed? Where have the elements you absorb to-day in respiration and assimilation been drawn from, what lugubrious adventures have they been subject to? Think away from it: do not insist on this point: on no account consider it....

And yet, let us dwell on it, since this reality is the most evident demonstration of the ideal; since what exists is you, is all of us, is Life; and matter is only its substance, like the materials of a house, and even less so, since its particles only pass rapidly through the framework of our bodies. A heap of stones does not make a house. Quintillions of tons of materials would not represent the Earth or any other world.

Yes, what really exists, what constitutes a complete orb, is the city of Life. Let us recognize that the flower of life flourishes on the surface of our planet, embellishing it with its perfume; that it is just this life that we see and admire,—of which we form part,—and which is the raison d'etre of things; that matter floats, and crosses, and crosses back again, in the web of living beings,—and the reality, the goal, is not matter—it is the life matter is employed upon.

Yes, matter passes, and being also, after sharing in the concerted symphony of life.

And indeed everything passes rapidly!

What irrepressible grief, what deep melancholy, what ineffaceable regrets we feel, when as age comes on we look back, when we see our friends fallen upon the road one after the other, above all when we visit the beloved scenes of our childhood, those homes of other years, that witnessed our first start in terrestrial existence, our first games, our first affections—those affections of childhood that seemed eternal—when we wander over those fields and valleys and hills, when we see again the landscape whose aspect has hardly changed, and whose image is so intimately linked with our first impressions. There near this fireside the grandfather danced us on his knee, and told us blood-curdling stories; here the kind grandmother came to see if we were comfortably tucked in, and not likely to fall out of the big bed; in this little wood, along these alleys that seemed endless, we spread our nets for birds; in this stream we fished for crayfish; there on the path we played at soldiers with our elders, who were always captains; on these slopes we found rare stones and fossils, and mysterious petrifactions; on this hill we admired the fine sunsets, the appearance of the stars, the form of the constellations. There we began to live, to think, to love, to form attachments, to dream, to question every problem, to breathe intellectually and physically. And now, where is this beloved grandfather? the good grandmother? where are all whom we knew in infancy? where are our dreams of childhood? Winged thoughts still seem to flutter in the air, and that is all. People, caresses, voices, all have gone and vanished. The cemetery has closed over them all. There is a silent void. Were all those fine and sunny hours an illusion? Was it only to weep one day over this negation that our childish hearts were so tenderly attached to these fleeting shadows? Is there nothing, down the long length of human history, but eternal delusion?

It is here, above all, that we find ourselves in presence of the greatest problems. Life is the goal, it is Life that produces the conditions of Thought. Without Thought, where would be the Universe?

We feel that without life and thought, the Universe would be an empty theater, and Astronomy itself, sublime science, a vain research. We feel that this is the truth, veiled as yet to actual science, and that human races kindred with our own exist there in the immensities of space. Yes, we feel that this is truth.

But we would fain go a little further in our knowledge of the universe, and penetrate in some measure the secret of our destinies. We would know if these distant and unknown Humanities are not attached to us by mysterious cords, if our life, which will assuredly be extinguished at some definite moment here below, will not be prolonged into the regions of Eternity.

A moment ago we said that nothing is left of the body. Millions of organisms have lived, there are no remains of them. Air, water, smoke, dust. Memento, homo, quia pulvis es et in pulverem revertebis. Remember oh man! that dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return, says the priest to the faithful, when he scatters the ashes on the day after the carnival.

The body disappears entirely. It goes where the corpse of Caesar went an hour after the extinction of his pyre. Nor will there be more remains of any of us. And the whole of Humanity, and the Earth itself, will also disappear one day. Let no one talk of the Progress of Humanity as an end! That would be too gross a decoy.

If the soul were also to disappear in smoke, what would be left of the vital and intellectual organization of the world? Nothing.

On this hypothesis, all would be reduced to nothing.

Our reason is not immense, our terrestrial faculties are sufficiently limited, but this reason and these faculties suffice none the less to make us feel the improbability, the absurdity, of this hypothesis, and we reject it as incompatible with the sublime grandeur of the spectacle of the universe.

Undoubtedly, Creation does not seem to concern itself with us. It proceeds on its inexorable course without consulting our sensations. With the poet we regret the implacable serenity of Nature, opposing the irony of its smiling splendor to our mourning, our revolts, and our despair.

Que peu de temps suffit pour changer toutes choses! Nature au front serein, comme vous oubliez! Et comme vous brisez dans vos metamorphoses Les fils mysterieux ou nos coeurs sont lies.

D'autres vont maintenant passer ou nous passames; Nous y sommes venus, d'autres vont y venir, Et le songe qu'avaient ebauche nos deux ames, Ils le continueront sans pouvoir le finir.

Car personne ici-bas ne termine et n'acheve; Les pires des humains sont comme les meilleurs; Nous nous eveillons tous au meme endroit du reve: Tout commence en ce monde et tout finit ailleurs.

Repondez, vallon pur, repondez, solitude! O Nature, abritee en ce desert si beau, Quand nous serons couches tous deux, dans l'attitude Que donne aux morts pensifs la forme du tombeau,

Est-ce que vous serez a ce point insensible, De nous savoir perdus, morts avec nos amours, Et de continuer votre fete paisible Et de toujours sourire et de chanter toujours?[16]

Note.—Free Translation.

How brief a time suffices for all things to change! Serene-fronted Nature, too soon you will forget!... in your metamorphoses ruthlessly snapping the cords that bind our hearts together!

Others will pass where we pass; we have arrived, and others will arrive after us: the thought sketched out by our souls will be pursued by theirs ... and they will not find the solution of it.

For no one here begins or finishes: the worst are as the best of humans; we all awake at the same moment of the dream: we all begin in this world, and end otherwhere.

Reply, sweet valley, reply, solitude; O Nature, sheltering in this splendid desert, when we are both asleep, and cast by the tomb into the attitude of pensive death.

Will you to the last verge be so insensible, that, knowing us lost, and dead with our loves, you will pursue your cheerful feast, and smile, and sing always?

Yes, mortals may say that when they are sleeping in the grave, spring and summer will still smile and sing; husband and wife may ask themselves if they will meet again some day, in another sphere; but do we not feel that our destinies can not be terminated here, and that short of absolute and final nonentity for everything, they must be renewed beyond, in that starry Heaven to which every dream has flown instinctively since the first origins of Humanity?

As our planet is only a province of the Infinite Heavens, so our actual existence is only a stage in Eternal Life. Astronomy, by giving us wings, conducts us to the sanctuary of truth. The specter of death has departed from our Heaven. The beams of every star shed a ray of hope into our hearts. On each sphere Nature chants the paean of Life Eternal.

THE END



INDEX

A

Aberration, 300

Adams, 168

Agnesi, Marie, 5

Alcar, 34

Aldebaran, 44, 66

Alexandria, 3

Algol, 39

Ancients, views of, 30

Andrew Ellicot, 195

Andromeda, 37, 38

Angles, 289

Antares, 45, 66, 70

Antipodes, 208

Arago, 275

Arcturus, 39, 66

Asteroids, 146, 195

Astronomie des Dames, 9

Attraction, 208

Aureole, 279

Autumn Constellations, 54

Axis, 225

B

Babylonian Tables, 30

Bartholomew Diaz, 176

Bear, Little, 35 Great, 32, 34, 35

Betelgeuse, 49, 66

Biela's Comet, 189, 198

Bode's law, 167

Bolides, 201

C

Cancer, 72

Capella, 38, 66

Cassiopeia, 36

Castor, 44, 68

Catalogue of Lalande, 65

Catharine of Alexandria, 3

Centaur, 52, 64, 65, 80

Ceres, 147

Chaldean pastors, 30

Chaldeans, 271

Chariot of David, 32

Charioteer, 38

Chart of Mars, 140

Chatelet, Marquise du, 4

Chiron, The Centaur, 30, 51

Chromosphere, 102

Clairaut, 3

Clerke, Agnes, 7

Cnidus, 31

Coggia's Comet, 187

Comet of Biela, 197 of 1811, 186 of 1858, 174

Comets, 111, 185

Constellations, 28 figures of, 31 Autumn, 54

Constellations, Spring, 52 Summer, 53 Winter, 51

Copernicus, 125

Corona Borealis, 40

Corona of the Sun, 104

Cygnus, 40

D

de Blocqueville, Madame, 5

de Breteuil, Gabrielle-Emilie, 4

de Charriere, Madame, 5

Deneb, 41

des Brosses, 5

Diaz, Bartholomew, 176

Dipper, 32, 34

Donati, 187

Double star, stellar dial of, 86

Double stars, 68, 70

Dragon, 36

du Chatelet, Marquise, 4

E

Eagle, 41

Earth, 205 ancient notions of, 19 distance from the sun, 215 how sustained, 21 inclination, 224 in space, 20 motion of, round the Sun, 222 movement of, 217 rotundity of, 206 viewed from Mars, 144 viewed from Mercury, 119 viewed from Venus, 130 weight, 210

Eclipse of Sun, May, 1900, 273

Eclipses, 259

Ellicot, Andrew, 195

Entretiens sur la Pluralite des mondes, 9

Equator, 225

Eudoxus, 31

Evening Star, 123

F

Faculae, 98, 100

Fire-balls, 198

Flammarion's Lunar Ring, 253

Fleming, Mrs., 7

Fontenelle, 9

Foucault, 219

G

Galileo, 95, 98, 125, 244

Galle, 168

Globe, divisions of, 226

Great Bear, 32, 34, 35

Great Dog, 50

Grecian Calendar, 229

Greek alphabet, 33

H

Hall, Mr., 143

Halley, 181

Halley's Comet, 3, 175

Heavens, map of, 61

Hercules, 41, 66, 79

Herdsman, 39

Herschel, Caroline, 6

Hevelius, 246

Hipparchus, 31

Houses of the Sun, 43

Huggins, Lady, 8

Huyghens, 49

Hyades, 44

Hypatia, 3

J

Janssen, 102

Jupiter, 148 satellites, 155 telescopic aspect of, 150

K

Klumpke, Miss, 7

Kovalevsky, Sophie, 6

L

Lacaille, 292

Lalande, 3, 9, 65, 292

Latitudes, 226

Leonids, 195

Lepaute, Madame Hortense, 3, 4

Le Verrier, 167

Little Bear, 35

Little Dog, 50

Lockyer, 102

Longitudes, 226

Lucifer, 122

Lunar Apennines, 251 landscape, 254 topography, 252

Lyre, 40

M

Mars, 131 chart of, 140

Measurement, 289

Medes and Lydians, 266

Mercury, 114

Meteorites, 201

Meteors, 190, 191

Metonic Cycle, 271

Milky Way, 78, 87

Mira Ceti, 77

Mitchell, Maria, 7

Mizar, 34, 69

Moon, 232 diameter of, 242 distance of, 292 geological features of, 245 map of, 247 mountains of, 246 phases of, 241 photograph of, 240 revolution of, 234 rotation of, 242 size of, 242 temperature of, 250 total eclipse of, 263

N

Nebula, in Andromeda, 81 in Orion, 81 in the Greyhounds, 82

Neptune, 65, 166 revolution of, 169

Newton, 181

Nucleus, 95, 185

O

Orion, 48, 49, 81

P

Parallax, 292, 293 annual, 306

Pearl, 40

Pegasus, 38

Penumbra, 96

Periodic Comet, orbit of, 182

Perseids, 195

Perseus, 38, 70, 78

Phenician navigators, 30

Phoebus, 67

Photosphere, 101

Piazzi, 147

Planets, 109, 113, 146 distances, 110, 302 orbits of, 115 orbits of, 116

Pleiades, 38, 39, 44, 83 occultation of, 85

Pleione, 84

Polaris, 63

Pole-star, 34, 63

Poles, 225

Pollux, 44

Pope Calixtus, 176

Prodigies in the heavens, 178

Ptolemy, 31, 217

R

Radiant, 195

Riccioli, 246

Rigel, 49, 70

Roberts, Mrs. Isaac, 7

S

Saidak, 34

Saros, 271

Satellites, 110

Saturn, 156 revolution of, 157 satellites, 162, 165 volume, 158

Saturn's rings, 161

Scarpellini, Madame, 7

Scheiner, 95

Schiaparelli, 139

Secchi, Father, 7

Seven Oxen, 32

Sextuple star, 74

Shepherd's Star, 11

Shooting stars, 193, 194, 196

Sirius, 66, 309

Solar storms, 100 flames, 105 system, 65

Somerville, Mrs., 6

Spring constellations, 52

Stars, distances, 62 double, 68, 70 first magnitude, 57 number of, 60 quadruple, 73 second magnitude, 58 shooting, 193, 194 temporary, 77

Stars, triple, 72 variable, 75 weight of, 313

Star cluster in Hercules, 79 in the Centaur, 80

St. Catherine, 3

Summer constellations, 53

Sun, 88 houses of the, 43 measurement of distance, 297 photograph of, 96 rotation, 99 temperature of, 105 total eclipse of, 276 weight, 106

Sun and Earth, comparative sizes of, 93

Sun-spots, 95, 101 telescopic aspect of, 97

T

Temporary stars, 77, 78

Three Kings, 49

Total eclipse of the moon, 263 of sun, 276

Triangulation, 288

Triple Star, 72

U

Umbra, 95

Universe, 22, 23, 90

Urania, 8, 9

Uranoliths, 201, 204

Uranus, 162

V

Variable stars, 75

Vega, 40

Venus, 121, 296 phases of, 124

Vesper, 122

Victor Hugo, 24

W

Weighing worlds, 309

Winter constellations, 51

Z

Zodiac, constellations of, 46, 47

Zones, 225

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The French edition of this book is entitled Astronomy for Women.—TRANSLATOR.

[2] 1 kilometer = 0.6214 mile; 100 kilometers may be taken as 62 miles. 1 kilogram is about 2.2 lb.; 5 kilograms = 11 lb.—TRANSLATOR.

[3] It is useful to know the letters of the Greek Alphabet. They are easily learned, as follows:

[alpha] Alpha [beta] Beta [gamma] Gamma [delta] Delta [epsilon] Epsilon [zeta] Zeta [eta] Eta [theta] Theta [iota] Iota [kappa] Kappa [lambda] Lambda [mu] Mu [nu] Nu [xi] Xi [omicron] Omicron [pi] Pi [rho] Rho [sigma] or [sigma] Sigma [tau] Tau [upsilon] Upsilon [phi] Phi [chi] Chi [psi] Psi [omega] Omega



[4] All the stars visible at any hour during the year can easily be found with the help of the author's Planisphere mobile.

[5] Let it be remarked in passing that the stars might be much farther off than they are, and invisible to our eyes; the Heavens would then assume the aspect of an absolutely empty space, the moon and planets alone remaining.

[6] 14" = 14 seconds of arc. One second of the circle is an exceedingly minute quantity. It is 1 millimeter seen at a distance of 206 meters. One millimeter seen at a distance of 20 m. 62 = 10 secs. These values are invisible to the unaided eye.

[7] These fine double stars can be observed with the help of the smallest telescope.

[8] For the explanation of the angular distances of degrees, minutes, and seconds, see Chapter XI, on Methods of Measurement.

[9] The author has endeavored on the plates to represent the aspect of the Earth in the starry sky of Mercury, Venus, and Mars; but in all representations of this kind the stars are necessarily made too large. By calculation the diameters of the Earth and Moon as seen from the planets, and their distances, are as follows:

Diameter of Diameter of Distance the Earth. the Moon. Earth-Moon.

Of Mercury (opposition) 20" 8" 871" Of Venus (opposition) 64" 17" 1,928" Of Mars (quadrature) 15" 4" 464" Of Jupiter (quadrature) 3.5" 0.1" 105"

These aspects will be appreciated if we remember that the distance of the components of [epsilon] Lyre = 207", that of Atlas in Pleione = 301", and that of the stars Mizar and Alcor = 708".

[10] A few evenings ago, after observing Venus in the calm and silent Heavens at the close of day, my eyes fell upon a drawing sent me by my friend Gustave Dore, which is included in the illustrations of his wonderful edition of Dante's Divina Commedia. This drawing seems to be in place here, and I offer my readers a poor reproduction of it, taken from the fine engraving in the book. Dante and Virgil, in the peaceful evening, are contemplating lo bel pianeta ch'ad amar conforta (the beautiful planet that incites to love).

[11] Strictly speaking, 1 kilometer = 0.6214 mile. Here, as throughout, the equivalents are only given in round numbers.—TRANSLATOR.

[12] Translator: Compare the well-known English rhyme:

Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November. While all the rest have thirty-one, Excepting February alone, In which but twenty-eight appear And twenty-nine when comes Leap Year.



[13] Fifty-eight different pictures of the aspect of the Moon to the unaided eye will be found in the Monthly Bulletins of the Astronomical Society of France, for the year 1900, in pursuance of an investigation made by the author among the different members of the Society.

[14] My readers are charged not to speak of this property (which is fairly extensive), lest the Budget Commission, at the end of its resources, should be tempted to put on an unexpected tax. This ring, which the astronomers presented to me in the year 1887, is almost in the center of the lunar disk, to the north of Ptolemy and Herschel.

[15] "La fin du Monde." Flammarion, p. 186.

[16] Victor Hugo. Tristesse d'Olympia.