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precisely in accordance with the planet's telescopic appearance.

We appear, then, to have many remarkable indications of resemblance between Mars and our own earth. And it might appear a natural conclusion to this chapter to assert that Mars is, in fact, a miniature of our own earth, and in all probability inhabited by such creatures as we are familiar with. In another chapter, in which the subject will be completed, it will be seen whether this conclusion is to be accepted, or whether Mars, like Venus, affords evidence of the wonderful diversity of conditions which exists throughout the universe of God.

LIFE IN THE RUDDY PLANET.

He looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven; to make the weight for the winds, and He weigheth the waters by measure. -JOB Xxviii. 24, 25.

WHEN I was considering the planet Venus, and noting those circumstances in her condition which differ in the most marked manner from the corresponding circumstances in the case of the earth, I took occasion to point out that the Almighty has doubtless so provided for creatures living in Venus that the conditions which seem to us unfavourable are in perfect accordance with the requirements of the inhabitants of that planet. I might follow the same course in the case of Mars; but it appears to me that it will be well to take another view of the matter. I shall therefore invite the special attention of my readers to the unfitness of Mars to be the abode of such creatures, animal and vegetable, as exist upon our earth. In other words, I shall endeavour to show how admirably adapted the earth is to the wants of her inhabitants; for, in reality, this is the lesson to be learned from the unfitness of her nearest neighbours, Mars and Venus, to be the residence of terrestrial races. The reader will not forget, however, that all

which I shall thus urge must be interpreted in the way thus indicated; he must carefully bear in mind that the very circumstances of the condition of Mars, which I am to insist upon as unfavourable for terrestrial beings, are in all probability those which reasoning beings on Mars, if such exist, have the greatest reason for regarding as proofs of the beneficence of the Almighty towards the creatures inhabiting that planet.

I pass over for the moment the small supply of light and heat received by Mars, because the actual effect of the solar rays must depend partly on the nature and extent of the Martial atmosphere, which are not certainly known. I wish at present to deal only with known facts respecting Mars, so as to have nothing uncertain in this portion of my reasoning.

I take first, then, the length of the Martial year. Mars requires very nearly 687 days to complete the circuit of his path round the sun. In other words, his year exceeds ours by 322 days. If we imagine this year of Mars divided like ours into twelve months, each of these months would contain 57 or 58 days. Now, it is an interesting and significant circumstance that the constitution of the greater number of our vegetables, plants, &c., is specially adjusted to the length of our year. If our year were suddenly lengthened, even by but a single month, the vegetable world would be altogether disordered; the functions of plants,' as Whewell has said, 'would be entirely deranged, and the whole vegetable

kingdom involved in instant decay and rapid extinction.' It would be easy, though it would occupy a considerable amount of space, to show this by a multitude of instances. But I shall content myself with touching on an interesting circumstance in the natural history of plants, to which Linnæus was the first to call special attention. I refer to the fact that plants have each a special season for their various functions. Thus, if we consider the time of putting on leaves, the honeysuckle protrudes them in the month of January; the gooseberry, currant, and elder in the end of February or beginning of March; the willow, elm, and lime-tree in April; the oak and ash, which are always the latest among trees, in the beginning, or towards the middle, of May. In the same manner the flowering has its regular time: the mezereon and snowdrop push forth their flowers in February; the primrose in the month of March; the cowslip in April; the great mass of plants in May and June; many in July, August, and September; some not till the month of October, as the meadow saffron; and some not till the approach and arrival of winter, as the laurustinus and arbutus.' complete series of such instances would form what has been poetically termed a Calendar of Flora.'

The different plants require the same portion of time for the competition of their several changes, although each has its special time of year for throwing out leaves, flowering, budding, and so on. It is clear, then, that any considerable change in the length of the year would be

fatal to vegetable life. The first year of the new kind would be perhaps merely a year of confusion. As Whewell well remarks, 'What would become of the calendar of Flora if the year were lengthened or shortened by six months?' But the second year, or the third at latest, would bring about the destruction of nearly all the orders of plants now existing on our earth.

Whatever, then, may be the state of Mars as respects animal life, it is quite certain that all forms of vegetable life in Mars are unlike those existing on our earth. We may take it for granted that there is not a single plant now living in Mars which would thrive or even exist if it could be removed to our own earth.

The day in Mars differs so little in length from our own day, that it would be difficult to show that either animal or vegetable life in Mars would differ much on this account alone from such life on our earth. The Martial day exceeds our own by a little more than half an hour. Thus what has been called the Dial of Flora, or Flower-clock, in which the opening and closing of flowers mark the several hours, would be put very little out of order if our day changed to the Martial day. Probably nearly all flowers would adapt themselves readily enough to the change; though it is to be noticed that Whewell,' after a careful consideration of the evidence,

All that I quote from Whewell in the present paper has been taken from his Bridgewater Treatise on Astronomy,' not from his book on the Plurality of Worlds.'

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