Other Worlds - Their Nature, Possibilities and Habitability in the Light of the Latest Discoveries

Garrett Putman Serviss

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• Publié par: nefung
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 59
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

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Other Worlds, by Garrett P. Serviss
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Title: Other Worlds
Their Nature, Possibilities and Habitability in the Light of the Latest Discoveries
Author: Garrett P. Serviss
Release Date: May 22, 2006 [eBook #18431]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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OTHER WORLDS


BY GARRETT P. SERVISS.
OTHER WORLDS.
Their Nature and Possibilities in the Light
of the Latest Discoveries. Illustrated. 12mo.
Cloth, $1.20 net; postage additional.
No science has ever equaled
astronomy in its appeal to the
imagination, and recently popular
interest in the wonders of the starry
heavens has been stimulated by
surprising discoveries and imaginary
discoveries, as well as by a marked
tendency of writers of fiction to
include other worlds and their
possible inhabitants within the field
of romance.
Mr. Serviss's new book on "Other
Worlds, their Nature and
Possibilities in the Light of the Latest
Discoveries," summarizes what is
known. With helpful illustrations, the
most interesting facts about the
planets Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,
etc., as well as about the nearest of
all other worlds, the moon, are
presented in a popular manner, and
always from the point of view of
human interest—a point that is too
seldom taken by writers on science.
ASTRONOMY WITH AN OPERA-GLASS.
A Popular Introduction to the Study of the
Starry Heavens with the simplest of Optical
Instruments. Illustrated. 8vo. Cloth, $1.50.
"By its aid thousands of people who
have resigned themselves to theignorance in which they were left at
school, by our wretched system of
teaching by the book only, will thank
Mr. Serviss for the suggestions he
has so well carried out."—New York
Times.
PLEASURES OF THE TELESCOPE.
A Descriptive Guide to Amateur
Astronomers and All Lovers of the Stars.
Illustrated. 8vo. Cloth, $1.50.
"The volume will be found
interesting by those for whom it is
written, and will inspire many with a
love for the study of astronomy, one
of the most far-reaching of the
sciences."—Milwaukee Journal.
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW
YORK.
CHART OF MARS. After Schiaparelli.
Other Worlds
Their Nature, Possibilities and Habitability in the light of the
latest discoveries.
By GARRETT P. SERVISS
Author of
"Astronomy with an Opera-glass" and "Pleasures of the Telescope"
With Charts and Illustrations
"Shall we measure the councils of heaven by the narrow impotence
of human faculties, or conceive that silence and solitude reign
throughout the mighty empire of nature?"
—Dr. Thomas Chalmers.
New York
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
1901
Copyright, 1901,
By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.
TO
The Memory
OF
WILLIAM JAY YOUMANS.
PREFACE
The point of view of this book is human interest in the other worlds around us. It
presents the latest discoveries among the planets of the solar system, and
shows their bearing upon the question of life in those planets. It points out the
resemblances and the differences between the earth and the other worlds that
share with it in the light of the sun. It shows what we should see and experience
if we could visit those worlds.While basing itself upon facts, it does not exclude the discussion of interesting
probabilities and theories that have commanded wide popular attention. It
points out, for instance, what is to be thought of the idea of interplanetary
communication. It indicates what must be the outlook of the possible
inhabitants of some of the other planets toward the earth. As far as may be, it
traces the origin and development of the other worlds of our system, and
presents a graphic picture of their present condition as individuals, and of their
wonderful contrasts as members of a common family.
In short, the aim of the author has been to show how wide, and how rich, is the
field of interest opened to the human mind by man's discoveries concerning
worlds, which, though inaccessible to him in a physical sense, offer intellectual
conquests of the noblest description.
And, finally, in order to assist those who may wish to recognize for themselves
these other worlds in the sky, this book presents a special series of charts to
illustrate a method of finding the planets which requires no observatory and no
instruments, and only such knowledge of the starry heavens as anybody can
easily acquire.
G.P.S.
Borough of Brooklyn, New York City,
September, 1901.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY 1
Remarkable popular interest in questions concerning other worlds and
their inhabitants—Theories of interplanetary communication—The
plurality of worlds in literature—Romances of foreign planets—
Scientific interest in the subject—Opposing views based on telescopic
and spectroscopic revelations—Changes of opinion—Desirability of a
popular presentation of the latest facts—The natural tendency to regard
other planets as habitable—Some of the conditions and limitations of
the problem—The solar system viewed from outer space—The
resemblances and contrasts of its various planets—Three planetary
groups recognized—The family character of the solar system
CHAPTER II
MERCURY, A WORLD OF TWO FACES AND MANY CONTRASTS 18
Grotesqueness of Mercury considered as a world—Its dimensions,
mass, and movements—The question of an atmosphere—Mercury's
visibility from the earth—Its eccentric orbit, and rapid changes of
distance from the sun—Momentous consequences of these
peculiarities—A virtual fall of fourteen million miles toward the sun in
six weeks—The tremendous heat poured upon Mercury and its great
variations—The little planet's singular manner of rotation on its axis—
Schiaparelli's astonishing discovery—A day side and a night side—
Interesting effects of libration—The heavens as viewed from Mercury—
Can it support life?
CHAPTER III
VENUS, THE TWIN OF THE EARTH 46
A planet that matches ours in size—Its beauty in the sky—Remarkable
circularity of its orbit—Probable absence of seasons and stable
conditions of temperature and weather on Venus—Its dense and
abundant atmosphere—Seeing the atmosphere of Venus from the earth
—Is the real face of the planet hidden under an atmospheric veil?—
Conditions of habitability—All planetary life need not be of the
terrestrial type—The limit fixed by destructive temperature—Importance
of air and water in the problem—Reasons why Venus may be a more
agreeable abode than the earth—Splendor of our globe as seen from
Venus—What astronomers on Venus might learn about the earth—A
serious question raised—Does Venus, like Mercury, rotate but once in
the course of a revolution about the sun?—Reasons for and against
that view
CHAPTER IV
MARS, A WORLD MORE ADVANCED THAN OURS 85
Resemblances between Mars and the earth—Its seasons and its white
polar caps—Peculiar surface markings—Schiaparelli's discovery of the
canals—His description of their appearance and of their duplication—
Influence of the seasons on the aspect of the canals—What are the
canals?—Mr. Lowell's observations—The theory of irrigation—How the
inhabitants of Mars are supposed to have taken advantage of the
annual accession of water supplied by the melting of the polar caps—Wonderful details shown in charts of Mars—Curious effects that may
follow from the small force of gravity on Mars—Imaginary giants—
Reasons for thinking that Mars may be, in an evolutionary sense, older
than the earth—Speculations about interplanetary signals from Mars,
and their origin—Mars's atmosphere—The question of water—The
problem of temperature—Eccentricities of Mars's moons
CHAPTER V
THE ASTEROIDS, A FAMILY OF DWARF WORLDS 129
Only four asteroids large enough to be measured—Remarkable
differences in their brightness irrespective of size—Their widely
scattered and intermixed orbits—Eccentric orbit of Eros—the nearest
celestial body to the earth except the moon—Its existence recorded by
photography before it was discovered—Its great and rapid fluctuations
in light, and the curious hypotheses based upon them—Is it a fragment
of an exploded planet?—The startling theory of Olbers as to the origin
of the asteroids revived—Curious results of the slight force of gravity on
an asteroid—An imaginary visit to a world only twelve miles in diameter<