The Plurality of Worlds. William Whewell

of the earth, as we descend from the highest to the lowest, are distinguished in general by characteristic or organic fossils, and that these forms of organization are different from those which now live on the earth, are truths as clearly and indisputably established in the minds of those who have the requisite knowledge of geology and natural history, as that the planets revolve round the sun, and satellites round the planets. That these epochs of creation are something quite different from anything which we now see taking place on the earth, no more disturbs the belief of those facts, which scientific explorers entertain, than the seemingly obvious difference between the nebulæ which are regarded as yet unformed planetary systems, and the solar system to which our earth belongs, disturbs the belief of astronomers, that such nebulæ, as well as our system, really exist. Indeed we may say, as we shall hereafter see, that the fact of our earth having passed through the series of periods of organic life which geologists recognize, is, hitherto, incomparably better established, than the fact that the nebulæ, or any of them, are passing through a series of changes, such as may lead to a system like ours; as some eminent astronomers in modern times have held. In this respect, the history of the world, and its place in the universe, are far more clearly learnt from geology than from astronomy.

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      It is quite to our purpose to recollect the impression which such discoveries naturally make upon a pious mind.

      Oh! rack me not to such extent,

      These distances belong to Thee;

      The world's too little for Thy tent,

      A grave too big for me!

George Herbert.

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It is quite to our purpose to recollect the impression which such discoveries naturally make upon a pious mind.

Oh! rack me not to such extent,These distances belong to Thee;The world's too little for Thy tent,A grave too big for me!George Herbert.

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This thought is, however, older. Young expresses it in his Night Thoughts, Night IX., (published in 1744):

How distant some of these nocturnal suns!So distant (says the sage) 'twere not absurdTo doubt if beams, set out at nature's birth,Are yet arrived at this so foreign world.

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Populäre Vorlesungen über Wissenschaftliche Gegenstände, p. 31.