It was
therefore quite natural that when the moon and planets were found
to be dark globes of a size comparable with that of the earth
itself, they were made the habitations of beings like unto
ourselves.
The trend of modern discovery has been against carrying this view
to its extreme, as will be presently shown. Before considering the
difficulties in the way of accepting it to the widest extent, let
us enter upon some preliminary considerations as to the origin and
prevalence of life, so far as we have any sound basis to go upon.
A generation ago the origin of life upon our planet was one of the
great mysteries of science. All the facts brought out by
investigation into the past history of our earth seemed to show,
with hardly the possibility of a doubt, that there was a time when
it was a fiery mass, no more capable of serving as the abode of a
living being than the interior of a Bessemer steel furnace. There
must therefore have been, within a certain period, a beginning of
life upon its surface. But, so far as investigation had gone--
indeed, so far as it has gone to the present time--no life has
been found to originate of itself. The living germ seems to be
necessary to the beginning of any living form.
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