But then he would be open to the reply that
the organisms thus treated are in a torpid condition and deprived of all
activity until revived by the application of heat; and the picture of a
world in a state of perpetual sleep is not particularly attractive,
unless the fortunate prince who is destined to awake the slumbering
beauty can also be introduced into the romance.[5]
[Footnote 5: Many of the present difficulties about temperatures on the
various planets would be beautifully disposed of if we could accept the
theory urged by Mr. Cope Whitehouse, to the effect that the sun is not
really a hot body at all, and that what we call solar light and heat are
only local manifestations produced in our atmosphere by the
transformation of some other form of energy transmitted from the sun;
very much as the electric impulses carried by a wire from the
transmitting to the receiving station on a telephone line are translated
by the receiver into waves of sound. According to this theory, which is
here mentioned only as an ingenuity and because something of the kind so
frequently turns up in one form or another in popular semi-scientific
literature, the amount of heat and light on a planet would depend mainly
upon local causes.]
To an extent which most of us, perhaps, do not fully appreciate, we are
indebted for many of the pleasures and conveniences and some of the
necessities of life on our planet to its faithful attendant, the moon.
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