Of course, since one can imagine what he
chooses, it is possible to suppose inhabitants suited to existence in a
world composed only of whirling clouds, and a poet with the imagination
of a Milton might give us very imposing and stirring images of such
creatures and their chaotic surroundings, but fancies like these can
have no basis in human experience, and consequently can make no claim
upon scientific recognition.
Or, as an alternative, it might be assumed that Saturn is composed of
lighter elements and materials than those which constitute the earth and
the other solid planets in the more immediate neighborhood of the sun.
But such an assumption would put us entirely at sea as regards the forms
of organic life that could exist upon a planet of that description, and,
like Sir Humphry Davy in the Vision, that occupies the first chapter of
his quaintly charming Consolations in Travel, or, the Last Days of a
Philosopher, we should be thrown entirely upon the resources of the
imagination in representing to ourselves the nature and appearance of
its inhabitants. Yet minds of unquestioned power and sincerity have in
all ages found pleasure and even profit in such exercises, and with
every fresh discovery arises a new flight of fancies like butterflies
from a roadside pool. As affording a glimpse into the mind of a
remarkable man, as well as a proof of the fascination of such subjects,
it will be interesting to quote from the book just mentioned Davy's
description of his imaginary inhabitants of Saturn:
"I saw below me a surface infinitely diversified, something like that of
an immense glacier covered with large columnar masses, which appeared as
if formed of glass, and from which were suspended rounded forms of
various sizes which, if they had not been transparent, I might have
supposed to be fruit.
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