But those beings
who are before you, and who appear to you almost as imperfect in their
functions as the zoophytes of the polar sea, to which they are not
unlike in their apparent organization to your eyes, have a sphere of
sensibility and intellectual enjoyment far superior to that of the
inhabitants of your earth. Each of those tubes, which appears like the
trunk of an elephant, is an organ of peculiar motion or sensation. They
have many modes of perception of which you are wholly ignorant, at the
same time that their sphere of vision is infinitely more extended than
yours, and their organs of touch far more perfect and exquisite.'"
After descanting upon the advantages of Saturn's position for surveying
some of the phenomena of the solar system and of outer space, and the
consequent immense advances that the Saturnians have made in
astronomical knowledge, the Genius continues:
"'If I were to show you the different parts of the surface of this
planet you would see the marvelous results of the powers possessed by
these highly intellectual beings, and of the wonderful manner in which
they have applied and modified matter. Those columnar masses, which seem
to you as if rising out of a mass of ice below, are results of art, and
processes are going on within them connected with the formation and
perfection of their food. The brilliant-colored fluids are the results
of such operations as on the earth would be performed in your
laboratories, or more properly in your refined culinary apparatus, for
they are connected with their system of nourishment.
Pages:
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143