CHAPTER XIII.
How the Doctor delivered a course of lectures on the History of the Earth and its Inhabitants—Of the effects of his ghastly description—Of the attempt of two Hesperians to reach the Earth; and of its unsatisfactory result.
[At this point the doctor’s notes become very scanty: still the following facts may be readily gleaned from his memoranda. Hesperos was the abode of one hundred millions of rational and highly-cultured beings, incapable alike of increase or diminution in number, constrained to exist on the surface of the planet, and firmly believing in the existence of an intelligent Creator who, although in all his works which were accessible to them, he manifested unmistakable marks of benevolence, refused to speak to or hold any communication with his intelligent creation. And yet, for such communication they craved with all their soul and with all their strength. The vast temples erected in their cities to the Unknown God, and the solemn services held therein, as well as their intense devotion to all branches of natural science, alike indicated their longing to penetrate the mystery of the material world, and reach the spirit which they believed to lie behind.
The hopes which had been excited so many years earlier by the discovery of the immensity of the Universe when the cloud-screen was passed, had ended in bitter disappointment. Vastness of power on the part of the Maker had indeed been strongly illustrated; but, most certainly, no light had been thrown on any of his other attributes. So it is easy to understand the intensity of interest with which the news of an arrival from another world was received. That their visitor came from the earth was at once ascertained, as we have already seen, by his familiarity with the earth charts in the museum at Lucetta.
When this wonderful arrival was telegraphed at the metropolis, the world-parliament instantly met. It was resolved that a committee should be appointed at Lucetta, whose business should be, first, to learn the stranger’s language, and then to communicate to him a general description of Venus, and the leading facts in the history of her inhabitants, so as to enable him to bring before them the main points of agreement and difference in the conditions of life on the two planets. That these instructions were well carried out by the committee is manifest from the notes which have now been brought to light and translated into the English tongue.
As soon as this preliminary process was completed, the doctor was requested in his turn to give the Hesperians an account of the affairs of the earth; of its physical condition; of its irrational animals, supposing such to exist; of its rational animals, one of which they had seen; and lastly, to answer the great question of questions—Whether the terrestrial rational beings had any direct knowledge of the Maker of the whole.
On all of these points he delivered lectures in the cathedral of Lucetta, to a crowded audience of more than five thousand people. From the short notes in his pocket-book it is easy to gather his manner of treating the above subjects. Of course the reader will bear in mind the great intensity of his misanthropy.
He began by describing the physical condition of the earth’s surface, and contrasting it, much to its disadvantage, with that of Hesperos. In illustration of his malignant remarks, he seems to have made much use of the great terrestrial charts which had been constructed at the observatories. The awful polar climate of the earth came out very unfavourably when compared with that of the corresponding regions of Hesperos; as did also the burning heat of the torrid zone, unprotected from the solar rays by a permanent screen of cloud. He dilated, with much relish, on the phenomena of earthquakes, volcanoes, thunder and lightning, deluges, droughts, great sandy deserts, and other terrestrial peculiarities of a disagreeable character, which were quite unknown to the Hesperians.
As he approached the animal kingdom his spirits seem to have risen. The abundance on earth of loathsome and noxious types of animal life; their portentous fecundity; the formation of entire species which can live only by destroying and devouring the weaker and more defenceless, were happily contrasted with the innocent fauna of Hesperos, confined to a small number of harmless, frugivorous animals, in which the power of reproduction no more than sufficed to keep up the breed.
But when he came to explain the nature and circumstances of terrestrial rational life, Van Varken’s hatred of the Yahoos burst out in a description which seems to have filled the Hesperian congregation with horror and dismay. The entrance of the human being into life through the same reproductive process as that of the lower animals; the redundancy of procreative power, in respect of the means of subsistence, which is one of the curses of the race; their helpless infancy; their wretched education; their liability to horrible and torturing diseases; their early extinction by death; the low civilization in which the masses vegetate, leading the lives of cattle; their mutual hatred; their incessant wars—all of these topics, and many more of a similar nature, were expatiated upon by the doctor with a cheerful vehemence which much astounded his audience, and enhanced the contrast between all these abominations and social life in Hesperos.
As for the final question—that of the Maker of all—he began by hypocritically expressing his deep regret that his profession as a Doctor of Medicine rendered him but a badly qualified person as an expounder of theology; he also professed an earnest wish that a learned terrestrial Doctor of Divinity could be found to relieve him of such an uncongenial task. The reader will readily appreciate the sincerity of his aspirations after the help of a Yahoo divine.
He then proceeded to inform his audience that the inhabitants of the earth, not being included, as the Hesperians, in one vast empire, but being dispersed in a great number of independent nationalities, which varied very much in their degrees of civilization, had formed for themselves equally varying theological systems. That those who were in the lowest grades, either did not recognize the Maker at all, or, if they did recognize him, regarded him as a fiend who was only to be propitiated by offering him bloody sacrifices. That there was another system of religious belief, the followers of which were in a much higher state of civilization than those last spoken of, who held that all true believers (meaning themselves) would be ultimately admitted to a paradise of sensual delights, the most effectual passport being the extirpation, by the sword, of unbelievers (meaning all the rest). That another system, the followers of which were, perhaps, the most numerous of any, taught that the Maker would ultimately grant the boon of cessation of existence to his creatures, but only after they have undergone a long series of transmigrations into other forms of life.
At last he came to the form of religion which he described as that which, though not including the greatest number, is certainly professed by all of the most highly civilized types of humanity. Into the doctor’s exposition of the Christian faith we need not enter. Suffice it to say that when he came to the explicit statement—delivered with evident marks of delight—that the Maker designed the greater part of the human race to live everlastingly in excruciating torture by fire, the whole of the assembly rose simultaneously to their feet and left the cathedral. They would hear no more.
Every word of these extraordinary lectures was automatically taken down, and sent through the world as fast as delivered. The whole history of the earth contained therein fell like a thunderbolt on the Hesperians, who were quite unprepared for any such revelation of the Unknown. After this, the notes show that the doctor had many interviews and discussions with people from all parts, but no memoranda of them are to be found. Clearly, the result of his communications was an intensifying of the gloom which prevailed in Hesperos. The hopes of the people, which had been strongly excited by his arrival, were as suddenly changed to despondency. And no wonder; for, certainly, tidings of such a Maker as the Being depicted by their visitor, were not calculated to raise any enthusiastic delight.
Doubts seem to have sprung up among some of the Hesperians as to the perfect accuracy of his statements, which, as one or two of the leading journals pretty plainly hinted, might possibly be coloured by prejudice. So incredible, indeed, did some parts of his lectures appear, that two enterprising persons, then in the juvenescent period of life, volunteered to attempt the passage to the earth, if Van Varken would entrust them with the secret of transference. They wished to examine the terrestrial phenomena, both religious and temporal, for themselves.
Dr. Van Varken, who was much mortified at these suspicions as to his veracity, received them with some coolness. He made two objections to their proposal. First, he was under a pledge of secrecy to Mr. Homi, and, secondly, the attempt would be attended with extreme peril to themselves. For it was quite impossible to tell beforehand what region of the earth they might land in; and, if they chanced on an uncivilized nation, death by mortal lesion, and that beyond the salutary influence of the Hesperian pole, would be their nearly certain fate.
But his indignation at their unworthy suspicions, and his burning desire that an irrefragable proof of the truth of his statements might be afforded to the sceptics, by an actual inspection of the earth by two pairs of Hesperian eyes, at last overcame his scruples. He argued that, inasmuch as he himself had actually discovered the mode of passing the interplanetary space, he was, in that respect, bound by no promise to Mr. Homi; and that, having warned the adventurers of the risk they ran, his duty to them was discharged. So he gave way at last, and imparted the secret of interplanetary transference by the process of disintegration.
All in vain; the disintegration was effected at once without the slightest difficulty; but when that stage was reached the Hesperian polarity proved too strong for the terrestrial influence; overcame it instantly, and the two missionaries to the earth, to their very great chagrin, found themselves reintegrated, in perfect safety, at the South Pole of Venus, according to the ordinary Law. It was quite plain that the Hesperians were absolutely bound to their planet, and that escape, even if it were desirable, was hopeless.