Peter Parley's Wonders of the Earth, Sea, and Sky

by Samuel G. Goodrich

[C] Sir Charles Bell's Treatise on the Hand.

At distant periods of the earth's history, you may see the same sort of organs, and the same dependance of the creatures one on another. The fierce Icthyosaurus, and the sly, long-necked Plesiosaurus, had eyes, ears, tongues, and other parts, the same as our contemporaries; and they ate and digested their food, and moved from place to place, and preyed on each other in no other manner.

If our acquaintance with nature were much greater than it is, we should doubtless be able to bring proofs that there is no sort of stones, of vegetables, or of animals, nor any process or movement of the elements, in which we have not an interest. There is no fact that is not in some way or other connected with the whole, so as to influence its well-being.

VII. Not only are the creatures which inhabit the earth united together by bonds of similarity of structure and appetite, of common wants and enjoyments, and of mutual support; but we are also united with the boundless system of worlds which the night unveils to our view. The principle of gravitation, and the beneficent rays of the sun operating on the planets and their moons, throw over us a plain and obvious tie of brotherhood with the stars that we may see night after night making their way amongst the constellations, as they move in their orbits, distinguished by their steady light from the twinkling multitude of fixed stars. The law that unites us to them is the same as causes a drop of rain to descend, or a weary fly to settle on the earth.

It is not improbable, that the aerolites (if the theory which I hinted at in a former chapter be true) may be fragments of original matter, which have never been appropriated by any globe, and now sometimes pitch on one planet, and sometimes on another. If this be the case, we should be warranted in concluding that the matter of our solar system is everywhere the same, chemically considered, and is, therefore, governed by the same chemical laws; for the aerolites contain no substance which is not to be found far below the surface of the earth.

Some ignorant persons, in all ages of the world, have fancied that the relative positions of the stars to each other, at the moment of the birth of an individual, must have an influence upon his character and the future circumstances of his life. Thus arose what was called the science of astrology, and the practice of casting nativities; and in vulgar conversation it is not unfrequent for people, who do not know the origin of the expression, to "thank their stars," or to talk of their "unlucky stars," which arose from the prevalence of such a belief. This, I need hardly tell you, is all nonsense, from beginning to end; but you may now know that there is, in reality, quite as wonderful a connection, and as direct a one, between yourselves and the stars, as this which was fancied to exist.

VIII. But who can tell how wide the relationship of our earth and everything upon it is extended, through the agency of those wonderful principles Light, Heat, and Electricity? It may seem to you impossible, when I tell you that there is not a blade of grass or a flower on this earth, which may not, in its little degree, affect the climate of a star far beyond the limits of our solar system; but if you will consider the way in which the falling of dews is regulated, you will see that there are grounds for such a notion.

I must first tell you that it is a property of Heat, like Light, to radiate or expand itself in all directions, without limit; so that a heated body is always sending out its heat.

Now, this radiation is influenced by the surfaces of bodies: Heat will radiate more from a black rough surface than from a smooth white one, and a black body will therefore much sooner get cool than a white one, as I had occasion to tell you just now. The heat radiates rapidly from the leaves of vegetables, though from different kinds of plants in very different degrees, while from stones and dry wood it radiates very slowly.

Heat is also reflected, or turned back, by meeting with certain objects; and in this respect, too, it resembles light. You have possibly seen experiments showing this, made with polished metal mirrors.