Heavenly Bodies: Their Nature and Habitability

Few subjects could be mentioned more remote from the common interests and pursuits of life than what has been usually called the “plurality of worlds,” an expression now so long restricted to one well-ascertained meaning as to have lost any ambiguity that might have been charged upon it. The question is one of mere curiosity, and leads to no direct result; but it has always carried with it an attraction irrespective of its unpractical nature, and has exercised the ingenuity of so many minds that