Christiaan Huygens

“ Nor let any one say here, that there’s so much Villany and Wickedness in Man that we have thus magnified, that it’s a reasonable Doubt, whether he would not be so far from being the Glory and Ornament of the Planet that enjoys his Company, that he would be rather its Shame and Disgrace. For first, the Vices that most Men are tainted with, are no hindrance, but that those that follow the Dictates of true Reason, and obey the Rules of a rigid Virtue, are still a Beauty and Ornament to the Place that has the Happiness to harbour them. ”

“ For this reason, which he has no Foundation for, that as the Diameter of the Sun is to that of the Orbit of Saturn, which he makes to be as 1 to 2000, so is this Diameter to that of the Sphere of the fixed Stars. I cannot but wonder how such things as these could fall from so ingenious a Man, and so great an Astronomer. But I must be of the same Opinion with all the greatest Philosophers of our Age, that the Sun is of the same Nature with the fix’d Stars. And this will give us a greater Idea of the World, than all those other Opinions. The Stars have Planets about them like our Sun. ”

“ The Bowels of the Earth likewise contribute much to Man’s Happiness. For what Art and Cunning does he employ in finding, in digging, in trying Metals, and in melting, refining, and tempering them? And from Metals. What Skill and Nicety in beating, drawing or dissolving Gold, so as with inconsiderable Changes to make every Thing he pleases put on that noble Lustre? Of how many and admirable Uses is Iron? and how ignorant in all Mechanical Knowledge were those Nations that were not acquainted with it, so as to have no other Arms but Bows, Clubs, and Spears, made of Wood. ”

“ And that ’tis much more agreeable to the Wisdom of God, once for all to create of all sorts of Animals, and distribute them all over the Earth in such a wonderful and inconceivable way as he has, than to be continually obliged to new Productions out of the Earth? And what miserable, what helpless Creatures must these be, when there’s no one that by his Duty will be obliged, or by that strange natural fondness, which God has wisely made a necessary Argument for all Animals to take care of their own, will be moved to assist, nurse or educate them? ”

“ For what can be more amazing, than that one small Part of the Body should be so devised and framed, as by its means to show us the Shape, the Position, the Distance, and all the Motions, nay, and all the Colours, of a Body that is far remote from us, that it may appear the more distinct? And then the artful Composition of the Eye, drawing an exact Picture of the Objects without it, upon the concave Side of the Choroides, is even above all Admiration, nor is there any Thing in which God has more plainly manifested his excellent Geometry. ”

“ A Creature upon whose Account, and for whose Use, whatsoever the Earth brings forth seems to be provided. For every Thing here he converts to his own Ends. With the Trees, Stones, and Metals, he builds himself Houses: the Birds and Fishes he sustains himself with: and the Water and Winds he makes subservient to his Navigation, as he doth the sweet Smell and glorious Colours of the Flowers to his Delight. ”

“ It is the same in Beasts. So that both for their Happiness and Preservation it’s very probable the rest of the Planets are not without it. Certainly when I consider all these Things, how great, noble, and useful they are; when I consider what an admirable Providence it is that there’s such a Thing as Pleasure in the World, I can’t but think that our Earth, the smallest part almost of the Universe, was never design’d to monopolize so great a Blessing. And thus much for those Pleasures which affect our bodily Senses, but have little or no relation to our Reason and Mind. ”

“ But since ’tis certain that the Earth and Jupiter have their Water and Clouds, there is no Reason why the other Planets But not just like ours. should be without them. I can’t say that they are exactly of the same nature with our Water; but that they should be liquid their Use requires, as their Beauty does that they should be [28] clear. For this Water of ours, in Jupiter or Saturn, would be frozen up instantly by reason of the vast distance of the Sun. ”

“ These Sciences not contrary to Nature. But some Body may perhaps object, and that not without reason at first sight, that the Planetary Inhabitants it’s likely are destitute of all refined Knowledge, just as the Americans were before they had Commerce with the Europeans. For if one considers the Ignorance of those Nations, and of others in Asia and Africa equally barbarous, it will appear as if the main Design of the Creator in placing Men upon the Earth was that they might live, and, in a just sense of all the Blessings and Pleasure they enjoy, worship the Fountain of their Happiness ”

“ When therefore it is plain that under the general Name of Stars or Earth at the Creation, are comprehended all the Heavenly Bodies, even the Attendants upon Jupiter and Saturn, why must all that Multitude of Beings which the Almighty Creator has been pleased to place upon them, be excluded the Privilege, and not suffered to have a Share in the Expression? And these Men themselves can’t but know in what Sense it is that all things are said to be made for the Use of Man, not certainly for us to look at through a Telescope, for that’s very absurd. ”

“ We should want the wonderful Art of Writing, if its great Use and necessity in Commerce and War had not forced out the Invention. ’Tis to these we owe our Art of Sailing, our Art of Sowing, and most of those Discoveries of which we are Masters; and almost all the Secrets in experimental Knowledge. So that those very Things on account of which the Faculty of Reason seems to have been accused, are no small helps to its Advancement and Perfection. ”

“ And the Studies of Arts and Sciences cannot be said to be contrary to Nature, since in the search thereof they are employ’d: especially if we consider how great the natural, desire and love of Knowledge, rooted in all Men is. For it’s impossible this should have been given them upon no Design or Account. But they will urge, that if such a Knowledge is natural, if we were born for it, why are there so very few, especially in Astronomy, that prosecute these Studies? For Europe is the only Quarter of the Earth in which there have been any Advancements made in Astronomy. ”

“ Perhaps among the rational Creatures in the Planets there may some such distinction be observ’d in their Garb and Covering; a Thing in which Beasts seem to excel Men in here. Unless perhaps Men are born naked, for this reason to put them upon employing and exercising their Wits, in the inventing and making that Attire that Nature had made necessary for them. And ’tis this Necessity that has been the greatest, if not only occasion of all the Trade and Commerce, of all the Mechanical Inventions and Discoveries that we are Masters of. ”

“ We should not have known that the Moon is inlightned by the Sun’s Rays, nor what the Causes of the Eclipses of each of them are, nor a multitude of other Things brought to light by the late Discoveries in Astronomy. For what can a Man imagine more abstruse, or less likely to be known, than what is now as clear as the Sun? Whence it follows, that vigorous Industry, and piercing Wit were given Men to make Advances in the Search of Nature, and there’s no Reason to put any Stop to such Enquiries. ”

“ If a Man were admitted to a Survey of Jupiter or Venus, he would no doubt find as great a Number and Variety as he had at home. Let us then, that we may make as near a Guess at, and as reasonable a Judgment of the Matter as we can, consider the many Sorts, and the admirable Difference in the Shapes of our own Animals; running Great Variety of Animals in this Earth. ”

“ For if the Magnitude of the Planets was to be the Standard of their measure, there would be Animals in Jupiter ten or fifteen times larger than Elephants, and as much longer than our Whales, and then their Men must be all Giants in respect to us. Now tho’ I don’t see any so great Absurdity in this as to make it impossible, yet there is no reason to think it is really so, seeing Nature has not always ty’d her self to those Rules which we have thought more convenient for her: For example, the Magnitude of the Planets is not answerable to their distances from the Sun ”

“ In all these I can see no great reason that Man has to boast of the Pre-eminency of his Reason above Beasts and other Animals. For most of these Things they perform with greater Ease and Art than we, and some of them they have no need of. For that Sense of Virtue and Justice in which Man excels, of Friendship, Gratitude and Honesty, of what use are they, but either to put a stop to the Wickedness of Man, or to secure us from mutual Assaults and Injuries, Things wherein the Beasts want no Guide but Nature and Inclination? ”

“ That which makes me of this Opinion, that those Worlds are not without such a Creature endued with Reason, is, that otherwise our Earth would have too much the Advantage of them, in being the only part of the Universe that could boast of such a Creature so far above, not only Plants and Trees, but all Animals whatsoever: a Creature that has something Divine in him, that knows, and understands, and remembers such an innumerable number of Things ”

“ And certainly an amazing Thing it must be, all of a sudden to have the Sun intercepted and to become as dark as Midnight, without seeing any Cause of such an Accident. All which time their Moons are their only Comfort. The other half of the Year the Hemisphere T B V enjoys the same Light that T A U before did, and then this undergoes those long Eclipses that That before suffer’d. At the Equinoxes, when the Sun is in the same Plane with the Ring, the Inhabitants of Saturn cannot well perceive it: no not even we with our Glasses, by reason of its Darkness. ”

“ If you make the Hole twice as little in breadth, you will see the same in Saturn. And altho’ his Light be but the hundredth part of ours, yet you see it makes him shine tolerably bright in a dark Night. But in both these Planets, if there ever be any cloudy Days, it must be very dark in comparison of us; yet without doubt the Inhabitants have no more reason to complain of the want of Light, than our Owls and Batts, to whom the Twilight or the Night itself is more agreeable than the Brightness of the Day. ”

“ This Position of the Moons, in respect of their Planets, must occasion a great many very surprizing Appearances to their Inhabitants, if they have any, which is very doubtful, but may for the present be suppos’d. An enquiry into our Moon may serve for all the rest. Its Globe is divided into two Parts, in such a manner, that those who live on one Side never lose the sight of us, and those on the other never enjoy it. Except only some few who live on the Confines of each of these, who lose us, and see us again by turns. The Earth to them must seem The Astronomy of the Inhabitants of the Moon. ”

“ Now should we allow the Planets nothing but vast Deserts, lifeless and inanimate Stocks and Stones, and deprive them of all those Creatures that more plainly speak their Divine Architect, we should sink them below the Earth in Beauty and Dignity ”