new systems of milky ways or new universes, so immensely distant that
our most powerful telescopes cannot even resolve them into stars.

There are inhabited worlds so far from us that, if one could travel the
distance around our Earth in one second, he could proceed in one
direction, at this rate of speed, for twenty million years and yet see
far ahead of him the flickering lights of numberless other inviting
suns and worlds.

We cannot possibly grasp an idea of such infinite distances, neither can
we form any adequate conception of the long, long stretches between star
and star, which is the same as saying, between solar system and solar
system. In our Milky Way the stars seem to be crushed together into a
whitish jelly, but the awful truth looms up before us with all sublimity
that, although these stars seem to lie one upon another, they are
millions and trillions of miles apart.

In regard to our own solar system much speculation is rife as to the
existence of human creatures on the several larger planets. Theories of
all kinds have been advanced; some speculative or absurd, others so
plausible as to give rise to interesting questions, such as
communicating with Mars, and perhaps of taking a journey to the Moon.
These suggestions, while fanciful, awaken our interest and excite our
curiosity. Can any one predict the excitement that would prevail in our
world if a human creature from some other planet were suddenly to set
foot upon our soil? We would fling a thousand questions at him to learn
something of the strange realm from which he came.

And how great would be our amazement if we were to have the exalted
privilege of journeying to other worlds, seeing the types of human