3.8. CASSANDRA AND COSMOLOGY.
The water-jug being empty, Ayrault took it up, and,
crossing the ridge of a small hill, descended to a
running-brook. He had filled it, and was straightening
himself, when the stone on which he stood turned, and he
might have fallen, had not the bishop, of whose presence
he had been unaware, stretched out his hand and upheld
him.
"I thought you might need a little help," he said
with a smile, "and so walked beside you, though you knew
it not. Water is heavy, and you may not yet have become
accustomed to its Saturnian weight."
"Many thanks, my master," replied Ayrault, retaining
his hand. "Were it not that I am engaged to the girl I
love, and am sometimes haunted by the thought that in my
absence she may be forgetting
me, I should wish
to spend the rest of my natural life here, unless I could
persuade you to go with me to the earth."
"By remaining here," replied the spirit, with a sad
look, "you would be losing the most priceless
opportunities of doing good. Neither will I go with you;
but, as your distress is real, I will tell you of
anything happening on earth that you wish to know."
"Tell me, then, what the person now in my thoughts is
doing."
"She is standing in a window facing west, watering
some forget-me-nots with a small silver sprinkler which
has a ruby in the handle."
"Can you see anything else?"
"Beneath the jewel is an inscription that runs:
'By those who in warm July are born
A single ruby should be worn;
Then will they be exempt and free
From love's doubts and anxiety.'"
"Marvellous! Had I any doubts as to your prescience
and power, they would be dispelled now. One thing more
let me ask, however: Does she still love me?"
"In her mind is but one thought, and in her heart is
an image — that of the man before me. She loves you with
all her soul."
"My most eager wish is satisfied, and for the moment
my heart is at rest," replied Ayrault, as they turned
their steps towards camp. "Yet, such is my weakness by
nature, that, ere twenty-four hours have passed I shall
long to have you tell me again."
"I have been in love myself," replied the spirit,
"and know the feeling; yet to be of the smallest service
to you gives me far more happiness than it can give you.
The mutual love in paradise exceeds even the lover's love
on earth, for it is only those that loved and can love
that are blessed.
"You can hardly realize," the bishop continued, as
they rejoined Bearwarden and Cortlandt, "the joy that a
spirit in paradise experiences when, on reopening his
eyes after passing death, which is but the portal, he
finds himself endowed with sight that enables him to see
such distances and with such distinctness. The solar
system, with this ringed planet, its swarm of asteroids,
and its intra-Mercurial planets — one of which, Vulcan,
you have already discovered — is a beautiful sight. The
planets nearest the sun receive
such burning rays
that their surfaces are red-hot, and at the equator at
perihelion are molten. These are not seen from the
earth, because, rising or setting almost simultaneously
with the sun, they are lost in its rays. The great
planet beyond Neptune's orbit is perhaps the most
interesting. This we call Cassandra, because it would be
a prophet of evil to any visitor from the stars who
should judge the solar system by it. This planet is
nearly as large as Jupiter, being 80,000 miles in
diameter, but has a specific gravity lighter than Saturn.
Bode's law, you know, says, Write down 0, 3, 6, 12, 24,
48, 96. Add 4 to each, and get 4, 7, 10, 16, 28, 52,
100; and this series of numbers represents very nearly
the relative distances of the planets from the sun.
According to this law, you would expect the planet next
beyond Neptune to be about 5,000,000,000 miles from the
sun. But it is about 9,500,000,000, so that there is a
gap between Neptune and Cassandra, as between Mars and
Jupiter, except that in Cassandra's case there are no
asteroids to show where any planet was; we must, then,
suppose it is an exception to Bode's law, or that there
was a planet that has completely disappeared. As
Cassandra would be within the law
if there had been
an intermediary planet, we have good
prima facie
reason for believing that it existed. Cassandra takes,
in round numbers, a thousand years to complete its orbit,
and from it the sun, though brighter, appears no larger
than the earth's evening or morning star. Cassandra has
also three large moons; but these, when full, shine with
a pale-grey light, like the old moon in the new moon's
arms, in that terrestrial phenomenon when the earth, by
reflecting the crescent's light, and that of the sun,
makes the dark part visible. The temperature at
Cassandra's surface is but little above the cold of
space, and no water exists in the liquid state, it being
as much a solid as aluminum or glass. There are rivers
and lakes, but these consist of liquefied hydrogen and
other gases, the heavier liquid collected in deep Places,
and the lighter, with less than half the specific gravity
of ether, floating upon it without mixing, as oil on
water. When the heavier penetrates to a sufficient
depth, the interior being still warm, it is converted
into gas and driven back to the surface, only to be
recondensed on reaching the upper air. Thus it may
happen that two rains composed of separate liquids may
fall together. There being but little of
any other
atmosphere, much of it consists of what you might call
the vapour of hydrogen, and many of the well-known gases
and liquids on earth exist only as liquids and solids; so
that, were there mortal inhabitants on Cassandra, they
might build their houses of blocks of oxygen or chlorine,
as you do of limestone or marble, and use ice that never
melts, in place of glass, for transparence. They would
also use mercury for bullets in their rifles, just as
inhabitants of the intra-Vulcan planets at the other
extreme might, if their bodies consisted of asbestos, or
were in any other way non-combustibly constituted, bathe
in tin, lead, or even zinc, which ordinarily exist in the
liquid state, as water and mercury do on the earth.
"Though Cassandra's atmosphere, such as it is, is
mostly clear, for the evaporation from the rivers and icy
mediterraneans is slight, the brightness of even the
highest noon is less than an earthly twilight, and the
stars never cease to shine. The dark base of the rocky
cliffs is washed by the frigid tide, but there is
scarcely a sound, for the pebbles cannot be moved by the
weightless waves, and an occasional murmur is all that is
heard. Great rocks of ice reflect the light of the grey
moons, and never
a leaf falls or a bird sings. With
the exception of the mournful ripples, the planet is
silent as the grave. The animal and plant kingdoms do
not exist; only the mineral and spiritual worlds. I say
spiritual, because there are souls upon it; but it is the
home of the condemned in hell. Here dwell the
transgressors who died unrepentant, and those who were
not saved by faith. This is the one instance in which I
do not enjoy my developed sight, for I sometimes glance
in their direction, and the vision that meets me, as my
eyes focus, distresses my soul. Their senses are like an
imperfect mirror, magnifying all that is bad in one
another, and distorting anything still partially good
when that exists. All those things that might at least
distract them are hollow, their misery being the
inevitable result of the condition of mind to which they
became accustomed on earth and which brought them to
Cassandra. But let us turn to something brighter.
"Though the solar system may seem complex, the sun is
but a star among the millions in the Milky Way, and,
compared with the planetary systems of Sirius, the stars
of the Southern Cross, and the motions of the nebula, it
is simplicity itself.
Compared with the splendour
of Sirius, with its diameter of twelve million miles, the
sun, measuring but eight hundred and forty thousand,
becomes insignificant; and this giant's system includes
groups and clusters of planets, many with three times the
mass of Jupiter, five and six together, each a different
colour, revolving about a common centre, while they swing
about their primary. Their numerous moons have
satellites encircling them, with orbits in some cases at
right angles to the plane of the ecliptic, so that they
shine perpendicularly on what correspond to the arctic
and antarctic regions, while their axes are so inclined
that the satellites turn a complete somersault at each
revolution, producing glistening effects of ice and snow
at the poles. Some of the moons are at a red or white
heat, and so prevent the chill of night on the planets,
while they shine with more than reflected light. In
addition to the five or six large planets in each group,
which, however, are many millions of miles apart, there
is in some clusters a small planet that swings backward
and forward across the common centre, like a pendulum,
but in nearly a straight line; and while this
multiplicity of motion goes on,
the whole
aggregation sweeps majestically around Sirius, its mighty
sun. Our little solar system contains, as we know, about
one thousand planets, satellites, and asteroids large
enough to be dignified by the name of heavenly bodies.
Vast numbers of the stars have a hundred and even a
thousand times the mass of our sun, and their systems
being relatively as complex as ours — in some cases even
more so — they contain a hundred thousand or a million
individual bodies.
"Over sixty million bright or incandescent stars were
visible to the terrestrial telescopes a hundred years
ago, the average size of which far exceeds our sun. To
the magnificent telescopes of to-day they are literally
countless, and the number can be indefinitely extended as
your optical resources grow. Yet the number of stars you
see is utterly insignificant compared with the cold and
dark ones you cannot see, but concerning which you are
constantly learning more, by observing their effect on
the bright ones, both by perturbing them and by obscuring
their rays. Occasionally, as you know, a star of the
twelfth or fifteenth magnitude, or one that has been
invisible, flares up for several months to the fourth or
fifth,
through a collision with some dark giant, and
then returns to what it was in the beginning, a gaseous,
filmy nebula. These innumerable hosts of dark monsters,
though dead, are centres of systems, like most of the
stars you can see.
"A slight consideration of these figures will show
that, notwithstanding the number of souls the Creator has
given life on earth, each one might in fact have a system
to himself; and that, however long the little globe may
remain, as it were, a mint, in which souls are tried by
fire and moulded, and receive their final stamp, they
will always have room to circulate, and will be prized
according to the impress their faces or hearts must show.
But Sirius itself is moving many times faster than the
swiftest cannon ball, carrying its system with it; and I
see you asking, `To what does all this motion tend?' I
will show you. Many quadrillions of miles away, so far
that your most powerful telescopes have not yet caught a
glimmer, rests in its serene grandeur a star that we call
Cosmos, because it is the centre of this universe. Its
diameter is as great as the diameter of Cassandra's
orbit, and notwithstanding its terrific heat, its
specific gravity, on account of the irresistible pressure
at and near the centre,
is as great as that of the
planet Mercury. This holds all that your eyes or mine
can see; and the so-called motions of the stars — for we
know that Sirius, among others, is receding — is but the
difference in the rate at which the different systems and
constellations swing around Cosmos, though in doing so
they often revolve about other systems or swing round
common centres, so that many are satellites of satellites
many times repeated. The orbits of some are circular,
and of others elliptical, as those of comets, and some
revolve about each other, or, as we have seen, about a
common point while they perform their celestial journey.
A star, therefore, recedes or advances, as Jupiter and
Venus with relation to the earth. The planet in the
smaller orbit moves faster than that in the larger, so
that the intervening distances wax and wane, though all
are going in the same general direction. In the case of
the members of the solar system, astronomical record can
tell when even a most distant known planet has been in
opposition or conjunction; but the earth has scarcely
been habitable since the sun was last in its present
position in its orbit around Cosmos. The curve that our
system follows is of such radius that it would require
the
most precise observations for centuries to show
that it was not a straight line.
"We call this the universe because it is all that the
clearest eyes or telescopes have been able to see, but it
is only a subdivision — in fact, but a system on a vaster
scale than that of the sun or of Sirius. Far beyond this
visible universe, my intuition tells me, are other
systems more gigantic than this, and entirely different
in many respects. Even the effects of gravitation are
modified by the changed condition; for these systems are
spread out flat, like the rings of this planet, and the
ether of space is luminous instead of black, as here.
These systems are but in a later stage of development
than ours; and in the course of evolution our visible
universe will be changed in the same way, as I can
explain.
"In incalculable ages, the forward motion of the
planets and their satellites will be checked by the
resistance of the ether of space and the meteorites and
solid matter they encounter. Meteorites also overtake
them, and, by striking them as it were in the rear,
propel them, but more are encountered in front — an
illustration of which you can have by walking rapidly or
riding on horseback on a rainy day, in
which case
more drops will strike your chest than your back. The
same rule applies to bodies in space, while the
meteorites encountered have more effect than those
following, since in one case it is the speed of the
meteor minus that of the planet, and in the other the sum
of the two velocities. With this checking of the forward
motion, the centrifugal force decreases, and the
attraction of the central body has more effect. When
this takes place the planet or satellite falls slightly
towards the body around which it revolves, thereby
increasing its speed till the centrifugal force again
balances the centripetal. This would seem to make it
descend by fits and starts, but in reality the approach
is nearly constant, so that the orbits are in fact
slightly spiral. What is true of the planets and
satellites is also true of the stars with reference to
Cosmos; though many even of these have subordinate
motions in their great journey. Though the satellites of
the moons revolve about the primaries in orbits inclined
at all kinds of angles to the planes of the ecliptics,
and even the moons vary in their paths about the planets,
the planets themselves revolve about the stars, like
those of this system about the sun, in substantially the
same
plane; and what is true of the planets is even
more true of the stars in their orbits about Cosmos, so
that when, after incalculable ages, they do fall, they
strike this monster sun at or near its equator, and not
falling perpendicularly, but in a line varying but
slightly from a tangent, and at terrific speed, they
cause the colossus to rotate more and more rapidly on its
own axis, till it must become greatly flattened at the
poles, as the earth is slightly, and as Jupiter and
Saturn are a good deal. Even though not all the stars
are exactly in the plane of Cosmos's equator, as you can
see they are not there are as many above as below it, so
that the general average will be there; and as all are
moving in the same direction, it is not necessary for all
to strike the same line, those striking nearer the poles,
where the circles are smaller, and where the surface is
not being carried forward so fast by the giant's
rotation, will have even more effect in increasing its
speed, since it will be like attaching the driving-rods
of a locomotive near the axle instead of near the
circumference, and with enough power will produce even
greater results. As Cosmos waxes greater from the result
of these continual accretions, its attraction for the
stars will increase, until those coming
from the
outer regions of its universe will move at such terrific
speed in their spiral orbits that before coming in
contact they will be almost invisible, having already
absorbed all solid matter revolving about themselves.
These accessions of moving matter, continually received
at and near its equator, will cause Cosmos to spread out
like Saturn's rings till it becomes flat, though the
balance of forces will be so perfect that it is doubtful
whether an animal or a man placed there would feel much
change.
"But these universes — or, more accurately, divisions
of the universe — already planes, though the vast surfaces
are not so flat as to preclude beautiful and gently
rolling slopes, are spirit-lands, and will be inhabited
only by spirits. Then there are great phosphorescent
areas, and the colour of the surface changes with every
hour of the day, from the most brilliant crimson to the
softest shade of blue, radiant with many colours that
your eyes cannot now see. There are also myriads of
scented streams, consisting of hundreds of different and
multi-coloured liquids, each with a perfume sweeter than
the most delicate flower, and pouring forth the most
heavenly music as they go on their way. But be not
surprised at the magnitude
of the change, for is it
not written in Revelation, `I saw a new heaven and a new
earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were
passed away'? Nor can we be surprised at vastness,
sublimity, and beauty such as never was conceived of, for
do we not find this in His word, `Eye hath not seen, nor
ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man,
the things which God hath prepared for them that love
Him'? In this blissful state, those that feared God and
obeyed their consciences will live on forever; but their
rest can never become stagnation, for evolution is one of
the most constant laws, and never ceases, and they must
always go onward and upward, unspeakably blessed by the
consciences they made their rule in life, till in purity
and power they shall equal or exceed the angels of their
Lord in heaven.
But you men of finite understanding will ask, as I
myself should have asked, How, by the law of
hydrostatics, can liquids flow on a plane? Remember
that, though these divisions are astronomical or
geometrical planes, their surfaces undulate; but the
moving cause is this: At the centre of these planes is
a pole, the analogue, we will say, of the magnetic pole
on earth, that has a more effective attraction for
a
gas than for a liquid. When liquids approach the
periphery of the circle, the rapid rotation and decreased
pressure cause them to break up, whereupon the elementary
gases return to the centre in the atmosphere, if near the
surface, forming a gentle breeze. On nearing the centre,
the cause of the separation being removed, the gases
reunite to form a liquid, and the centrifugal force again
sends this on its journey."
"Is there no way," asked Bearwarden, "by which a man
may retrieve himself, if he has lost or misused his
opportunities on earth?"
"The way a man lays up treasures in heaven, when on
earth," replied the spirit, "is by gladly doing something
for some one else, usually in some form sacrificing self.
In hell no one can do anything for any one else, because
every one can have the semblance of anything he wishes by
merely concentrating his mind upon it, though, when he
has it, it is but a shadow and gives him no pleasure.
Thus no one can give any one else anything he cannot
obtain himself; and if he could, since it would be no
sacrifice on his part, he would derive no great moral
comfort from it. Neither can any one comfort any one
else by putting his acts or offences in a new light,
for every one knows the whole truth about himself and
everybody else, so that nothing can be made to appear
favourably or unfavourably. All this, however, is
supposing there is the desire to be kind; but how can
spirits that were selfish and ill-disposed on earth,
where there are so many softening influences, have good
inclinations in hell, where they loathe one another with
constantly increasing strength?
"Inasmuch as both the good and the bad continue on
the lines on which they started when on earth, we are
continually drawing nearer to God, while they are
departing. The gulf may be only one of feeling, but that
is enough. It follows, then, that with God as our limit,
which we of course can never reach, their limit, in the
geometrical sense, must be total separation from Him.
Though all spirits, we are told, live forever, it occurs
to me that in God's mercy there may be a gradual end; for
though to the happy souls in heaven a thousand years may
seem as nothing, existence in hell must drag along with
leaden limbs, and a single hour seem like a lifetime of
regret. Since it is dreadful to think that such
unsoothed anguish should continue forever, I have
often pondered whether it might not be that, by a
form of involution and reversal of the past law, the
spirit that came to life evolved from the, mineral,
plant, and animal worlds, may mercifully retrace its
steps one by one, till finally the soul shall penetrate
the solid rock and hide itself by becoming part of the
planet. Many people in my day believed that after death
their souls would enter stately trees, and spread abroad
great branches, dropping dead leaves over the places on
which they had stood while on earth. This might be the
last step in the awful tragedy of the fall and involution
of a human soul. In this way, those who had wasted the
priceless opportunities given them by God might be
mercifully obliterated, for it seems as if they would not
be needed in the economy of the universe. The Bible,
however, mentions no such end, and says unmistakably that
hell will last forever; so that in this supposition, as
in many others, the wish is probably father of the
thought."
"But," persisted Bearwarden, "how about death-bed
repentances?"
"Those," replied the spirit, "are few and far
between. The pains of death at the last hour leave but
little room for aught but vain regret. A man dies
suddenly, or may be unconscious some time before the
end. But they do occur. The question is, How much
credit is it to be good when you can do no more harm?
The time to resist evil and do that which is right is
while the temptation is on and in its strength. While
life lasts there is hope, but the books are sealed by
death. The tree must fall to one side or the other —
there is no middle ground — and as the tree falleth, so it
lieth.
"This, however, is a gloomy subject, and one that in
your heart of hearts you understand. I would rather tell
you more of the beauties and splendours of space — of the
orange, red, and blue stars, and of the tremendous
cyclonic movements going on within them, which are even
more violent than the storms that rage in the sun. The
clouds, as the spectroscope has already shown, consist of
iron, gold, and platinum in the form of vapour, while the
openings revealed by sun-spots, or rather star-spots, are
so tremendous that a comparatively small one would
contain many dozen such globes as the earth. I could
tell you also of the mysteries of the great dark
companions of some of the stars, and of the stars that
are themselves dark and cold, with naught but the
far
away constellations to cheer them, on which night
reigns eternally, and that far outnumber the stars you
can see. Also of the multiplicity of sex and
extraordinary forms of life that exist there, though on
none of them are there mortal men like those on the
earth.
"Nature, in the process of evolution, has in all
these cases gone off on an entirely different course, the
most intelligent and highly developed species being in
the form of marvellously complex reptiles, winged
serpents that sing most beautifully, but whose blood is
cold, being prevented from freezing in the upper regions
of the atmosphere by the presence of salt and chemicals,
and which are so intelligent that they have practically
subdued many of these dark stars to themselves. On
others, the most highly developed species have hollow,
bell-shaped tentacles, into which they inject two or more
opposing gases from opposite sides of their bodies,
which, in combination, produce a strong explosion. This
provides them with an easy and rapid locomotion, since
the explosions find a sufficient resistance in the
surrounding air to propel the monsters much faster than
birds. These can at pleasure make their breath
so
poisonous that the lungs of any creatures except
themselves inhaling it are at once turned to parchment.
Others can give their enemies or their prey an electric
shock, sending a bolt through the heart, or can paralyze
the mind physically by an effort of their wills, causing
the brain to decompose while the victim is still alive.
Others have the same power that snakes have, though
vastly intensified, mesmerizing their victims from afar.
Still others have such delicate senses that in a way
they commune with spirits, though they have no souls
themselves; for in no part or corner of the universe
except on earth are there animals that have souls. Yet
they know the meaning of the word, and often bewail their
hard lot in that no part of them can live when the heart
has ceased to beat.
"Ah, my friends, if we had no souls — if, like the
aesthetic reptilia, we knew that when our dust dissolved
our existence would be over — we should realize the
preciousness of what we hold so lightly now. Man and the
spirits and angels are the only beings with souls, and in
no place except on earth are new souls being created.
This gives you the greatest and grandest idea of the
dignity of life and its
inestimable value. But it
is as difficult to describe the higher wonders of the
stellar worlds to you as to picture the glories of sunset
to a blind man, for you have experienced nothing with
which to compare them. Instead of seeing all that really
is, you see but a small part."