ossible to determine the duration of
the rotation. Some astronomers even think that the Sun's close proximity
must have produced strong tides, that would, as it were, have
immobilized the globe of Mercury, just as the Earth has immobilized the
Moon, forcing it perpetually to present the same side to the Sun. From
the point of view of habitation, this situation would be somewhat
peculiar; perpetual day upon the illumined half, perpetual night upon
the other hemisphere, and a fairly large zone of twilight between the
two. Such a condition would indeed be different from the succession of
terrestrial days and nights.

As seen from Mercury, the Earth we inhabit would shine out in the starry
sky[9] as a magnificent orb of first magnitude, with the Moon
alongside, a faithful little companion. They should form a fine double
star, the Earth being a brilliant orb of first magnitude, and the Moon
of third, a charming couple, and admired doubtless as an enchanted and
privileged abode.

It is at midnight during the oppositions of the Earth with the Sun that
our planet is the most beautiful and brilliant, as is Jupiter for
ourselves. The constellations are the same, viewed from Mercury or from
the Earth.

But is this little solar planet inhabited? We do not yet know. We can
only reply: why not?

VENUS

When the sunset atmosphere is crimson with the glorious rays of the King
of Orbs, and all Nature assumes the brooding veil of twilight, the most
indifferent eyes are often attracted and captivated by the presence of a
star that is almost dazzling, and illuminates with its white and limpid
light the heavens darkened by the disappearance of the God of Day.

Hail, Venus, Queen of the Heavens! the "Shepherd's Star," gentle mother
of the loves, goddess of beauty, eternally adored and cherished, sung
and immortalized upon Earth, by poets and artists. Her splendid
brilliancy attracted notice from earliest antiquity, and we find her,
radiant and charming, in the works of the ancients, who erected altars
to her and adorned their poetry with her grace and beauty. Homer calls
her Callisto the Beautiful; Cicero names her Vesper, the evening star,
and Lucifer, the star of the morning--for it was with this divinity as
with Mercury. For a long while she was regarded as two separate planets,
and it was only when it came to be observed that the evening and the
morning star were always in periodic succession, that the identity of
the orb was r