Another World Part 32

Electricity, chemistry, the knowledge of sun electricity and of the sciences generally, had, under my system, made such marvellous strides as to convince me that an instrument might be made not only to see the stars more plainly, but to view, in some cases, their interior.

As was my wont on such occasions, I a.s.sembled together all the great electricians, scientific sun-attractors, mathematicians, oculists, opticians, and the heads of science generally; and, after many years, my own particular Star Instrument was constructed.

Although this instrument is circular, and has numerous gla.s.ses, it differs materially from your telescopes. Electrical combinations play an important part in its operations, and for the minute examination of different worlds, a different diffusion of electricities is necessary.

The variation is regulated not by the distance, but by the difference in the attracting power of the star, and often, through the peculiar nature of its electricity, greater power is required to view minutely a planet much nearer to Montalluyah than is needed for one more distant.

The secrets revealed to me were so great, that when I first looked through the instrument in all its power I fainted.

With the aid of the Star Instrument I discovered the const.i.tution of the sun, and of many of the stars and their inhabitants. Numbers of the stars have atmospheres different from that of the earth and Montalluyah.

Many are inhabited by beings, of whom some partake of our nature; some are of a nature and consistency entirely different to ours; some can only give effect to their will through a material medium; some possess creative powers, and can, by the sole exercise of will, invent the most lovely forms of beauty, and transmit themselves to immeasurable distances with the rapidity of thought.

The superiority of these in power and intelligence over man in his present state is far greater than is the superiority of man over the insect, which can as little understand the human soul as man with unaided powers can comprehend the Beings of whom I have spoken.

My Star Instrument, however, can only bring to light those Beings who, to a certain extent at least, possess a material form, though of a consistency as subtle as electricity. But the instrument does not possess the power of rendering visible those Superior Beings, whom no man in his ordinary state is permitted to see through a material medium.

He only can see them even in visions who is blessed with a superior order of light--light in power and beauty far excelling the concentrated light known to us--a light like that which was sometimes vouchsafed to your Holy Prophets! And unless a person be inspired with a portion at least of that immortal light, the brightness, power, and glory of these orders of Beings, or their ways, can neither be seen, understood, nor even imagined.

The discoveries made through the Star Instrument, however, are too numerous to relate at present. I must limit myself now to little more than a few particulars relating to the sun.

THE SUN-OCEAN AND MOUNTAINS.

The Sun is a ma.s.s consisting of an immense ocean, surrounded by burning mountains of fire so huge that it would be difficult to speak of their extent, each mountain seeming to be a world in immensity!

I could perceive some portion of the mountains at intervals disengaged from the fire. The rocks seen between the flames are, with, their varied colours, magnificent beyond anything that your language can convey; though I have seen similar colours, but of far less intensity, in some of our gorgeous sunsets.

CONTINENTS.

In the midst of the Sun-Ocean there is a very large continent, besides many of smaller size, which, relatively to the larger, might be called islands. These continents are separated by seas from the large continent and from each other, and are all thickly populated by beings which, though human, are somewhat differently formed from ordinary man.

The continents, though immense, are, even in their aggregate ma.s.s, small in comparison with the hugeness of the Sun-Ocean. The nearest is at an immeasurable distance from the mountains; and the ocean is only navigable at certain distances from the outer continents.

HURRICANES.

From a circle surrounding, but at an immense distance from the most extreme of the continents, this great Sun-Ocean throws off currents of wind, terrific in their fury, in the direction of the burning mountains.

Your tempest would give but a puny idea of the force of these winds, which indeed exceeds anything known even in my planet, where the hurricanes are terrific.

The winds are attracted, and their fury is increased, by the extreme heat of the burning mountains.

The ocean struggles, as it were, to quench the fire, while the fire contends with the ocean, which raises its head, as though threatening to cover the topmost mountains. However, the wind, blowing with redoubled force, supports the energy of the fire. The power and brilliancy of the burning ma.s.s are intensified by reflection in the huge Sun-Ocean.

There are reparatory powers always at work to supply the waste caused by never-ceasing combustion. There is, besides, a constant interchange of electricities between the ocean and the burning mountains, the upheaving from the ocean bed having probably some connection with the reparatory powers.

It has been ascertained, I should say, in Montalluyah that fire is produced by the union of certain electricities with a peculiar gas; and it is believed that these electricities are constantly attracted to the mountains, where they maintain combustion, and that when their nature is changed by the process, they attract other electricities with which they combine, and the compound electricity a.s.sists in replenishing the material that attracts the necessary elementary forces to support combustion.

The effect of the burning mountains on the continents in the Sun-Ocean is mitigated by the direction of the winds and other causes, but the heat is nevertheless fiery in its intensity.

Every planet has an electricity of its own, more or less sympathetic to the sun, and, consequently, more or less powerful in attracting his rays. Many planets at a greater distance feel his heat more than others less remote. There are stars where the sun is not even seen, but where, through the effect of his influence, there is perpetual spring.

In my planet the sun, even in material form, presents to the naked eye an aspect different to yours. It not only seems to be much larger, but one of its extremities has a globular form, whilst the rest presents the appearance of a large ma.s.s ending in three long peaks or indentations.

Although so different in appearance, it is the same sun that illumines your earth.

Most of the stars are wholly or partly girded and intersected by seas, which a.s.sist in giving them, their luminous and twinkling appearance. To us your earth has the appearance to the-naked eye of two separate brilliant stars.

COMETS.

Comets are stars where large bodies of the waters have overflowed, rarefied and distended by electrical attractions and repulsions. The overflowing of the waters often makes the star visible when it would otherwise pa.s.s unperceived.

Some of these overflowings take place periodically; others are the result of what may be called accident. It is probable that your world, at the Flood, appeared like a comet to the inhabitants of other terrestrial stars where, till then, it had been invisible.

There are huge ma.s.ses of water in s.p.a.ce corresponding to the expression of "the waters which are above the firmament," and many of these ma.s.ses of water appear like stars when seen from our planet.

The great Star Instrument had brought to my view the palpable features of the Sun and the other planets. By means, not unlike those to which you are indebted for these communications, I acquired the knowledge of other facts which from their nature are not within the immediate scope of the instrument, but which were often confirmed by and served to explain many facts which the instrument itself had revealed. I used for good ends the knowledge thus vouchsafed me, and was from time to time rewarded with further revelations rich with hints which greatly aided me in perfecting the measures I had initiated for the REGENERATION of the WORLD entrusted to my charge.

THE END.