Though Venus exhibits such pretty crescents in the telescope, yet
I must say that in other respects a view of the planet is rather
disappointing. Venus is adorned by such a very bright dress of sunbeams
that we can see but little more than those sunbeams, and we can hardly
make out anything of the actual nature of the planet itself. We can
sometimes discern faint marks upon the globe, but it is impossible
even to make a conjecture of what the Venus country is like. This is
greatly to be regretted, for Venus approaches comparatively close
to the earth, and is a world so like our own in size and other
circumstances that we feel a legitimate curiosity to learn something
more about her.
But the marks on the planet, though very faint, are still sufficiently
definite to have enabled some sharp-sighted astronomers to answer a
question of much interest. They have made it plain that in one most
important respect Venus is very unlike our Earth. Our globe, of course,
rotates on its axis once each day, but Venus requires no less than 225
days to complete each rotation. In fact, this planet rotates in such a
fashion that she always keeps the same face to the sun. The inhabitants
of Venus will therefore find that it is perennial day on one side of
this globe and everlasting night on the other.
Venus is one of the few globes which might conceivably be the abode
of beings not very widely different from ourselves. In one condition
especially--namely, that of weight--she resembles the earth so closely
that those bodies which we actually possess would probably be adapted,
so far as strength is concerned, for a residence on the sister planet.
Our present muscles would not be unnecessarily strong, as they would be
on the moon, nor should we find them too weak, as they would certainly
prove to be were we placed on one of the very heavy bodies of our
system. Nor need the temperature of Venus be regarded as presenting any
insuperable difficulties. She is, of course, nearer to the sun than
we are, but then climate depends on other conditions besides nearness
to the sun, so that the question as to whether Venus would be too hot
for our abode could not be readily decided. The composition of the
atmosphere surrounding the planet would be the most material point in
deciding whether terrestrial beings could live there. I think it to
be in the highest degree unlikely that the atmosphere of Venus should
chance to suit us in the requisite particulars, and therefore I think
there is not much likelihood that Venus is inhabited by any men, women,
or children resembling those on this earth.