Mercury being so much nearer to the Sun than the Earth, he receives,
it is supposed, seven times more heat than the earth. Mrs. Somerville
says: “On Mercury, the mean heat arising from the intensity of the
sun’s rays must be above that of boiling quicksilver, and water would
boil even at the poles.” But he may be provided with an atmosphere
so constituted as to absorb or reflect a great portion of the
superabundant heat; so that his inhabitants (if he have any) may enjoy
a climate as temperate as any on our globe.