traveled in the path of human glory and civilization.
We have also endeavored to set forth in this humble volume the common
relation of all rational creatures of all worlds to one Infinite
Creator. We do not question the truth of this fact, and those who ask
for proof must wait to find it.
We hope that this book will be inspiring to every thoughtful mind who
loves to learn more and more of the great system of intelligent life of
which the human creatures of this world form one link in the chain. If
the reading of this volume should open to your mind numberless
suggestions and compel you to ask a host of questions, perhaps you will
do as we have done,--spend a long time in training your wings to be
swift enough to take the journey yourself. If you will not do this, you
must patiently wait until the clods of clay are shaken off, so that your
free spirit may go out to live the life more vast in other worlds.
We pray that the highest kind of good may result from the truths here
advanced. If this shall be accomplished, we shall have our best reward
for having given this book to the printing press.
Truly yours,
THE AUTHOR.
December, 1904.
INTRODUCTION.
It may seem like great exaggeration to say that this is one of the most
interesting and profitable books that has been placed upon the American
book market for many years. _It follows no old rut; it has found a new
path_, and the reader is permitted to walk in regions which he never saw
and of which he never read before. It is indeed a triumph of literary
genius to give a picture of intelligent life in other worlds upon a
scientific and philosophical basis. Other writers have attempted to give
a description of conditions on the Moon, Mars, or some other single
planet, but no one has succeeded in picturing the mysteries of life in a
number of star worlds with such a fascination as is here found.
Some one may say that the book is only a work of imagination, but we
challenge any one to produce a book that gives more timely thrusts at
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