thing which seems like an indication of life on Mars. Others are equally anxious that our little Earth should be the only place in the whole universe with life upon it; does not this seem rather selfish? Yet a very great and unselfish man, who helped to make one of the greatest of scientific discoveries, has written a big book to try and establish this fact—that this little Earth of ours is the only place in the whole universe on which there is life. All the thousands of millions of stars in the sky may be suns like ours, and each of them may have many planets circling round it as we circle round the Sun, and yet Mr. Alfred Russel Wallace sincerely believes that there is not a sign of life on any of those thousands of millions!
You see there are very different views about Mars and whether it is inhabited; and if we wish to be a good jury we must listen to both sides carefully. But we have not time to do so in this brief hour; all we can do is to notice that there is evidence on both sides, so that we may be careful not to make up our minds too quickly. If you wish to make up your mind at all you ought to read a good many books but it is easier not to make up one's mind at all, and sometimes that is the best plan. Another plan is to get some one to make up your mind for you, and perhaps you hope that I will do it by telling you what I think. I don't feel sure that that would be a good plan in any case, but one thing makes it impossible to act upon, I have not made up my mind myself. At least I have not made it up about Mars. On the big question raised by Mr. Wallace, whether our little Earth is the only place for life, I have made it up;
