their pristine energy before the days in which the ichthyosaurus flourished. This circumstance would perhaps have made the telescopic picture of the moon of that period vastly more interesting than any views of our satellite which are now to be obtained- No very great difference would have been noticeable between the planets of this remote antiquity and the planets of our skies. Venus would then, as now, have gone through that beautiful series of changes from the evening star to the morning star, and the intervals would have been much the same as they are at present. The moons of Jupiter, his belts and his orbit, would offer no striking variation from the Jupiter as now disclosed to astronomers. The rings of Saturn would probably have been much the same then as now, though it may be admitted that certain changes in the details of the Saturnian system have been thought to be in progress. As to what may have been the condition of the planet Mars, some million of years ago, we really have no idea. It is not improbable that the face of that globe would then have been very different from the globe which we now see. But the orbit in which Mars revolved even a million years ago would not have differed widely from that which it now traverses.
Speaking generally, we may say that the appearance of the planets, at all events to the unassisted eye, and also the movements of these bodies, would have been not unlike the corresponding phenomena which they now exhibit. Doubtless then, as now, comets must from time to time have flashed across the heavens; doubtless also meteors and showers of shooting stars must have rained down, perhaps in even greater abundance than they do at present. Probably solid meteorites may
