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Full text of "Our place among infinities. A series of essays contrasting our little abode in space and time with the infinities around us"

OUR PLACE AMONG INFINITIES. 



A SERIES OF ESSAYS 

CONTRASTING OUR LITTLE ABODE IN SPACE AND 
TIME WITH THE INFINITIES AROUND US. 



TO WHICH ARE ADDED ESSAYS ON 

THE JEWISH SABBATH AND ASTROLOGY. 



BY 
RICHD. A. PROCTOR, 

AUTHOR OF " SATURN AND ITS SYSTEM," " THE UNIVERSE," " THE EXPANSE 
OP HEAVEN," ETC, ETC 



" Nous n'avons point la mesure de cette machine immense ; nous n'en pouvons 
calculer les rapports ; nous n'en connaissons ni les premieres lois, ni la cause finale." 

J. J. ROUSSKAU. 

" Freue dich, h5chstes Geschopf der Natur, du fuhlest dich fahig, 
Ihr den hochsten Gedanken, zu dera sie schaffend sich aufschwang, 
Nachzudenken." 

GOETHE. 



NEW YORK: 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 

549 AND 551 BROADWAY. 
1876. 



SRLF 
YRL 

*/45IS52\ 

PREFACE. 



THIS work takes its name from the essays occupying the 
first seventy pages of the book ; but the later essays, as 
shewing the nature of those parts of the universe which 
lie nearest to us, are properly included under the same 
title. Even those on Astrology and the Jewish Sabbath 
belong to the discussion of our place among infinities ; 
for it was their ignorance of the earth's place among 
infinities, which led the ancients to regard the heavenly 
bodies as ruling, favourably or adversely, the fates of men 
and nations, and to dedicate the days in sets of seven to 
the seven planets of their astrological system. 

It will be seen, that my views respecting the interesting 
question of life in other worlds have changed considerably 
since I wrote the work bearing that title. I still consider 
that work a sound exposition of the theory of the plurality 
of worlds, though I consider that the weight of evidence 
favours my theory of the (relative) paucity of worlds. 

RICHD. A. PROCTOR. 

Sept. 27, 1875. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

PAST AND FUTURE OF THE EARTH, .... 1 

SEEMING WASTES IN NATURE, .... 35 

NEW THEORY OF LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS, ... 45 
A MISSING COMET, . . . . . .71 

THE LOST COMET AND ITS METEOR TRAIN, ... 91 

JUPITER, ....... 109 

SATURN AND ITS SYSTEM, ..... 128 

A GIANT SUN, ...... 156 

THE STAR DEPTHS, ...... 182 

STAR GAUGING, ...... 218 

SATURN AND THE SABBATH OF THE JEWS, . . . . 290 

THOUGHTS ON ASTROLOGY, ..... 314 

NOTE Most of these Essays have been reprinted from current 
periodicals. 



THE PAST AND FUTURE OF OUR EARTH * 

" Ut his exordia primis 

Omnia, et ipse tener Mundi concreverit orbis. 
Turn durare solum, et discludere Nerea ponto 
Coeperit, et rerum paullatim sumere fonnas." 

VIRGIL. 

THE subject with which I am about to deal is associated 
by many with questions of religion. Let me premise, 
however, that I do not thus view it myself. It seems to 
me impossible to obtain from science any clear ideas 
respecting the ways or nature of the Deity, or even 
respecting the reality of an Almighty personal God. 
Science deals with the finite though it may carry our 
thoughts to the infinite. Infinity of space and of matter 
occupying space, of time and of the processes with which 
time is occupied, and infinity of energy as necessarily 
implied by the infinities of matter and of the operations 

* This essay presents the substance of a lecture delivered in New York 
on April 3, 1874, being the first of a subsidiary series in which, of set 
purpose (and in accordance with the request of several esteemed friends), 
I dealt less with the direct teachings of astronomy, which had 
occupied me in a former series, than with ideas suggested by astronomi- 
cal facts, and more particularly by the discoveries made during the 
last quarter of a century. 



2 Our Place among Infinities. 

affecting matter, these infinities science brings clearly 
before us. For science directs our thoughts to the finites 
to which these infinites correspond. It shows us that 
there can be no conceivable limits to space or time, and 
though finiteness of matter or of operation may be conceiv- 
able, there is manifest incongruity in assuming an infinite 
disproportion between unoccupied and occupied space, or 
between void time and time occupied with the occurrence 
of events of what sort soever. So that the teachings of 
science bring us into the presence of the unquestionable 
infinities of time and of space, and the presumable infin- 
ities of matter and of operation, hence, therefore, into 
the presence of infinity of energy. But science teaches us 
nothing about these infinities, as such. They remain 
none the less inconceivable, however clearly we may be 
taught to recognise their reality. Moreover, these infinites, 
including the infinity of energy, are material infinities. 
Science tells us nothing of the infinite attributes of an 
Almighty Being ; it presents to us no personal infinites, 
whether of Power, Beneficence, or Wisdom. Science may 
suggest some ideas on these points ; though we perceive 
daily more and more clearly that it is unsafe to accept as 
her teaching ideas which commonly derive their colouring 
from our own prepossessions. And assuredly, as respects 
actual facts, Science in so far as she presents personal 
infinity to us at all, presents it as an inconceivable, like 
those other inconceivable infinities, with the finites 
corresponding to which her operations are alone directly 
concerned. To speak in plain terms so far as Science 



The Past and Future of our Earth. 3 

is concerned, the idea of a personal God is inconceivable,* 
as are all the attributes which religion recognizes in such 
a Being. On the other hand, it should be admitted as 
distinctly, that Science no more disproves the existence of 
infinite personal power or wisdom than she disproves the 
existence of infinite material energy (which on the contrary 
must be regarded as probable) or the existence of infinite 
space or time (which must be regarded as certain). 

So much premised, we may proceed to inquire into the 
probable past and future of our earth, as calmly as we 
should inquire into the probable past and future of a 
pebble, a weed, or an insect, of a rock, a tree, or an animal, 
of a continent, or of a type whether of vegetable or of 
animal life. The beginning of all things is not to be reached, 
not appreciably to be even approached, by a few steps 
backward in imagination, nor the end of all things by a 
few steps forward. Such a thought is as unfounded as 
was the fear of men in old times that by travelling too 
far in any direction they might pass over the earth's edge 
and be plunged into the abyss beyond, as unreasonable 

* I mean these words to be understood literally. To the man of 
science, observing the operation of second causes in every process with 
which his researches deal, and finding no limit to the operation of such 
causes however far back he may trace the chain of causation, the idea of a 
first cause is as inconceivable in its relation to observed scientific facts as 
is the idea of infinite space in its relation to the finite space to which the 
observations of science extend. Yet infinite space must be admitted ; 
nor do I see how even that man of science who would limit his thoughts 
most rigidly to facts, can admit that all things are of which he thinks, 
without having impressed upon him the feeling that, in some way he 
cannot understand, these things represent the operation of Infinite 
Purpose. Assuredly we do not avoid the inconceivable by assuming as 
at least possible that matter exists only as it affects our perceptions. 



4 Our Place among Infinities. 

as was the hope that by increase of telescopic range 
astronomers could approach the imagined " heavens above 
the crystalline." 

In considering the probable past history of the earth, we 
are necessarily led to inquire into the origin of the solar 
system. I have already sketched two theories of the 
system, and described the general facts on which both 
theories are based. The various planets circle in one 
direction around the sun, the sun rotating in the same 
direction, the satellite families (with one noteworthy but 
by no means inexplicable exception) travelling round their 
primaries in the same direction, and all the planets whose 
rotation has been determined still preserving the same 
direction of circulation (so to speak). These relations 
seem to point, in a manner there is no mistaking, to a 
process of evolution by which those various parts of the 
solar system which now form discrete masses were de- 
veloped from a former condition characterized by a certain 
unity as respects the manner of its circulation. One 
theory of this process of evolution, Laplace's, implies the 
contraction of the solar system from a great rotating 
nebulous mass ; according to the other theory, the solar 
system, instead of contracting to its present condition, was 
formed by a process of accretion, due to the indrawing of 
great flights of meteoric and cometic matter. 

I need not here enter at length, for I have already done 
so elsewhere, into the astronomical evidence in favour of 
either theory ; but it will be well to present briefly some 
of the more striking facts. 



The Past and Future of our Earth. 5 

Among the various forms of nebulae (or star-cloudlets) 
revealed by the telescope, we find many which seem, to 
accord with our ideas as to some of the stages through 
which our solar system must have passed in changing 
from the nebulous condition to its present form. The 
irregular nebulae, such, for instance, as that wonderful 
nebula in the Sword of Orion, shew by their enormous 
extension the existence of sufficient quantities of gaseous 
matter to form systems as large and as massive as our 
own, or even far vaster. We know from the teachings of 
the spectroscope that these irregular nebulas do really con- 
sist of glowing gas (as Sir W. Herschel long since sur- 
mised), hydrogen and nitrogen being presumably present, 
though the spectrum of neither gas appears in its com- 
plete form (one line only of each spectrum being shewn, 
instead of the sets of lines usually given by these gases). 
An American physicist has suggested that hydrogen and 
nitrogen exist in the gaseous nebulae in an elementary 
condition, these gases really being compound, and he 
suggests further that all our so-called elements may have 
been derived from those elementary forms of hydrogen and 
nitrogen. In the absence of any evidence from observation 
or experiment, these ideas must be regarded as merely 
speculative ; and I think that we arrive here at a point 
where speculation helps us as little as it does in attempting 
to trace the evolution of living creatures across the gap 
which separates the earliest forms of life from the 
beginning itself of life upon the earth. Since we cannot 
hope to determine the real beginning of the earth's history, 



6 Our Place among Infinities. 

we need not at present attempt to pass back beyond the 
earliest stage of which we have any clear information. 

Passing from the irregular nebulae, in which we see 
chaotic masses of gaseous matter occupying millions of 
millions of cubic miles and scattered as wildly through 
space as clouds are scattered in a storm-swept air, we 
come to various orders of nebulae in which we seem to 
find clear evidence of a process of evolution. We see 
first the traces of a central aggregation. This aggregation 
becomes more and more clearly defined, until there is no 
possibility of mistaking its nature as a centre having 
power (by virtue of the quantity of matter contained in it) 
to influence the motions of the matter belonging to the rest 
of the nebula. Then, still passing be it remembered from 
nebula to nebula, and only inferring, not actually witness- 
ing, the changes described, we see a subordinate aggrega- 
tion, wherein, after a while, the greater portion of the 
mass of the nebula outside the central aggregation 
becomes gathered, even as Jupiter contains the greater 
portion of the mass of the solar system outside the central 
sun.* Next we see a second subordinate aggregation, 
inferior to the first, but comprising, if we judge from its 
appearance, by far the greater portion of what remained 
after the first aggregation had been formed, even as 
Saturn's mass far exceeds the combined mass of all the 
planets less than himself, and so comprises far the greater 
portion of the solar system after account has been taken 

* The mass of Jupiter exceeds, in the proportion of five to two, the 
combined mass of all the remaining planets. 



The Past and Future of our Earth. 7 

of Jupiter and the sun.* And we may infer that the 
other parts of nebulae contain smaller aggregations not 
perceptible to us, out of which the smaller planets of the 
developing system are hereafter to be formed. 

Side views of some of these nebulae indicate a flatness 
of figure agreeing well with the general tendency of the 
members of the solar system towards the medial plane of 
that system. For the solar system may be described as 
flat, and if the nebulae I have been dealing with (the 
spiral nebulae with aggregations) were globular we could 
not recognise in them the true analogues of our solar 
system in the earlier stages of its history. But the 
telescope reveals nebulae manifestly corresponding in 
appearance to the great whirlpool nebula of Lord Rosse, 
as it would appear if it is a somewhat flattened spiral and 
could be viewed nearly edgewise. 

And here I may pause to note that, although, in thus 
inferring progressive changes where in reality we have 
but various forms of nebulae, I have been adopting an 
assumption and one which no one can hope either to verify 
or to disprove, yet it must be remembered that these 
nebulae by their very figure indicate that they are not at 
rest. If they consist of matter possessing the attribute of 
gravitation, and it would be infinitely more daring to 
assert that they do not than that they do, then they 
must be undergoing processes of change. Nor can we 
conceive that discrete gaseous masses in whorls spirally 

* The mass of Saturn exceeds, in the proportion of nearly three to 
one, the combined mass of all the planets smaller than himself. 



8 Our Place among Infinities. 

arranged around a great central aggregation (taking one 
of the earlier stages) could otherwise change than by 
aggregating towards their centre, unless we admit motions 
of revolution (in orbits more or less eccentric) the con- 
tinuance of which would necessarily lead, through 
collisions, to the rapid growth of the central aggregation, 
and to the formation and slower growth of subordinate 
gatherings. 

I have shown elsewhere how the formation of our solar 
system, in the manner supposed, would explain what 
Laplace admitted that he could not explain by his theory, 
the peculiar arrangement of the masses forming the 
solar system. The laws of dynamics tell us, that no 
matter what the original configuration or motion of the 
masses, probably gaseous, forming the nebula, the motions 
of these masses would have greater and greater velocity 
tlie nearer the masses were to the central aggregation, 
each distance indicating certain limits between which the 
velocities must inevitably lie. For example, in our solar 
system, supposing the central sun had already attained 
very nearly his full growth as respects quantity of matter, 
then the velocity of any mass whatever belonging to the 
system, would at' Jupiter's distance be less than twelve 
miles per second, whereas at the distance of the earth, the 
largest planet travelling inside the orbit of Jupiter, the 
limit of the velocity would be more than twice as great. 
Hence we can see with what comparative difficulty an 
aggregation would form close to the central one, and how 
the first subordinate aggregation would lie at a distance 



The Past and Future of our Earth. 9 

where the quantity of matter was still great but the 
average velocity of motion not too great. Such an 
aggregation once formed, the next important aggregation 
would necessarily lie far outside, for within the first there 
would now be two disturbing influences preventing the 
rapid growth of these aggregations. The third and fourth 
would be outside the second. Between the first aggrega- 
tion and the sun only small planets, like the Earth and 
Venus, Mars, Mercury, and the asteroids, could form ; and 
we should expect to find that the largest of the four small 
planets would be in the middle of the space belonging to 
the family, (as Venus and the Earth are actually placed), 
while the much smaller planets Mercury and Mars travel 
next on either side, one close to the Sun and the other 
next to Jupiter, the asteroids indicating the region where 
the combined disturbing influences of Jupiter and the Sun 
prevented any single planet from being developed. 

But I should require much more time than is now at 
my command to present adequately the reasoning on 
which the theory of accretion is based. And we are not 
concerned here to inquire whether this theory, or Laplace's 
theory of contraction, or (which I hold to be altogether 
more probable than either) a theory involving combined 
processes of accretion and contraction, be the true 
hypothesis of the evolution of the solar system. Let it 
suffice that we recognise as one of the earliest stages of 
our earth's history, her condition as a rotating mass of 
glowing vapour, capturing then as now, but far more 
actively then than now, masses of matter which approached 



IO Our Place among Infinities. 

near enough, and growing by these continual indraughts 
from without. From the very beginning, as it would 
seem, the earth grew in this way. This firm earth on 
which we live represents an aggregation of matter not 
from one portion of space, but from all space. All that is 
upon and within the earth, all vegetable forms and all 
animals forms, our bodies, our brains, are formed of 
materials which have been drawn in from those depths of 
space surrounding us on all sides. This hand that I am 
now raising contains particles which have travelled hither 
from regions far away amid the northern and southern 
constellations, particles drawn in towards the earth by 
processes continuing millions of millions of ages, until 
after multitudinous changes the chapter of accidents has 
so combined them, and so distributed them in plants and 
animals, that after coming to form portions of my food 
they are here present before you. Passing from the mere 
illustration of the thought, is not the thought itself strik- 
ing and suggestive, that not only the earth on which we 
move, but everything we see or touch, and every particle in 
body and brain, has sped during countless ages through 
the immensity of space ? 

The great mass of glowing gas which formed our earth 
in the earliest stage of its history was undergoing two 
noteworthy processes, first, the process of cooling by 
which the mass was eventually to become at least partially 
solid, and secondly a process pf growth due to the gather- 
ing in of meteoric and cometic matter. As respects the 
latter process, which will not hereafter occupy our atten- 



The Past and Future of our Earth. 1 1 

tion, I must remark that many astronomers, appear to me 
to give far less consideration to the inferences certainly 
deducible from recent discoveries than the importance of 
these discoveries would fairly warrant. It is now 
absolutely certain that hour by hour, day by day, and 
year by year, the earth is gathering in matter from with- 
out. On the most moderate assumption as to the average 
weight of meteors and shooting stars, the earth must 
increase each year in mass by many thousands of tons. 
And when we consider the enormous, one may almost say 
the awful time-intervals which have elapsed since the 
earth was in a gaseous condition, we cannot but perceive 
that the process of accretion now going on indicates the 
existence of only the merest residue of matter (ungathered) 
compared with that which at the beginning of those 
time-intervals was freely moving around the central 
aggregation. The process of accretion which now does 
not sensibly increase the earth's mass was then a process 
of actual growth. Jupiter and Saturn might then no 
longer be gathering in matter appreciably increasing their 
mass, although the quantity of matter gathered in by them 
must have been far larger than all that the other forming 
earth could gather in equal times. For those planets were 
then as now so massive that any possible increment from 
without was as nothing compared with the mass they had 
already attained. We have to throw back into yet more 
awful time-depths the birth and growth of those giant 
orbs. And even those depths of time are as nothing 
compared with the intervals which have elapsed since the 



1 2 Our Place among Infinities. 

sun himself began to be. Yet it is with time-intervals 
measurable by hundreds of millions of years that we have 
to deal in considering only our earth's history, nay, two 
or three hundred millions of years only carry us back to a 
period when the earth was in a stage of development long 
sequent to the gaseous condition we are now considering. 
That the supply of meteoric and cometic matter not 
gathered in was then enormously greater than that which 
still exists within the solar domain, appears to me not a 
mere fanciful speculation, nor even a theoretical considera- 
tion, but as nearly a certainty as anything not admitting 
of mathematical demonstration can possibly be. That the 
rate of in-gathering at that time enormously exceeded the 
present rate, may be regarded as certain. That the 
increase resulting from such in-gathering during the 
hundreds of millions of years that it has been in operation 
since the period when the earth first existed as a gaseous 
mass, must have resulted in adding a quantity of matter 
forming no inconsiderable aliquot part of the earth's 
present mass, seems to me a reasonable inference, although 
it is certain that the present rate of growth continued even 
for hundreds of millions of years would not appreciably 
affect the earth's mass.* And it is a thought worthy of 
consideration, in selecting between Laplace's theory of 
contraction and the theory of accretion, that accretion 
being a process necessarily exhaustive, we are able to 

* It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to explain that I refer here not to 
absolute but to relative increase. The absolute increase of mass 
would amount to many millions of tons, but the earth would not be in- 
creased by the billionth part of her present mass. 



The Past and Future of our Earth. 1 3 

trace it back through stages of gradually increasing 
activity without limit until we reach that stage when the 
whole of the matter now forming our solar system was as 
yet unformed. Contraction may alternate with expansion, 
according to the changing condition of a forming system ; 
but accretion is a process which can only act in one 
direction ; and as accretion is certainly going on now, 
however slowly, we have but to trace back the process to 
be led inevitably, in my judgment, to regard our system 
as having its origin in processes of accretion, though it 
seems equally clear that each individual orb of the system, 
if not each subordinate scheme within it, has also under- 
gone a process of contraction from a former nebulous 
condition. 

In this early gaseous stage our earth was preparing as 
it were to become a sun. As yet her gaseous globe 
probably extended beyond the smaller aggregation out of 
which the moon was one day to be formed. This may be 
inferred, I think, from the law of the moon's rotation. It 
is true that a moon independently created, and started on 
the moon's present course, with a rotation-period nearly 
equalling its period of revolution, would gradually have 
acquired a rotation-period exactly equalling the mean 
period of revolution. But there is no reason in nature 
why there should have been any such near approach ; 
whereas, if we suppose the moon's gaseous globe to have 
been originally entangled within the outskirts of the earth's, 
we see that the peculiar relation in question would have 
prevailed from the beginning of the moon's existence as a 



1 4 Our Place among Infinities. 

separate body. The laws of dynamics show us, moreover, 
that although the conditions under which the moon moved 
and rotated must have undergone considerable changes 
since her first formation, yet that since those changes took 
place very slowly, the rotation of the moon would be 
gradually modified, pari passu, so that the peculiar 
relation between the moon's rotation and revolution would 
continue unimpaired.* 

In her next stage, our earth is presented to us as a sun. 
It may be that at that time the moon was the abode of 
life, our earth affording the supplies of light and heat 
necessary for the wants of creatures living on the moon. 
But whether this were so or not, it may be safely assumed 
that when the earth's contracting gaseous globe first began 
to have liquid or solid matter in its constitution, the earth 
must have been a sun so far as the emission of heat and 
light were concerned. I must warn you, however, against 
an undue regard for analogy which has led some 
astronomers to say that all the members of the solar 
system have passed or will pass through exactly similar 
stages. That our earth once gave out light and heat, as 
the sun does now, may be admitted as probable ; and we 
may believe that later the earth presented the character- 
istics which we now recognize in Jupiter ; while hereafter 

* On the theory of evolution some such view of the origin of the 
moon's rotation must be adopted, unless the matter be regarded as the 
result of a strange chance. If we believe, on the contrary, that the 
arrangement was specially ordained by the Creator, we are left to 
wonder what useful purpose a relation so peculiar and so artificial can 
have been intended to subserve. 



The Past and Future of our Earth. 1 5 

it may pass through a stage comparable with that through 
which our moon is now passing. But we must remember 
that the original quantity of matter in any orb passing 
through such stages must very importantly modify the 
actual condition of the orb in each of those stages, as well, 
of course, as the duration of each stage ; and it may even 
be that no two orbs in the universe were ever in the same, 
or very nearly the same condition, and that no change 
undergone by one has corresponded closely with any 
change undergone by another. 

We know so little respecting the sun's actual condition, 
that even if we could be assured that in any past stages of 
her history the earth was nearly in the same state, we 
should nevertheless remain in almost complete ignorance as 
to the processes to which the earth's orb was at that time 
subject. In particular we have no means of forming an 
opinion as to the manner in which the elementary 
constituents of the earth's globe were situated when she 
was in the sun-like stage. We may adopt some general 
theory of the sun's present condition ; for example, we may 
accept the ingenious reasoning by which Professor Young, 
of Darmouth, N.H., has supported his theory that the sun 
is a gigantic bubble ;* but we should be far from having 

*"The eruptions which are all the time" (Anglke, 'always') "occurring 
on the sun's surface," says Professor Young, "almost compel the sup- 
position that there is a crust of some kind which restrains the im- 
prisoned gases, and through which they force their way with great 
violence. This crust may consist of a more or less continuous sheet of 
rain, not of water, of course, but of materials whose vapours are 
shown by means of the spectroscope to exist in the solar atmosphere, 
and whose condensations and combinations are supposed to furnish the 



1 6 Our Place among Infinities. 

any exact idea of the processes actually taking place 
within the solar globe, even if we were absolutely certain 
that that or some other general theory were the true one. 

Assuming that our earth, when in the sun-like stage, was 
a gaseous mass within a liquid non-permanent shell, we 
can see that as the process of cooling went on the showers 
forming the shell would attain a greater and greater depth, 
the shell thus becoming thicker, the space within the shell 
becoming less, the whole earth contracting until it became 
entirely liquid; or rather these changes would progress 
until no considerable portion of the earth would be 
gaseous, for doubtless long before this stage was reached 
large portions of the earth would have become solid. As 
to the position which the solid parts of the earth's globe 
would assume when the first processes of solidification 
took place, we must not fall into the mistake of judging 
from the formation of a crust of ice on freezing water that 

solar heat. The continuous outflow of the solar heat is equivalent to 
the supply that would be developed by the condensation from steam to 
vapour of a layer about five feet thick over the whole surface of the 
sun per minute. As this tremendous rain descends, tke velocity of the 
falling drops would be increased by the resistance of the dense gases 
underneath, the drops would increase until continuous sheets would be 
formed ; and the sheets would unite and form a sort of bottomless ocean, 
resting upon the compressed vapours beneath and pierced by innu- 
merable ascending jets and bubbles. It would have nearly a constant 
depth in thickness, because it would re-evaporate at the bottom nearly 
as fast as it would grow by the descending rains above, though pro- 
bably the thickness of this sheet would continually increase at some 
slow rate, and its whole diameter diminish. In other words, the sun, 
according to this view, is a gigantic bubble, whose walls are gradually 
thickening and its diameter diminishing at a rate determined by its 
loss of heat. It differs, however, from ordinary bubbles in the fact that 
its skin is constantly penetrated by blasts and jets from within." 



The Past and Future of our Earth. 1 7 

these solid parts would form a crust upon the earth. 
Water presents an exception to other substances, in being 
denser in the liquid form than as a solid. Some metals and 
alloys are like water in this respect ; but with most 
earthy substances, " and notably," says Dr Sterry Hunt, 
" the various minerals and earthy compounds like those 
which may be supposed to have made up the mass of the 
molten globe, the case is entirely different. The numerous 
and detailed experiments of St Glair Deville, and those of 
Delesse, besides the earlier ones of Bischof, unite in showing 
that the density of fused rocks is much less than that of 
the crystalline products resulting from their slow cooling, 
these being, according to Deville, from one-seventh to one- 
sixteenth heavier than the fused mass, so that if formed at 
the surface they would, in obedience to the laws of gravity, 
tend to sink as soon as formed." * 

Nevertheless, inasmuch as solidification would occur at 
the surface, where the radiation of heat would take place 
most rapidly, and as the descending solid matter would 
be gradually liquified, it seems certain that for a long time 
the solid portions of the earth, though not forming a solid 
crust, would occupy the exterior parts of the earth's globe. 
After a time, the whole globe would have so far cooled 
that a process of aggregation of solid matter around the 
centre of the earth would take place. The matter so 
aggregated consisted probably of metallic and metalloidal 
compounds denser than the material forming the crust of 

* It is as yet doubtful, how far the recent experiments of Mallet 
affect this reasoning. 



1 8 Our Place among Infinities. 

the earth. Between the solid centre and the solidifying 
crust, there would be a shell of uncongealed matter, 
gradually diminishing in amount, but a portion probably 
retaining its liquid condition even to the present time, 
whether existing in isolated reservoirs, or whether, as 
Scrope opines, it forms still a continuous sheet surrounding 
the solid nucleus. One strange fact of terrestrial magnetism 
may be mentioned in partial confirmation of the theory 
that the interior of the earth is of this nature, a great 
solid mass, separated from the solid crust by a viscous 
plastic ocean : the magnetic poles of the earth are chang- 
ing in position in a manner which seems only explicable 
on the supposition that there is an interior solid globe 
rotating under the outer shell, but at a slightly different 
rate, gaming or losing one complete rotation in the course 
of about 650 years. 

Be this as it may, we find in this theory an explanation 
of the irregularities of the earth's surface. The solid crust, 
contracting at first more rapidly than the partially liquid 
mass within, portions of this liquid matter would force 
their way through and form glowing oceans outside the 
crust. Geology tells us of regions which, unless so formed, 
must have been produced in the much more startling 
manner conceived by Meyer, who attributed them to great 
meteoric downfalls.* At a later stage, when the crust, 

* There is very little new under the sun. In dealing with the 
multitudinous lunar craters, which were certainly formed in ages 
when unattached meteors were enormously greater in number and size 
than at present, I mentioned as a consideration not to be overlooked 
the probability that some of the meteoric matter falling on the moon 



The Past and Future of our Earth. 19 

having hitherto cooled more rapidly than the interior, be- 
gan to have a slower rate of cooling, the retreating nucleus 
left the crust to contract upon it, corrugating in the pro- 
cess, and so forming the first mountain ranges upon the 
spheroidal earth, which preceding processes had left 
partially deformed and therefore ready to become in due 
time divided into oceans and continents. 

At this stage the earth must have been surrounded by 
an atmosphere much denser than that now existing, and 
more complex in constitution. We may probably form 
the most trustworthy opinion of the nature of the earth's 
atmosphere and the probable condition of the earth's 
surface at this early epoch by following the method of 

when she was plastic with intensity of heat might be expected to leave 
traces which we could discern ; and although none of the larger lunar 
craters could be so formed, yet some of the smaller craters in these lunar 
regions where craters overlap like the rings left by raindrops which 
have fallen on a plastic surface, might be due to meteoric downfall. I 
find that Meyer had far earlier advanced a similar idea in explanation 
of those extensive regions of our earth which present signs of having 
been in a state of igneous fluidity. Again, two or three years ago, Sir 
W. Thomson startled us all by suggesting the possibility that vegetable 
life might have been introduced upon our earth by the downfall of 
fragments of old worlds. Several years before, Dr. Sterry Hunt had 
pointed to evidence which tends to show that large meteoric globes 
had fallen on the earth, and he shewed further that some meteors contain 
hydrocarbons and certain metallic compounds indicating processes of 
vegetation. Dr. Hunt tells me that, in his opinion, some of the meteors 
whose fragments have fallen on the earth in historic times were once 
covered with vegetation, since otherwise, according to our present 
chemical experience, the actual condition of these meteoric fragments 
would be inexplicable. He does not regard them as fragments of a 
considerable orb comparable even with the least of the planets, but still, 
whatever their dimensions may have been, he considers that vegetable 
life must have formerly existed upon them. 
2 



2O Our Place among Infinities. 

reasoning employed by Dr. Sterry Hunt. It will be 
remembered that he conceives an intense heat applied to 
the earth as at present existing, and infers the chemical 
results. It is evident that such a process would result in 
the oxidation of every form of carbonaceous matter ; all 
carbonates, chlorides, and sulphates would be converted 
into silicates, carbon, chlorine, and sulphur being 
separated in the form of acid gases. These gases, with 
nitrogen, an excess of oxygen, and enormous quantities of 
aqueous vapour, would form an atmosphere of great density. 
In such an atmosphere condensation would only take place 
at a temperature far above the present boiling point ; and 
the lower level of the slowly cooling crust would be 
drenched with a heated solution of hydrochloric acid, 
whose decomposing action, aided by its high temperature, 
would be exceedingly rapid. The primitive igneous rock 
on which these heavy showers fell, probably resembled in 
composition certain furnace-slags or basic volcanic glasses. 
Chlorides of the various bases would be formed, and silica 
would be separated under the decomposing action of the 
heated showers until the affinities of the hydrochloric acid 
were satisfied. Later, sulphuric acid would be formed in 
large quantities by the combination of oxygen with the 
sulphurous acid of the primeval atmosphere. After the 
compounds of sulphur and chlorine had been separated 
from the air, carbonic acid would still continue to be an 
important constituent of the atmosphere. This constituent 
would gradually be diminished in quantity, during the 
conversion of the complex aluminous silicates into 



The Past and Future of our Earth. 2 1 

hydrated silicate of alumina, or clay, while the separated 
lime, magnesia, and alkalies would be changed into bicar- 
bonates, and carried down to the sea in a state of 
solution. 

Thus far the earth was without life, at least no forms 
of life, vegetable or animal, with which we are familiar, 
could have existed while the processes hitherto described 
were taking place. The earth during the long series of 
ages required for these changes, was in a condition com- 
parable with the condition through which Jupiter and 
Saturn are apparently at present passing. A dense 
atmosphere concealed the surface of the earth, even as the 
true surface of Jupiter is now concealed. Enormous 
cloud-masses were continually forming and continually 
pouring heavy showers on the intensely heated surface 
of the planet, throughout the whole of the enormous 
period which elapsed between the time when first the 
earth had a surface, and the time when the atmosphere 
began to resemble in constitution the air we breathe. 
Even when vegetable life, such as we are familiar with, 
was first possible, the earth was still intensely heated, 
and the quantity of aqueous vapour and cloud always 
present in the air must have been far greater than at 
present. 

It has been in vain, thus far, that men have attempted 
to lift the veil which conceals the beginning of life upon 
the earth. It would not befit me to express an opinion 
on the controversy whether the possibility of spontaneous 
generation has, or has not, been experimentally verified. 



22 Our Place among Infinities. 

That is a question on which experts alone can give an 
opinion worth listening to ; and all that can here be noted 
is that experts are not agreed upon the subject. As a 
mere speculation it may be suggested that, somewhat as 
the elements when freshly released from chemical com- 
bination show for a short time an unusual readiness to 
enter into new combinations, so it may be possible that, 
when the earth was fresh from the baptism of liquid fire 
to which her primeval surface had for ages been exposed, 
certain of the substances existing on her surface were for 
the time in a condition fitting them to pass to a higher 
order of existence, and that then the lower forms of life 
sprang - spontaneously into existence on the earth's still 
throbbing bosom. In any case, we need not feel hampered 
by religious scruples in considering the possibility of the 
spontaneous generation of life upon the earth. It would 
be straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel, if we found 
a difficulty of that sort here, after admitting, as we are 
compelled by clearest evidence to admit, the evolution 
of the earth itself and of the system to which the earth 
belongs, by purely natural processes. The student of 
science should view these matters apart from their sup- 
posed association with religious questions, apart in 
particular from interpretations which have been placed 
upon the Bible records. We may be perfectly satisfied 
that the works of God will teach us aright if rightly 
studied. Eepeatedly it has been shown that ideas respect- 
ing creation which had come to be regarded as sacred 
because they were ancient, were altogether erroneous, 



Tlie Past and Future of our Earth. 23 

and it may well be so in this matter of the creation of 
life.* 

Whatever opinion we form on these points, it seems 
probable that vegetable life existed on the earth before 
animal life, and also that primeval vegetation was far 
more luxuriant than the vegetation of our own time. 
Vast forests were formed, of which our coal-fields, 
enormous as is their extent, represent merely a small 
portion preserved in their present form through a 
fortuitous combination of exceptional conditions. By far 
the greater portion of those forest masses underwent 
processes of vegetable decay effectually removing all 
traces of their existence. What escaped, however, suffices 
to show the amazing luxuriance with which vegetation 
formerly throve over the whole earth. 

In assuming the probability that vegetable life preceded 
animal life, I may appear to be opposing myself to an 
accepted palseontological doctrine, according to which 
animal and vegetable life began together upon the earth. 
But I would remind you that the actual teaching of the 
ablest, and therefore the most cautious, palaeontologists on 

* It is not for me to undertake to reconcile the Bible account of 
creation with the results which science is bringing gradually more 
clearly before us. It seems to me unfortunate, in fact, that such 
reconciliation should be thought necessary. Bat it must be conceded, I 
suppose, by all, that it is not more difficult to reconcile modern 
biological theories of evolution with the Bible record, than it is to 
reconcile with that record the theory of the evolution of the solar 
system. Yet strangely enough many oppose the biological theories 
(not without anger), who readily admit that some form or other of 
the nebular hypothesis of the solar system must be adopted in order 
to explain the peculiarities of structure presented by that system. 



24 Our Place among Infinities. 

this point, amounts merely to this, that if the geological 
record as at present known be assumed to be coeval with 
the commencement of life upon the globe, then animals 
and plants began their existence together. In a similar 
way the teachings of geology and palaeontology as to the 
nature of the earliest known forms of life and as to the 
succession of faunae and florae., depend on an admittedly 
imperfect record. Apart, however, from this consideration, 
I do not think it would serve any useful purpose if I were 
to attempt, I will not say to discuss, for that is out of the 
question, but to speak of the geological evidence respecting 
that portion of the past history of our earth which belongs 
to the interval between the introduction of life upon the 
surface and the present time. In particular, my opinion 
on the interesting question, whether all the forms of life 
upon the earth, including the various races of man, came 
into being by processes of evolution, could have no weight 
whatever. I may remark that, even apart from the 
evidence which the most eminent biologists have brought 
to bear on this question, it seems to me illogical to accept 
evolution as sufficient to explain the history of our eartli 
during millions of years prior to the existence of life, and 
to deny its sufficiency to explain the development of life 
(if one may so speak), upon the earth. It seems even 
more illogical to admit its operation up to any given stage 
in the development of life, and there to draw a hard and 
fast line beyond which its action cannot be supposed to 
have extended.* Nor can I understand why it should be 

* Since I thus spoke, a new and as it seems to me an even more 
illogical limit has been suggested for the operation of the process of 



The Past and Future of our Earth. 25 

considered a comforting thought, that at this or that epoch 
in the history of the complex machine of life, some imper- 
fection in the machinery compelled the intervention of 
God, thus presented to our contemplation as Almighty, 
but very far from being All-wise. 

There is, however, one aspect in which the existence of 
life has to be considered as intimately associated with the 
future history of our earth. We perceive that the 
abundance of primeval vegetation during long ages, aided 
by other processes tending gradually to reduce the amount 
of carbonic acid gas in the air, must have led to a gradual 
change in the constitution of the atmosphere. At a 
later epoch, when animal life and vegetable life were more 
equally proportioned, a state of things existed which, so 
far as can be judged, might have lasted many times as 
long as it has already lasted had not man appeared upon 
the scene. But it seems to me impossible to consider 
what is actually taking place on the earth at present, 
without perceiving that within periods, short indeed by 
comparison with geological eras, and still shorter compared 
with the intervals to which the astronomical history of 
our earth has introduced us, the condition of the earth as 
an abode of life will be seriously modified by the ways 
and works of man. It is only in the savage state that man 

evolution as affecting the development of life, and this by an advocate 
of the general doctrine of evolution. I refer to the opinion advanced 
by Mr. J. Fiske, of Harvard College (U.S.), " that no race of organisms 
can in future be produced through the agency of natural selection and 
direct adaptation, which shall be zoologically distinct from, and superior 
to, the human race." 



26 Our Place among Infinities. 

is content to live upon the produce of the earth, taking his 
share, as it were, of what the earth (under the fruitful 
heat of the sun, which is her life) brings forth, day by 
day, month by month, year by year, and century by 
century. But civilized man is not content to take his 
share of the earth's income, he uses the garnered wealth 
which is the earth's capital and this at a rate which is 
not only ever increasing, but is increasing at an increasing 
rate. The rapid consumption of coal is but a single 
instance of his wasteful expenditure of the stores which 
during countless ages have been gathered together, 
seemingly for the use of man. In this country (America), 
I need not dwell upon the fact that, in many other ways, 
man is consuming, if not wasting, supplies of earth-wealth 
which cannot be replaced. It is not merely what is found 
within the earth, but the store of wealth which clothes 
the earth's surface, which is thus being exhausted. 
Your mighty forests seem capable of supplying all the 
timber that the whole race of man could need for ages ; 
yet a very moderate computation of the rate at which 
they are being cut down, and will presumably continue to 
be, by a population increasing rapidly in numbers and in 
the destructive capabilities which characterize modern 
civilization, would show that America will be denuded 
of its forest-wealth in about the same period which we in 
England have calculated as probably limiting the effective 
duration of our stores of coal. That period a thousand 
or twelve hundred years may seem long compared with 
the life of individual men, long even compared with the 



The Past and Future of our Earth. 27 

duration of any nation in the height of power ; but 
though men and nations pass away the human race 
continues, and a thousand years are as less than a day 
in the history of that race. Looking forward to that 
future day, seemingly so remote, but (on the scale upon 
which we are at present tracing our earth's history) in 
reality the to-morrow of our earth, we see that either a 
change in their mode of civilization will be forced on the 
human race,, or else it will then have become possible, as 
your Ericsson has already suggested, to make the sun's 
daily heat the mainspring of the machinery of civilization. 

But turning from those portions of the past and future 
of our earth which, by comparison with the astronomical 
eras of her history, may be regarded as present, let us 
consider, so far as known facts permit, the probable 
future of the earth after astronomical eras comparable with 
those which were presented to us when we consider her 
past history. 

One of the chief points in the progression of the earth 
towards her present condition was the gradual passing 
away of the heat with which formerly her whole globe was 
instinct. We have now to consider whether this process 
of cooling is still going on, and how far it is likely to 
extend. In this inquiry we must not be misled by the 
probable fact, for such it seems, that during hundreds of 
thousands of years the general warmth of the surface of the 
earth has not appreciably diminished. In the first place, 
hundreds of thousands of years are the seconds of the time- 
measures we have now to deal with ; and next, it is known 



28 Our Place among Infinities. 

that the loss of temperature which our earth is at present 
under-going chiefly affects the interior parts of her globe. 
The inquiries of Mallet and others show that the present 
vulcanian energies of the earth are due in the main to 
the gradual withdrawal of the earth's nuclear parts from 
the surface crust, because of the relatively more rapid loss 
of heat by the former. The surface crust is thus left to 
contract under the action of gravity, and vulcanian pheno- 
mena that is, volcanoes and earthquakes, represent the 
mechanical equivalent of this contraction. Here is a 
process which cannot continue for ever, simply because it 
is in its very nature exhaustive of the energy to which it 
is due. It shows us that the earth's nuclear regions are 
parting with their heat, and as they cannot part with their 
heat without warming the surface-crust, which nevertheless 
grows no warmer, we perceive that the surface-heat is 
maintained from a source which is being gradually 
exhausted. The fitness of the earth to be the abode of 
life will not only be affected directly in this way, but will 
be indirectly affected by the loss of that vulcanian energy 
which appears to be one of its necessary conditions. At 
present, the surface of the earth is like the flesh clothing 
the living body ; it does not wear out because (through 
the life which is within it) it undergoes continual change. 
But even as the body itself is consumed by natural 
processes so soon as life has passed from it, so, when the 
internal heat of the earth, which is its life, shall have 
passed away, her surface will "grow old as doth a 
garment ; " and with this inherent terrestrial vitality will 



The Past and Futttre of our Earth. 29 

pass away by slow degrees the life which is upon the 
earth. 

In dealing with the past history of our earth, we recog- 
nized a time when she was a sun, rejoicing as a giant in the 
strength of youth ; and later we considered a time when 
her condition resembled that of the planets Jupiter and 
Saturn, whose dense atmospheres seem to be still loaded 
with the waters which are to form the future oceans of 
those noble orbs. In considering our earth's future, we 
may recognize in the moon's actual condition a stage 
through which the earth will hereafter have to pass. 
When the earth's inherent heat has passed away and 
long ages have elapsed since she had been the abode 
of life, we may believe that her desert continents and 
frost-bound oceans will in some degree resemble the arid 
wastes which the astronomer recognizes in the lunar 
surface. And yet it is not to be supposed that the 
appearance of the earth will ever be closely similar to that 
presented by the moon. The earth may part, as 
completely as the moon has, with her internal heat ; the 
rotation of the earth may in hundreds of millions of years 
be slowed down by tidal action into agreement with the 
period in which the moon completes her monthly orbit ; 
and every form of animal and vegetable life may perish 
from off the face of the earth : yet ineffaceable traces of 
the long ages during which her surface was clothed with 
life and instinct with inherent vitality, will distinguish 
her from the moon, where the era of life was incomparably 
shorter. Even if the speculations of Stanislas Meunier be 



30 Our Place among Infinities. 

just, according to which the oceans will gradually be with- 
drawn beneath the surface crust and even the atmosphere 
almost wholly disappear, there would for ever remain the 
signs of changes brought about by rainfall and snowfall, 
by wind and storm, by river and glacier, by ocean waves 
and ocean currents, by the presence of vegetable life and 
of animal life during hundreds of millions of years, and 
even more potently by the fiery deluge poured continually 
on the primeval surface of our globe. By all these causes 
the surface of the earth has been so wrought upon as no 
longer to resemble the primary igneous rock which we 
seem to recognize in the scarred surface of our satellite. 

Dare we look onwards to yet later stages in the history 
of our earth ? Truly it is like looking beyond death ; for 
now imagination presents our earth to us as an inert mass, 
not only lifeless as at the beginning, but no longer 
possessing that potentiality of life which existed in her 
substance before life appeared upon her surface. We 
trace her circling year after year around the sun, serving 
no useful purpose according to our conceptions. The 
energy represented by her motions of rotation and revolu- 
tion seems to be as completely wasted as are those parts 
(the whole save only one 230,000,000th portion) of the 
sun's light and heat, which, falling on no planet, seem to 
be poured uselessly into desert space. Long as has been, 
and doubtless will be, the duration of life upon the earth, 
it seems less than a second of time compared with those 
two awful time-intervals one past, when as yet life had 
not begun, the other still to come, when all life shall have 
passed away. 



The Past and Future of our Earth. 3 1 

But we are thus led to contemplate time-intervals 
of a yet higher order to consider the eras belonging to 
the life-time of the solar system itself. Long after 
the earth shall have ceased to be the abode of life 
other and nobler orbs will become in their time fit to 
support millions of forms as well of animal as of vege- 
table existence ; and the later each planet is in thus 
" putting on life," the longer will be the duration of the 
life-supporting era of its own existence. Even those time- 
intervals will pass, however, until every orb in turn has 
been the scene of busy life, and has then, each after its due 
life-season, become inert and dead. One orb alone will 
then remain, on which life will be possible, the sun, the 
source whence life had been sustained in all those worlds. 
And then, after the lapse, perchance, of a lifeless interval, 
compared with which all the past eras of the solar system 
were utterly insignificant, the time will arrive when the 
sun will be a fit abode for living creatures. Thereafter, 
during ages infinite to our conceptions, the great central 
orb will be (as now, though in another sense) the life of 
the solar system. We may even look onwards to still 
more distant changes, seeing that the solar system is itself 
moving on an orbit, though the centre round which it 
travels is so distant that as yet it remains unknown. . We 
see in imagination change after change, cycle after cycle, 

tai 

Drawn on paths of never-ending duty, 

The worlds eternity begun 
Best, absorbed in ever glorious beauty 

On the Heart of the All- Central Sun. 



32 Oiir Place among Infinities. 

But in reality it is only because our conceptions are 
finite that we thus look forward to an end even as we seek 
to trace events back to a beginning. The notion is incon- 
ceivable to us that absolutely endless series of change 
may take place in the future and have taken place in the 
past ; equally inconceivable is the notion that series on 
series of material combinations, passing onwards to ever 
higher orders, from planets to suns, from suns to sun- 
systems, from sun-systems to galaxies, from galaxies to 
systems of galaxies, from these to higher and higher orders, 
absolutely without end, may surround us on every hand. 
And yet, as I set out by saying, these things are not more 
inconceivable than infinity of time and infinity of space, 
while the idea that time and space are finite is not merely 
inconceivable but opposed directly to what the mind 
conceives of space and time. It has been said that 
progression necessarily implies a beginning and an end ; 
but this is not so where the progression relates to absolute 
space or time. No one can indeed doubt that progression 
in space is of its very nature limitless. But this is 
equally true, though not less inconceivable, of time. 
Progression implies only relative beginning and relative 
ending ; but that there should be an absolute beginning 
or an absolute end is not merely inconceivable, like 
absolute eternity, but is inconsistent with the necessary- 
conditions of the progression of time as presented to us by 
our conceptions. Those who can may find relief in believ- 
ing in absolutely void space and absolutely unoccupied time 
before some very remote but not infinitely remote epoch, 



The Past and Future of our Earth. 33 

which may in such belief be called the beginning of all 
things ; but the void time before that beginning can have 
had no beginning, unless it were preceded by time not 
unoccupied by events, which is inconsistent with the 
supposition. We find no absolute beginning if we look 
backwards ; and looking forwards we not only find an 
absolute end inconceivable by reason, but revealed religion 
as ordinarily interpreted teaches that on that side 
lies an eternity not of void but of occupied time. The 
time-intervals, then, which have presented themselves to 
our contemplation in dealing with the past and future of 
our earth, being in their nature finite, however vast, are 
less than the shortest instant in comparison with absolute 
time, which endless itself is measured by endless cycles 
of change. And in like manner, the space seemingly 
infinite from which our solar system has drawn its 
materials in other words, the universe as partially 
revealed to us in the study of the star-depths is but the 
merest point by comparison with absolute space. The end, 
seemingly so remote, to which our earth is tending, the end 
infinitely more remote to which the solar system is tending, 
the end of our galaxy, the end of systems of such galaxies 
as ours all these endings (each one of which presents 
itself in turn to our conceptions as the end of the universe 
itself) are but the beginnings of eras comparable with 
themselves, even as the beginnings to which we severally 
trace back the history of our planet, of the planetary 
system, and of galaxies of such systems, are but the end- 
ings of prior conditions which have followed each other in 



34 Our Place among Infinities. 

infinite succession. The wave of life which is now passing 
over our earth is but a ripple in the sea of life within the 
solar system ; this sea of life is itself but as a wavelet on 
the ocean of eternal life throughout the universe. Incon- 
ceivable, doubtless, are these infinities of time and space, 
of matter, of motion, and of life. Inconceivable that the 
whole universe can be for all time the scene of the 
operation of infinite personal power, omnipresent, all- 
knowing. Utterly incomprehensible how Infinite Purpose 
can be associated with endless material evolution. But it 
is no new thought, no modern discovery, that we are thus 
utterly powerless to conceive or comprehend the idea of 
an Infinite Being, Almighty, All-knowing, Omnipresent, 
and Eternal, of whose inscrutable purpose the material 
universe is the unexplained manifestation. Science is in 
presence of the old, old mystery ; the old, old questions 
are asked of her, " Canst thou by searching find out 
God ? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection ? 
It is as high as heaven ; what canst thou do ? deeper than 
hell; what canst thou know?" And science answers 
these questions, as they were answered of old, "As 
touching the Almighty, we cannot find Him out." 



OF SEEMING- WASTES IN NATUEE. 

IT was formerly the custom to regard the study of science 
as calculated to present to us in a way which all could 
understand, the wisdom and benevolence of that God in 
whom we believe. So thoroughly was this accepted, that 
we find many students of science adopting, almost as a 
scientific principle at any rate, as an incontrovertible 
axiom this supposed fact. If a choice lay between two 
explanations of any observed relations, and one explana- 
tion seemed to accord well, while the other seemed to 
accord ill, with conceptions commonly entertained re- 
specting the ways of God, the former explanation was 
accepted, even though the balance of evidence might be 
in favour of the latter. 

This was true of all departments of science ; but perhaps 
the application of the principle was more remarkable in 
the case of astronomy than in that of any other subject. 
It was first taken for granted that the celestial orbs were 
intended for the support of life ; and then that, to this end, 
they must all be at all times inhabited. We find even the 
observant Herschel so adapting observed facts respecting 
the constitution of the sun to the idea that the sun's great 
mass was intended to be the abode of life, as to lose sight 



36 Our Place among Infinities. 

of evidence which, even in his day, was all but over- 
whelming against the theory of the sun's habitability. 
Brewster, in like manner, was misled by similar considera- 
tions in such sort as to overlook circumstances which he 
would scarcely otherwise have omitted to notice. For 
example, regarding the noble orb of Jupiter, the mighty 
sweep of its orbit, and the symmetrical scheme of bodies 
circling round the planet, Brewster inferred that Jupiter was 
certainly intended to be the abode of life ; and forthwith, 
in his zeal to show the fitness of the planet for the purpose, 
he neglected to consider the circumstances unfavourable 
to the theory, the reduced supply of heat from the sun at 
Jupiter's great distance, the small density of the planet, the 
deep atmosphere enveloping it, and the signs of disturb- 
ances indicating an intense heat in the planet's mass. 
Nay more : still with the excellent purpose of indicating 
the beneficent supervision exerted by the Almighty to 
provide for the giant planet of the solar system, Brewster 
dwelt upon the arrangement made to supply Jupiter with 
reflected light from the four satellites which circle around 
him, failing to notice that all these moons, if full at the 
same time (which they can never be), would not supply 
Jupiter with one sixteenth part of the light which we 
receive from our single moon when she is full.* And 
many other similar cases might be cited from the pages of 
Brewster, Chalmers, Dick, and others who have advocated 
the fascinating theory that all the orbs of heaven exist 
either as the abodes of life, or to support life in other worlds. 
* ' Expanse of Heaven, ' pp. 86, et seq. 



Of Seeming Wastes in Nature. 37 

Now, there can be no question that it is a just and 
excellent view of the wonders which the study of science 
brings continually before us, to regard them all as symbols 
of the might and wisdom of God. Nor can there be any 
objection to the consideration of any special object as 
illustrating the benevolence of the Creator towards His 
creatures, so only that the object be judiciously selected, 
and the evidence of the useful purposes subserved by it 
be clear and unmistakable. But it appears to me that 
great mischief may be done, that in fact great mischief has 
often been done, by the too frequent attempt to refer all 
things to some special design in the interests of such and 
such creatures. The reader of works in which such 
attempts are made is apt to regard these special indications 
of divine economy (so to speak) as forming a necessary 
part of the evidence on which he is to base his belief in 
the wisdom and benevolence of God, and accordingly to 
lose faith to some degree, if he come to learn that the 
special purpose supposed to be fulfilled is not in reality 
fulfilled, that the seeming display of care for the wants 
of certain creatures must be otherwise interpreted. 

It appears to me, therefore, most desirable that in 
studying the wonders of nature, we should view facts as 
they are not in an artificial light, however excellent the 
source of that light may be. We may believe, with all 
confidence, that could we but understand the whole of 
what we find around us, the wisdom with which each part 
has been designed would be manifest ; but we must not 
fall into the mistake of supposing that we can so clearly 



38 Our Place among Infinities. 

understand all as to be able to recognise the purpose of this 
or that arrangement, the wisdom of this or that provision. 
Nor, if any results revealed by scientific research appear 
to us to accord ill with our conceptions of the economy of 
nature, should we be troubled, on the one hand, as respects 
our faith in God's benevolence, or doubt, on the other, 
the manifest teachings of science. In a word, our faith 
must not be hampered by scientific doubts, our science 
must not be hampered by religious scruples. 

It is very necessary in this age of great scientific dis- 
coveries to bear this rule in mind. Again and again it 
has been proved, as science has advanced, that the inter- 
pretation of observed facts by those who viewed science 
specially with reference to religious teachings, had been 
erroneous, and again and again the mischief thus tem- 
porarily wrought has been remedied after a longer or 
shorter interval of suspense. But now that science is 
making more rapid strides than of yore, the mischief pro- 
duced by over-hasty attempts to interpret science in a 
manner favourable to preconceived ideas is likely to be 
wider and more enduring. I conceive, then, that nothing 
can be clearer than the inference to which past experience 
should lead us. Since formerly mistakes have been made, 
and mischief, more or less extensive, has been wrought by 
the practice to which I refer, while little good has ever 
resulted, even temporarily, from it, the time has arrived 
for adopting a better course. We need not suppose for a 
moment that science is irreconcilable, I will not say 
with religion, but with ideas even such as we might con- 



Of Seeming Wastes in Nature. 39 

ceive of the wisdom and benevolence of God ; we need 
not doubt that, if we could understand the whole scheme 
of the Almighty, it would appear most beautiful, and all 
its parts perfectly adapted to His purposes ; the believer 
may still say to the unbeliever 

' All nature is but art unknown to thee ; 
All chance, direction, which thou canst not see ; 
All discord harmony not understood ; 
All partial evil universal good.' 

But we must remember that the believer also cannot 
expect to be able to interpret all that science reveals. And 
recognizing this, we should, as I think, study science with 
singleness of purpose, not seeking on the one hand for 
evidence of design whereby to discomfit those from whom 
we differ, nor fearing, on the other hand, that our faith 
will be shaken by discoveries not according altogether with 
the ideas we had formed as to the Almighty's mode of 
dealing with his universe. 

Such considerations as these are specially to be borne 
in mind in dealing with the apparent waste of power and 
material frequently observable in Nature's operations. It 
is not desirable, on the one hand, to close our eyes to these 
seeming instances of waste, while it is equally undesirable 
to adopt the opinion that there is necessarily a real waste ; 
the proper course, then, would appear clearly to be, that, 
while recognising the seemingly exuberant display of 
energy in Nature, we should be content to believe, though 
at present we may be quite unable to prove, that the 
waste is apparent only, not real, and to admit that we see 



40 Our Place among Infinities. 

too small a part of the scheme of the Creator to pronounce 
an opinion on the economy or wisdom of the observed 
arrangements. 

Although astronomy, bringing us as it does in presence 
of the infinities of space, and indicating the operations of 
an infinity of force acting during infinite time, is of all 
others the science which seems to present to us the most 
striking instances of waste in nature, it would yet be easy 
to cite many instances of seeming waste without leaving 
the teachings of our earth. How many seeds are scattered 
over the face of the earth to no visible purpose, for each 
one that falls on good ground and grows to perfec- 
tion ? How many creatures are brought to life that perish 
before they reach maturity? This, true of all races of 
animals, is true of man. True of the individual man, it is 
also true of nations, of races of men. History shows us, 
and we see in our own day, whole tribes of men disappear- 
ing without having reached that degree of civilization 
which we may regard as the measure of maturity in races 
and nations. 

If we look back at the history of our earth before man 
appeared, we find even more abundant evidence of seem- 
ing waste, and, in particular, if we adopt that favourite 
view. of many, according to which the recognition of the 
Almighty's power in the heavens is regarded as one of the 
chief ends for which the celestial orbs were made, how 
strange seems the thought that for ages on ages all the 
wonders of the heavens were displayed with none on the 
earth to recognise their meaning. The sun showed his 



Of Seeming Wastes in Nature. 41 

glories in the skies day after day, the moon shed her silver 
light on the ocean, the planets traversed their devious 
ways amongst the stars, and the constellations shone in 
fill their splendour, while not a creature existed on the 
earth which could appreciate the glorious display or 
reason respecting its significance. 

Passing still farther back we reach a time when the 
whole mass of the earth appears to us as a mere waste. 
It is scarcely open to question that, for millions of years 
before life existed on the earth, the whole of the terrestial 
globe was in a state of intense heat, was the scene of pro- 
cesses of tremendous activity, but was utterly unfit to bo 
the abode of any kind of life. 

Nor is it in the past only, of which records remain to us, 
which science can interpret, but in the future also, which 
science reveals to us scarcely less clearly through processes 
of inference, that this seeming waste is recognised. When 
we look forward to the future of this earth on which we 
live, we find, far off it may be, but still discernible, a time 
when all life will have perished from off the earth's face. 
Then will she circle around the central sun, even as our 
moon circles, a dead though massive globe, an orb bearing 
only the records and the memories of former life, but, to 
our conceptions, a useless desert scene. 

So might we study the lessons presented by our earth, 
her present condition, her past history, her future fate, 
still finding fresh evidence of the seeming waste of nature's 
powers, and of that which we call time, as well as of the 
material substance in and through which nature works, 



42 Our Place among Infinities. 

throughout all time. Hereafter I propose to discuss such 
considerations, and to apply them to another purpose. 
But I wish now to turn from the earth to consider how 
the heavens present to us instances, altogether more 
striking, of apparent waste in nature. 

Take, first, the sun that orb whence all the supplies 
of force and energy known to us on earth may truly be 
said to be derived. What can seem clearer, at a first 
view, than that the sun is set at the centre of the solar 
system to supply light and heat to the worlds constituting 
that system? So viewing him, and remembering the 
wonderful processes taking place within his globe, and 
the marvellous manner in which the fires of the great 
central furnace are sustained, we justly regard the sun as 
a fitting subject for our admiring contemplation. But yet, 
so soon as we inquire into the adaptation of the sun's powers 
to the work which we have regarded as specially assigned 
to him, we recognise a mystery of mysteries in the seem- 
ing waste of his gigantic energies. Our earth receives less 
than the 2000 millionth part of the heat and light emitted 
by the sun ; all the planets together receive less than 
the 230 millionth part ; the rest is seemingly scattered 
uselessly through the interstellar depths. To other worlds, 
circling around other suns, our sun may indeed appear as 
a star ; but how minute the quantity of light and heat so 
received from him compared with the enormous quantity 
apparently wasted. The portion which seems squandered 
is scarcely affected at all by such small uses ; and that 
portion is more than 230 millions of times as great as the 



Of Seeming Wastes in Nature. 43 

portion used to warn and to illuminate the solar system. 
And then consider what is the actual amount of energy 
thus seemingly wasted. I have computed (adopting Sir 
J. Herschel's estimate of the amount of heat poured by 
the sun upon each square mile of the earth's surface) that 
the sun emits in each second as much heat as would result 
from the burning of 11,600,000,000,000,000 tons of coal, 
and of this enormous amount of energy the portion utilized 
(that is, the heat received by the various members of the 
solar system) corresponds only to that due to the con- 
sumption of about 50 millions of tons only fifty millions 
out of 11,600 millions of millions. 

And now, remembering that what is true of the sun is 
true of his fellow-suns, the stars, that all the thousands of 
star? we see, all the millions revealed by the telescope, as 
well as many myriads of times as many more that lie 
beyond the range of our most powerful telescopes, are suns 
similarly pouring heat and light into space, how enormous, 
according to our conceptions, is the waste of energy. The 
force wasted is, in fact, very nearly the whole of the in- 
conceivable amount expended. 

How, then, are we to view the startling fact thus brought 
before us 1 Must we admit that so much of the Creator's 
work is vain in truth as in appearance 1 or, on the other 
hand, must we reject the evidence of science? As it 
seems to me, we need do neither one nor the other. We 
have before iis a great mystery ; but it is not a new thing 
to find the ways of God unsearchable by man. Our faith 

in the wisdom of God need not be shaken unless we 
3 



44 Our Place among Infinities. 

assume that our science teaches us the whole of that which 
is. But inasmuch as science itself has taught us over and 
over again how little we really know, how little we can 
know, I think that we may very well believe in this 
instance that the seeming mystery arises from the imper- 
fectness of our knowledge. If we could see the whole 
plan of the Creator, instead of the minutest portion ; if we 
could scan the whole of space, instead of the merest corner; 
if all time were before us, instead of a span, we might pro- 
nounce judgment. As it is, what, after all, has science 
taught us but what we had already learned? 'The judg- 
ments of God are unsearchable, and His ways past finding 
out.' 



A NEW THEORY OF LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS. 

Two opposite views have been entertained respecting life 
in other worlds. One is the theory which Brewster some- 
what strangely described as the creed of the philosopher 
and the hope of the Christian, that nearly all the orbs 
which people space are the abode of life. Brewster, 
Chalmers, Dick, and a host of other writers, have adopted 
and enforced this view, Brewster going so far as to 
maintain the probability that life may exist upon the 
moon, dead though her surface seems, or beneath the 
glowing photosphere of the sun. But even where so 
extreme an opinion has not been entertained, the believers 
in the theory of a plurality of worlds have maintained 
that all the celestial orbs have been created to be, and 
are at this present time, the abodes of life, or else minister 
to the wants of creatures living in other orbs. It is 
worthy of notice that this view has been entertained even 
by astronomers, who, like the Herschels, have devoted 
their lives to the scientific study of the heavens. So com- 
pletely has the theory been identified, as it were, with 
modern astronomy, that we find the astronomer passing 
from a statement respecting some observed fact about a 
planet, to the consideration of the bearing of the fact on 



46 Our Place among Infinities. 

the requirements of living creatures on the planet's 
surface, without expressing any doubt whatever as to the 
existence of such creatures. For example, Sir John 
Herschel, writing about the rings of Saturn, after dis- 
cussing Lardner's supposed demonstration that the eclipses 
caused by the rings would last but for a short time ; * 
says, ' This will not prevent, however, some considerable 
regions of Saturn from suffering very long total inter- 
ception of the solar beams, affording to our ideas but an 
inhospitable asylum to animated beings, ill compensated 
by the feeble light of the satellites ; but we shall do 
wrong to judge of the fitness or unfitness of their condi- 
tion from what we see around us, when perhaps the very 
combinations which convey to our minds only images 
of horror may be, in reality, theatres of the most striking 
and glorious displays of beneficent contrivance.' And 
many other such cases might be cited. 

Before passing to the opposite view of life in other worlds, 
a view commonly associated with the name of the late 
Dr. "Whewell, I shall venture to quote a few passages 
from his Bridgewater Treatise on Astronomy and General 
Physics, in which he writes very much like a supporter 
of the theory he subsequently opposed in his ' Plurality 

* This is disproved, and the justice of Herschel's views demonstrated 
in chapter vii. of my treatise on Saturn, in which work I give a table 
of the climatic relations in Saturn (for I also once adopted the theory 
criticized above) the time and place of sunrise and sunset in Saturnian 
latitudes in Saturnian Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, and so 
on. Labour wasted, I fear, except as practice in Geometrical 
Astronomy. 



A New Theory of Life in other Worlds. 47 

of Worlds.' Thus, speaking of the satellites in the solar 
system, he says, ' There is one fact which immediately 
arrests our attention ; the number of these attendant 
bodies appears to increase as we proceed to planets farther 
and farther from the sun. Such, at least, is the general 
rule. Mercury and Venus, the planets near the sun, have 
no attendants ; the earth has but one. Mars, indeed, 
who is still further removed, has none, nor have the minor 
planets, so that the rule is only approximately verified. 
But Jupiter, who is at five times the earth's distance, has 
four satellites ; and Saturn, who is again at a distance 
nearly twice as great, has seven' (now eight) 'besides that 
most extraordinary phenomenon, his ring, which for 
purposes of illumination is equivalent to many thousand 
satellites. Of Uranus it is difficult to speak, for his great 
distance renders it almost impossible to observe the 
smaller circumstances of his condition. It does not 
appear at all probable that he has a ring like Saturn ; 
but he has at least four satellites which are visible to us, 
at the enormous distance of 900 millions of miles, and I 
believe that the astronomer will hardly deny that he may 
possibly have thousands of smaller ones circulating about 
him. But leaving conjecture, and taking only the ascer- 
tained cases of Venus, the Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn, we 
conceive that a person of common understanding will be 
strongly impressed with the persuasion that the satellites 
are placed in the system with a view to compensate for the 
diminished light of the sun at greater distances.' Then he 
presently adds, after considering the exceptional case of 



48 Our Place among Infinities. 

Mars, * No one familiar with such contemplations will, 
by one anomaly, be driven from the persuasion that the 
end which the arrangements of the satellites seem suited to 
answer is really one of the ends of their creation.' Here 
is the theoiy of life in other worlds definitely adopted, and 
moreover presented in company with the extremest form of 
the teleological argument, and that, too, by Whewell, whose 
name afterwards became associated with the extremest 
development of the doctrine of the paucity of worlds ! 

The "Whewellite theory is tolerably well known, though 
certainly it is not held in very great favour. For my own 
part, I used, at one time, to think that "Whewell only 
advanced it in jest ; but now (perhaps because my own 
researches and study have led me to regard the Brewsterian 
theory as untenable) I recognise in "Whewell's later views 
the result of longer and more careful study than he had 
given to the subject, when (nearly a quarter of a century 
earlier) he wrote his Bridgewater Treatise. 

Whatever opinion we form as to the theory advanced 
in the ' Plurality of Worlds,' we must admit that Whewell 
did good service to science in breaking the chains of old- 
fashioned ideas, and inaugurating freedom of discussion. 
The stock writers on astronomy had been repeating so often 
the imperfect analogies on which astronomers had earlier 
insisted, that the suggestions based on such analogies had 
come to be regarded as so many scientific facts. The 
Earth is a planet, and Mars is a planet, therefore what 
we know about the Earth may be inferred respecting Mars, 
no account being taken of the known difference in the 



A New Theory of Life in other Worlds. 49 

condition of the two planets : accordingly, not only are 
the white spots at the Martian poles to be regarded as 
snow-covered regions, and the blue markings on his 
surface as seas, but we are to infer a similarity of climatic 
conditions and other habitudes, without entering into any 
close consideration of the probable extent of the planet's 
atmosphere, the heat received from the Sun by Mars, and 
a variety of other relations respecting which we are at 
least as well informed as we are respecting the analogies 
in question. Jupiter, again, is a planet, and though he is 
so much larger than the Earth that we might be disposed 
at the outset to regard him as a body of another order, we 
must be so guided by analogies (which, after all, may be 
imaginary) as to consider that his size only renders him 
so much the nobler an abode for such life as we are 
familiar with : and instead of being struck by the fact 
that Jupiter, unlike Mars, shows no polar snow-caps, we 
are to direct our attention to his belts, and to regard them 
as cloud-belts analogous to the tropical cloud-zone of the 
Earth. Nor are we to enquire too closely whether the 
aspect of his equatorial belt, to say nothing of his other 
belts, corresponds in any degree with that which the 
cloud-zone of our Earth would present to observers on 
another planet : Let it suffice to note a few analogies, as 
thus "The Earth is a planet, Jupiter is a planet; the 
Earth rotates and therefore has a day, Jupiter rotates and 
has a day ; the Earth has a year, Jupiter has a year ; the 
Earth has clouds, Jupiter has clouds ; the Earth has a 
moon, Jupiter has four moons i this done, every other 



50 Our Place among Infinities. 

consideration may be conveniently overlooked, and we 
may proceed to descant on the wonderful extent and 
dignity of this distant world, with as little question of its 
being inhabited as though we had seen with our own eyes 
the creatures which exist upon the planet's surface. So 
with Saturn, and the rest." 

Whewell broke through all these old-fashioned methods. 
He dealt with the several planets on the true scientific 
principle long since enunciated by Descartes, taking 
nothing for granted that had not been proved. He showed 
how unlike the conditions prevailing in the other planets 
must be to those existing on the Earth, and without 
pretending to demonstrate absolutely that none of the 
higher forms of life can exist on certain planets, he showed 
that at any rate the probabilities are in favour of that 
hypothesis. Passing on to the stars, he did good service 
by showing how much had been taken for granted by 
astronomers in their assumptions respecting those orbs ; 
nor is the value of his work, in this field, by any means 
diminished, by the circumstance that during recent years 
evidence which was wanting when Whewell wrote has 
been obtained, and the stars have been shown demon- 
stratively to be suns. And lastly, he dealt in an inde- 
pendent, and therefore instructive manner, with the star- 
cloudlets or nebulsB, giving many strong reasons for 
doubting the views which were at that time repeated in 
every text-book of astronomy. 

The conclusions to which "Whewell was led were (1) 
that no sufficient reason exists for believing in other 



A New Theory of Life in other Worlds. 51 

worlds than ours ; and (2) if the other planets are 
inhabited, it can only be, in all probability, by creatures 
belonging to the lowest orders of animated existence. He 
somewhat softened the harshness of these inferences by 
pointing out that our conceptions of the glories of God's 
kingdom need not be enfeebled by our doubts as to the 
existence of life in the planets of our own system, or of 
systems circling around other suns. " However destitute," 
he wrote, " planets, moon, and rings may be of inhabitants, 
they are at least vast scenes of God's presence, and of the 
activity with which He carries into effect everywhere the 
laws of nature ; and the glory of creation arises from its 
being, not only the product, but the constant field of God's 
activity and thought, wisdom, and power." And, in 
passing, I may note that Sir David Brewster, when com- 
menting somewhat angrily and contemptuously on this 
remark, failed really to grasp Whewell's meaning. 
Brewster was at great pains to shew how large a portion 
of the glories of the heavens is invisible and useless to 
man; but Whewell was manifestly not referring to the 
glories of God as revealed to man, but as they exist in 
themselves. It must be admitted, indeed, even by those 
who prefer Brewster's theory, that he maintained it with 
much more warmth, than was necessary in such a discus- 
sion. In presence of Whewell's philosophic, calm, and 
dispassionate force of reasoning, there was something 
almost ludicrous in the impassioned outbursts of the great 
physicist who took the doctrine of life in other worlds 
under his protection. " Where," says he, " is the grandeur, 



5 2 Our Place among Infinities. 

where the utility, where the beauty, where the poetry, of 
the two almost invisible stars which usurp the celestial 
names of Uranus and Neptune, and which have been seen 
by none but a very few even of the cultivators of 
astronomy? The seaman in the trackless ocean never 
seeks their guidance ; to him they have not even the value 
of the pole star ; they contribute nothing to the arts of 
terrestrial life : they neither light the traveller on his 
journey, nor mark by their feeble ray the happy hours 
which are consecrated to friendship and to love." All 
this is very pretty writing, but it is very little to the pur- 
pose, and while it has no bearing whatever on what 
Whewell had urged, it is a very long way from establishing 
what Brewster desired to prove, viz., that '* Uranus and 
Neptune must have been created for other and nobler 
ends ; to be the abodes of life and intelligence, the colossal 
temples where their Creator is recognised and worshipped ; 
the remotest watch-towers of our system, from which His 
works may be better studied, and His distant glories more 
readily descried.' ' 

Here, however, are two theories opposed to each other, 
and not admitting of being reconciled. If we are to make 
a selection between them, to which shall we turn in pre- 
ference ? The balance of evidence is on the whole in favour 
of Whewell's, (so at least the matter presents itself to me 
after careful and long-continued study) ; but certainly 
Brewster's is the theory which commends itself most 
favourably to the mind which would believe that God 
"hath done all things well," and that nothing that He 



A New Theory of Life in other Worlds. 53 

has made was made in vain. Even those who, like myself, 
are indisposed to admit that the ways and works of God 
are to be judged by our conceptions of the fitness of 
things, (though we may be altogether certain that all things 
are made in wisdom and fitness), would prefer to accept the 
Brewsterian theory, if decision were to be made between 
the two. For, what amount of evidence could reconcile 
us to the belief (even though it forced this belief upon us) 
that our Earth alone of all the countless orbs which people 
space, is the abode of reasoning creatures, capable of recog- 
nising the glories of the universe, and of lauding the 
Creator of those wonders and of their own selves ? 
Nevertheless we must be guided in these matters by 
evidence, not by sentiment by facts, not by our feelings. 
It is well, therefore, to note that the decision does not lie 
between the two theories which have just been dealt with. 
Another theory, holding a position intermediate between 
those two, and combining in my judgment the evidence 
which favours one theory with the fitness characterising 
the other, remains yet to be presented. The last essay 
was intended to prepare the way for this theory. 

I propose to take, as the basis of the new theory of life 
in other worlds, the analogy which has commonly been 
regarded as affording the strongest evidence in favour of 
the Brewsterian theory, only I shall take a more extended 
view of the subject than has been customary. 

Before introducing that Brewsterian argument, I may 
remark that the mere fact that our Earth is an inhabited 
world is not in itself sufficient even to render probable 



54 Our Place among Infinities. 

the theory that there is life in other worlds than ours. 
An equally strong argument might be derived against that 
theory from the study of our Moon, the only other planet 
of which we have obtained reliable information, for few 
can suppose that the Moon is fit to be the abode of life. 
Since then of the two planets we can examine, one the 
Earth is inhabited, while the other the Moon is pro- 
bably not inhabited, the only evidence we have is almost 
equally divided between the Whewellite and Brewsterian 
theories, whatever balance remains in favour of the 
latter being too slight to afford any sufficient basis for a 
conclusion. 

But while this reasoning is jtfst, as applied to the mere 
fact that the Earth is inhabited, it is by no means capable 
of overthrowing the evidence which is derived from the 
manner in which life exists on the Earth. When we 
consider the various conditions under which life is found 
to prevail, that no difference of climatic relations or of 
elevation, of land or of air or of water, of soil in land, 
of freshness or saltness in water, of density in air, 
appears (so far as our researches have extended) to render 
life impossible, we are compelled to infer that the power 
of supporting life is a quality which has an exceedingly 
wide range in nature. I refrain, it will be noticed, from 
using here the usual expression, and saying, as of yore, 
that ' the great end and aim of all the workings of nature 
is to afford scope and room for the support of life,' because 
this mode of speaking may be misunderstood. We can 
see what nature actually does, and we may infer, if we 



A New Theory of Life in other Worlds. 55 

so please, that such or such is the end and aim of the God 
of nature ; nevertheless we must remember that the 
evidence we have belongs to the former relation not to the 
latter. I am careful to dwell on this point because the 
longer I study such matters the more clearly do I recog- 
nise the necessity of most studiously limiting our state- 
ments to that which the evidence before us really 
establishes. 

Passing beyond the evidence which the Earth at present 
affords, we find that during many ages the Earth has 
presented a similar scene. ' Geology,' I wrote four years 
ago, ' teaches us of days when this Earth was peopled with 
strange creatures such as now are not found upon its 
surface. We turn our thoughts to the epochs when these 
monsters throve and multiplied, and picture to ourselves 
the appearance which our Earth then presented. Strange 
forms of vegetation clothe the scene which the mind's eye 
dwells upon. The air is heavily laden with moisture to 
noiirish the abundant flora ; hideous reptiles crawl over 
their slimy domain, battling with each other, or with the 
denizens of the forest ; huge bat-like creatures sweep 
through the dusky twilight which constituted the primaeval 
day ; weird monsters pursue their prey amid the depths 
of ocean : and we forget, as we dwell upon the strange 
forms which existed in those long past ages, that the 
scene now presented by the Earth is no less wonderful, and 
that the records of our time may, perhaps, seem one day as 
perplexing as we now find those of the geological eras.' 
In the past, then, as in the present, this Earth was in- 



56 Our Place among Infinities. 

habited by countless millions of living creatures, and 
during the enormous period which has elapsed since life 
first appeared on the surface of the Earth, myriads if not 
millions, of orders of living creatures have appeared, have 
lived the life appointed to their order, and have vanished, 
or exist only under modified forms. As each individual 
has had its period of life, so also has each race, and we 
may say with the poet (noting always that the personifica- 
tion of nature is but a poetical idea, and does not present 
any real substantive truth), 

Are God and Nature then at strife, 
That Nature lends such evil dreams ? 
So careful of the type she seems. 

So careless of the single life. 

' So careful of the type ? ' but no, 

From scarped cliff and quarried stone 
She cries, ' A thousand types are gone ; 
I care for nothing, all shall go.' 

Abundant life, in ever-varying forms, and under all- 
various conditions, continuing age after age during 
hundreds of thousands of years, such is what our Earth 
presents to us when we turn our thoughts to its past 
history. And looking forward, a similar scene is presented 
to our contemplation. For many a long century, probably 
for hundreds of thousands of years, life will continue on 
the Earth, unless some catastrophe (the occurrence of which 
we have as yet no reason to anticipate) should destroy life 
suddenly from off her surface. 

So viewing this Earth, we seem -to find forced upon us 
the belief that the support of life is the object for which 



A New Theory of Life in other Worlds. 5 7 

the Earth was created, and thus we- are led to regard the 
other orbs which, like her, circle around a central Sun, as 
intended to be the abode of life. The only object which, 
so far as we can see, the Earth has fulfilled during an 
indefinitely long period has been to present a field, so to 
speak, for the support of life, nor can we recognise any 
other purpose which she will fulfil in the future. If we 
admit this, and if 'we also believe that God made nothing 
without some purpose, of course we have no choice but to 
admit that the purpose with which the Earth was made 
was the support of life. And reasoning from analogy, we 
infer that the other planets, as well those of our own 
system as those which we believe to exist, 'wheeling in 
perpetual round/ as attendants upon other Suns, were 
similarly created to be the abode of life.* 

* I shall venture to quote here the once celebrated argument 
advanced by Dr. Bentley in favour of the plurality of worlds : 
"Considering," he says, "that the soul of one virtuous and religious 
man is of greater worth and excellency than the Sun and all his 
planets, and all the stars in the heavens, their usefulness to man might 
be the sole end of their creation if it could be proved that they were 
as beneficial to us as the pole star formerly was for navigation, or as 
the Moon is for producing the tides and lighting us on winter nights. 
But we dare not undertake to show what advantage is brought to us 
by those innumerable stars in the galaxy of other parts of the firma- 
ment, not discernible by naked eyes, and yet each many thousand 
times bigger than the whole body of the Earth. If you say they beget 
in us a great idea and veneration of the mighty author and governor of 
such stupendous bodies, and excite and devote our minds to His 
adoration and praise, you say very truly and well. But would it not 
raise in "us a higher apprehension of the infinite majesty and boundless 
beneficence of God, to suppose that those remote and vast bodies were 
formed, not merely upon our account, to be peeped at through an optic 
glass, but for different ends and nobler purposes ? And yet who will 
deny that there are great multitudes of lucid stars even beyond the 



58 Our Place among Infinities. 

But, before we infer from the strength of this reasoning 
that the other planets are inhabited worlds, let us look 
somewhat more closely into the circumstances, or rather, 
instead of examining only a portion of the evidence, let 
us take a wider survey and examine all the evidence we 
possess. It may appear, at a first view, that already we 
are dealing with periods which, to our conceptions, are 
practically infinite. How long, compared with the brief 
span of human life, are the eras with which history deals ! 
how enormous, even by comparison with these eras, appears 
the range of time (tens of thousands, if not hundreds of 
thousands of years), since man first appeared upon this 
earth ! and, according to the teachings of geology, we 
have to deal with a yet higher order of time in passing 
to the beginning of life upon our globe. From one million 
of years to ten millions ! It is between such limits, say 
the most experienced geologists, that the choice lies. Surely 
we may be content with periods such as these, periods as 

reach of the best telescopes ; and that every visible star may have 
opaque planets revolving about them which we cannot discover ? Now 
if they were not created for our sakes it is certain and evident that 
they were not made for their own ; for matter has no life or perception, 
is not conscious of its own existence, nor capable of happiness, nor 
gives the sacrifice of praise and worship to the author of its being. It 
remains, therefore, that all bodies were formed for the sake of intelli- 
gent minds ; and as the Earth was principally designed for the being 
and service and contemplation of men, why may not all other planets 
be created for the like uses, each for their own inhabitants which have 
life and understanding?' The objection to Dr. Bentley's argument 
resides, not in the belief which he expresses in the Wisdom and Benefi- 
cence of the Creator, but in the confidence with which he assumes that 
the Creator had such and such purposes, and not perhaps others 
such as we not only cannot discover, but cannot even conceive. 



A New Theory of Life in other Worlds. 59 

utterly beyond our powers of conception as the duration 
of the pyramids would be to creatures like the ephemeron, 
did such creatures possess the power of reason ! 

And yet, why should we stop at the beginning of life 
upon this Earth ? We have passed to higher and higher 
orders of time-intervals, but the series has no limit that 
we know of, while it possesses terms, recognisable by us, 
of higher order than those we have been dealing with. 
We know that in the far-off times before life appeared, 

The solid Earth whereon we tread 
In tracts of fluent heat began, 
And grew to seeming-random forms, 
The seeming prey of cyclic storms. 

Let us look back at that part of the Earth's history, and 
see whether the long periods which we have contemplated 
may not be matched and more than matched by the aeons 
which preceded them. When we thus 

Contemplate all this work of Time 
The giant labouring in his youth, 

we see how far we have been from recognising the true 
breadth of the mighty waves on one of which the life upon 
this Earth has been borne, we see that as yet we have not 

Come on that which is, and caught 
The deep pulsations of the world, 
Ionian music measuring out 
The steps of time. 

Taking as the extremest span of the past existence of life 
upon the Earth ten millions of years, we learn from 
the researches of physicists that the age preceding that of 
life (the age during which the world was a mass of molten 



60 Our Place among Infinities. 

rock), lasted more than thirty-five times as long, since 
Bischoff has shown that the Earth would require 350 
millions of years to cool down from a temperature of 2,000 
Centigrade to 200. But far back beyond the commence- 
ment of that vast era, our Earth existed as a nebulous 
mass, nor can we form even a conjecture as yet respecting 
the length of time during which that earlier stage of the 
Earth's existence continued. 

So much for the past. Of the future we know less. 
But still we recognise, not indistinctly, a time w r hen all 
life will have ceased upon the Earth. "Whether by the 
process of refrigeration w r hich is going on, or by the 
gradual exhaustion of the forces which at present reside 
in the Earth, or by the change in the length of the day 
which we know to be slowly taking place, a time must 
come when the condition of our earth will no longer be 
suited for the support of life. Or it may be that Stanilas 
Meunier is right in his theory that as a planet grows 
older, the oceans, and even the atmosphere, are gradually 
withdrawn into the interior of the planet's globe, where 
space is formed for them by the cooling and contracting 
of the solid frame of the planet. But apart froni all such 
considerations, we know that a process of exhaustion is 
taking place, even in the Sun himself, whence all that 
exists upon the Earth derives its life and daily nourish- 
ment. So that indirectly by the dying out of the source 
of life, if not directly by the dying out of life, this Earth 
must one day become as bleak and desolate a scene as 
we believe the Moon to be at this present time. 



A New Theory of Life in other Worlds. 61 

It is easy to recognise the bearing of these con- 
siderations upon the question of life in other worlds. We 
had been led by the contemplation of the long continuance 
of life upon this Earth, to regard the support of life as in 
a sense the object of planetary existence, and therefore 
to view the other planets as the abode of life. But we 
now see that the time during which life has existed on 
the earth, has been a mere wavelet in the sea of our 
Earth's lifetime, this sea itself being but a minute portion 
of the. infinite ocean of time, while, as Tyndall has well 
remarked, in that infinite ocean, the history of man (the 
sole creature known to us that can appreciate the wonders 
of creation) is but the merest ripple. We learn, then, 
from the Earth's history, a lesson the very reverse of that 
which before we had seemed so clearly to read there. 
It is not the chief, but only a minute portion of the 
Earth's existence which has been characterised by the 
existence .of life upon our globe ; and if we adopted the 
teaching now brought before us, as readily as before we 
learned that other lesson, we should say, ' It is not the 
chief, but only an utterly subordinate part of nature's 
purpose, to provide for the existence and support of 
life.' 

We have been led by the study of the probable past 
history of the earth, and by the consideration of her 
probable future fortunes, to the conclusion, that although 
life has existed on her surface for an enormously long 
period, and will continue for a corresponding period in 
the future, yet the whole duration of life must be regarded 



62 Our Place among Infinities. 

but as a wave on the vast ocean of time, while the 
duration of the life of creatures capable of reasoning upon 
the wonders which surround them, is but as a ripple upon 
the surface of such a wave. It matters little then 
whether we take life itself, without distinction of kind or 
order, or whether we take only the life of man, we still 
find a disproportion which must be regarded as practically 
infinite, between the duration of such life, and the 
duration of the preceding and following periods when 
there has been and will be no such life upon the earth. 

But yet, in passing, I cannot but point to the fact that 
in considering the usual arguments for life in other worlds, 
I might limit myself to the existence of rational beings. 
It would be difficult to show that mere life, without the 
power which man possesses of appreciating the wonders 
of the universe, is a more fitting final purpose in creation 
than the existence of lifeless but moving masses like the 
suns and their attendant planets. The insect or the 
fish, the bird or the mammal, the minutest microscopic 
animalcule or the mightiest cetacean, may afford sug- 
gestive indications of what we describe as beneficent con- 
trivance ; yet it is hard to see in what essential respect a 
universe of worlds beyond our own, inhabited only by 
such animals, would accord better with those ideas which 
the believers in the plurality of worlds entertain respecting 
the purpose of the Almighty, than a universe with none 
but vegetable life, or a universe with no life at all, yet 
replete with, wonderful and wonderfully moving masses 
of matter. It is rational life alone to which the arguments 



A New Theory of Life in other Worlds. 63 

of our Brewsters and Chalmers really relate. Nor 
would it be difficult to raise here another perplexing 
consideration, by inquiring what degree of cultivation of 
the intellect in human races accords with the ' argument 
from admiration ' which the followers of Brewster delight 
to employ. The savage engaged in the mere effort to 
support life or to combat his foes, knows nothing of the 
glories whereof science tells us. The wonders of nature, 
so far as they affect him at all, tend to give ignoble and 
debasing ideas of the being or beings to whose power he 
attributes the occurrence of natural phenomena. Nor as 
we advance in the scale of civilization, do we quickly 
arrive at the stage where the admiration of nature begins 
to be an ordinary exercise even of a few minds. Still 
less do we arrive quickly, even in reviewing the progress 
of the most civilized races, at the stage when the generality 
of men give much of their thoughts to the natural wonders 
which surround them. Is it saying too much to assert 
that this stage has never yet been attained by any 
nation, even the most advanced and the most cultured ? 
If we limit ourselves, however, to the existence merely 
of some few nations, amongst whom the study of nature 
has been more or less in vogue, how brief in the history 
of this earth has been the period when such nations have 
existed ! how brief the continuance of those among such 
nations which belong to the past, and whose whole history 
is thus known to us ! how few even in such nations the 
men who have been so deeply impressed with the 
wonders of nature, as to be led to the utterance of their 



64 Our Place among Infinities. 

thoughts ! If the life of man is but as a ripple where 
life itself is as a wave on the ocean of time, surely the 
life of man as the student and admirer of nature, is but 
as the tiniest of wave-crests upon the ripple of human 
life. 

How, then, does all this bear upon the question of life 
in other worlds? The answer will be manifest if we 
apply to these considerations the same argument which 
Brewster and Chalmers have applied to the evidence 
which indicates the enormous duration of life upon the 
earth. Since this enormous duration, taking life even in 
its most general aspect, has been shown to be as a mere 
nothing by comparison with the practically infinite dura- 
tion of the earth without life, the argument as respects 
life in any other world (at least, in any world of which 
antecedently we know nothing) must be directly reversed. 
It is far more probable that that world is now passing 
through a part of the stage preceding the appearance of 
life, or of the stage following the appearance of life, than 
that this particular epoch belongs to the period when that 
particular world is inhabited. If, indeed, we had some 
special reason for believing that this epoch to which 
terrestrial life belongs has some special importance as 
respects the whole universe, we might feel unwilling to 
consider the question of life in any other world independ- 
ently of preconceptions derived from our experience in 
this world. But I apprehend that we have no reason 
whatever for so believing. It appears to me that such a 
belief that is, the belief that life in this earth corresponds 



A New Theory of Life in other Worlds. 65 

* 

with a period special for the universe itself is as monstrous 
as the old belief that our earth is the centre of the universe. 
It is, in fact, a belief which bears precisely the same rela- 
tion to time that the last-mentioned belief bears to space. 
According to one belief, the minute space occupied by our 
earth was regarded as the central and most important part 
of all space, and the only part which the Creator had 
specially in His plans, so to speak, in creating the uni- 
verse ; according to the other, the minute time occupied 
by the existence of life on the earth is the central and 
most important part of all time, and the only part during 
which the Creator intended that living creatures should 
exist anywhere. Both ideas are equally untenable, 
though one only has been formally discarded. 

This present time, then, is a random selection, so to 
speak, regarded with reference to the existence of life in 
any other world, and being a random selection, it is much 
more likely to belong to the period when there is no life 
there. Let me illustrate my meaning by an example. 
Suppose I know that a friend of mine, living at a distance, 
will be at home for six minutes exactly, some time between 
noon and ten on any given day, but that I have no means 
of forming any opinion as to when the six minutes will be. 
Then, if at any given moment, say at three, I ask myself 
the question, ' Is my friend at home ? ' although I cannot 
know, I can form an opinion as to the probability of his 
being so. There are six hundred minutes between noon 
and ten and he is to be at home only six minutes, or the 
one-hundredth part of the time, accordingly, the chance 



66 Our Place among Infinities. 



that he is at home is one in a hundred, or speaking in a 
general way it is much more likely that he is not at home 
than that he is. And so precisely with any given planet, 
apart from any evidence we may have as to its condition, 
what we know about life on our eaith teaches us that 
the probability is exceedingly minute that that planet is 
inhabited. The argument is the favourite argument from 
analogy. Thus : life on our earth lasts but a very short 
time compared with the duration of the earth's existence ; 
therefore life in any given planet lasts but a very 
short time compared with the planet's existence ; ac- 
cordingly, the probability that that planet is inhabited 
at this present moment of time is exceedingly small, being, 
?nfact, as the number of years of life to the number of 
years without life, or as one chance in many hundreds at 
the least. 

This applies to the planets of our solar system only in 
so far as we are ignorant of their condition. "We may 
know enough about some of them to infer either a much 
higher probability that life exists, or almost certainly that 
life cannot exist Thus we may view the condition of 
Venus or Mars as perchance not differing so greatly from 
that of our earth as to preclude the probability that many 
forms of life may exist on those planets. Or on the other 
hand, we may believe from what we know about Jupiter 
and Saturn that both these planets are still passing through 
the fiery stages which belong to the youth of planet life ; 
while in our moon we may see a world long since decrepit, 
and now utterly unfit to support any forms of animated 



A New Theory of Life in other Worlds. 67 

existence. But even in the case of our solar system, 
though the evidence in some cases against the possibility 
of life is exceedingly strong, we do not meet with a single 
instance in which evidence of the contrary kind is forcible, 
still less decisive. So that in the solar system the 
evidence is almost as clear in favour of the conclusion 
above indicated as where we reason about worlds of 
whose actual condition we know nothing. As respects 
such worlds, that is, as respects the members of those 
systems of worlds which circle, as we believe (from 
analogy), around other suns than ours, the probability 
that any particular world is inhabited at this present time 
is exceedingly small. 

But let us next consider what is the probability that 
there is life on some member or other of a scheme of worlds 
circling around any given sun. Here, again, the argument is 
from analogy, being derived from what we have learned or 
consider probable in the case of our own system. And I 
think we may adopt as probable some such view as I 
shall now present. Each planet, according to its dimen- 
sions, has a certain length of planetary life, the youth and 
age of which include the following eras : a sunlike state; a 
state like that of Jupiter or Saturn, when much heat but 
little light is evolved ; a condition like that of our earth ; 
and lastly, the stage through which our moon is passing, 
which may be regarded as planetary decrepitude. In each 
case of world-existences the various stages may be longer 
or shorter, as the whole existence is longer or shorter, so 
that speaking generally the period of habitability bears 



68 Our Place among Infinities. 

the same proportion in each world to the whole period of 
its existence ; or perhaps there is no such uniform pro- 
portion, while, nevertheless, there exists in all cases that 
enormous excess of the period when no life is possible, 
over the period of habitability. In either case, it is 
manifest that regarding the system as a whole, now one, now 
another planet (or more generally, now one, now another 
member of the system) would be the abode of life, the 
smaller and shorter-lived having their turn first, then larger 
and larger members, until life has existed on the mightiest 
of the planets, and even at length upon the central sun 
himself. We need not concern ourselves specially with 
the peculiarities affecting the succession of life in the case 
of subordinate systems, or of the members of the asteroidal 
family, or in other cases where we have little real 
knowledge to guide us : the general conclusion remains 
the same, that life would appear successively in planet 
after planet, step by step from the smaller to the larger, 
until the approach of the last scene of all, when life would 
have passed from all the planets, and our sun would alone 
remain to be in due time inhabited, and then in turn to 
pass (by time-intervals to us practically infinite) to 
decrepitude and death. 

During all this progression, the intervals without life 
would in all probability be far longer than those when one 
or other planet was inhabited. In fact, the enormous 
excess of the lifeless periods for our earth over the period 
of habitability, renders the conclusion all but certain that 
the lifeless gaps in the history of the solar system must 



A New Theory of Life in other Worlds. 69 

last very much longer than the periods of life (in this or 
that planet) with which they would alternate. 

If we apply this conclusion to the case of any given 
star or sun with its scheme of dependent worlds, we see 
that even for a solar system so selected at random the 
probability of the existence of life is small. It is, of course, 
greater than for a single world taken at random ; -just as 
if I had ten friends who were to be at home each for six 
minutes between noon and ten, the chance would be 
greater that some one of the number would be at home at 
a given moment of that interval than would be the chance 
that a given one of the number would be then at home ; 
while yet even taking all the ten it would still be more 
likely than not that at that moment not one would be at 
home. 

Thus when we look at any star, we may without 
improbability infer that at the moment that star is not 
supporting life in any one of those worlds which probably 
circle round it. 

Have we then been led to the Whewellite theory that 
our earth is the sole abode of life ? Far from it. For not 
only have we adopted a method of reasoning which 
teaches us to regard every planet in existence, every moon, 
every sun, every orb in fact in space, as having its period 
as the abode of life, but the very argument from probability 
which leads us to regard any given sun as not the centre 
of a scheme in which at this moment there is life, forces 
upon us the conclusion that among the millions on 
millions, nay, the millions of millions of suns which 



70 Our Place among Infinities. 

people space, millions have orbs circling round them 
which are at this present time the abode of living 
creatures. If the chance is one in a thousand in the case 
of each particular star, then in the whole number (practi- 
cally infinite) of stars, one in a thousand has life in the 
system which it rules over : and what is this but saying 
that millions of stars are life-supporting orbs ? There is 
then an infinity of life around us, although we recognise 
infinity of time as well as infinity of space as an attribute 
of the existence of life in the universe. And remembering 
that as life in each individual is finite, in each planet 
finite, in each solar system finite, and in each system of 
stars finite, so (to speak of no higher orders) the infinity 
of life itself demonstrates the infinity of barrenness, the 
infinity of habitable worlds implies the infinity of worlds 
not as yet habitable, or which have long since passed 
their period of inhabitability. Yet is there no waste, 
whether of time, of space, of matter, or of force ; for waste 
implies a tending towards a limit, and therefore of these 
infinities, which are without limits, there can be no waste. 



A MISSING COMET. 

MANY persons were alarmed in August 1872 lest it should 
be true (as reported) that Plantamour, the Swiss astrono- 
mer, had predicted the earth's destruction by a comet on 
the twelfth of that month. When once a prediction of 
this sort has been announced, it is almost impossible to 
remove the impression produced by it. The reputed 
author of the prediction may deny flatly that he had ever 
announced even the approach of a comet ; every astrono- 
mer of repute may add his testimony to the effect that no 
comet is due at the time indicated for the earth's 
destruction ; the way in which the mistake arose may be 
explained, and every effort made to spread the explanation 
as widely as possible : yet the impression will neverthe- 
less remain that there must have been some ground for 
the prediction, or if it be insisted that no prediction 
was made then there must have been some ground for 
the story of the prediction. Confidence is not completely 
restored until the day and hour announced for the earth's 
destruction have passed without mishap.* 

* Being at Sheffield in October 1872, I was told an excellent story 
about the comet. The story has the advantage over most others of the 
kind, of being strictly true : In a certain house, in Sheffield, Monday, 
August 12, had been appointed a great washing-day. On the morning 



72 Our Place among Infinities. 

A striking illustration of the proneness of men to 
believe in astronomical predictions of the earth's destruc- 
tion, was afforded by a circumstance in the history of a 
comet, which has since given trouble to astronomers in 
another way. The " missing comet," about which I now 
propose to speak, has been in its day a source of terror 
to the nations. 

About forty years ago, it was widely announced that 
astronomers were on the watch for a comet whose path 
approaches very closely to the earth's in fact, within the 
astronomically minute distance of 20,000 miles, or 
thereabouts. Immediately the news spread that the earth 
was to be destroyed. A comet must be small indeed 
which has not a head more than forty or fifty thousand 
miles in diameter so that the coming comet might be 
expected to extend far beyond the 20,000 miles separating 
its track from the earth's. The terrible head of the comet 
would therefore envelop the earth, and either the earth 
would be dissolved with fervent heat, or else, perhaps, 
drowned by a second flood. Even if the earth escaped 
either form of destruction, the shock of the collision would 
destroy every living creature on her surface. Nay, 

of the day, the housekeeper asked for an interview with her master on 
the subject of the comet. She begged to know if it were really true 
that the world was to be destroyed on that day. Receiving assurances 
to the contrary, she expressed some degree of satisfaction : "but sir," 
she said, " though what you say may be very true, might it not be 
just as well to put off the washing till to-morrow ? " Whether she 
thought a washing-day unsuitable for the comet's visit, or that a good 
cleaning-up would be desirable on the day after the visit, deponent 
sayeth not. 



A Missing Comet. 73 

granting even though many were too frightened to admit 
the possibility that a coinet is but a thin luminous 
vapour, was it not all but certain that this vapour, per- 
meating our atmosphere, would asphyxiate men and 
animals ? 

Astronomers were rather surprised at the interpretation 
put upon their prediction. They were tolerably well 
assured that the comet would cross the earth's track very 
nearly at the time indicated ; but they had said nothing 
about the earth's encountering the comet. In fact, they 
had announced that the comet would at the end of October 
cross the part of the earth's track which she traverses at 
the end of November. The fears of a collision were as 
absurd as would be the fears of passengers by a certain 
train, who should be in terror of their lives because 
nother train was to cross their line at a certain point, an 
hour before they reached that point. But it was 
useless for astronomers to point out that the intersection 
of two paths did not imply the collision of bodies follow- 
ing those paths.* The alarm having once been sounded, 
no reasoning would allay the fears of the general public. 

* It is rather singular that mistakes should be made in a matter 
seemingly so obvious, and not only by the ignorant, but by well 
educated persons. Thus, in one of Cooper's novels (I forget which at 
the moment, but have an impression that it is the " Pathfinder," it is 
one of those in which Leatherstockings, alias Hawkeye, appears as a 
young man), a shooting contest is elaborately described, in which the 
great feat of all depends on precisely such a mistake as was made about 
the comet of 1832. The young marksman (not yet called Hawkeye) 
succeeds in all the trials of skill, until only he and a rival in the 
heroine's affections are left in the contest. Then the great trial is made. 
Two persons, standing some distance apart, throw each a potato, in 



74 Our Place among Infinities. 

Nay, some, who understood that the earth herself wo T :JJ. 
not come into collision with the comet, were in dread Jest 
the earth's orbit should suffer ! 

"Even among those," says Guillemin, "who placed 
confidence in the precision of astronomical calculations 
there were some who at least feared a derangement of 
our orbit. Doubtless to them an orbit was something 
material, a metallic circle, for example ; ' as if,' says 
Arago, in relating this curious notion, 'the form of the 
path in which a bomb after leaving a mortar traverses 
space was dependent on the number and positions of the 
paths which other bombs had formerly described in the 
same region. ' ' 

It is rather singular that the very comet which thus 
nspired an altogether groundless fear, should have supplied 
the most striking evidence astronomers have ever obtained 
respecting the insignificance of the effects which may be 
expected to follow from the collision of a planet with a 
comet. Biela's comet or Gambart's as the French 
astronomers call it has not merely been broken up under 

such a way that the two paths, as seen by the marksman, intersect, and 
the marksman is to fire so as to hit both potatoes. The favoured lover 
succeeds, but the future Hawkeye generously misses. Afterwards, 
however, to show the heroine that he also could have accomplished the 
impossible feat, he accomplishes another. He invites her attention to 
two birds high overhead, and travelling on converging paths ; and 
offers to kill the two with a single bullet. The birds obligingly con- 
sent to this arrangement, and when their dead bodies fall at the feet of 
the maiden, she recognises the generosity of the young rifleman. But 
not a word is said about the self-sacrificing ingenuity of the birds, or 
about the amazing skill which the potato-throwers must have acquired 
to render the other feat a possibility. 



A Missing Comet. 75 

the very eyes of astronomers, and in a region of space 
where no masses of any importance can have encountered 
it, but since that time it has been so far dissipated, no 
one knows how, that the most powerful telescopes have 
failed to show the comet, even when its calculated place 
was such that had it retained its former appearance it 
would have been visible to the naked eye. 

The history of Biela's comet has been singularly inter- 
esting throughout. 

The comet may be said to have been discovered when 
Biela, in February 1826, first observed it in Aries ; for it 
was then only that the true nature of this comet's path 
was recognised. It was found that it travels in an orbit of 
moderate dimensions, carrying it when farthest from the sun 
to a distance somewhat exceeding that of the planet Jupiter. 
It belongs, indeed, to a family or group of comets distin- 
guished by the peculiarity that their paths pass very close 
to that of Jupiter, insomuch that the notion has been 
suggested, that either these comets have all been forced 
to take up their present paths through the tremendous 
attractive influence of the giant planet, or else that every 
one of them has been expelled from Jupiter's interior at 
some very remote epoch ! 

So carefully was Biela's comet observed in 1826, that it 
was found possible to trace back the comet's course through 
former revolutions with sufficient accuracy to determine 
whether the comet had been before observed. When this was 
done, it was found that the comet had been seen on March 
8, 1772, by Montaigne, at Limoges ; and later, up to April 



76 Our Place among Infinities. 

3, by Messier, the great comet hunter.* The comet had 
also been seen (having returned four times in the interval) 
by Pons, on November 10, 1805. On this occasion it 
presented a somewhat remarkable appearance, its head 
having an apparent diameter equal to about a fourth of 
the moon's. On December 8, the astronomer Olbers saw 
it without a telescope. From calculations made on that 
occasion, some astronomers were led to suspect that this 
comet might be the same which Montaigne had seen in 
1772 ; but the art of calculating cometic orbits had not then 
been so thoroughly mastered as to enable any mathema- 
tician to speak confidently on this point. Indeed, at that 
time the idea was very generally entertained that comets 
travel for the most part in orbits having enormous 
dimensions. Only one instance LexelTs comet had 
hitherto been known to the contrary, and there were 
excellent reasons for regarding that instance as altogether 
exceptional 

In 1826, however, the comet was too carefully observed 
for any doubts to be further entertained. It was shown 
by several eminent mathematicians that the comet has a 



* So thoroughly had Messier identified himself with the work of 
comet-seeking, that all sublunary events seemed insignificant to him by 
comparison. It is related of him that he was less troubled at his wife's 
death than at the circumstance that, owing to the interruption to his 
labours which her illness had occasioned, he failed to discover a comet, 
a rival comet -seeker gaining that distinction. A friend met the dis- 
tracted widower a day or two after Hme. Messier's death, and expressed 
sympathy with him. "Ah," replied Messier, "it was hard was it 
not ? that after all my watching I was obliged to leave my telescope 
just when the comet came." 



A Missing Comet. 77 

period of about six years and nine months. Santini and 
Damoiseau assigned November 27, 1832, as the date of 
this comet's return to its point of nearest approach to the 
sun. Olbers confirmed this result, showing, moreover, 
that the comet's course would bring it within 20,000 miles 
of the earth's path. Eemarking on this, Sir John Herschel 
wrote, in 1866, " The orbit of this comet very nearly indeed 
intersects that of the earth on the place which the earth 
occupies on or about the 30th of November. If ever the 
earth is to be swallowed up by a comet, or to swallow up 
one, it will be on or about that day of the year. In the 
year 1832 we missed it by a month. The head of the 
comet enveloped that point of our orbit ; but this 
happened on the 29th of October, so that we escaped that 
time. Had a meeting taken place, from what we know of 
comets, it is probable that no harm would have happened, 
and that nobody would have known anything about it." 

It is important to notice how closely the calculations of 
astronomers agreed with the observed event on this, the 
first occasion of the comet's return after its orbit had been 
calculated. If it be remembered that after 1826 the comet 
was out of sight for nearly six years, during all which time 
it was more or less exposed to disturbing attractions, it 
will be admitted that astronomy would have had no reason 
to be ashamed if the comet had returned -to its point of 
nearest approach to the sun, within a week, or even a 
month of the appointed time. But the actual difference 
between the observed and calculated time was less than 
twelve hours. To illustrate this by a terrestrial instance, 



78 Our Place among Infinities. 

the case is much as though an express train from Edinburgh 
should arrive in London within a second of the appointed 
time a degree of accuracy not invariably attained, though 
the terrestrial engineer has the power, which the comet has 
not, of making up for lost time. 

It is also to be noticed, that at each return of a comet, 
its course can be predicted with greater accuracy ; since 
the error noticed at any particular return affords the means 
of rectifying former calculations, and providing against 
similar error at future returns. The reader will presently 
see why this point is insisted upon : it is essential to 
notice the degree of mastery which astronomers had 
acquired, even so far back as ] 832, over the motions of 
this particular comet. 

In 1839 the comet returned, but was not seen, owing to 
the position of the sun at the time when the comet was in 
our neighbourhood. Throughout its passage near us, in 
fact, the comet was lost to sight in the splendour of the 
sun's beams. 

At the next return the comet was detected very early, 
for whereas it passed the point of its orbit nearest to the 
sun on February 11, 1846, it was recognised, precisely in 
its calculated place, on November 28, 1845. 

And now one of the most singular events recorded in 
the history of comets took place. In 1846, " all seemed," 
says Sir John Herschel, "to be going on quietly and 
comfortably, when, behold! suddenly, on the 13th of 
January, the comet split into two distinct comets ! each 
with a head and coma and a little nucleus of its own. 



A Missing Comet. 79 

There is some little contradiction about the exact date. 
Lieutenant Maury, of the United States Observatory of 
Washington, reported officially on tlw 15th, having seen it 
double on the loth; but Professor Wichmann, wlw saw it 
double on the 15th, avers that he had a good view of it on 
the 14:th, and remarked nothing particular in its appear- 
ance. Be that as it may, the comet from a single became 
a double one. What domestic troubles caused the seces- 
sion it is impossible to conjecture ; but the two receded 
farther and farther from each other up to a certain 
moderate distance, with some degree of mutual communica- 
tion, and a very odd interchange of light, one day one 
head being brighter, and another the other, till they 
seem to have agreed finally to part company. The oddest 
part of the story, however, is yet to come. The year 1852 
brought round the time for their re-appearance, and 
behold ! there they both were, at about the same distance 
from each other, and both visible in one telescope." 

The oddest part of the story had not yet come, however, 
when Herschel wrote the above lines. But, before passing 
on to relate the fate of this comet, it may be well to 
correct a few of the statements in the above passage 
(presented just as it stands in the original, because it is a 
good specimen of Sir John Herschel's more familiar style 
of science-writing). 

In the first place, the two companion comets had each 
a tail, as well as a head, coma, and nucleus. Then, as the 
object was passing out of view in 1846, the two comets 
seemed to approach each other. The greatest distance 



8o Our Place among Infinities. 

between them was attained on or about March 3, 1846, 
and amounted to about 157,000 miles. On the return of 
the double comet, in 1852, the distance had by no means 
remained unchanged, as Herschel states, but had increased 
to about 1,250,000 miles. It is worthy of notice, in 
passing, that Plantamour, of Genoa, the same astronomer 
to whom the prediction of the world's destruction by a 
comet on August 12, last, was mistakenly assigned, 
calculated the paths of both the components, and the 
motions of the comets were found to agree very closely 
with his results during the whole time that the comets 
continued visible. 

In 1858, the comet probably returned ; but, as in 1839, 
the part of the heavens traversed by it was too close to the 
sun's place to permit the comet to be seen, I say that 
the comet probably returned ; because we know that in 
1852 it safely traversed the part of space where it had 
formerly divided, and passed from the sun's neighbourhood 
towards the outer parts of its orbit, apparently unscathed. 
But what happened to the comet during its passage past 
the sun in 1859 is not known. It will presently be seen 
that in all probability the comet was then destroyed or 
dissipated in some way. In fact, it is manifest that the 
same reason which leads us to believe that the comet 
returned in 1859, would lead us to believe, that if it had 
passed away again uninjured, it would have been seen at 
the next return, or in 1866. But 1866 came ; the path of 
the comet was assigned ; astronomers looked forward with 
interest to its reappearance, eager to see how far the two 



A Missing Comet. 81 

component comets had separated from each other ; and 
no comet appeared ! Telescopes of great power, and of 
exquisite defining qualities, swept the whole track on 
which the comet was to have travelled ; nor were the 
neighbouring regions of the heavens left unexplored ; but 
not a trace of the comet could anywhere be seen. There 
was not the slightest room for questioning the accuracy 
of the calculations by which the path had been predicted. 
Astronomers were certain that if undestroyed or undissi- 
pated the comet would follow the assigned path, as 
certain as a station-master would be that a train would 
enter a station along the line of rails assigned to it, unless 
some accident or mistake should occur. Now comets 
do not make mistakes ; but, as we now see, they are not 
free from the risk of accidents. This comet had already 
met with an accident, being broken by some mischance 
into two parts under the very eyes of astronomers. 
Probably in 1859 it met with further misfortunes, visible 
mayhap to astronomers in Venus or Mercury. At any 
rate, something had happened to the comet since its 
retreat in 1852. "It is now," wrote Sir J. Herschel at 
the time (Feb. 1866), "overdue! Its orbit has been 
recomputed, and an ephemeris " (that is, an account of its 
motion from hour to hour) "calculated. Astronomers 
have been eagerly looking out for its reappearance for the 
last two months, when, according to all former experience, 
it ought to have been conspicuously visible but without 
success ! giving rise to the strangest theories. At all 
events, it seems to have fairly disappeared, and that with- 



82 Our Place among Infinities. 

out any such excuse as in the case of Lex ell's, viz., the 
preponderant attraction of some great planet. Can it 
have come into contact or exceedingly close approach to 
some asteroid as yet undiscovered ; or, peradventure, 
plunged into, and got bewildered among, the ring of 
meteorolites, which astronomers more than suspect ?" 

Both these explanations seem at a first view available. 
Biela's comet had a course carrying it through the outskirts 
of the zone of minor planets ; and there was nothing what- 
ever to prevent the comet from coming into collision with 
one of these bodies, or else approaching so nearly as to be 
greatly disturbed, and to travel thereafter on a different 
orbit. But an objection exists which Sir J. Herschel does 
not seem to have noticed. When the comet retired in 
1852 it consisted of two distinct comets, separated by an 
intervening space of about 1,250,000 miles. Now it would 
be a singular chance which should bring one of these 
comets into collision with a minor planet, or so near as to 
occasion an important disturbance. But supposing this 
to happen, then the fellow-comet, not travelling in the 
wake of the first, but side by side, would certainly have 
escaped. For it must be remembered, that although 
1,250,000 miles is a very small distance indeed by com- 
parison with the dimensions of the solar system, it is an 
enormous distance compared with the dimensions of the 
minor planets, some of which have a surface not much 
greater than that of an English county. The minor planet 
occasioning the comet's disturbance would presumably be 
one of the smallest, since it has not yet been detected, and 



A Missing Comet. 83 

the newly discovered minor planets are on the average 
much smaller than those first detected. Now, the earth 
herself would have no very marked influence on a comet 
or meteor passing her at a distance of 1,250,000 miles ; for 
it is to be remembered, that the comet as well as the earth 
would have an enormously rapid motion, and the disturbing 
power of the earth would therefore only act for a short 
time. But a minor planet even the largest of the 
family, would not have the twenty -thousandth part of 
the earth's power* to disturb a passing comet. At a 
distance of 200,000 miles, a comet would pass such an 
asteroid without any marked disturbance of its motions. 

Of course it is not absolutely impossible that one of the 
comets of the pair should have been encountered by one 
minor planet, and the other by another ; but the improba- 
bility against such a contingency is so great that we need 
scarcely entertain the idea even as a bare possibility. 

"We are left then to the supposition that the comet was 
destroyed or dissipated by meteoric streams. It is at 
once seen that this theory is at least more consistent with 
observed facts than the other. The comet had been seen 
to divide into two parts in a portion of the solar system, 
where certainly no bodies but meteorites can be supposed 



* It is probable that the largest of the minor planets Vesta has a 
diameter of rather more than 200 miles, or at the outside say 260 miles 
the thirtieth part of the earth's diameter. Thus, assuming Vesta to 
have the same density as the earth (whereas, being smaller, she pro- 
bably is very much less compressed), we get for her mass (or, which is 
the same thing, her attractive power) the 27,000th part of the earth's 
obtaining the number 27,000 by multiplying 30 twice into itself. 



84 Our Place among Infinities. 

to travel. It seems reasonable to suppose, that on that 
occasion the head of the coinet had come right upon some 
group of meteors, and so had divided as a stream of water 
divides against a rock. Assuming this, we find reason for 
believing that the track of this comet crosses a rich meteor- 
region. The particular group which had caused the division 
of the comet would of course pass away, and would not 
probably come again in the comet's way for many years 
or even centuries. But another group belonging to the 
same system might in its turn encounter the comet, and 
complete the process of dissipation which the former had 
commenced. On this theory, the distance between the 
companion comets would introduce no difficulty. For not 
only is it quite a common circumstance for meteoric 
systems to have a range of several millions of miles,* but 
a much more important consideration both the comets 
would be bound to return to the scene of the former en- 
counter. It was there that each had been sent off on a 
new track ; but each new track started from there, and 
therefore each new track must pass through there. 

So that it seems far from improbable that, if the comets 
could have been watched during their return in 1859, they 
would have been seen to travel onwards towards the place 
where they had originally separated ; as they approached 
that place, it would have been perceived that they drew 
nearer together, though they would not reach that point 
at the same moment; f and then each in turn would have 

* See the paper on meteors in the " Expanse of Heaven." 

+ Of course in an article intended like the present for general reading, 



A Missing Comet. 85 

appeared to grow more and more diffuse as the encounter 
with the meteor-group proceeded, until first one and then 
the other would have vanished altogether from view. 

It may be asked, whether any circumstances in the 
history of comets seem to show that comets really are 
exposed to dissipation in this way. To this the reply is, 
that although Biela's is the only comet which has heen 
seen to divide into parts in modern times, or under tele- 
scopic scrutiny, yet history records more than one instance 
of a similar kind, and that too in the case of distinguished 
comets, not mere telescopic light-clouds such as Biela's. 
The following passage from Grant's noble work, "The 
History of Physical Astronomy," gives nearly all that is 
known on this point, though some Chinese records might 
be added did space permit: "Seneca relates that Ephorus, 
an ancient Greek author, makes mention of a comet which, 
before vanishing, was seen to divide itself into two distinct 
bodies. The Roman philosopher appears to doubt the 
possibility of such a fact ; but Kepler, with characteristic 
sagacity, has remarked that its actual occurrence was 
exceedingly probable. The latter astronomer further 
remarked, that there were some grounds for supposing that 
two comets, which appeared in the same region of the 



it is not possible to enter at length into all the considerations which 
have to be attended to in an exact inquiry into the motions of two comets 
after separation. It will be sufficient to point out that, unless the 
collision which caused the separation left the velocity of each exactly 
equal a wholly unlikely supposition they would return to the scene 
of collision at different epochs. The increased distance between them 
in 1852 showed that this was actually the case. 



86 Our Place among Infinities. 

heavens in the year 1618 were the fragments of a comet 
that had experienced a similar dissolution. Hevelius 
states, that Cysatus perceived in the head of the great 
comet of 1618 unequivocal symptoms of a breaking up of 
the body into distinct fragments. The comet, when first 
seen in the month of November, appeared like a round 
mass of concentrated light On the 8th of December it 
seemed to be divided into several parts. On the 20th of 
the same month it resembled a multitude of small stars. 
Hevelius states, that he himself witnessed a similar appear- 
ance in the head of the comet of 1661." 

It is, of course, always possible that the destruction or 
dissipation of a comet may be due, not to any collision, 
but to that action (whatever may be its nature) by which 
the sun seems, after rousing and disturbing the matter of 
a comet's head, to repel a part of this matter in such sort 
as to form a tail, or two or more tails. Indeed, it is worthy 
of notice that before its division into two comets, Biela's 
comet had shown two distinct tail-like appendages ; and 
possibly, if the comet could have been constantly watched 
it would have been found that these two appendages re- 
solved themselves eventually into the two tails of two 
distinct comets. 

Professor Grant adopts this view of the matter. He 
says, " it is impossible to doubt that the division of Biela's 
comet arose from the divellent action of the sun, whatever 
may have been the mode of operation." But I must admit, 
that I find it quite possible to doubt whether this is indeed 
the true solution of the difficulty. One can understand 



A Missing Comet. 87 

how two distinct tails might be expelled or repelled from a 
single head ; but it is not so easy to see how two complete 
comets could be formed out of one in this way, nothing 
apparently remaining. To make clear the nature of this 
reasoning, I remind the reader that a comet's tail is either 
formed out of the head (according to Sir J. Herschel's 
theory), or else is formed through a certain action exerted by 
the head (according to Prof. Tyndall's). In the former case, 
the process never (so far as observation extends) results in 
completely using up the head ; in the latter, very obviously, 
the head must remain, or the action would cease. In 
either case, then, the head would remain. So that when 
two tails were formed they would extend from one and 
the same head. The head cannot be made double by the 
same process which produces the double tail. There must 
be some distinct action on the head to produce such a 
result. Now the tails, after they are formed, might have 
the power of drawing away each its own share of the 
original head ; but the supposition seems rather a wild one. 
On the contrary, the supposition that the comet may have 
divided upon a meteoric group involves nothing which is 
not in accordance with known facts, since such meteoric 
groups exist in countless numbers within the interplanetary 
spaces. 

It is certainly unsafe, however, to dogmatise upon this 
difficult subject in the present state of our knowledge. 

"Whatever may have been the cause of this comet's 
dissipation, it would seem to admit of no possibility of 
question that the comet has been finally and completely 



88 Our Place among Infinities. 

removed from the list of existing comets. Of course, it 
has not been absolutely destroyed ; its fragments exist 
somewhere : but, as a comet, it has ceased to exist. If it 
had continued unchanged, it would have been again in 
view, and on the whole under favourable circumstances, 
during October in the present year (1872). Prepared to find 
it much fainter than of yore, or its fragments more widely 
dispersed, astronomers searched for it with more care than 
in 1866, not only using more powerful instruments, but 
extending their search over a wider range. But the 
comet was not found. At the next return, its path would 
bring it too near to the sun for astronomers to observe it, 
even though it retained its original brightness. We may 
assume that the process of dissipation and dispersion has 
been all this time in progress. And therefore it is im- 
possible to hope that a trace of the comet will be recognised 
in 1880, when it would again have passed into view but 
for the misfortunes which have befallen it. 

This being the case, my readers perhaps will be surprised 
to hear that in a few days from the appearance of these 
lines (Nov. 1, 1872), astronomers expect to see certain 
fragments of debris of this very comet. This, however, is 
actually the case. Since the year 1798, there have appeared 
from time to time, early in December, certain meteors or 
falling stars which follow a track closely according with the 
path of Biela's comet. There is not a perfect agreement ; 
but Dr Weiss, a German astronomer, has shewn that the 
actual path of the meteors corresponds almost perfectly with 
that of a comet which appeared in 1818, and which there is 



A Missing Comet. 89 

now excellent reason for regarding as itself a fragment of 
Bielas comet. Now, between November 25 and December 
5, the earth will be passing through the broad tracks of both 
these comets, or regarding Biela's as two through the 
tracks of these three comets, and so closely behind Biela's 
pair, that we may fairly expect to see many meteors dur- 
ing that week. Precisely as, in November 1866, there 
was a splendid display of November meteors, following on 
the track of Tempel's comet (which had passed early in 
1866), so this year there will probably be a display of 
meteors following the track of Biela's comet, which, though 
unseen, must have crossed the earth's path about the 
middle of October. At any rate, the skies should be 
carefully watched. The shower of meteors (should any 
occur) will fall in such a direction that shooting-stars 
might be looked for at any hour of the night. And those 
belonging to Biela's comet could be very readily dis- 
tinguished from others, because their tracks would seem to 
radiate from the constellation Cassiopeia. So that should 
any of my readers observe, on any night between Novem- 
ber 25 and December 5, a shooting-star following such a 
track, he will have the satisfaction of knowing that in all 
probability he has seen a fragment or follower of a comet 
which has divided into two if not three distinct comets, 
and has followed up that process of dissipation by dissolv- 
ing altogether away. 

It is not easy to form an opinion as to the actual pro- 
bability that a fine display of meteors will be seen. This 
particular meteor system has, however, been known to 



9O Our Place among Infinities. 

produce somewhat remarkable showers. Thus Brandes, 
who first recognised the existence of the system, counted 
no less than four hundred meteors in a few hours, while 
travelling in a covered carriage on the night of December 
7, 1798. 

In conclusion, we may draw, I think, from the history 
of the missing comet the inference that our earth and her 
fellow-planets have little to fear from collision with 
comets. The earth passes each year through more than a 
hundred meteor systems and yet suffers no injury, whereas 
Biela's comet would seem to have been destroyed during 
only a few encounters with meteoric groups. It appears 
evident, then, that it would be the comet, not our earth, 
which would suffer in any encounter of the sort. Indeed, 
comets, which once occasioned such dread, seem to be but 
frail creatures. To quote the words of poor Blanqui, the 
republican, who wrote in prison about comets as if he 
sympathised with them in their trials, " if comets escape 
Saturn, it is to fall under the stroke of Jupiter, the police- 
man of the solar system. On duty in the dark, he scents 
(sic) these hairy nothings (nihilites chevelues), before a ray 
makes them visible, and urges them distracted towards 
perilous passes. There, seized by heat and swollen to 
monstrosity, they lose their shape, lengthen, disaggregate, 
and break confusedly through the terrible straits, abandon- 
ing the stragglers everywhere, and only managing to 
regain, with great difficulty, under the protection of cold, 
their unknown solitudes." 



THE LOST COMET AND ITS METEOR-TRAIN. 

THE meteor-shower which occurred on November 27, 1872, 
and the circumstances connected with that event, not 
only attracted a fresh interest to the subject of meteoric 
astronomy, but afforded important evidence respect- 
ing the connection which undoubtedly exists between 
meteors and comets. I propose in this paper to consider 
more particularly the events referred to, having already in 
the last essay but one dealt with the histoiy of meteoric 
and cometic astronomy. 

It has been shown by the labours of Schiaparelli, Adams, 
Peters, Tempel, and other astronomers, that the meteors of 
November 13-14 (called the Leonides) travel in the track 
of Tempel's comet. The meteors of August 10-11, or 
Perseides, have also been shown to travel in the track of 
a comet. Other such instances of association have been 
more or less fully recognised ; and now the conclusion has 
been generally accepted, that in the train or path of comets 
bodies travel in scattered flights, which, if they fall on the 
atmosphere of the earth, appear as shooting-stars or 
meteors. 

Until the recent shower, however, the inquiries made 
in this branch of research had been limited to cases of 
5 



92 Our Place among Infinities. 

recognised meteor-systems whose orbits have been found 
to agree with those of comets. It was a new circumstance 
in the history of meteoric research when Weiss in 
Germany, and Alexander Herschel in England, ventured 
to predict a meteoric display because the earth was about 
to pass through the orbit of a known comet. It is true 
that there were some reasons for believing that meteors 
which had fallen in various years between November 25 
and December 7 were attendants upon the comet in 
question Biela's or Gambart's. But the evidence was 
slight, and in some respects unsatisfactory ; so that it may 
be said that in reality the astronomers just named had no 
other grounds for their anticipations than first the fact 
that Biela's comet was known to have recently passed the 
descending node of its orbit (or the place where it passes 
nearest to the earth's orbit), and secondly their confidence 
in the theory that meteors and comets are in some way 
associated. A prediction such as this became therefore in 
some sense a crucial test of this theory not indeed that 
the failure of the prediction would have disproved the 
theory (because negative evidence counts for little in this 
matter), but that its fulfilment would supply the only 
form of positive evidence yet wanting to that theory. 

I do not here enter at length on the remarkable circum- 
stances connected with Biela's comet, because they have 
been elsewhere stated at considerable length,* and are 
probably known to the majority of those who will read 
these lines. Let it suffice to say that the comet was one 

*See the preceding Essay. 



The Lost Comet and its Meteor- Train. 93 

of short period, returning at mean intervals of 6 - G35 years ; 
that in 1837 it was observed to be divided into two distinct 
comets ; that it returned in 1852, and both the comets 
were then still in existence ; that whether it returned 
(unchanged in general aspect) in 1858-59 or not, is 
unknown, because its calculated course was such as to 
render observation impossible ; and lastly that in 1866, 
and again last year, it was searched for in vain with 
telescopes of great power. 

Now it crossed the earth's path last year nearly twelve 
weeks before November 27, when the earth herself 
traversed the place at which the comet crosses her orbit. 
And since the meteors of November 13-14 have been seen, 
not merely a few months, but several years after the nodal 
passage of their comet, it seemed not unreasonable to 
expect a considerable meteoric display on or about 
November 27. The exact date was not indeed very 
accurately determined, and the reason is readily seen. I 
invite the reader's special attention to the point, because 
it has been somewhat singularly overlooked even by 
astronomers of great mathematical attainments. The 
comet itself had its place of passage readily calculated, 
and it might seem at first sight that whenever the earth 
came to that place the display should occur. But mani- 
festly the position of the cometic orbit for November 27, 
when the earth crossed that orbit's node, would not be 
identical with the position of that orbit three months or 
so before, when the comet passed its node. It might then 
seem that this latter position was what astronomers should 



94 Our Place among Infinities. 

calculate, and as a matter of fact this is what was commonly 
done. We find the position of the node of the orbit 
for the end of November assigned as the place where the 
encounter of the earth with the meteoric flight was to take 
place. But this view is as incorrect as the former. 
Those particular meteors which were travelling twelve 
weeks behind the head of the comet, although, speaking 
generally, they would follow the comet's track, would 
nevertheless not be found travelling in precisely the same 
orbit, nor would they cross the earth's orbit precisely 
where the comet's orbit did at the time. For they would 
have been subjected to perturbations differing notably in 
character from those which had affected the comet itself. 
It must be remembered that the circumstances which 
separated such meteors by so great a distance from the 
head have not taken place in a few years, in a few revolu- 
tions of the comet, or even in a few centuries. But even 
if we take only the last half century or so, and consider 
the history of those meteors during that time, it will be 
manifest that their perturbations have differed consider- 
ably from those which have affected their leader, so to 
term the comet in whose track they follow. In the course 
of those years the comet has ma'de seven or eight revolu- 
tions, and so. have the meteors, while Jupiter, the chief 
disturber of Biela's comet, has made four or five revolu- 
tions. In the course of this period the comet must have 
been more than once so placed as to be very considerably 
disturbed by Jupiter, because as a matter of fact the path 
of the comet passes not very far (near its aphelion) from 



The Lost Comet and its Meteor- Train. 95 

the path of Jupiter. The same general statement is 
true, of course, of the meteors twelve weeks behind. 
Now, whenever it happened that the comet was at its 
nearest to Jupiter, when passing that critical portion of 
its orbit, the meteors twelve weeks behind were either 
not brought so fully under the influence of Jupiter's 
attraction, or if they were, they were perturbed by him in 
a different manner. This is manifest if we consider how 
enormous is the real distance corresponding to the twelve 
weeks or so by which the meteors are behind the comet. 
And again, when the meteors chanced to be at their 
nearest to Jupiter when passing the critical part of their 
orbit, the comet, twelve weeks in front, was either not 
brought so fully under Jupiter's influence, or was per- 
turbed in a different way. 

Now whenever a perturbation has been produced, it 
affects the orbit of the perturbed body. Supposing the 
comet and meteors moving in precisely the same orbit at 
a particular moment, when Jupiter is pulling the comet 
in a certain way and the meteors in a different way, then 
forthwith the comet and meteors travel in different orbits. 
The difference may be slight, close by the place where 
such perturbations are produced, but it may nevertheless 
appreciably affect the positions which will be occupied 
by the comet and meteors when severally traversing some 
other and distant part of their orbit (as for instance when 
they are at their descending node close by the earth's 
track). And again, although in the long run there are 
compensatory effects the comets and the bodies travelling 



96 Our Place among Infinities. 

twelve weeks behind being in the course of many years 
subjected to every variety of perturbative effect in the 
same respective proportions yet such cycles of compensa- 
tion are enormously long in the case of bodies moving in 
an orbit like that of Biela's comet ; and practically it may 
be said that compensation is never effected.* 

So that unless calculations could be made of the pertur- 
bations affecting those meteors themselves which are 
travelling twelve weeks behind the comet, we could not 
possibly be certain as to the place where the earth would 
actually encounter the meteor flight, or whether such an 
encounter would take place at all. The calculation would 
be one of immense difficulty, even if we knew where and 
how the meteors had been moving at some particular date ; 

" One may reason thus : Given a body travelling in the orbit of 
Biela's comet ; then the orbit of this body will pass through endless 
changes. Its eccentricity will wax and wane ; its inclination will 
increase and diminish ; its line of apsides will advance and retrograde, 
advancing on the whole ; its line of nodes will advance and retrograde, 
retrograding on the whole ; and countless ages must elapse before its 
orbit resumes its original figure, for the four kinds of change will not 
have synchronous periods. Now the same is true of another body, 
having at the beginning the same orbit but twelve weeks in front or 
behind. This body will have its orbit passing through endless changes, 
and will only after countless ages be found travelling in the same 
orbit as at first. But the period in which this will happen is not the 
same period in which the former will happen. Each period is 
enormously long ; but after the lapse of either the bodies are not 
travelling in the same orbit. \Vhen one period has elapsed, the other 
is far from being completed ; when the latter is completed, the former 
is far past. Nor does it follow that the perturbing planets are in the 
same position as when the changes began. Many thousands of such 
l>criods must pass for both bodies before there is a near approach to 
the original state of things in all respects. 



The Lost Comet and its Meteor-Train. 97 

but as we know nothing on either point, it is simply 
impossible to enter upon the calculation. 

It will presently be seen that these considerations bear 
importantly on the opinion we are to form respecting the 
events which have recently occurred. 

It is in the knowledge of all my readers that on Novem- 
ber 27th 1872, the anticipated display of meteors did 
actually occur. It was a display very remarkable in 
character. The meteors were even more numerous, in fact 
they were far more numerous than during the memorable 
shower of the night between November 13-14, 1866 ; 
though the meteors were not so large on the average as 
those seen on the latter occasion. I select from among 
many accounts the excellent description given by Professor 
Grant, because his skill and practice as an observer give 
great value to his statements. "In their general features," 
he says, " the meteors did not differ from those of the great 
display of November 13-34, 1866. They were, however, 
obviously less brilliant. Their normal colour was white, 
with a pale train tinged now and then with a very faint 
greenish hue. The head seldom equalled in brightness a 
star of the first magnitude. From time to time, however, a 
meteor of unusual splendour would appear, nearly rivalling 
Jupiter in brightness. In such cases the train, especially 
when breaking up, exhibited a reddish tinge. In two 
instances of large meteors (those of 8h. 13m. and 9h. 33m.) 
the colour of the train was conspicuously green. In general, 
however, there was an absence of the brilliant emerald hue 



98 Our Place among Infinities. 

which formed so conspicuous a feature of many of the 
larger meteors of November 1866. The time of visibility 
of a meteor did not exceed two or three seconds. In two 
or three instances of bright meteors, however, the debris 
of the train continued visible for about thirty seconds. The 
arc described varied as usual from zero to forty or fifty 
degrees. I was unable to detect any pronounced differ- 
ence in the angular velocity of the meteors as compared 
with the meteors of November 1866. During the whole 
time of the occurrence of the shower I directed especial 
attention to the region of the heavens from which the 
meteors were issuing, with the view of detecting station- 
ary or nearly stationary meteors, having been convinced, 
from my experience of the meteoric shower of November 
1 866, of the facility with which such meteors indicate 
the position of the radiant-point. Several meteors of 
this class were seen during the progress of the shower. 
At 8h. 43m., at 9h. 23m., and at 9h. 35m., absolutely 
stationary meteors were perceived. They rapidly swelled 
out, without any vestige of a train, and then suddenly 
collapsed. They all concurred in placing the radiant- 
point in a position midway between 7 Andromedce 
and 51 Andromeda, perhaps a little nearer to the 
former star than to the latter. Assuming the position 
of the radiant-point to be midway between the two 
stars just mentioned, it would thus be situated in E.A. 
26, DecL N. 44. This conclusion was supported by the 
observations of nearly stationary meteors in the vicinity 
of the radiant-point. On the other hand the courses of the 



The Lost Comet and its Meteor-Train. 99 

more distant meteors when traced back, although in general 
assigning the same position to the radiant, appeared in 
many instances to come from a higher region situated in 
Cassiopica. Of this fact (which is otherwise indicated by 
the projection of the observations) I do not entertain the 
slightest doubt, my attention having been directed to it 
early in the evening. In order to ascertain the time of 
occurrence of the maximum of the shower, it was necessary 
to count the number of meteors visible. At first it occurred 
to me to place two observers, one looking towards the 
region of the radiant-point, and the other towards the 
opposite region, but I found that the attempt to carry into 
effect this arrangement introduced confusion. I therefore 
directed the observer always to keep the star 7 Andromedce 
as the centre of vision, and to continue counting as many 
meteors as he could without turning round. The counting 
of the meteors commenced at 5h. 30m., and was prosecuted 
without intermission until llh. 50m. ; it consequently 
embraced an interval of 6h. 20m. The operation was effected 
by counting the number of meteors visible in each suc- 
cessive interval of five minutes. The meteors counted were 
thus parcelled out into seventy-six groups, each group 
extending over five minutes. The number of meteors 
counted in the first group (oh. 30m. to 5h. 35m.) amounted 
to 40. The number of meteors in the maximum group 
(8h. 10m. to 8h. 15m. was 367. The number of meteors 
in the last group (llh. 45m. to llh. 50m.) fell to 6. Tak- 
ing the first seventy-two groups, and forming them into 



TOO Oiir Place among Infinities. 

twenty-four groups of fifteen minutes each, we have the 
following results : 



Quarter of 
Hour 
ending 


No. of 
Meteors 
Counted 


Quarter of 
Hour 
ending 


No. of 
Meteors 
Counted 


Quarter of 
Hour 
ending 


No. of 
Meteors 
Counted 


b. in. 




h. m. 




h. m. 




5 45 


150 


7 45 


881 


9 45 


233 


6 


174 


8 


930 


10 


246 


6 15 


292 


8 15 


1070 


10 15 


190 


6 30 


507 


8 30 


777 


10 30 


116 


6 45 


643 


8 45 , 


599 


10 45 


111 


7 


840 


9 


413 


11 


74 


7 15 


721 


9 15 


418 


11 15 


48 


7 30 


890 


9 30 


213 


11 30 


22 



"It is clear that the maximum of the shower occurred 
about 8h. 10m. The aggregate number of meteors counted 
from 5h. 30m. to llh. 50m. (by one observer) amounted 
to 10,579." 

To this it may be added that in Italy the shower was 
even richer, for Signor Denza states that in 6| hours no less 
than 33,400 meteors were counted by four observers. " The 
meteors were very brilliant," he adds, " and were noticed in 
every part of the sky. The number recorded above is far 
less than the truth, for we found it frequently impossible 
to count them. The maximum display took place between 
7h. and 9h., and for 21 minutes, between 6h. 35m. and 
6h. 56m., the appearance in the sky was that of a meteoric 
cloud. The radiant-point was very clearly indicated near 
y Andromedce. 

Now in the first place it is to be noticed that there can 
be no question whatever as to the meteoric display having 



The Lost Comet and its Meteor-Train. 101 

been produced by bodies which were travelling in the 
track (speaking generally) of Biela's comet. It is suffi- 
cient to compare the position of the radiant-point with 
that which would have been due to meteors following 
precisely in the orbit of Biela's comet, as calculated for 
the last perturbed epoch, 1866. Mr Hind, the superin- 
tendent of the " Nautical Almanac," has calculated for the 
radiant-point due to the comet a place in R A. l h . 41 m ., 
and N. P. D. 48. We have seen that Professor Grant 
gives for the observed radiant-point a position in E. A. 
26" (or l h . 44 m .), and N. P. D. 44, a singularly close 
agreement under the circumstances.* 

* In passing I would venture to touch on what I cannot but regard 
as an error in the treatment of this subject by Professor Newton of 
America, and some other astronomers. They attribute to the indica- 
tions of the meteoric paths a degree of accuracy which cannot, I con- 
ceive, be regarded as to be depended upon. And where, judging from 
the meteoric motions, the radiant seems to shift in position or to occupy 
an area rather than to be a mere point, they deduce such and such 
inferences from one or other circumstance. But it must be remembered 
that apart from other causes which would tend to spread the radiant 
region, the meteors must bj che action of the atmosphere be very often, 
if not always, caused to deviate from the direction in which they had 
been moving before they reached the upper limits of the atmosphere. 
We cannot assume that because the air is very rare where the meteors 
first become visible, they therefore encounter an inappreciable resist- 
ance. The very fact of a meteor becoming visible shows, on the con- 
traiy, that there has been a degree of compression of the atmosphere 
in front of the meteor, which must necessarily involve a considerable 
resistance. And it is utterly unlikely that this resistance should take 
place without to some degree affecting the direction in which the 
meteor travels. Nor will all meteors be alike affected. For it is to be 
remembered that of the Meteors seen from any given station some 
strike the atmosphere in a very different way than others. Some 
impinge almost squarely upon the upper atmospheric layers, while 
others fall much more aslant. Then there must often be a difference of 



IO2 Our Place among Infinities. 

But now comes the most singular part of the whole 
affair. It occurred to the German astronomer Klinkerfues 
that if search could be made in the part of the heavens 
directly opposite to that whence the meteor-shower had 
appeared to radiate, the cluster of meteoric bodies which 
had produced the display might be detected. In fact, 
Klinkerfues appears to have supposed that Biela's comet 
had itself touched the earth on the evening of November 
27, for he telegraphed to Mr Pogson (the Government 
astronomer at Madras) in the following terms : " Biela 
touched earth on 27th; search near Theta Centauri" And 
Pogson understood that it was the comet itself that he was 
searching for, since he wrote as follows, in describing the 
results of his search: "I was on the look out from 
Comet-rise (1 6 h .) to Sun-rise the next two mornings, but 
clouds and rain disappointed me. On the third attempt, 
however, I had better luck. Just about 17^ h . mean time 
a brief blue space enabled me to find Biela, and though 
I could only get four comparisons with an anonymous 
star, it had moved forward 2.5 s. in four minutes, and that 
settled its being the right object. I recorded it as 
' Circular ; bright, with a decided nucleus, but no tail, and 
about 45" in diameter.' This was in strong twilight. 
Next morning, December 3, I got a much better observa- 
tion of it ; seven comparisons with another anonymous 

density and of arrangement in the upper strata of our atmosphere. 
These and other causes which may be pointed out, as well as differences 
in the size, weight, and density of the individual meteors, must lead to 
appreciable changes in the direction of motion. 



The Lost Comet and its Meteor-Train. 103 

star ; two with one of our current Madras Catalogue Stars, 
and two with 7734 Taylor. This time my notes were : 
' Circular, Diameter 75 // , bright nucleus, a faint but distinct 
tail, 8' in length and spreading, position angle from 
nucleus about 280.' I had no time to spare to look for 
the other comet, and the next morning the clouds and 
rain had returned. The positions, the first rough, the 
second pretty fair, from the two known stars, are : 

Madras M. T. R.A, Apparent N. P. D. 

h. m. s. h. m. s. ' * 

Dec. 2. 17 33 21 14 7 27 124 46 
3. 17 25 17 14 22 2-9 125 4 28 

It is manifest, however, that whatever the object seen 
by Pogson may have been, it was not Biela's comet ; for 
the comet was due in that part of its orbit no less than 
twelve weeks earlier, and any retardation which could 
have produced so great a delay would have altogether 
changed the character of the comet's path. 

Still it might be supposed that certainly what Pogson saw 
was on the track of Biela's comet, was in fact the cluster 
of bodies which produced the meteor-shower of November 
27. Even this, however, is so far from being demonstrated 
that skilful mathematicians consider the object seen by 
Pogson to have had no connection whatever either with 
Biela itself or its meteoric train. 

This at any rate is certain a flight of bodies travelling 
on the track of Biela's comet, and crossing the earth's 
orbit on November 27, could not possibly have been seen 
in the positions in which Pogson saw a cometic or cloud- 



1 04 Our Place among Infinities. 

like object. We have, Professor A. S. Herschel has 
pointed out, unmistakable evidence that Pogson saw one 
and the same object. For he rated the motion of the 
object on the first morning, and the observed rate accords 
perfectly with the position occupied by the object on the 
second morning. 

Two observations of a comet do not afford the means of 
determining the path in which the comet is travelling. 
But if we combine Pogson's observations with some other 
assumption, as that the object he saw had crossed the 
earth's orbit on November 27 at a given hour, or that the 
period of the object is identical with that of Biela's comet, 
or the like, then an orbit can be determined. 

Now Capt. Tupman, in a paper recently read before the 
Royal Astronomical Society, after showing that the meteors 
seen on the night of Nov. 27 were running in sensibly 
the same orbit as Biela's comet, proves conclusively that a 
body moving in the same orbit as those meteors, or in an 
orbit parallel to them, could not have been in the positions 
occupied by the object seen by Pogson. We must assume 
greater changes in the character of the orbit than appear 
admissible, in order to account for the observed positions ; 
in particular, since the object seen by Pogson had an 
apparent motion nearly parallel to the ecliptic, the inclina- 
tion of its orbit cannot possibly be so great as 12 34', 
which is the inclination of Biela's comet. 

On the other hand, Dr. J. Holetschek, in No. 1920 of the 
' Astronomische Nachrichten,' combining Pogson's two 
observations, with Hubbard's values of (1) the longitude 



The Lost Comet and its Meteor- Train. 105 

of the node, (2) the longitude of the perihelion, and (3) the 
inclination, deduces for the perihelion passage of Pogson's 
object the date December 23'368 (mean Berlin time) and 
the perihelion distance '8339 ('8606 being Hubbard's value 
of the perihelion distance of Biela's orbit in 1872). It is 
noteworthy that Tupman obtains for the meteor-flights 
of last November and for Biela's comet the following 
elements respectively : 

Meteors of Nov. 27. Biela's Comet. 

Perihelion passage 1872 Dec. 26'90 1872 Ocf 66'9 (?) 

Longitude of perihelion 111 48' 109 24' 

ascending mode 245 57' 245 54' 

Inclination . . . .13 24' 12 34' 

Perihelion distance . . '8265 -8718 

Eccentricity . . . '7670 '7600 

Motion .... Direct Direct 

So that Holetschek's result would appear to indicate that 
the object seen by Pogson had been travelling about 3 days 
behind the meteors observed on November 27 last. 

Professor von Oppolzer of Vienna, the eminent orbit 
calculator, shows in the same number of the " Astronomiche 
Nachrichten," that the same problem may be successfully 
treated* in a totally different manner. He assumes the 
period (or which amounts to the same thing,) the major 
axis of the object's orbit to be the same as that of Biela's 
comet, and that the object was moving from the earth in 
the interval between December 2 and 3, deducing elements 
nearly resembling those of Biela's comet. 

It appears to me that the discordances obtained by 
different astronomers depend largely on the assumption 



1 06 Our Place among Infinities. 

that the object seen .by Pogsou, if identifiable at all with 
Biela's meteor-train, must in a special manner be identified 
with the cloud of meteors through which the earth passed 
on the night of November 27. But is there any valid 
reason for this assumption ? It may seem at first sight 
that there is ; that a cloud of meteors sufficiently dense to 
produce so remarkable a display should be visible, when 
it had passed beyond the earth, as a cloud of light in the 
telescopic field. But if we consider the real distribution 
of those meteors in space, we shall find reason to conclude 
that they were far too sparsely distributed to be visible 
under any circumstances, by the light they were capable 
of reflecting. Let it be remembered that the display lasted 
about six hours, and that during that period about 50,000 
meteors at the utmost appeared above the horizon of any 
given place. But let us set 100,000 as the number of 
meteors so appearing, and the time at only four hours. 
Now the region of meteor-traversed atmosphere above 
the horizon plane of any station may be taken as a 
plano-convex lens, its plane circular face having a 
diameter certainly not less than 1,000 miles ; and as the 
radiant was high above the horizon, we shall be within the 
truth in concluding that such a plane on the average 
presented (as supposed to be seen from the advancing 
meteors) an area equalling the 100th part of the area pre- 
sented by the whole disc of the earth. So that if we take 
10,000,000 for the total number of meteors falling on the 
earth during four hours, we shall certainly not imder- 
estimate' the number (referring always to meteors large 



The Lost Comet and its Meteor -Train. 107 

enough to become visible to the naked eye). Now, the 
actual region of space traversed by the earth in four hours 
is a cylinder 260,000 miles long and having a cross section 
nearly 8,000 miles in diameter. Such a cylinder would have 
a volume of 12,500,000,000,000 cubic miles, and to each 
meteor of the 10,000,000 there would therefore correspond 
an average space of 1,250,000 cubic miles ; that is, a space 
corresponding to a cube nearly 108 miles in length and 
breadth and height. Since such meteors as were seen on 
the night of November 27 have been estimated at less than 
an ounce in weight (in many cases only a few grains), it 
follows that their dimensions are inconsiderable. TLe 
largest can scarcely, when solid, be an inch in diameter. 
It will be conceived, therefore, how small must be the 
prospect of seeing a flight of bodies so exceedingly minute 
compared with the average space occupied by each. It is, 
indeed, easy to estimate the luminosity of such a flight 
regarded as a whole, if of given depth and at a given dis- 
tance from the sun. Thus, suppose the flight of a million 
miles in depth, and at the earth's distance from the sun. 
Along a range of a million miles there would be less than 
10,000 meteors. Now, granting each to have a disc one 
square inch in real area, we should have a total area 
of 10,000 square inches (that is, 8J feet square). And the 
ratio of this area to 108 miles square gives the ratio of the 
luminosity of the meteor-cloud (when of the given depth) 
to the luminosity of a surface illuminated by the sun at the 
earth's distance (say, the moon for example). Now 108 
miles square, or 11,664 square miles contain 11,664 x 



io8 Our Place among Infinities. 

(1,760) 2 x (36) 2 square inches, or roughly (for great nicety 
would be useless in such a problem) 10,000 x (2,000) 2 
X (35) 2 square inches ; so that the ratio we require is 1 to 
(TO.OOO) 2 or 1 to 4,900,000,000. That is, the luminosity 
of the meteor-cloud would be one-4,900,000,000th only of 
the moon's, and necessarily the meteor-cloud would be 
quite undiscernible. Hence we may be assured that if the 
object seen by Pogson was connected at all with the 
meteor-cloud through which the earth passed on November 
27, he saw a very much denser part of the meteor cloud ; 
and there is no reason why this dense portion or nucleus 
of the meteor-cloud may not have been at a considerable 
distance from the earth on the 27th of last November. 
This consideration would serve to remove some of the 
more perplexing circumstances of the recent observations. 



JUPITER. 

THE planet Jupiter has passed lately (this was written in 
1 873) through a singular process of change. The planet 
has not, indeed, assumed a new appearance, but has 
gradually resumed its normal aspect after four or five 
years, during which the mid-zone of Jupiter has been 
aglow with a peculiar ruddy light. The zone is now 
of a creamy-white colour, its ordinary hue. We have, 
in fact, reached the close of a period of disturbance, 
and have received a definite answer to questions which 
had arisen as to the reality of the change described by 
observers. Many astronomers of repute were disposed 
to believe that the peculiarities recently observed were 
merely due to the instruments with which the planet 
has been observed not, indeed, to any fault in those in- 
struments, but, in fact, to their good qualities in showing 
colour. A considerable number of the earlier accounts of 
Jupiter's change of aspect came from observers who used 
the comparatively modern form of telescope known as the 
silvered-glass reflectors, and it is well known that these 
instruments are particularly well suited for the study of 
colour-changes. Nevertheless, observations made with 
the ordinary refracting telescope were not wanting ; and 
it had begun to be recognised that Jupiter really had 



1 10 Our Place among Infinities. 

altered remarkably in appearance, even before tbat gradual 
process of change which, by restoring his usual aspect, 
enabled every telescopist to assure himself that there had 
been no illusion in the earlier observations. 

I propose now to discuss certain considerations which 
appear to me to indicate the nature and probable meaning 
of the phenomena which have recently been observed in 
Jupiter. It seems to me that these phenomena are full 
of interest, whether considered in themselves or in con- 
nection with those circumstances on which I had been 
led to base the theory that Jupiter is a planet altogether 
unlike our earth in condition, and certainly unfit to be the 
abode of living creatures. 

I would first direct special attention to the facts which 
have been ascertained respecting the atmosphere of Jupiter. 

It does not appear to have been noticed, as a remarkable 
circumstance, that Jupiter should have an atmosphere 
recognisable from our distant station. Yet, in reality, 
this circumstance is not only most remarkable, but is 
positively inexplicable on any theory by which Jupiter is 
regarded as a world resembling our own. It is certain 
that, except by the effects produced when clouds form and 
dissipate, our terrestrial atmosphere could not be recog- 
nised at Jupiter's distance with any telescopic power yet 
applied. But no one who has studied Jupiter with ade- 
quate means can for a moment fail to recognise the fact 
that the signs of an atmosphere indicate much more than 
the mere formation and dissipation of clouds. I speak 
here after a -careful study of the planet during the late 



Jupiter. 1 1 1 

opposition, with a very fine reflecting telescope by Brown- 
ing, very generously placed at my disposal by Lord 
Lindsay ; and I feel satisfied that no one can study 
Jupiter for many hours (on a single night) without be- 
coming convinced that the cloud-masses seen on his disc 
have a depth comparable with their length and bread. 
Now the depth of terrestrial cloud-masses would at 
Jupiter's distance be an absolutely evanescent quantity. 
The span of his disc represents about 84,000 miles, and 
his satellites, which look little more than points in 
ordinary telescopes, are all more than 2,000 miles in 
diameter. I am satisfied that anyone who has carefully 
studied the behaviour of Jupiter's cloud-belts will find it 
difficult to believe that their depth is less than the 
twentieth part of the diameter of the least satellite. 
Conceive, however, what the depth of an atmosphere 
would be in which cloud-masses a hundred miles deep 
were floating ! 

It may be asked, however, in what sense such an at- 
mosphere would be inexplicable, or, at least, irreconcilable 
with the theory that Jupiter is a world like our eartlj. 
Such an atmosphere would be in strict proportion, it might 
be urged, to the giant bulk of the planet, and such relative 
agreement seems more natural than would be a perfect 
correspondence between the depth of the atmosphere on 
Jupiter and the depth of our earth's atmosphere. 

But it must not be forgotten that the atmosphere of 
Jupiter is attracted by the mass of the planet ; and some 
rather remarkable consequences follow when we pay 



H2 Our Place among Infinities. 

attention to this consideration. Of course a great deal 
must be assumed in an inquiry of the sort. Since, how- 
ever, we are discussing the question whether there can be 
any resemblance between Jupiter and our earth, we may 
safely (so far as our inquiry is concerned) proceed on the 
assumption that the atmosphere of Jupiter does not greatly 
differ in constitution from that of our earth. We may further 
assume that at the upper part of the cloud-layers we see, 
the atmospheric pressure is not inferior to that of our 
atmosphere at a height of seven miles above the sea-level, 
or one-fourth of the pressure at our sea-level. Combining 
these assumptions with the conclusion just mentioned, 
that the cloud-layers are at least 100 miles in depth, we 
are led to the following singular result as to the pressure 
of the Jovian atmosphere at the bottom of the cloud-layer : 
The atmosphere of any planet doubles in pressure with 
descent through equal distances, these distances depending 
on the power of gravity at the planet's surface. In the 
case of our earth, the pressure is doubled with descent 
through about 3 miles ; but gravity on Jupiter is more 
than 2$ times as great as gravity on our earth, and descent 
through 1* mile would double the pressure in the case of 
a Jovian atmosphere. Now 100 miles contain this dis- 
tance (If mile) more than seventy-one times ; and we 
must therefore double the pressure at the upper part of the 
cloud-layer seventy-one successive times to obtain the 
pressure at the lower part. Two doublings raise the 
pressure to that at our sea-level ; and the remaining sixty- 
nine doublings would result in a pressure exceeding that 



Jupiter. 1 1 3 

at our sea-level so many times that the number represent- 
ing the proportion contains twenty-one figures.* I say 
would result in such a pressure, because in reality there 
are limits beyond which atmospheric pressure cannot be 
increased without changing the compressed air into the 
liquid form. What those limits are we do not know, 
for no pressure yet applied has changed common air, 
or either of its chief constituent gases, into the liquid 
form, or even produced any trace of a tendency to 
assume that form. But it is easily shown that there 
must be a limit to the increase of pressure which air 
will sustain without liquefying. For the density of 
any gas changes proportionately to the increase of pressure, 
until the gas is approaching the state when it is about to 
turn liquid. Now air at the sea-level has a density equal 
to less than the 900th part of the density of water ; so 
that if the pressure at the sea-level were increased 900 
times, either the density would not increase proportionally, 
which would show that the gas was approaching the 
density of liquefaction, or else the gas would be denser 
than water, which must be regarded as utterly impossible. 

* The problem is like the well-known one relating to the price of a 
horse, where one farthing was to be paid for the first nail of 24 in the 
shoes, a halfpenny for the next, a penny for the third, two pence for 
the fourth, and so on. It may be interesting to some of my readers to 
learn, that if we want to know roughly the proportion in which the 
first number is increased by any given number of doublings, we have 
only to multiply the number of doublings by ^ths, and add 1 to the 
integral part of the result, to give the number of digits in the number 
representing the required proportions. Thus multiplying 24 by ffcths 
gives 7 (neglecting fractions) ; and therefore the number of farthings in 
the horse problem is represented by an array of 8 digits. 



1 1 4 Our Place among Infinities. 

Or if any one is disposed, for the sake of argument, to 
assert that a gas (at ordinary temperatures) may be as 
dense as water, then we need proceed but a few steps 
farther, increasing the pressure about 18,000 times instead 
of 900 times, to have the density of platinum instead of 
that of water, and no one is likely to maintain that our 
air could exist in the gaseous form with a density equal- 
ling that of the densest of the elements. We are still an 
enormous way behind the number of twenty-one figures 
mentioned above ; and in fact, if we supposed the pressure 
and density to increase continually to the extent implied 
by the number of twenty-one figures, we should have a 
density exceeding that of platinum more than ten 
thousand millions of millions of times ! 

Of course this supposition is utterly monstrous, and I 
have merely indicated it to show how difficulties crowd 
around us in any attempt to show that a resemblance 
exists between the condition of Jupiter and that of our 
earth. The assumptions I made were sufficiently moderate, 
be it noticed, since I simply regarded (i.) the air of 
Jupiter as composed like our own; (ii.) the pressure at 
the upper part of his cloud-layer as not less than the 
pressure far above the highest of our terrestrial cumulus 
clouds (with which alone the clouds of Jupiter are com- 
parable) ; and (iii.) the depth of his cloud-layer as about 
100 miles. The first two assumptions cannot fairly be 
departed from to any considerable extent, without adopt- 
ing the conclusion that the atmosphere of Jupiter is quite 
unlike that of our earth, which is precisely what I desire 



Jupiter. 1 1 5 

to maintain. The third is, of course, open to attack, 
though I apprehend that no one who has observed Jupiter 
with a good telescope will question its justice. But it is 
not at all essential to the argument that the assumed 
depth of the Jovian atmosphere should be even nearly so 
great. We do not need a third of our array of twenty- 
one figures, or even a seventh part, since no one who has 
studied the experimental researches made into the con- 
dition of gases and vapours can for a moment suppose 
that an atmosphere like ours could remain gaseous, 
except at an enormously high temperature, at a pressure of 
two or three hundred atmospheres. Such a pressure 
would be obtained, retaining our first two assumptions, at 
a depth of about fourteen miles below the upper part of 
the cloud-layer. This is about the 6,000th part of the 
diameter of Jupiter ; and if any student of astronomy can 
believe that that wonderfully complex and changeful cloud 
envelope which surrounds Jupiter, has a thickness of less 
than the 6,000th part of the planet's diameter, I would 
recommend as a corrective the careful study of the planet 
for an hour or two with a powerful telescope, combined 
with the consideration that the thickness of a spider's line 
across the telescopic field of view would suffice to hide a 
breadth of twenty miles on Jupiter's disc. 

But we are not by any means limited to the reasoning 
here indicated, convincing as that reasoning should be to 
all who have studied the aspect of Jupiter with adequate 
telescopic power. We have in Jupiter's mean density an 
argument of irresistible force against the only view which 
6 



1 1 6 Our Place among Infinities. 

enables us even hypothetically to escape from the 
conclusions just indicated. Let it be granted, for the 
sake of argument, that Jupiter's cloud-layer is less than 
fourteen miles in depth, so that we are freed for the 
moment from the inference that at the lower part of the 
atmosphere there is either an intense heat or else a 
density and pressure incompatible with the gaseous 
condition. We cannot, in this case, strike off more than 
twenty-eight miles from the planet's apparent diameter 
to obtain the real diameter of his solid globe solid, at 
least, if we are to maintain the theory of his resemblance to 
our earth. This leaves his real diameter appreciably the 
same as his apparent diameter, and as a result we have 
the mean density of his solid globe equal to a fourth of 
the earth's mean density precisely as when we leave his 
atmosphere out of the question. Now I apprehend that 
the time has long since passed when we can seriously pro- 
ceed at this stage to say, as it was the fashion to say in 
text-books of astronomy, " therefore the substance of which 
Jupiter is composed must be of less specific gravity than 
oak and other heavy woods." "We know that Brewster 
gravely reasoned that the solid materials of Jupiter might 
be of the nature of pumice stone, so that with oceans 
resembling ours a certain latitude was allowed for increase 
of density in Jupiter's interior. But in the presence of 
the teachings of spectroscopic analysis, few would now 
care to maintain, as probable, so preposterous a theory as 
this. Everything that has hitherto been learned respect- 
ing the constitution of the heavenly bodies, renders it quite 



Jupiter. 117 

unlikely that the elementary constitution of Jupiter 
differs from that of our earth. Again, it was formerly 
customary to speak of the possibility that Jupiter and 
Saturn might be hollow globes, mere shells, composed of 
materials as heavy as terrestrial elements. But whatever 
opinion we form as to the possibility that a great 
intensity of heat may vaporise a portion of Jupiter's 
interior, we know quite certainly that there must be 
enormous pressure throughout the whole of the planet's 
globe, and that even a vaporous nucleus would be of 
great density. For it is to be remembered that all 
that I have said above respecting the possibility of gases 
existing at great pressures applies only to ordinary 
temperatures such temperatures, for example, as living 
creatures can endure. At exceedingly high temperatures 
much greater pressure, and therefore much greater density, 
can be attained without liquefaction or solidification. And 
in considering the effect of pressure on the materials of a 
solid globe, we must not fall into the mistake of supposing 
that the strength of such solid materials can protect its sub- 
stance from compression and its effects. We must extend 
our conceptions beyond what is familiar to us. We know 
that any ordinary mass of some strong, heavy solid as 
iron, copper, or gold is not affected by its own weight so 
as to change in structure to an appreciable extent. The 
substance of a mass of iron forty or fifty feet high, would 
be the same in structure at the bottom as at the top of 
the mass ; for the strength of the metal would resist any 
change which the weight of the mass would (otherwise) 



1 1 8 Our Place among Infinities. 

tend to produce. But if there were a cubical mountain of 
iron twenty miles high, the lower part would be absolutely 
plastic under the pressure to which it would be subjected. 
It would behave in all respects as a fluid, insomuch that 
if (for convenience of illustration) we suppose it enclosed 
within walls made of some imaginary (and impossible) 
substance which would yield to no pressure, then, if a 
portion of the wall were removed near the base of the iron 
mountain, the iron would flow out like water * from a hole 
near the bottom of a cask. The iron would continue to 
run out in this way, until the mass was reduced several 
miles in height. In Jupiter's case a mountain of iron of 
much less height would be similarly plastic in its lower 
parts, simply because of the much greater attractive power 
of Jupiter's mass. Thus we see that the conception of a 
hollow interior, or of any hollow spaces throughout the 
planet's globe, is altogether inconsistent with what is 
known of the constitution of even the strongest materials. 
How, then, are we to explain the relatively small mean 
density of Jupiter's globe ? On the supposition that his 
atmosphere is less than fourteen miles deep, we cannot do 
so ; for there is nothing hypothetical in the above consider- 
ations respecting a solid globe as large as Jupiter's, except- 
ing always the assumption that the globe is not formed of 
substances unlike any with which we are familiar. Even 
this assumption, though it is one which few would care to 

* The effect of pressure in rendering iron and other metals plastic has 
been experimentally determined. Cast steel has been made to flow 
almost like water, under pressure. 



Jupiter. 119 

maintain in the present position of our knowledge, amounts 
after all to an admission of the chief point which I am 
endeavouring to maintain : it is one way but a very 
fanciful way of inferring that Jupiter is utterly unlike 
the earth. Eejecting it, as we safely may, we find the 
small density of Jupiter not merely unexplained, but 
manifestly inexplicable. 

All our reasoning has been based on the assumption 
that the atmosphere of Jupiter exists at a temperature not 
greatly differing from that of our own atmosphere. If we 
assume instead an exceedingly high temperature, abandon- 
ing of course the supposition that Jupiter is an inhabited 
world, we no longer find any circumstances which are self- 
contradictory or incredible. 

To begin with, we may on such an assumption find at 
once a parallel to Jupiter's case in that of the Sun. For 
the Sun is an orb attracting his atmospheric envelope and 
the material of his own solid or liquid surface (if he has 
any) far more mightily than Jupiter has been shown to do. 
All the difficulties considered in the case of Jupiter would 
be enormously enhanced in the case of the Sun, if we for- 
got the fact that the Sun's globe is at an intense heat from 
surface to centre. Now we know that the Sun is intensely 
hot because we feel the heat that he emits, and recognise 
the intense lustre of his photosphere ; so that we are not 
in danger of overlooking this important circumstance 
in his condition. Jupiter gives out no heat that we can 
feel, and assuredly Jupiter does not emit an intense light 
of his own. But, when we find that difficulties precisely 



1 20 Our Place among Infinities. 

corresponding in kind, though not in degree, to those which 
we should encounter if we discussed the Sun's condition 
in forgetfulness of his intense heat, exist also in the case 
of Jupiter, it appears manifest that we may safely adopt 
the conclusion that Jupiter is intensely heated, though not 
nearly to the same degree as the Sun. 

We have thus been led by a perfectly distinct and 
independent line of reasoning to the very conclusion which 
I have advocated elsewhere on other grounds, viz., that 
Jupiter is in fact a miniature sun as respects heat, though 
emitting but a relatively small proportion of light. I 
would invite special attention to the circumstance that the 
evidence on which this conclusion had been based was 
already cumulative. And now a fresh line of evidence, 
in itself demonstrative, I conceive, has been adduced. 
Moreover I have not availed myself of the argument, very 
weighty in my opinion, on which Mr. Mattieu Williams 
has based similar conclusions respecting the temperature 
of Jupiter, in his interesting and valuable work called 
" The Fuel of the Sun." I fully agree with him in regard- 
ing it as a reasonable assumption, though I cannot go so 
far as to regard it as certain, that every planet has an 
atmosphere whose mass corresponds with, or is even 
perhaps actually proportional to, the mass of the planet it 
surrounds. If we make such an assumption in the case 
of Jupiter, we arrive at conclusions closely resembling 
those to which I have been led by the above process of 
reasoning. 

Thus many lines of evidence, and some of them 



Jupiter. 121 

absolutely demonstrative in my opinion, point to the 
conclusion that Jupiter is an orb instinct with fiery energy, 
aglow it may well be with an intense light which is only 
prevented from manifesting itself by the cloudy envelope 
enshrouding the planet. 

But so soon as we regard the actual phenomena 
presented by Jupiter in the light of this hypothesis, we 
find the means of readily interpreting what otherwise 
would appear most perplexing. Chief among the 
phenomena thus accounted for, I would place the recent 
colour-changes in the equatorial zone of Jupiter. 

"What, at first view, could appear more surprising than 
a change affecting the colour of a zone-shaped region 
whose surface is many times greater than the whole sur- 
face of our earth ? It is true that a brief change might be 
readily explained as due to such changes as occur in our 
own air. Large regions of the earth are at one time cloud- 
covered and at another free from clouds. Such regions, 
seen from Venus or Mercury, would at one time appear 
white, and at the other would show whatever colour the 
actual surface of the ground might possess when viewed 
as a whole. But it seems altogether impossible to explain 
in this way a change or series of changes occupying many 
years, as in the case of the recent colour-changes of 
Jupiter's belt. Let me not be misunderstood. I am not 
urging that the changes in Jupiter are not due to the 
formation and dissipation of clouds in his atmosphere. 
On the contrary, I believe that they are. "What seems to 
me incredible, is the supposition that we have here to deal 



1 22 Our Place among Infinities. 

with such changes as occur in our own air in consequence 
of solar action. 

I do not lose sight of the fact that the Jovian year is of 
long duration, and that whatever changes take place in 
the atmosphere of Jupiter through solar action might be 
expected to be exceedingly slow. Nay, it is one of the 
strongest arguments against the theory that solar action is 
chiefly in question, that any solar changes would be so 
slight as to be in effect scarcely perceptible. It is not 
commonly insisted upon in our text-books of astronomy 
in fact, I have never seen the point properly noticed any- 
where that the seasonal changes in Jupiter correspond 
to no greater relative change than occurs in our daily 
supply of solar heat from about eight days before to about 
eight days after the spring or autumn equinox. It is 
incredible that so slight an effect as this should produce 
those amazing changes in the condition of the Jovian 
atmosphere which have unquestionably been indicated by 
the varying aspect of the equatorial zone. It is manifest 
that, on the one hand, the seasonal changes should be slow 
and slight so far as they depend on the sun, and that, on 
the other, the sun does not rule so absolutely over the 
Jovian atmosphere as to cause any particular atmospheric 
condition to prevail unchanged for years. 

If, however, Jupiter's whole mass is in a state of intense 
heat if, as appears to be the case, the heat is in fact 
sufficient to maintain an effective resistance against the 
tremendous force of Jovian gravitation we can understand 
any changes, however amazing. We can see how enormous 



Jupiter. 123 

quantities of vapour must continually be generated in the 
lower regions to be condensed in the upper regions, either 
directly above the zone in which they were generated or 
north or south of it, according to the prevailing motions in 
the Jovian atmosphere. And although we may not be 
able to indicate the precise reason why at one time the 
mid zone or any other belt of Jupiter's surface should 
exhibit that whiteness which indicates the presence of 
clouds, and at another should show a colouring which 
appears to indicate that the glowing mass below is partly 
disclosed, we remember that the difficulty corresponds in 
character to that which is presented by the phenomena of 
solar spots. We cannot tell why sun-spots should wax 
and wane in frequency during a period of about eleven 
years ; but this does not prevent us from adopting such 
opinions respecting the condition of the sun's glowing 
photosphere as are suggested by the behaviour of the 
spots. 

It may be asked whether I regard the ruddy glow of 
Jupiter's equatorial zone, during the period of disturbance 
lately passed through, as due to the inherent light of glow- 
ing matter underneath his deep and cloud-laden atmo- 
sphere. This appears to me on the whole the most pro- 
bable hypothesis, though, it is by no means certain that 
the ruddy colour may not be due to the actual constitution 
of the planet's vaporous atmosphere. In either case, be it 
noted, we should perceive in this ruddy light the inherent 
lustre of Jupiter's glowing mass ; only in one case we assume 
that that lustre is itself ruddy, in the other we suppose 



1 24 Our Place among Infinities. 

that light, originally white, shiues through ruddy vapour- 
masses. It is to be remembered, however, that whichever 
view we adopt, we must assume that a considerable por- 
tion of the light received, even from these portions of 
the planet's disc, must be reflected sunlight. In fact, 
from what we know about the actual quantity of light 
received from Jupiter, we may be quite certain that no 
very large portion of that light is inherent. Jupiter shines 
about as brightly as if he were a giant cumulus-cloud, and 
therefore almost as white as driven snow. Thus he sends 
us much more light than a globe of equal size of sandstone, 
or granite, or any known kind of earth. We get from 
him about three times as much light as a globe like our 
moon in substance, but as large as Jupiter, and placed 
where Jupiter is, would reflect towards the earth ; but not 
quite so much as we should receive from a globe of pure 
snow of the same size and similarly placed. It is only 
because large parts of the surface of Jupiter are manifestly 
not white, that we seem compelled to assume that some 
portion of his light is inherent. 

But the theory that Jupiter is intensely hot by no 
means requires, as some mistakenly imagine, that he should 
give out a large proportion of light. His real solid or 
liquid globe (if he have any) might, for instance, be at a 
white heat, and yet so completely cloud-enwrapped that 
none of its light could reach us. Or again, his real sur- 
face might be like red-hot iron, giving out much heat but 
very little light. 

I shall close the present statement of evidence in favour 



Jupiter. 125 

of what I begin to regard as in effect a demonstrated theory, 
with the account of certain appearances which have been 
presented by Jupiter's fourth satellite during recent 
transits across the face of the planet. The appearances 
referred to have been observed by several telescopists, but 
I will select an account given in the monthly notices of the 
" Astronomical Society," by Mr Eoberts, F.R.A.S., who 
observed the planet with a fine telescope by Wray, 8 
inches in aperture. "On March 26, 1873," he says, "I 
observed Jupiter about 8 p.m., and found the satellite on 
the disc. I thought at first it must be a shadow ; but, on 
referring to the ' Nautical Almanac/ found that it was the 
fourth satellite itself. A friend was observing with me, 
and we both agreed that it was a very intense black, and 
also was not quite round. We each made independent 
drawings which agreed perfectly, and consider that the 
observation was a perfectly reliable one. We could not 
imagine that such an intensely black object would be 
visible when off the disc, and waited with some impatience 
to see the immersion, but were disappointed by fog, which 
came on just at the critical time." Another observer, 
using a telescope only two inches in aperture, saw the 
satellite when off the disc, so that manifestly the blackness 
was merely an effect of contrast. 

In considering this remarkable phenomenon, we must 
not forget that the other satellites do not look black (though 
some of them look dark) when crossing Jupiter's disc, so 
that we have to deal with a circumstance peculiar to the 
fourth or outermost satellite. Nevertheless, we seem pre- 



1 26 Our Place among Infinities. 

eluded from supposing that any other difference exists 
between this satellite and the others than a certain in- 
feriority of light-reflecting power. I might indeed find an 
argument for the view which I have suggested as not 
improbable, that Jupiter is a heat-sun to his satellites, since 
the three innermost would be in that case much better 
warmed than the outermost, and therefore would be much 
more likely to be cloud-encompassed, and so would reflect 
more light. But I place no great reliance on reasoning so 
ingenious, which stands much as a pyramid would stand 
(theoretically) on its apex. The broad fact that a body 
like the fourth satellite, probably comparable to our moon 
in light-reflecting power, looks perfectly black when on the 
middle of Jupiter's disc, is that on which I place reliance. 
This manifestly indicates a remarkable difference between 
the brightness of Jupiter and the satellite ; and it is clear 
that the excess of Jupiter's brightness is in accordance 
with the theory that he shines in part with native light, 
or, in other words, is intensely heated. 

This completes the statement of the evidence obtained 
during the recent opposition of Jupiter in favour of a theory 
which already had the great advantage of according with 
all known facts, and accounting for some which had 
hitherto seemed inexplicable. If this theory removes 
Jupiter from the position assigned to him by Brewster as 
the noblest of inhabited worlds, it indicates for him a 
higher position as a subordinate sun, nourishing with his 
heat, as he sways by his attractive energy, the scheme of 
worlds circling round him. The theory removes also the 



Jupiter. 127 

difficulty suggested by the apparent uselessness of the 
Jovian satellites in the scheme of creation. When, instead 
of considering their small power of supplying Jupiter 
with light, we consider the power which, owing to his 
great size and proximity, he must possess of illuminating 
them with reflected light, and warming them with his 
native heat, we find a harmony and beauty in the Jovian 
system which before had been wanting ; nor, when we 
consider the office which the Sun subserves towards the 
members of his family, need we reject this view on account 
of the supposition 

That bodies bright and greater should not serve 
The less not bright. 

Even the most ardent advocate of the theory of life in 
other worlds should at least not complain when he finds 
for one imagined world four others substituted. 



SATUKN AND ITS SYSTEM. 



THE planet Saturn is perhaps the most interesting of all 
the orbs in the heavens. Independently even of his 
ring-system, which gives him so singularly beautiful an 
aspect in the telescope, he holds a remarkable position as 
the centre round which circle as many dependent orbs 
as those which constitute the primary members of the 
Sun's family. There is something startling in the thought 
that in those remote depths, ten times farther away from 
the great centre of the system than we ourselves are 
placed, a system at once so beautiful and so elaborate 
should be pursuing its wide orbit. A universe is there, 
reduced by vastness of distance to a mere speck of dull 
light a ' miracle of design ' which has existed for ages, 
during which none on this earth recognized that aught 
distinguished the planet from its fellows, save character- 
istics of inferiority. 

I propose to give a brief sketch of some of the most 
interesting facts which have been ascertained respecting 
this wonderful planet. I may remark, in passing, that 
although I have on several occasions discussed matters 
connected with the subject of the planet's condition, this 
is the first occasion on which I have described Saturn and 



Saturn and its System. 129 

its system in a general way since the time when I 
wrote the work bearing that name. 

It is not wonderful, when we consider the dull aspect 
and slow motions of Saturn, that the ancients should 
have associated with this planet ideas of gloom and of 
malign influences. The alchemist assigned the metal lead, 
heavy and poisonous, to the most distant and most slowly 
moving planet known to them. The astrologer regarded 
Saturn as the most fatal of all the planets. Chaucer thus 
presents, in the address of Saturn to Venus, the character- 
istics of Saturn's influence : * 

' My dere dough ter Venus, quod Saturne, 
My cours that hath so wide for to turne, 
Hath more power than wot any man. 
Min is the drenching in the see so wan, 
Min is the prison in the derke cote, 
Min is the strangel and hanging by the throte, 
The murmure and the cherles rebelling, 
The groyning, and the prive empoysoning. 
I do vengeaunce and pleine correction, 
While I dwell in the sign of the leon. 
Min is the ruine of the high halles, 
The falling of the totires and of the walles 
Upon the minour or the carpenter : 
I slew Sampson in shaking tb^ piler. 
Min ben also the maladies colde, 
The derk tresons, and the castes olde : 
My loking is the fader of pestilence.' 

Travelling at a distance from the Sun varying from 
823 millions to 921 millions of miles, or from nine to ten 

* The word Saturnine sufficiently indicates the character ascribed 
to the planet's influence on the fates of men and nations. 



1 30 Our Place among Infinities. 

times the Earth's, Saturn accomplishes a complete revolu- 
tion around the Sun in rather less than thirty years. As 
the Earth goes once round the Sun while Saturn is 
traversing but about the thirtieth part of his orbit, it 
follows that year after year he is seen to advance but by a 
small distance along his track on the heavens. The Earth 
comes between Saturn and the Sun, and then Saturn is 
visible at night, and therefore favourably ; then the Earth 
makes a complete circuit, and has to advance but a little 
way further before she is again between Saturn and the 
Sun. In fact, year after year, the return of Saturn to the 
midnight sky occurs about twelve days later, so that if in 
one year he is well seen in the summer, he will be well 
seen the summer after, and so on for several successive 
summers, before the year comes when he is well seen in 
autumn. Then for several more years (about seven) he is 
well seen in the autumn months. Next, for about seven 
years, he is well seen in the winter months. And lastly, 
for about seven successive years, he is well seen in the 
spring months. In 1873, he was actually at his nearest 
to the Earth, and highest above the horizon, at midnight 
on July 21st. In 1874,iie held such a position on August 
3rd. This year on August 16th; and so on. Tor ordinary 
observation, however, Saturn is as well placed as he can 
be about two months after opposition ; for it is only the 
astronomer who is willing to wait until midnight for his 
observations of any celestial body. 

Two hundred and sixty-two years have passed since 
Galileo first examined Saturn with the telescope by which 



Saturn and its System. 1 3 1 

he had already discovered the moons of Jupiter. It must 
have been with singular interest that he prepared for his 
first telescopic view of the planet. Yet he could scarcely 
have expected what actually awaited him. There, in the 
small field of view of his telescope, was what appeared 
like a triple planet. Not a planet accompanied by two 
moons such as those which attend on Jupiter : these 
moons, seen in Galileo's telescopes, were the merest points 
of light, and scarcely to be distinguished from stars. 
What Galileo now saw was, however, very different. 
There seemed to be a central orb, and half overlapping it 
two others, somewhat smaller indeed, but still presenting 
considerable discs.* "When I observe Saturn," says 
Galileo, writing to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, " he seems 
to be triformed ; with a glass magnifying more than thirty 
times, the central body seems the largest ; the two others 
situated one on the east and one on the west, seem to 
touch the central body. They are like two supporters, 
who help old Saturn on his way, and always remain at 
his side. With a glass of lower magnifying power, the 
planet appears elongated and of the form of an olive." 

In December 1610, and again during the winter of 
1611-12, these two attendant orbs seemed to grow smaller 
and smaller, though retaining their position unchanged. 

In the winter of 1612-1613, Galileo again examined 
Saturn, hoping to learn something more about these remark- 

* What Galileo thought he saw may be represented by setting two 
shillings with a space an inch or so wide between them, and midway 
over that space a half-crown. 



132 Our Place among Infinities. 

able supporters. But to his intense astonishment they wer3 
not to be seen. The planet shone with as fairly round a 
disc as Mars or Jupiter. Galileo was so startled at this 
strange event, that he began almost to doubt the evidence 
of his senses. " What is to be said concerning so strange 
a metamorphosis ?" he wrote. " Are the two lesser orbs 
consumed, after the manner of the solar spots ? Have 
they vanished and suddenly fled? Has Saturn perhaps 
devoured his own children? Or were the appearances 
indeed an illusion or fraud, with which the glasses have 
so long deceived me, as well as many others to whom I 
have shewn them? Now, perhaps, is the time come to 
revive the well-nigh withered hopes of those who, guided 
by more profound contemplations, have discovered the 
fallacy of the new observations, and demonstrated the 
utter impossibility of their existence. I do not know what 
to say in a case so surprising, so unlocked for, and so 
novel. The shortness of the time, the unexpected nature 
of the event, the weakness of my understanding, and the 
fear of being mistaken, have greatly confounded me." 

Galileo afterwards saw the smaller orbs return into view ; 
but he noticed that as they grew larger and larger they 
changed strangely in shape, until he finally saw them lose 
their globular appearance altogether, each assuming the 
figure of two arms stretched round the planet. 

I shall not describe here, at length, the gradual process 
by which the true nature of the ring became recognized. 
Let it suffice to mention that Huyghens first, in 1656, 
announced that Saturn is not attended by two companion 



Saturn and its System. 1 33 

orbs, but by a mighty ring, flat, so that when turned 
edgewise towards the Earth it cannot be seen in ordinary 
telescopes, and tilted towards the level of the path in 
which the planet travels, so that at two opposite parts of 
the path the ring, as seen from the Earth, appears to attain 
its greatest opening. 

In passing, it may be mentioned that in 1656 the ring 
was closed that is, turned edgewise towards the Earth 
and that it opened out after 1656 so as to show the same 
flat side of the ring (the northern side) which is visible at 
present. This side remained in view, the ring, first open- 
ing out and then closing up, until December, 1671, when 
the ring was again turned edgewise towards the Earth, after 
which the southern face came into view. Now it is well 
to notice that though so many years have elapsed since 
Huyghens discovered the nature of the rings, there have 
not been many of these changes by which the northern 
and southern faces of the ring are brought alternately into 
view. To my idea, it gives a singularly impressive concep- 
tion of the stately motion of Saturn in his orbit, to notice 
that during all the years which have passed since astrono- 
mers knew that Saturn is girdled about by a ring, the 
ring has swayed so slowly to and fro, (as seen from the 
Earth,) that the northern side has been turned only eight 
times towards the Sun, and the southern only seven. 
Two hundred and sixteen times the Earth has circled 
round the Sun, while Saturn has not yet swayed his ring 
through all its phases so many as eight times. 

In 1675 Cassini found that the ring is divided by a 



1 34 Our Place among Infinities. 

strong dark band into two concentric rings. But the 
English astronomer, William Ball, had discovered this 
feature ten years earlier. The interest of Cassini's obser- 
vation consisted in the fact that it proved the band to be a 
division between two distinct rings, and not a mere dark 
streak upon one face of a flat ring. 

Huyghens had, in the meantime, discovered a satellite 
attending on Saturn. This orb, which has received the 
name Titan, is distinguished among all the secondary 
members of the planetary system by its superior size. It 
is larger than the primary planet Mercury, and little 
inferior to the planet Mars. Cassini discovered in 1671 
another satellite (now called Japetus) also large, though 
not nearly so large as Titan. "We have no other means of 
estimating the magnitude of these bodies than by con- 
sidering their brightness. But assuming them to resemble 
our own Moon, and the moons of Jupiter, in their power 
of reflecting sunlight, it would follow that Titan is about 
4000 miles in diameter, and Japetus about 3000. 

But perhaps the most remarkable circumstance respect- 
ing these bodies, is the enormous distance at which they 
travel around their primary. The outermost of Jupiter's 
moons travels at a distance of 1,190,000 miles from 
Jupiter. The distance of Japetus from Saturn is nearly 
twice as great, being no less than 2,210,000 miles. Titan 
travels at a distance of 760,000 miles from Saturn. 

It is impossible to consider these enormous distances in 
the case of Jupiter's outer moon, and the two chief moons 
of Saturn, without being led to consider in what degree 



Saturn and its System. 135 

these orbs seem likely to subserve the purpose of supply- 
ing light to their primaries. It may be very unphilo- 
sophical to reason from final causes ; not because of the 
objection urged by some, that we have yet to demonstrate 
that there is design in the scheme of the universe, but 
for a reason which others may accept willingly, to 
wit, because however certain we may be that there is 
design in every portion of the universe, we are very far 
from being able to satisfy ourselves of the real purpose of 
any particular created object. Nevertheless, the mind of 
man is so constituted that it will inquire into final causes 
even where the inquiry may be hopeless, and will be ready 
to recognize final causes where, perhaps, the evidence is 
much less satisfactory than it appears. Now, certainly, 
it is natural for the astronomer to consider the moons of 
Jupiter and Saturn either as intended to subserve the 
same purpose as our own moon, or (if it can be shewn that 
they cannot subserve such a purpose) as created for some 
one or other of the special purposes which we seem to 
recognize among the celestial bodies of different orders. 
Taking Titan and Japetus as they are shewn to us by our 
telescopes two orbs together equal in bulk to two such 
planets as Mercury it is very difficult indeed to imagine 
that they subserve no useful purpose at all. 

Now, if we consider the amount of light which Titan and 
Japetus can supply to their primary when they are ' full,' 
we shall, I think, be led to doubt whether they can have 
been intended to serve the same purpose as our Moon, and 
still less shall we be able to believe that they were meant, 



1 36 Our Place among Infinities. 

as Brewster and Chalmers have supposed, to compensate 
the Saturnians for their distance from the sun. Titan, 
when full, must appear to Saturn as an orb having some- 
what less than two-thirds of our Moon's apparent diameter. 
Such an orb, if as bright (intrinsically) as our moon, would 
no doubt be a useful light-giver. But it must be remem- 
bered that the moons of Saturn, being as far from the Sun 
as Saturn is, are like him very faintly illuminated. They 
are illuminated by only about one-ninetieth part of the 
light which our Moon receives ! accordingly, whereas the 
disc of Titan must be about four-ninths of our Moon's, the 
luminosity of this small disc is only one-ninetieth of our 
Moon's, so that the total quantity of light supplied by 
Titan to Saturn is only 4-810ths, or about a 200th part of 
that which we receive from the full moon. 

This would seem to shew, at least to those who recog- 
nize design in the works of the Almighty, that Titan was 
certainly not intended to serve the same purpose to 
Saturnians that our Moon serves to the inhabitants of 
earth. 

But if this seems strongly shewn in the case of Titan, 
it is much more strongly shewn in the case of Japetus. 
For Japetus is smaller than Titan, and almost exactly 
three times as far away. As a moon, it has a diameter 
equal to little more than one-seventh of our Moon's. The 
disc it shews is but about the forty-third of our Moon's, 
and its lustre being one-ninetieth (like Titan's), the total 
quantity of light which it supplies to its primary is only 
equal to about the 3850th part of that which we receive 



Saturn and its System. 137 

from the full moon. It may readily be shewn, indeed, 
that our Earth supplies more than eight times as much 
light to the planet Venus (when our Earth is seen at her 
brightest from Venus) as Japetus supplies to its primary. 

In passing we may notice that another satellite called 
Hyperion between Titan and Japetus is so much 
smaller than Japetus (though probably about a thousand 
miles in diameter) as to supply less than half as much 
light to Saturn, probably about 1-9 000th part of the light 
which we receive from the Moon. 

Thus we seem led to the conclusion that these moons, 
at any rate, are not intended to compensate the Saturnians 
for their great distance from the Sun. That three orbs 
should have been created, to supply together about the 
200th part of the light which our Moon supplies, and that 
this provision should have been intended to compensate 
the Saturuians for the circumstance that they get from the 
Sun only about one-ninetieth part of the light which we 
receive, are propositions too improbable, as it seems to me, 
to be reasonably entertained. When it is added, that all 
the eight Saturnian moons together would supply if all 
full together only about the sixteenth part of the light 
which we receive from the full moon, it seems abundantly 
demonstrated, I conceive, that whatever purpose the 
Saturnian satellite-system was intended to subserve, it 
was not intended to compensate the Saturnians for the 
effects of their great distance from the great centre and 
luminary of the planetary system. 

On December 23, 1672, Cassini discovered a satellite 



1 38 Our Place among Infinities. 

travelling within the orbit of Titan ; and in March, 1684, 
he discovered two other satellites travelling yet nearer to 
Saturn. It affords striking evidence of the patience with 
which these astronomers of the seventeenth century worked, 
that in order to discover these two satellites Cassini had 
to employ telescopes one hundred and one hundred and 
thirty-six feet long (without tubes, however). In other 
words, the distance of the object-glass from the observer's 
eye was more than twice as great as the length of the 
gigantic tube of the Eosse telescope. Observing under 
such conditions must have been the most tedious work 
conceivable. It would be exceedingly difficult to get an 
object into the field of view, and even more difficult to 
keep it there. The modern observer, who, with well 
appointed equatorial, has but to set his telescope by the 
divided circles, and can then by setting the clock going, 
be saved all further trouble the telescope simply travelling 
after the object by means of the clock-motion may look 
with some degree of contempt on the rough appliances of 
his predecessors : yet he has so much the better reason 
for looking with cordial admiration on the patient and 
zealous spirit with which the astronomers of former times 
conducted their labours. 

More than a century passed before any further discovery 
of importance was effected. On August 19th, 1787, Sir W. 
Herschel thought he could recognise a sixth satellite trav- 
elling very close to Saturn's rings. But it was not until he 
had completed his forty-feet reflector that he could assure 
himself on this point. On August 27th, 1789, the first 



Saturn and its System. 139 

evening after this powerful instrument had been completed, 
Herschel turned it towards Saturn. As soon as the 
planet was brought into the field he plainly perceived six 
stars shining around Saturn. Five of these were the 
satellites already discovered ; and in less than two and a 
half hours Herschel had satisfied himself that the sixth 
was also a satellite.* Soon after Herschel discovered a 
seventh satellite, travelling yet closer to the outer ring. 

It remains only to be mentioned, in order to complete 
the record of satellite discovery, that an eighth satellite, 
travelling between the paths of Titan and Japetus, was 
discovered independently by Bond in America, and Lassell 
in England. It is probably the smallest of the whole 
family ; and there is something so remarkable in the cir- 
cumstance that this tiny orb should thus be found travelling 
between the two giant satellites, Titan and Japetus, that 
we may almost be permitted to entertain the suspicion* 
that in reality Hyperion is but one of a ring of small 
satellites travelling between the orbits of Titan and 
Japetus. 

Before returning to the consideration of the Saturnian 

* It has been asserted that the sixth satellite was discovered with one 
of the twenty-feet reflectors, and Sir John Herschel has been quite 
seriously taken to task for maintaining that the discovery was due to 
the forty-feet telescope. The above are the actual circumstances, as 
recorded by Sir W. Herschel himself. It seems wholly impossible to 
regard the doubtful view which he obtained in 1787 as the actual dis- 
covery of the satellite. According to all the rules usually adopted in 
these cases, the true discovery dates from those two and a half hours 
of observation, during which Herschel first satisfied himself that the 
faint speck of light near Saturn was not a fixed star. 

7 



1 40 Our Place among Infinities. 

rings, it may be well for us to consider the nature of Saturn's 
family of satellites. We have in this scheme what may 
be regarded as no inaccurate picture, in miniature, of the 
Solar System itself. Of course, there are differences in 
points of detail, since Nature does not repeat herself detail 
for detail in such cases. Yet we find some striking 
features of resemblance. Thus the Sun's family consists of 
eight members, and so also does Saturn's. Among the 
planets there are two which are prominent among the rest 
by their great bulk ; and in Saturn's family we find also 
Titan which we can compare with Jupiter, and Japetus 
which we can compare with Saturn. 

Certainly, if we consider what the Saturnian satellite 
family really is, that the orbs composing it are all large in 
reality, however minute they may appear either when 
viewed with the telescope or when considered with refer- 
ence to such orbs as Jupiter or Saturn ; that the span of 
the complete system is no less than 4,400,000 miles, or 
more than five times the Sun's diameter ; that even 
Japstus, which moves the slowest, circles on his orbits 
with a rapidity which exceeds a hundred-fold the velocity 
of our swiftest express trains we cannot but regard this 
system of secondary orbs as a most important portion of 
the scheme ruled over by the Sun. If we are compelled 
to believe that the purpose intended to be fulfilled by these 
bodies is not the illumination of the Saturnian nights 
and for my own part I can arrive at no other conclusion 
we seem bound to believe that they were created for some 
other purpose of importance. It does not seem at all 



Saturn and its System. 141 

unlikely, on tins view of the subject, that they are 
themselves the abodes of living creatures of various 
orders. I have before shewn reasons for believing 
that Saturn may be a source whence heat is supplied to 
these eight orbs, whereas it seems unlikely that he is 
himself a world fit to be the abode of living creatures. 
Again, though the satellites supply Saturn with very little 
light, yet they are capable of supplying each other with 
no inconsiderable amount, and must frequently present 
phenomena of great beauty and interest as viewed from 
each other. Thus a variety of reasons suggest the pro- 
bability that we are to look among the Saturnian satellites, 
and not to Saturn himself, for places fit to be the abodes 
of living creatures. 

We have seen that in the latter half of the seventeenth 
century Saturn's ring had been found to be divided. 
Sir W. Herschel, notwithstanding the great telescopic 
power which he applied to the examination of the rings, 
was unable to do more than satisfy himself of the existence 
of the great division. It was suspected in his day that 
other divisions exist, not that any had been seen, but 
that the discussion of the nature of the ring-system had led 
to the inference that it must consist of many distinct rings. 
But Herschel could not detect signs of the existence of any 
other divisions than the great one. 

But during the present century many skilful observers 
have recognized other divisions. One such division 
separates the outer ring into two of nearly equal width. 
This division seems to be permanent; but it is most difficult 



142 Our Place among Infinities. 

of detection, and can only be seen with telescopes of the 
first quality and on nights when the atmospheric conditions 
are very favourable. Other traces of division have not 
continued to be recognizable, and are therefore probably 
not permanent. It has been remarked that "if each 
division thus detected were considered as a satisfactory 
indication of a permanent division through a complete 
circumference, it would follow that the system consists not 
of two or three, but rather of thirty or forty concentric 
rings. Strange as such a conclusion might appear, and 
manifold as are the conditions of instability the complexity 
of such a system would introduce, we should have no re- 
source (on the assumption of the solidity of the rings) but 
either to accept this solution of the question, or to reject 
the testimony of most accurate and skilful observers of 
such men as Encke, the Struves, Captain Kater and Jacob, 
Mr. Dawes, and the astronomers of the Collegio Romano. 
The telescopes also through which such divisions have 
been repeatedly seen, have been among the most celebrated 
instruments of modern times." 

But the most singular discovery yet made respecting 
this remarkable ring-system remains to be described. On 
November loth, 1850, Bond, of America, discovered a dark 
ring inside the inner bright one ; and a few days later 
Dawes, in England, independently discovered this ring. 
The colour of the dark ring is a deep purple ; or rather, 
since, as we shall presently see, the ring is semi-transparent, 
and therefore a portion of its apparent colour is that which 
it transmits, we may say, without committing ourselves to 



Saturn and its System. 143 

any theory as to the true seat of the colour, that the region 
occupied by the ring presents a deep purple colour. The 
nearer part of the dark ring can be traced over the disc of 
the planet, but the outline of the planet can be recognized 
through the ring. This portion of the ring does not shew 
a purple tinge, but has been compared to a crape veil. A 
division has at times appeared in the dark ring, which 
also appears at times to be separated from the neighbour- 
ing bright ring. 

Professor Bond, of America, noticed at about the same 
time a very remarkable darkening of the inner bright ring, 
on its inner edge, close to the dark ring. The peculiarity 
about this darkening was, that instead of being exactly 
similar in shape to the outlines of the several rings, its 
outline formed a longer oval, as though the darkened part 
were wider in those places which lie upon the seeming 
longer axis of the rings. If the rings were really oval, as 
they appear through the effects of foreshortening, this 
peculiarity would be explicable ; but as the rings are 
circular, and every part in turn comes into the position 
indicated, for the rings rotate and moreover Saturn himself 
carries them into varying positions as seen from the Earth, 
the appearance is altogether inexplicable as a mere shade 
or darkening. If, between the bright ring and the dark 
ring, there were a ring of an intermediate tint, that ring, 
being concentric with the others (else it could not rotate), 
would present similar outlines, whether the whole system 
were more or less foreshortened. This not being the case, 
one outline of the darkened part being always more 



144 Our Place among Infinities. 

elliptical than the other, we must, in explaining the 
darkening, find an interpretation which will explain 
this peculiarity. I believe the explanation enforced 
upon us by this consideration, is simply that the inner 
part of the bright ring is transparent, or rather, that 
we can see through this part, for, as will presently 
appear, we have no reason for believing that the actual 
substance of any part of the ring-system is transparent 
in the same sense that glass or crystal is transparent. I 
have shewn in my treatise on Saturn that if the inner 
part of the bright ring consists of a multitude of concentric 
zones between which the dark sky beyond can be seen 
from our terrestial station, the observed appearances would 
necessarily be seen. The explanation, to be adequately 
understood, requires such an illustration as is given in the 
ninth plate of that work ; but its general principle may be 
understood by any one accustomed to drawing, who will 
attend to the following description. Suppose several white 
hoops to be lying one within the other (and quite con- 
centrically) on a dark flat surface ; the hoops being not 
shaped like those used by girls, but like the iron hoops 
which boys use. (A piece of cane bent into a circle would 
make such a hoop.) Now, if we looked at such a set of 
hoops from above, we should see so many white concentric 
circles on a dark ground. But let the point of view be 
not directly above, so that we look slantwise at the set pf 
hoops. Then we shall see a number of similar white ovals 
on a dark ground. Now, if these ovals were mere oval 
lines, that is if the hoops were mere threads, the dark 



Saturn and its System. 145 

spaces between them would seem to grow narrow where 
the ovals were narrowed, and in just the same degree ; hut 
as the ovals are formed hy stout hoops the case is altered, 
the dark spaces are more narrowed where the ovals are 
flattened. Nay, if the hoops are pretty close to each other, 
a very little foreshortening will make them seem actually 
to touch where the ovals are flattened, while where the 
ovals are lengthened out the dark background is visible. 
(If the reader will draw such a set of hoops, as they 
would actually be seen, he will at once perceive that this 
is so.) Now, without supposing that the rings of Saturn 
are composed of such hoops, I find myself led to the con- 
clusion that the matter forming the rings runs into hoop- 
like shapes, and that where Bond saw the darkening, above 
described, these hoop-formed portions were far enough apart 
to let the dark sky beyond be seen where the ovals of the 
rings were most lengthened, the spaces closing up by fore- 
shortening where these ovals were most narrowed. It is 
demonstrable, indeed, that, if the appearance observed by 
Professor Bond was not a mere illusion (which in the case 
of so practised an observer is altogether unlikely), it can 
be explained in this way and no other. So that the 
peculiar darkening seen by Bond is an independent proof 
of the multiple nature of the ring-system a proof as 
complete as though Bond's telescope had been powerful 
enough to reveal the several rings forming this part of the 
bright inner ring. 

Saturn's ring-system, regarded as a whole, is a structure 
so remarkable that we seem invited to consider it with a 



1 46 Our Place among Infinities. 

special degree of attention, in order that if possible we 
may form some idea of its real nature. If there were no 
other circumstance remarkable about it but its mere vast- 
ness, it would even then be well deserving of our closest 
scrutiny. But that a ring system so symmetrical and 
beautiful should girdle a planet completely about, that it 
should accompany the planet on its path around the Sun, 
that it should be as definite a portion of the planet's 
system as the belts on the planet's real globe, or as the 
satellites which circle about that orb, these are circum 
stances which render the study of the ring-system specially 
interesting. For we cannot but recognize the fact that 
such a system, swayed as it must be by the mighty attrac- 
tion of Saturn's mass, must present a number of relations 
of a very complex and perplexing kind. 

Let us in the first place briefly consider the dimensions 
of the rings and of the globe round which they circle. 

Saturn's globe is somewhat compressed, its greatest 
diameter being 73,000 miles, its least diameter 66,000 
miles. Remembering that the Earth's mean diameter is 
about 7900 miles, we see how vastly the planet exceeds 
the Earth in volume. Roughly the volume of Saturn is 
seven hundred times that of the Earth, his mass about 
ninety times the Earth's, for the materials of which he is 
constructed are on the average of much smaller specific 
gravity than those forming the Earth's globe. " 

The utmost span of the rings that is, the diameter of 
the outer boundary of the outer ring is about 167,000 
miles, the breadth of this ring about 10,000 miles. The 



Saturn and its System. 147 

great division between the rings has a width of about 
1600 miles. The inner bright ring has a breadth of 
about 17,500 miles, and the dark ring is about 8500 miles 
wide. If we add together those breadths, we find for the 
width of the entire system 37,600 miles, or rather more 
than half the equatorial diameter of the planet. The 
inner diameter of the system of rings that is, the 
diameter of the inner boundary of the inner ring, is there- 
fore about 91,800 miles ; and a space of about 9400 miles 
intervenes between the dark ring and the body of the 
planet. The thickness of the ring-system has not been 
satisfactorily determined. It is probably less, perhaps 
very much less, than one hundred miles. 

Now it would obviously be impossible to consider here 
at length the reasoning which has been applied to ascertain 
the nature of the rings. This subject alone forms in my 
treatise on Saturn a chapter nearly twice as long as the 
whole of the present essay ; yet only those parts of the 
subject are there treated which are suitable for the general 
reader. Here then I must give the merest sketch of the 
matter. 

Before the subject was treated by the mathematician, 
many singular theories were suggested concerning the 
rings. Maupertuis thought that the tail of a comet passing 
near Saturn had been attracted from its course by the 
planet's mass, and has since continued to circle as a ring 
around Saturn. Buffon considered that the equator of 
Saturn must once have extended to the outer edge of the 
ring, and that the equatorial portion was thrown off by 



148 Our Place among Infinities. 

the centrifugal force (that imaginary force which has been 
the parent of so many unphilosophical fancies) while the 
rest of the planet has contracted to its present dimensions. 
Mairan entertained a view somewhat resembling Buffon's ; 
he supposed that the rings are the remains of outer shells 
formerly existing around Saturn, which have been broken 
up by some vast convulsion. 

But when mathematicians had obtained some degree of 
mastery over the problems suggested by the action of 
gravity in particular when they had begun to recognize 
how the peculiarities of the Moon's motion are accounted 
for by the law of gravitation they began to inquire into 
a number of other problems of the same sort. Amongst 
these, the questions suggested by the Saturnian rings 
come naturally to be dealt with. 

Let it be remembered that in considering the Moon's 
motions the mathematician has to shew how the various 
influences exerted upon her, cause the Moon to travel on 
a path continually varying in shape and position, her own 
motion in this path being also variable. And mathemati- 
cians had satisfied themselves that in whatever way the 
Moon's motions may be thus affected, there is no risk what- 
ever that she will be so perturbed on her path as to come 
into collision with the Earth at any future time. In the 
case of Saturn's rings the mathematician had to inquire 
how, supposing these rings to be solid formations, they 
circle as they do around Saturn ; and whether solid rings 
so circling would be safe from destruction. 

The great mathematician Laplace, who was the first to 



Saturn ami its System. 1 49 

deal successfully with this problem, arrived at the conclu- 
sion that the two great rings known in his day cannot 
possibly be two solid rings. He shewed that they must 
be divided into several rings, otherwise they could not 
continue to circle safely, as they do, around the planet's 
globe. But he shewed that another very strange relation 
must hold, in the case of each member of this multiple 
ring-system. Every single ring must be eccentrically 
weighted. A perfectly uniform ring would be soon 
destroyed by the attractions to which it would be 
subjected. 

There for awhile the problem rested. But when the 
dark ring was discovered, mathematicians again began to 
examine the subject. For the transparency of this ring 
suggested the idea that it, at least, might be a fluid ring. 
Professors Bond and Pierce in America discussed the 
chances which a fluid ring would have of continuing to 
circle safely around so mighty an attracting body as 
Saturn. In discussing this matter, Professor Pierce had 
to go over the same ground as Laplace ; and pushing his 
inquiries further, (which he was enabled to do by the great 
advance which had in the interval taken place in the 
mastery of such mathematical problems as were involved) 
he found that the ring-system must be composed of many 
more rings than even Laplace had imagined. 

On March 23rd, 1855, the subject of the Saturnian 
ring-system (in the particular mathematical aspect we 
have spoken of) was chosen by the University of Cam- 
bridge as the subject of the Adams Prize Essay. In 1857 



1 50 Our Place among Infinities. 

the prize was adjudged to Professor J. Clerk Maxwell. 
He shewed that the eccentricity indicated by Laplace as a 
necessary feature of the structure of each ring, must be 
so considerable, that the ring-system could not possibly 
appear as it actually does. Moreover, the slightest cause 
would be sufficient ' to destroy the nice adjustment of the 
load, and with it the stability of the ring.' 

Next, Professor Maxwell also discussed the probability 
that the rings may be fluid. He found that oceanic rings 
poised in mid-space around a mighty attracting mass like 
Saturn, would inevitably be wave-tossed, and that the 
waves would so increase that the rings would be broken 
up into separate fluid masses. 

We thus see that an inquiry instituted with the object 
of explaining how solid continuous rings could be 
maintained, as the Saturnian rings manifestly are main- 
tained, about a vast and massive central orb, ended in 
demonstrating that the rings are not continuous, but must 
consist at present even if they have not consisted always 
of a multitude of separate bodies, which may be either 
solid or fluid. Of course there is nothing in this con- 
clusion to prevent us from believing that the rings may be 
partly vaporous. 

But a rather singular result appears to follow from the 
inquiries which Professor Maxwell further instituted into 
the conditions under which rings of satellites would exist. 
He finds reasons for believing that such rings would 
gradually grow wider, by an extension inwards, and thus 
be eventually though very slowly (and perhaps not 



Saturn and its System. 1 5 1 

completely) destroyed. It certainly seems reasonable to 
believe that in the dark ring we have evidence that some 
such process is actually taking place. For, though we 
find that this ring must have been in existence long 
before it was discovered, (indeed many hundreds of years 
must needs have been required for the formation of so 
vast a ring), yet it is very difficult to believe that it can 
have been so conspicuous when Herschel examined Saturn 
with his great reflectors as it is at the present time. He 
could scarcely have overlooked the part which shows 
outside the planet's disc, had this been the case, for now 
under favourable atmospheric conditions this part can be 
seen with a four-inch telescope. Nor is it at all likely 
that he would, in that case, have mistaken the part which 
extends across the disc for a dark belt on Saturn, as 
actually happened. It seems almost certain, then, that 
during the last sixty or seventy years this dark ring has 
been continually growing more and more conspicuous in 
other words, that it has been growing wider, and that 
more and more satellites of the uncounted * millions 
forming the ring-system, have been compelled to take up 
their abode within the domain of this particular ring. 

It is a circumstance well worthy of attention that the 
great division between the rings, instead of being black as 
it was formerly supposed to be, is found to be merely 
very dark brown or brownish purple. This shews that 
within the zone (1500 miles wide) which forms this divi- 
sion there must be at all times many satellites, perhaps 
stragglers from those belonging to the adjacent bright rings. 



1 5 2 Our Place among Infinities. 

Another very singular circumstance has been noticed 
when the rings have been turned edgewise. At this time 
the fine bright line forming the side-view of the ring- 
system has been seen to be bordered by a faint misty 
light, growing more conspicuous towards the inner edge of 
the ring-system. It has been inferred, and the inference 
seems just, that this appearance is caused by satellites 
travelling (either through perturbations or from the effects 
of collisions) above or below the general level of the ring- 
system. 

This essay has already extended to a greater length 
than I had proposed when I began ; and I must refrain 
from entering into any general consideration of the ring- 
system regarded as a Saturnian appendage. I shall 
merely remark, therefore, that I have been able to shew 
by a careful mathematical examination of the subject, the 
results of which are presented pictorially and tabularly 
in my treatise on Saturn, that the shadows thrown by the 
rings must cover wide Saturnian regions for many years 
continuously, and this in the very heart of the Saturnian 
winter. Thus in Saturnian latitude 40, corresponding to 
the latitude of Madrid on our earth, the sun begins to be 
eclipsed about three years after the autumnal equinox.* 
For a while there are only morning and evening eclipses 
that is, the days already shortening with the approach of 
winter are still further shortened by eclipses caused by 

It will be remembered that the Saturnian seasons are more than 
seven years in length, and that from the autumnal to the vernal 
equinox is a period of nearly fifteen years. 



Saturn and its System. 153 

the rings. These morning and evening eclipses gradually 
grow longer and longer, until about a year has passed, by 
which time they last through the whole of the Saturnian 
day, now transformed to night. This state of things 
continues for nearly seven years more exactly (according 
to my calculations) for six years 236 days during, the 
whole of which time the sun is altogether concealed from 
view, unless now and then for a moment he can be partly 
seen between the satellites which compose the rings. 
From the blackness of the shadow thrown by the rings, 
however, it is very unlikely that gaps through which the 
sun may thus be seen are at all common. After these 
6i years of what must be regarded as practically total 
eclipse, the morning and evening eclipses begin again, and 
gradually last for a shorter and shorter time, until about 
three years before the vernal equinox. Then for about 
twenty years, which includes the long Saturnian summer, 
the sun is not eclipsed by the rings; moreover, as he 
begins to illuminate the visible side of the rings, at the 
Saturnian vernal equinox, it follows that during the 
Saturnian summer nights the ring appears as a band of 
brightness on the Saturnian sky, except where the broad 
shadow of the planet falls upon it. 

The circumstances here considered seem to accord with 
what has been already noticed in the case of the satellites. 
The ring-system does not seem calculated to render 
Saturn's globe a more convenient place for living 
creatures. On the contrary, a portion of that small 
supply of light which Saturn receives from the Sun is 



1 54 Our Place among Infinities. 

intercepted by the rings precisely at the period when, 
according to our ideas, it would be most desirable that the 
supply would be increased ; while again throughout the 
Saturuian winter nights the ring-system supplies no light 
whatever, but blots out many hundreds of stars from view. 

The just inference would appear to be that either Saturn 
is altogether uninhabitated, or that the creatures inhabiting 
the planet are so different from any with which we are 
acquainted, that we can form no estimate of their require- 
ments. To use Sir John Herschel's words, " We shall do 
wrong to judge of the fitness or unfitness of their condition 
from what we see around us, when perhaps the very com- 
binations which convey to our minds only images of horror, 
may be in reality theatres of the most striking and glorious 
displays of beneficent contrivance." I would venture to 
point out that the view which I advocated respecting 
Jupiter and Saturn in the " Expanse of Heaven," would 
at once remove all doubts as to the beneficence of the 
arrangements described above. If Saturn is a secondary 
sun to his satellites, the ring-system would not only 
interfere in no way with his action in this respect, but 
might well be the very source whence a large part of 
Saturn's energy as a sun may be derived. The downfall 
of satellites from time to time out of the ring-system, 
after collisions or excessive perturbations, would at least 
be a source of heat not to be neglected in considering 
Saturn's position as a subordinate sun. 

I shall draw this essay to a close by quoting a descrip- 
tion of the colours observable in Saturn's system when 



Saturn and Us System. 155 

suitable telescopic power is employed. It is from the pen of 
Mr Browning, the well-known optician. "The rings," he 
says/' are yellow-ochre shaded with the same and sepia ; the 
globe, yellow-ochre and brown madder, orange and purple, 
shaded with sepia ; the crape-ring, purple madder and 
sepia ; the great division in the rings, sepia. The pole 
and the narrow belts, situated near to it on the globe, pale 
cobalt blue. These tints are the nearest I could find to 
represent those seen on the planet ; but there is a muddi- 
iiess about all terrestrial colours, when compared with the 
colours of objects seen in the skies. These colours could 
not be seen in their brilliancy and purity, unless we 
could dip our pencil in a rainbow, and transfer the pris- 
matic tints to our paper." 



A GIANT SUN. 

To those who are acquainted with the teachings of 
astronomy respecting the mighty ruler of our planetary 
scheme, the title of this essay may appear strange. For 
assuredly our sun must himself be considered as a giant 
orb giant in size, as Sir John Herschel says in his charm- 
ing " Familiar Lectures," and giant in strength, but withal 
a benevolent giant, being " the almoner of the Almighty, 
the delegated dispenser to us of light and warmth, the 
immediate source of all our comforts, and indeed of the 
very possibility of our existence." How, then, it may be 
asked, can any other orb be called by way of distinction 
a giant sun, as though the sun which rules our day were 
but a dwarf? It seemed fitting that, in speaking of Jupiter 
in the " Expanse of Heaven," I should describe his mighty 
orb as a miniature sun ; for vast as is the bulk of Jupiter, 
he seems dwarfed into insignificance when compared with 
the sun's inconceivably magnificent globe. A thousand 
Jupiters would not make up the volume of the sun, nor 
would the mass of a thousand Jupiters outweigh his, if 
masses so mighty could be balanced against each other. 
But to speak of any other orb as a giant sun, would seem 
to imply that there exists in the universe a globe bearing 



A Giant Sun. 157 

some such relation to the sun as the sun bears to Jupiter, 
or Jupiter to the relatively minute orb on which we live. 

Incredible as the idea of such a globe may be, however, 
it is with precisely such a globe that I propose now to deal. 
Mighty as is the orb of the sun, I am to speak of an orb 
more than a thousand times vaster. Grand as is the scheme 
ruled by the sun, and inconceivable as are the forces exerted 
by the sun upon the orbs which circle round him, I am 
to describe a sun which exerts forces many times more 
mighty on orbs which themselves probably exceed our sun 
in mass and volume. Magnificent as is the conception 
that our sun with his attendant family of planets is sweep- 
ing through space at the rate of two or three hundred miles 
in each minute of time, the sun of which I am about to 
write carries a far mightier train through space at a rate 
many times greater. 

If the reader of these lines had turned his eyes towards 
the south at about nine o'clock on a clear evening in the 
beginning of Febuary 1871, he would have seen two orbs 
which far outshone all others in the heavens. High up in 
the sky, and not far from the twin stars, Castor and Pollux, 
the planet Jupiter was shining with a steadfast lustre 
which distinguished him almost as markedly as his superior 
brilliancy from all the stars in his vicinity. Low down 
and almost vertically beneath the kingly planet, was a 
star which, though not matching Jupiter in actual brilli- 
ancy, surpassed him in beauty. For this star the famous 
Dog-star of the ancients glows with a light which con- 
tinually changes in apparent colour. At one moment it 



1 58 Our Place among Infinities. 

appears unmistakably red, at another a pure green, at 
another a sapphire blue though these colours last but for 
an instant, while, during somewhat longer intervals, the 
light of the star is white. Poets in all ages have noticed 
this peculiarity of the light of Sirius, from Homer who 
compared the fiery lustre of the arms of Diomede with the 
splendour of the autumn star, " When new risen from the 
waves of ocean," * to our poet-laureate, who sings of Arac 
and his brothers, that 

" As the fiery Sirius alters hue 
And bickers into red and emerald, shone 
Their morions, wash'd with morning, as they came." 

It is difficult to conceive that this orb, brightly as it 
shines, so far surpasses in volume the magnificent planet 
which, in 1871, outshone it in the higher heavens, that 
the very drawing by which astronomers are in the habit of 



In the lines referred to Homer seems to describe Sirius as shining 
more brightly when newly, risen than at any other time ; and a com- 
mentator remarks unhesitatingly, and as though recording some well- 
attested astronomical fact, that Sirius "shone brightest at its rising." 
I am not sure that the words of Homer will bear this interpretation, 
since the word translated "brightly" may equally bear the meaning 
"splendidly," that is, may not relate to the quantity of light actually 
received from the star, but to the beauty of the star's appearance. It 
is, of course, not the case that Sirius (either as seen here or in any 
country) shines most brightly when newly risen ; though certainly the 
star appears more beautiful when near the horizon, its changes of colour 
being then better marked and succeeding eaoh other more rapidly. A 
similar remark applies to Arcturus, Vega, and Capella, the three stars 
which come next to Sirius in brilliancy. Indeed the remark applies to 
all stars bright enough to shew well through the denser air close by the 
horizon. 



A Giant Sun. 159 

indicating the insignificance of our earth compared with 
the sun, might be employed to indicate the inferiority of 
Jupiter as compared with Sirius. Yet even this fact (for 
such it is), amazing as it must appear, sinks into insignifi- 
cance beside the fact that Sirius is a sun many times more 
splendid than our own. That beautiful star, which even 
in the most powerful telescope man can construct, appears 
as a mere point of light, is in reality a globe emitting so 
enormous a quantity of light and heat, that if it were to take 
the place of our sun every creature on this earth would be 
destroyed by its fiery rays. 

Before proceeding to consider the discoveries relating to 
Sirius which have rewarded the labours of modern astro- 
nomers, it may be interesting to inquire briefly into the 
ideas of the ancients respecting this splendid orb the 
more so that, if we are to accept the descriptions given by 
ancient writers as literally exact, we must conceive that 
the star has, during the last two thousand years, under- 
gone a change of the most marvellous kind. 

It is remarkable that the ancients should have regarded 
Sirius as comparable with the sun in regard to the 
influence which it exerts upon, the earth. For instance, 
Sirius was supposed to produce the unhealthy weather 
prevalent in many parts of Italy during the autumnal 
-\months. Yet the influence of the star was not in all 
countries regarded as baneful ; for the Egyptians ascribed 
the inundations of the Nile to Sirius, and were thus led to 
worship the star as a deity. The dog-days began at the 
part of the year \vhen the star rose just as the sky was 



1 60 Our Place among Infinities. 

beginning to grow too bright for any stars to be seen. 
So that the mischievous effects assigned to these Canicular 
Days were associated, not with the time when the star 
shone most conspicuously at night, but with the season 
when it was known that Sirius was above the horizon in 
the day-time. 

But if it is perplexing to understand how the ancients 
came to regard the rays of Sirius as thus potent, either for 
evil or for good, it is even more difficult to understand 
how Manilius was led to anticipate the results of modern 
astronomical research by boldly suggesting that Sirius is a 
sun comparable with our own in splendour. Sherburne 
thus translates the words of Manilius about Sirius : 

" 'Tis strongly credited this owns a light 
And runs a course not than the sun's less bright, 
But that removed from sight so great a way 
It seems to cast a dim and weaker ray. " 

The question whether, as some suppose, Sirius has 
changed in colour since the days of the ancient astro- 
nomers, is of extreme interest and importance. Unfortun- 
ately the evidence is far from satisfactory. If the ancients 
had been a little more careful in describing the phenomena 
of the heavens, it is probable that many results which are 
at present being slowly evolved by careful and laborious 
observation, would admit of being at once and satis- 
factorily determined. Amongst these must be included 
the question whether any of the larger stars are changing 
in colour. Whatever changes are taking place are 
unquestionably slight, and proceed very slowly. They are 



A Giant Sun. 161 

therefore not easy to detect ; for it is difficult to prove 
that the observer's estimate of colour has remained 
unchanged during the whole series of observations. The 
difficulty is still greater when different observers have 
been at work ; for two persons can scarcely be found 
whose estimates of all hues and tints are exactly alike. 
But it is not impossible that in considerable intervals of 
time for instance, in two thousand years changes too 
marked to be thus misapprehended may take place. A 
star with a well-marked red or yellow tint may become 
white or green, or a white star may become ruddy or blue, 
and so on. So that if the ancients had left us a clear 
statement of the hues of all the leading stars, we might 
have been enabled to determine very satisfactorily 
whether any of these orbs had changed in colour or tint. 

Now at a first view of the accounts given by the ancients 
respecting Sirius, it appears plain that the star must have 
changed in colour. At present Sirius, when high above 
the horizon (as seen, therefore, in southern latitudes), is 
unmistakably white. But Aratus and Ptolemy, Seneca 
and Cicero, Virgil, Horace, and Ovid, agree in using terms 
which, as ordinarily understood, imply redness or even a 
ruddy purple tint. Nay, Ptolemy says distinctly that 
Sirius was of the same colour as the star Antares (the 
Scorpion's Heart), now sometimes described as a red 
Sirius ; and Seneca said that the redness of Sirius was 
more marked than that of Mars. But unfortunately we 
have no evidence to shew that the redness here referred 
to was other than that red lustre with which the star glows 



1 62 Our Place among Infinities. 

from time to time when near the horizon. If one of these 
authors had but stated what is the colour of Sirius when 
high enough above the horizon to shine without scintilla- 
tion, it is probable that a conclusion, bearing most signifi- 
cantly not merely on questions respecting the stars, but on 
the condition of our own sun, would have been established. 
If we accept the conclusion that Sirius was a red star two 
thousand years ago, we cannot but look with some mis- 
giving on the question whether our own sun may not one 
day change likewise in colour a question of grave import- 
ance to the human race. For the colour of a sun is 
closely related to the quality of the rays which it emits. 
We receive at present from our sun, in certain proportions, 
rays which produce the effects of heat, and light, and 
chemical action ; and these several effects correspond with 
the parts of the solar spectrum coloured, respectively, red, 
and yellow, and indigo. Or rather, the rays from the red 
and orange part of the solar spectrum are more heating 
than light-giving, and produce scarcely any chemical action 
whatever ; * the rays from the orange-yellow, yellow and 
yellow-green part excite more light than heat or chemical 
action; and the rays from the blue, indigo, and violet 



* The photographer takes advantage of this circumstance to obtain 
chemical darkness (BO to speak) without the inconvenience of optical 
darkness. For by means of orange-coloured glass he can exclude all 
light which would produce the least change in his chemicals. Orange 
yellow hangings are as well suited as black hangings would be for a 
photographic dark room. It is owing to the same peculiarity that we 
are not always quite satisfied with the photographs of our ruddy 
cheeked children. 



A Giant Sun. 163 

portion excite more chemical action than light, and 
scarcely any heat whatever. Hence, if our sun changed 
in colour, his rays would supply more heat or else produce 
a more intense chemical action than at present ; and it is 
by no means clear that such a change would be advantage- 
ous to the inhabitants of this earth. 

Before leaving this part of our subject, it may be men- 
tioned, as bearing on the probability whether Sirius has 
changed in colour or not, that certain variable stars> 
do change systematically in colour though in a period 
so short, that they are somewhat removed from comparison 
with Sirius and his supposed change during the past two 
thousand years. The Wonderful Star (Mira) in the "Whale 
becomes yellowish as it loses brightness, and as its lustre 
returns gradually resumes its whiteness. 

Let us now turn, however, to the researches of modern 
astronomers into the nature and physical condition of this 
magnificent orb. 

Owing to the superior brilliancy of Sirius, it was natural 
that astronomers should be led to regard this star as nearer 
to us than any other in the heavens. But Sirius is not 
well placed for observation from European stations, and 
accordingly when astronomers first attempted to estimate 
the distance of a fixed star, they did not select Sirius for 
the experiment. One notices in their remarks respecting 
Sirius, however, a sort of tacit assumption, that at whatever 
distance they might find any actually observed star to lie, 
Sirius must be regarded as at a less distance. 

But as the great problem (the most difficult observa- 
8 



1 64 Our Place among Infinities. 

tional problem ever attacked by astronomers) began to be 
mastered, it was recognised that Sinus is by no means the 
nearest of the fixed stars. Nay, this general conclusion 
began to be recognised, that the brightness of a star is no 
sufficient criterion of relative proximity. The first star 
whose distance was actually determined was one which 
can only be just seen on clear moonless nights by persons 
having ordinary powers of eyesight. And though the star 
next dealt with (the nearest of all so far as is known) is a 
very brilliant orb, yet its lustre falls far short of that of 
Sirius. In fact, according to the first published estimate 
of the distance of Sirius there are three stars so minute as 
to be actually invisible to the unaided eye, which yet lie 
nearer to us than this brightest of all the fixed stars. 

It would appear, however, from the careful researches 
applied to the matter in recent times, that the distance of 
Sirius had been over-estimated, and that as a matter of 
fact this star must be set third in order of distance, 
among those stars at least whose distances astronomers 
have attempted to determine. According to these later 
estimates, while the distance of the nearest of all stars (so 
far as is known) must be set at some twenty-two millions 
of millions of miles, the distance of Sirius is about eighty 
millions of millions of miles. 

I have spoken of the erroneous estimate of the distance 
of Sirius. It may be well, in passing, to consider the 
nature and extent of the probable error. We have heard 
no little astonishment expressed because astronomers have 
detected an error of some three millions of miles in their 



A Giant Sun. 165 

estimate of the sun's distance. It appears inexplicable to 
many that such an error as this is in reality altogether 
trivial the real wonder being that astronomers should 
have come within several millions of miles of the truth. 
But if the error in the estimate of the sun's distance appears 
startling, what will be thought of an error which must be 
estimated by millions of millions of miles? Such, however, 
is the case as respects Sirius. If the estimate of the star's 
distance which formerly was accepted (and even now 
appears in many of the best astronomical treatises extant) 
were correct, the distance of Sirius would amount to about 
130 millions of millions of miles ; the corrected estimate 
is as above mentioned 80 millions of millions. The 
difference is some half a million times larger than the 
sun's distance from the earth. 

It may be asked, then, by the reader, whether there 
must not have been some gross blundering on the part of 
astronomers. Nay, if unfamiliar with the actual nature 
of the problem which astronomers have had to deal with, 
he may even be disposed to believe that there is something 
after all in the outcry of those loud-voiced persons who 
denounce the Astronomer Eoyal and the Eoyal Observa- 
tory, and who assert that every shilling devoted by 
Government to the support of observational astronomy is 
thrown away. A few words of explanation, however, will 
probably remove this impression. 

What the astronomer has to do in order to determine 
the distance of a star is to notice whether in the course of 
the year the star seems to shift its apparent place on the 



1 66 Our Place among Infinities. 

celestial sphere. The earth circuits her wide path round 
the sun once in each year, and therefore the astronomer 
really sees each star from a shifting point of view. So 
that each star must be really seen in different directions at 
different seasons of the year, only most of the stars are so far 
off that this change of direction is altogether inappreciable. 
In the case of Sirius the change is just appreciable and 
that is all that can be said. As Sir John Herschel has 
stated, " Sirius and Arcturus, the two brightest stars visible 
in our hemisphere, stand barely within the limits of any 
estimation approaching to certainty." The annual dis- 
placement of Sirius may be thus illustrated : On a clear 
moonlight night let the reader notice the apparent diameter 
of the moon. Next let him try to conceive that diameter 
divided into about 3,800 equal parts. Then the greatest 
displacement of Sirius is equal to one of those minute 
portions. Sirius in fact appears to circle round a minute 
oval path on the heavens, having for its longest diameter 
a space equal to about the 3,800th part of the moon's 
apparent diameter. Now the error of the earlier estimate 
(supposing that estimate erroneous) consisted in setting 
the displacement of Sirius at about the 6,300th part of 
the moon's diameter, the difference between the two 
estimates corresponding to about the 9,500th part of 
the moon's apparent diameter. If the reader will but 
conceive the moon's apparent diameter divided into about 
100 parts, and one of these parts again into 100 parts, he 
will be able to form an idea of the exceeding minuteness of 
the quantity by which astronomers suppose that their first 



A Giant Sun. 167 

estimate was erroneous. But most probably the truth 
lies between the two estimates, so that the actual error 
of each is only about half this exceedingly minute 
quantity.* 

Le.t us assume as the probable distance of Sirius, a 
value between those which have been mentioned above, 
to wit, 100 millions of millions of miles. 

If astronomers could measure the disc of Sirius, their 
knowledge of the star's distance would of course enable 
them at once to calculate the real diameter of the star. 
But in the most powerful telescope Sirius appears as little 
more than a mere point of light ; and it is well known to 
astronomers that even the almost evanescent dimensions 
of the disc are not real, but merely optical. In fact, the 

* It must be stated clearly, however, that though no discredit what- 
ever can attach to astronomers for failing to determine exactly quantities 
which are in reality all but evanescent, yet no more reliance must be 
placed on the estimates of star-distances than shall appear to be justified 
by the accordance of different and independent determinations. In the 
present instance the results not being accordant, we cannot possibly 
admit that the distance of Sirius has been satisfactorily determined. A 
similar remark applies to the case of that star barely visible to the un- 
aided eye, which I have mentioned as the nearest of all the stars in the 
northern heavens. The mean of the best recent observations differs 
markedly from the value which had been judged so trustworthy that 
Sir John Herschel quoted it with confidence in his "Outlines of 
Astronomy." The star has, in fact, been set at two-thirds of the 
distance formerly assigned to it. So long as such discrepancies exist we 
cannot speak with any confidence of a star's distance. But this very star 
is the nearest but one of all the stars astronomers have dealt with. So 
that the startling, but inevitable conclusion is deduced that there is but 
one star in the heavens of whose distance astronomers have any definite 
ideas. This star is the one known as Alpha Centauri ; and hitherto all 
observations agree in placing it at about twenty -two millions of millions 
of miles from the earth. 



1 68 Our Place among Infinities. 

more powerful and perfect the telescope the smaller does 
Sirius appear, though its light is greatly increased. Sir 
"William Herschel tells us that " when Sirius was about to 
enter the field of view of- his forty-feet reflector, the light 
resembled that which announces the approach of sunrise," 
and when the field of view was fairly entered " the star 
appeared in all the splendour of the rising sun, so that it 
was impossible to behold it without pain to the eye." In 
the great Eosse telescope Sirius blazes with an even greater 
splendour. Yet neither of these instruments could " raise 
a disc " on the star. 

Nor need we wonder at this, if we consider the circum- 
stances of the case. We have already seen that the wide 
sweep of the earth on her path causes Sirius to shift but 
by about the 5,000th part of the moon's apparent diameter 
(taking a quantity intermediate between the two values 
mentioned above). Now this signifies that, as seen from 
Sirius, the whole span of the earth's orbit though upwards 
of 180,000,000 miles in extent would be reduced to about 
the 5,000th part of the moon's apparent diameter. It follows 
of course that, as seen from the earth, a globe 180,000,000 
miles in diameter, at the distance of Sirius, would be so 
reduced as to have an apparent diameter equal to about 
the 5,000th part of the moon's. Now enormous as is the 
bulk of Sirius, no astronomer supposes for an instant that 
the star is comparable to such a globe as I have here 
mentioned. Such a globe would have a diameter ex- 
ceeding our sun's some 210 times, and therefore a volume 
exceeding his some 9,500,000 times, which is utterly in- 



A Giant Sun. 169 

credible. Assigning to Sirius a diameter exceeding our 
sun's 10 times (and therefore a volume, exceeding his 1,000 
times), it would result that, as seen from the earth, Sirius 
has an apparent diameter equal to less than the 100,000th 
part of the moon's ; and no telescope in existence could 
show so minute a diameter as a real measurable quantity. 
The nominally available power of the great Eosse telescope 
(6,000) would, indeed, show Sirius with a diameter equal to 
about the 16th part of the moon's a quantity which a good 
eye could appreciate in the case of a globe shining no more 
brightly than the moon does. But the intrinsic lustre of 
Sirius resembles that of the sun when shining in full 
splendour, and there is no man living who could recognise 
as a disc an orb shining as the sun does, but with an 
apparent diameter equal only to the 16th part of his. 

How, then, it may be asked, can astronomers claim to 
know that Sirius is an orb exceeding our sun in magni- 
tude ? 

Practically it is impossible for astronomers to determine 
the dimensions of Sirius ; but by comparing the amount 
of light received from him with that received from our 
own sun, they can form tolerably safe conclusions as to 
the probable dimensions of the star. They have only to 
inquire how far from us our own sun should be placed in 
order to shine just as brightly as Sirius, and to compare 
that distance with the actual distance of Sirius, in order 
to infer whether the sun or Sirius is the larger orb, and 
by how much one exceeds the other. 

The only estimate which need be here considered is 



1 70 Our Place among Infinities. 

that which results from combining together the best 
modern estimate of the light of the full moon as compared 
with the sun's, and the best modern estimate of the light 
of Sirius as compared with that of the full moon. The 
former estimate is due to the indefatigable German light- 
student, Dr Zollner ; the latter we owe to Sir John 
Herschel, the estimate having been made during his stay 
at the Cape of Good Hope. According to these estimates 
the light of Sirius is such that some 4,200,000,000 of 
stars, each as bright as Sirius, would be required to 
supply as much light as we receive from the sun. Now 
the distance of the sun is about 91,500,000 of miles ; and 
we have assigned as the most probable distance of Sirius 
100 millions of millions: 100,000,000 contain 91 \ nearly 
1,100,000 times and Sirius is so many times farther from 
us than the sun. So that the sun's light at the distance 
of Sirius would be reduced in the proportion of this 
number multiplied into itself or about 1,200,000 millions 
of times ; and so many orbs as large and bright as the 
sun would be wanted at the distance of Sirius to supply 
the same amount of light as the sun actually supplies to 
us. We have seen, however, that only 4,200,000,000 orbs 
as large and bright as Sirius would be needed to that end. 
Hence the light of Sirius must exceed the light of the sun 
(at equal distances) in the same degree that 1,200,000 ex- 
ceeds 4,200, or about 286 times. Assuming an equal 
degree of intrinsic brightness so that a square mile of 
the surface of Sirius is supposed to give out as much light 
as a square mile of the sun's surface it follows that 



A Giant Sun. 171 

at equal distances the disc of Sirius exceeds the disc of 
the sun 286 times in size, and that therefore the diameter 
of Sirius exceeds that of the sun 17 times. If this be the 
case and this relation must d priori be regarded as more 
probable than any other the bulk of Sirius exceeds that 
of the sun 4,860 times. 

If I had adopted the earlier estimate of the distance of 
Sirius, I should have obtained the result that Sirius gives 
out 400 times as much light as the sun, and has a volume 
exceeding his 8,000 times. These are the values adopted 
by Sir John Herschel in his " Familiar Essays." On the 
other hand, by adopting the latest estimate of the distance 
of Sirius, I should have obtained (as in my "Other 
"Worlds") the result that Sirius gives out 192 times as 
much light as the sun, and exceeds him 2,688 times in 
volume. It will be admitted that even this, the least of 
our estimates, is sufficiently stupendous to justify the title 
of the present paper. 

The only circumstance which could excite doubt as to 
the justice of the inference that Sirius is a giant sun, 
would be the possibility that the star is not composed of 
the same materials the same elements as our sun. 
\\ 7 ere no evidence obtainable on this point, it might be 
questioned whether Sirius is not a brilliant light rather 
than a glowing body. Unphilosophical as the idea of 
light without a body in which the light is manifested may 
appear at the present day, yet not very many years ago it 
would have been held that the idea is admissible. 
Indeed Dr Whewell in his "Plurality of Worlds" 



172 Our Place among Infinities. 

definitely lays down the proposition that the size and 
mass of a star cannot safely be inferred from the quantity 
of light it emits. Now, however, apart from the known 
fact that light cannot exist or be sustained without the 
motion of material particles (so that the continuance of 
a mighty light implies the existence of a vast mass) we 
have distinct evidence respecting the constitution of many 
stars, Sirius being among the number. The spectrum of 
Sirius (that rainbow-tinted streak into which its light is 
spread out, so to speak, by means of the spectroscope) 
resembles that of our own sun in all essential respects, a 
circumstance showing that Sirius, like our sun, is a glow- 
ing mass, whose light before reaching us has passed 
through the vapours of many elements. Dr Huggins, our 
chief authority in such matters, speaks thus respecting 
Sirius : " The spectrum of this brilliant white star is very 
intense ; but owing to the star's low altitude, even when 
most favourably situated, the observation of the finer lines 
is rendered very difficult by the movements of the earth's 
atmosphere." Three if not four known elements can be 
recognised as existing in the atmosphere of Sirius, viz., 
hydrogen, iron, magnesium, and sodium. But doubtless 
many others could be identified but for the unfavourable 
circumstances mentioned by Dr Huggins, for he adds that 
" the whole spectrum is crossed by a very large number of 
faint and fine lines." . 

The study of Sirius by means of the spectroscope has 
led to a very remarkable discovery respecting the motion 
of this mighty orb. It had been already known that Sirius 



A Giant Sun. 1 73 

is in rapid motion through space ; simply because astro- 
nomers could see that year by year the star is chang- 
ing its position on the celestial sphere. I have spoken 
above of the minute change of place noted in the course of 
each year as the earth circuits round the sun ; but the 
reader is not to infer that the star does not shew any 
signs of a real motion of its own. The astronomer, in 
looking for the small change of place repeated each year, 
does not allow his observations to be vitiated by a change 
(sometimes comparatively large) which continues progres- 
sively year after year. He makes a proper correction for 
the progressive change so as to be able to determine 
satisfactorily the amount of the recurrent change. In the 
case of Sirius, while the recurrent change is scarcely per- 
ceptible, even with the most delicate instruments, the 
progressive change is not only considerable enough to 
be detectible by its effects in a year, but as it accumu- 
lates year after year, the astronomer need only compare 
observations made at considerable intervals (as ten, fifty, 
or a hundred years) to ascertain the rate of apparent motion 
with any desired degree of accuracy. It chances, indeed, 
that the accounts left by ancient astronomers, rough though 
those accounts were, sufficed in the very infancy of 
modern exact astronomy to shew that Sirius is in motion ; 
for Halley announced so far back as ] 718 that Sirius must 
be held to be moving slowly southwards on the heavens, 
if the observations of the Alexandrian astronomers are to 
be accepted. The rate of this motion has since been 
determined with extreme exactness. It is such that in the 



1 74 Our Place among Infinities. 

couise of about 1,433 years Sirius traverses a space equal 
to the apparent diameter of the moon, moving southwards 
and westwards on the heavens, the southwardly exceeding 
the westwardly motion in the proportion of about five to 
two. Now, since we know something about the star's 
distance, this result enables us to infer something as to 
the star's real rate of motion. The displacement is a 
reality, the star must be moving athwart the line of sight 
either directly or on a slant course. The smallest 
velocity capable of explaining the displacement is that 
estimated on the supposition that the star is moving 
squarely across the line of sight. Now, it can easily be 
calculated that if this is the case, and the distance of the 
star equal to the greatest of the values mentioned above, 
then the star must be moving athwart the line of sight at 
the rate of nearly twenty-six miles in every second of time. 
On the other hand, supposing the true distance of the star 
to correspond to the later and smaller estimate above 
mentioned, the rate of motion is about fifteen miles in 
every second of time. Taking the mean value of the 
distance, we infer for the rate of motion athwart the line 
of sight, a velocity of no less than twenty miles per 
second. * 



* Should any astronomical reader compare this paragraph with Dr. 
Huggins' remarks on the same subject in the Philosophical Transactions 
for 1868 (p. 550), he will recognise some considerable discrepancies. 
These arise from the circumstance that Dr. Huggins (who treats of this 
matter only in passing) has by inadvertence taken the westwardly 
motion of Sirius at a fifteenth of its true value. This causes the value 
twenty-four miles per second to result where the above paragraph 



A Giant Sun. 175 

So far all is simple enough. Direct observations of the 
plainest nature, applied on the most obvious principles, 
have told us all we require to know as to the displacement 
of Sirius on the heavens. But I have said that the 
spectroscope has given information respecting the motion 
of Sirius ; and the account of this portion of the work 
relates to one of the most remarkable achievements of 
modern science. 

We have seen that the actual displacement of Sirius on 
the heavens supplies no information whatever as to the 
direction in which he is crossing the line of sight. He 
may be moving directly or squarely across that line with 
the velocity above determined ; but he may, on the con- 
trary, be moving on a line greatly slanted with respect to 
the line of sight, and his real velocity may therefore be 
very much greater. In the latter case all that part of his 
velocity which tends to carry him either towards or from 
us must escape recognition by ordinary means. The case 
may be compared to that of a train bearing a light in the 
night-time. An observer of such a train can readily 
detect any motion which causes the light to be seen in a 
changing direction ; but that part of the motion which 
brings the light nearer to him or removes it farther from 
him he cannot detect, except in so far as it causes the 

mentions twenty- six miles per second. Then this velocity is increased 
to forty miles per second instead of being reduced to 13'3 miles per 
second, to correspond to the later or reduced estimate of the distance 
of Sirius. I mention these points, not to call attention to slips such as 
will continually occur in stating relations of the sort, but to prevent 
the reader from being in doubt as to where the truth lies. 



i 76 Our Place among Infinities. 

light to appear larger or smaller than at first. Now no 
conceivable velocity of approach or recess in the case of 
Sirius would cause the star to appear appreciably brighter 
or fainter even in the course of hundreds of years. If we 
set the star's distance at a hundred millions of millions of 
miles, what effect can an approach or recession through 
even many hundreds of millions of miles produce on the 
star's apparent brightness ? Nay, we can readily infer 
from the seeming displacement of the star how utterly 
ineffective any corresponding motion of approach or recess 
would be in affecting the star's light. We have seen that 
in 1,433 years the star shifts on the heavens by a space 
equal to the moon's apparent diameter. Now it follows 
from this that if the motion of recess or approach be as 
great as what may be termed the thwart motion, the dis- 
tance of the star would change in 1,433 years in the pro- 
portion in which the distance of the farthest point of the 
moon's globe exceeds that of the nearest point, or about as 
60 exceeds 59 ; the corresponding change of lustre, there- 
fore, in that long interval of forty-three generations would 
be smaller than the most skilful astronomer could estimate, 
even though the change occurred within an hour so 
that he could test the different degrees of lustre with 
one and the same telescope, and under like conditions of 
atmosphere, eyesight, and so on. 

It is this apparently intractable problem, however the 
problem of measuring the rate at which a star is approach- 
ing or receding which the spectroscope has enabled men 
to solve. The actual principles on which the method of 



A Giant Sun. 1 7 7 

observation depends need not here be explained, because 
they have already been considered at some length in a 
paper entitled the "Gamut of Light," in my treatise, 
" Orbs around us." But I may so far recapitulate what 
I have there said, as to note that if we are approaching 
Sirius or receding from him, either through his motion 
or the sun's, or through the combined effects of both 
motions, the waves of light which travel to us from Sirius 
must appear shortened or lengthened, precisely as sea- 
waves would seem narrower or broader according as a 
swimmer travelled against or with their onward course. 
Now the light from a star contains all degrees of wave- 
length from the longest light-waves (which correspond to 
the red end of the spectrum) down to the shortest (which 
correspond to the violet end) ; so that amidst all these 
wave-lengths the observer could no more recognise such a 
change as would result from approach or recess than the 
swimmer of our illustrative case could recognise the 
apparent shortening or lengthening of waves in a storm- 
tost sea where waves of all dimensions were abroad. But 
if light- waves of any specified length can be in any way 
distinguished from the rest, the case (as respects them) 
corresponds to that of a swimmer crossing a long and 
uniform succession of rollers. Now the dark lines in the 
spectrum of a star, when they can be certainly identified 
with the lines belonging to the spectrum of some known 
element, supply this very knowledge of the true wave- 
lengths. Dr Huggins had identified certain very well 
marked lines in the spectrum of Sirius with the well- 



1 78 Our Place among Infinities. 

known lines of hydrogen. If he could find that these 
lines in the star's spectrum are measurably displaced 
either towards the red or the violet end of the spectrum, 
he could infer that the wave-lengths of the star's light are 
measurably lengthened or shortened through a recession 
or approach on the part of the star. This he actually 
effected. He found that one of the hydrogen lines of the 
star was displaced in such a way as to indicate a lengthen- 
ing of the light-waves corresponding to a recession at the 
rate of forty-one miles per second. But a part of this 
recession was due to the earth's orbital motion at the time 
of observation, and another part is due to the sun's own 
motion through space. There remains, after these portions 
have been deducted, a motion of recession in space 
amounting to about twenty-six miles per second. This 
rate of motion or rather a recession from the sun at the 
rate of twenty-nine miles per second is absolute, not 
being affected in any way by our estimate of the distance 
of Sirius. Combining the recession in space with the 
estimated thwart motion of twenty miles per second, we 
deduce a real motion in space amounting to about thirty- 
three miles per second.* 

But the circumstance which remains to be mentioned 
respecting Sirius before this paper is drawn to a conclusion, 
is perhaps more remarkable than any yet referred to. 



* Of course the two motions must not be simply added together, since 
they are not in the same direction. The actual motion is represented 
by the diagonal of an oblong whose sides represent the motion of reces- 
sion and the thwart motion. 



A Giant Sun. 1 79 

When astronomers compared together the places of 
Sirius as recorded in a long series of observations, they 
found what appeared like a periodic displacement of the 
star. In the first instance, they had examined only the 
recorded positions of the star as respects east and west ; 
and the observed displacement in this direction suggested 
that in reality Sirius is circling around another orb, or 
rather that Sirius and some other orb are circling around 
a common centre, in a period of fifty years. When it was 
found that the star appears to drift to north and south of 
its mean place in a manner according very closely with 
this hypothesis, astronomers naturally began to regard the 
theory as rendered highly probable by a coincidence which 
could scarcely be regarded as accidental. 

But no star had been seen where this theory required 
that a star should be ; and moreover the theory required 
an orb whose bulk should be about two-thirds of the 
enormous bulk of Sirius, and it was to be inferred that so 
large an orb would shine with a lustre comparable with 
that of Sirius himself. On this last point, however, it was 
well remarked that we have no sufficient reason for believ- 
ing that all the orbs which people space are luminous. 
However, a search was instituted for the star which the 
theory seemed to require. Nor was the search unsuccess- 
ful. With a telescope 18| inches in aperture, made by 
himself, the eminent American optician, Alvan Clark, 
detected a faint star close by Sirius, apparently, though 
actually (on a moderate computation), at least 2,000 millions 
of miles from him. The movements of this star have been 



1 80 Our Place among Infinities. 

held by some astronomers to accord fairly with the 
requirements of the theory just mentioned ; though I must 
admit that I fail to find a very close resemblance between 
the actual motion of the faint companion and those which 
the theory requires. But we now have a choice of disturb- 
ing companions, since the late Mr Goldsmidt (who far 
surpassed even our own " eagle-eyed Dawes " in keenness 
of vision) not only saw Clark's star with a telescope only 
four inches in aperture, but actually succeeded in detect- 
ing five other companion stars. 

We can best explain the faintness of these stars by 
supposing that they are opaque bodies which shine only 
by reflecting the light which they receive from their sun 
Sirius. But if so, they must be globes of enormous real 
dimensions, the least of them probably exceeding our own 
sun many times in volume, while the greatest (so we may 
conclude from the disturbance Sirius himself undergoes) 
must be so large and massive that a thousand such orbs 
as our sun would not equal it either in bulk or mass. We 
have here, then, a system differing altogether in character 
from our solar system, the largest member of which is but 
equal in mass to about the 1,300th part of the sun. The 
complete Strian system, may even outweigh Sirius himself, 
and its mass added to his must exert an attractive 
influence throughout an enormous portion of the stellar 
system. It would seem, indeed, not wholly impossible 
that Sirius holds a higher rank in the scale of creation 
that our sun and other similar orbs that compared with 
liim these are as secondary orbs compared with primaries. 



A Giant Sun. 181 

Without insisting on this, however, we may assert with 
confidence that whether we consider his volume, his bulk, 
or the mighty energy evidenced by his brightness, Sirius well 
merits the title under which he has been here described. 
Of all the orbs with which astronomers have to deal, he 
seems worthiest to be called par excellence the giant sun. 



THE STAE-DEPTHS. 

THE awe with which the thoughtful student of astronomy 
in our day contemplates the star-depths can scarcely 
exceed the simple wonder of the Chaldsean herdsman, who 
gazed on the mysterious vault of heaven and watched the 
constellations as they passed with stately motion along 
tlieir nocturnal arcs. Brought up from our youth to 
regard the fixed stars as the peers of our own sun, and the 
sun as an orb exceeding more than a million times in 
volume this earth on which we live, the grandeur of these 
conceptions is yet in part marred by their familiarity. 
The ancient astronomer, even though he might believe, 
with Aristarchus of Samos, that the stars are golden studs 
upon the crystal dome of heaven, and the sun scarce larger 
than the Peloponnesus, must yet have been penetrated 
with a profound sense of the mystery surrounding all he 
saw. We have learned so much, that we are apt to feel 
as though all knowledge were within our grasp. The orbs 
of heaven have been weighed and analyzed, they have 
been tracked on orbital paths around each other, they 
have been counted and gauged and charted, until it would 
seem as though their domain had been completely ex- 



The Star-Depths. 183 

plored and mastered. It was not so with the ancients. 
They might guess and theorize, but they knew scarce 
anything of the stars. And out of their want of know- 
ledge sprang a sense of awe, which probably surpassed in 
intensity the feeling with which even the most thoughtful 
astronomers of our own day regard the orbs tenanting the 
depths of heaven. 

It is my purpose in the present paper to attempt to restore 
to the sidereal system something of that mystery which 
pervaded it of old. I wish to shew that some, at least, of 
those views which had seemed most thoroughly established, 
have but a slight foundation, if any, on which to rest ; and 
that so far from having penetrated the secret of the 
star-depths, we stand as yet but on the threshold of that 
mighty domain which belongs to the astronomy of the 
future. 

Since the establishment of the Copernican theory, the 
extension of the sidereal system as recognized by astrono- 
mers, has been progressively increasing. I do not refer 
here merely to the increase of telescopic power, and the 
corresponding increase of the range of astronomical vision. 
That increase of range could only tell us what might readily 
have been guessed without it namely, that the vast 
spaces which lie beyond the range of any given telescopic 
power are not untenanted by stars. But the feature to 
which I would especially invite attention is the increase 
of the estimated scale on which the sidereal system is 
built, the increase in our estimate of the size and bright- 
ness of individual orbs, and the yet more surprising 



1 84 Our Place among Infinities. 

increase in our estimate of the distances which separate 
orb from orb. 

The first step in this progress was the most remarkable 
of all It was very justly urged by Tycho Brahe", that, if 
the Copernican theory were true, the stars must be regard- 
ed as immensely more distant than astronomers had ever 
ventured to imagine. Tycho Brahe did not, indeed, know 
how far the Earth actually is from the Sun ; but he knew 
that the extent of her orbit or of the Sun's orbit, according 
as the Sun or the Earth is fixed, must be measured by 
millions of miles. "Is it credible," he asked, "that 
although moving in an orbit so enormous in extent, the 
Earth as seen from the nearest star would seem absolutely 
unchanged in position ? " Yet this must be the case if the 
Copernican theory be true. For not one of the stars seems 
to move, as the Earth completes the circuit spoken of by 
Copernicus ; and if no star moves as seen from the Earth, 
the Earth must appear at rest as seen from each star in 
the heavens-. Each star must therefore lie at so enormous 
a distance, that the wide extent of the Earth's orbit is re- 
duced to a mere point. "Such a conception," Tycho 
reasoned, " seems wholly inadmissible ; and therefore the 
Copernican theory must be erroneous." 

This reasoning was valid, although the conclusion was 
incorrect. We must not class the objections urged by 
Tycho Brahe against the Copernican system, with those 
unmeaning arguments by means of which the Ptolemaists 
had long defended their position. Undoubtedly the con- 
clusion that the stars are suns comparable in splendour 



The Star- Depths. 185 

with our own, was not one to be lightly accepted. And 
yet no other conclusion could be adopted, if the motion of 
the Earth around the Sun were once admitted. We have 
just seen that the Earth's orbit, viewed from each of the 
fixed stars, would be reduced to a mere point. The Sun, 
then, which lies within that orbit, and whose relative 
dimensions were perfectly well known even in Tycho's 
time, would a fortiori be but a point as seen from even 
the nearest of the stars. If he were visible at all, it would 
merely be on account of the enormous intrinsic brilliancy 
of his light. But the stars are points of light, and the 
intrinsic brilliancy of their light also must be enormous, 
in order that they may be barely visible. Their seeming 
minuteness is at once seen to be no proof of real minute- 
ness, when the fact is recognized that the Sun would 
appear at least as minute if viewed from the neighbour- 
hood of a fixed star. 

The mistake of Tycho Brane* consisted in his failing to 
consider that the whole question was one of evidence. If 
Copernicus and his followers could prove their case, any 
conclusions legitimately deducible were to be accepted, 
without any reference to the startling character of the 
views they might point to. When Tycho began to see the 
heavens opening out before him, and all the stars taking 
rank as suns, the blaze of splendour was too fierce his 
mental vision was unprepared to contemplate so glorious a 
display, and he would fain have dropped a veil over that 
unbearable effulgence. 

But the men who followed him were more daring. 



1 86 Our Place among Infinities. 

Boldly grasping the weapons which Tycho Brahe* had 
collected for an attack upon the Copernican theory, they 
turned those weapons against the Ptolemaists. Seizing 
the only available vantage-ground that one peculiarity 
of the Solar System, without which the theories of Newton 
himself would never, in all probability, have had existence 
the great astronomer Kepler found in the seemingly 
capricious motions of the planet Mars the means of 
abolishing at once and for ever the ' cycles and epicycles," 
the * Gentries and eccentrics,' in which astronomers had so 
long put faith. Then Newton pushed the attack yet 
farther, setting forth the real significance of those laws 
which, in Kepler's hands, had seemed empirical. And 
lastly, one proof followed after another, until the new 
theories had become so firmly established that no one who 
comprehends their position has since ventured to attack 
them. 

But in the meantime, while the confirmation of the 
Copernican theory was demonstrating as real those 
wonders at which Tycho Brahe had stood appalled, fresh 
light was thrown on the real dimensions of the universe 
of stars. For it was found, as research after research was 
directed to the point, that the Sun's distance had been 
hugely underrated, and that therefore even Tycho's 
estimate of the stars' distances and dimensions, according 
to the Copernican theory, fell far short of the truth. 
More and more scrutinizingly astronomers searched the 
evidence bearing on the subject of the Sun's distance ; 
wider and wider grew the limits beyond which they proved 



The Star-Depths. 187 

that that distance must lie ; but as yet they could find no sign 
how far those limits were exceeded. From a few millions 
of miles the estimated distance had grown to tens of 
millions forty, fifty, eighty millions. At length the limit 
was nearly reached, and for the first time in the history 
of science men were able to say, not, as hitherto, that the 
Sun's distance certainly exceeds such and such a number of 
miles, but that it approaches, more or less closely, to such 
and such a value. 

The first rough estimate set the Sun's distance between 
eighty and one hundred millions of miles. Gradually 
obtaining better and better means of measuring the vast 
gulf which separates us from our ruling luminary, astro- 
nomers have found 91,500,000 to represent, with sufficient 
accuracy, that enormous distance. Precisely as the 
estimate of the Sun's distance in Tycho Brahms day had 
thus been enlarged, so had his estimate of the distances 
which separate the stars from us been overpassed, 
enormous and even inconceivable as he had deemed them. 

It is this great fact, then, that I take as chief guide in 
passing beyond the limits of the Solar System to survey the 
star-depths ; the fact, namely, that seen from the nearest 
fixed star the Earth's orbit, though more than 180 millions 
of miles in diameter, is reduced to dimensions absolutely 
inappreciable by all ordinary modes of measurement. 
Let the reader turn, on any clear night, to the constellation 
of the Great Bear, and let him regard the middle star of 
the Bear's curved tail the middle horse of those three 
which are supposed to draw the celestial Plough. Close 



1 88 Our Place among Infinities. 

by that orb he will see a faint orb, which was known in 
old times as " Jack by the middle horse." It would be a 
fact altogether amazing in its significance, if the wide 
sweep of the Earth's path round the Sun were, at the 
distance of the nearest star, reduced to a circle of diameter 
seemingly no greater than the distance separating these 
two orbs, which appear to lie so close together on the 
celestial sphere. But that tiny distance exceeds five 
hundred times the apparent diameter of the Earth's path, 
as it would appear if it could be viewed from the nearest 
star, Alpha of the Centaur. 

Even the mighty instruments of our own day, wielded 
with all the skill and acumen which a long experience has 
generated, have not sufficed to enable us to measure the 
distances of more than about a dozen stars. Nor probably 
will it ever be possible for man to count by the hundred 
the number of stars whose distances are known. Of all 
the millions of stars revealed by the telescope, not the 
ten-thousandth part will have their true position in space 
assigned to them, however roughly. The real architecture 
of the stellar system must remain for ever unknown to us, 
except as respects a relatively minute portion, lying within 
certain limits of distance from the Earth. 

But while the direct measurement of the star-depths is 
thus out of our power, we are able, by carefully studying 
the scene presented to us, to learn much respecting the 
way in which the sidereal system is constructed, and also 
respecting the nature of the bodies which compose that 
system. 



The Star- Depths. 189 

In the first place, we have, in the movements of the 
stars, a means of estimating certain general relations ; and 
in particular, of determining whether, as had been supposed, 
the apparent brightness of the stars is likely to afford a 
good general test of their distance. 

It will be clear that if two stars are travelling along in 
the same direction and at the same rate, we could at once 
estimate their relative distance by comparing the amount 
of their seeming motions. If one was twice as far from us 
as the other, it is obvious that the more distant orb would 
seem to move but half as quickly as the nearer. To take 
a simple illustrative instance the nearer of two men 
walking at equal rates in the same direction, but one twice 
as far from the observer as the other, would not merely be 
reduced in seeming height to one half the seeming height 
of the other, but his steps being correspondingly reduced 
in seeming extent, he would appear to move but one half 
as fast. 

Of course the actual motions of the so-called fixed stars 
are not of such a nature as to afford precise information as 
to the star distances. The stars are moving in all con- 
ceivable directions, and at very different rates. In the 
case of any given star, the seeming motion can tell us little 
respecting either the real motion or the star's distance. 
Eut the average seeming motions of a set of stars may 
give us more trustworthy information ; because in taking 
an average we get rid, to a great extent, of the effects of 
errors affecting individual cases. For example, if we class 
together all the stars of the sixth magnitude the faintest, 



1 90 Our Place among Infinities. 

that is, which the unaided eye can see and, adding all 
their seeming motions together, divide the resulting sum- 
total among all the stars of this order, we may regard the 
resulting mean motion as very fairly representing the true 
mean for the sixth magnitude stars. I say nothing, here, 
of the special rules according to which this summing up 
and distribution should be effected let us suppose both 
operations effected with strict attention to mathematical 
considerations. Then we have the average seeming motion 
of the order of stars we are dealing with, and we can 
compare its amount with that belonging to other orders. 

Clearly we should expect that if, on the whole, bright- 
ness affords satisfactory evidence as to distance, the average 
seeming movements of faint stars should bear a certain 
and a small proportion to the average seeming movements 
of bright stars. But the very first result of such a process 
of distribution as I have spoken of, is to shew that no such 
proportion holds. On the contrary, the average seeming 
motions of the fainter stars are about as large as the average 
seeming motions of the stars belonging to the leading orders 
of magnitude. To make the comparison more complete, 
I have taken the stars of the first, second, and third 
magnitude to form one set, and those of the fourth, fifth, 
and sixth, to form a second ; then, on comparing the average 
seeming movements for the two sets, I have, to my surprise, 
found these movements strictly equal. 

It is easy to see why this result may fairly be regarded 
as surprising. For let us consider its real significance. 
We have seen that the seeming rate of a star's motion 



The Star-Depths. 191 

affords evidence as to the star's distance, and evidence 
which may at least as safely be trusted as that afforded by 
seeming brightness. Judging then from the result just 
arrived at, we should infer that the stars of the three lead- 
ing orders of magnitude are, on the average, no nearer to 
us than the stars of the next three orders. This would be 
to trust solely to the evidence derived from the stellar 
motions. We cannot, however, altogether neglect the 
evidence derived from brightness. We must believe that 
the brighter stars are, on the whole, somewhat nearer to us 
than the fainter ones. If we would combine the two forms 
of evidence, we must infer, I conceive, that among the orbs 
which surround us on all sides, there are some which are 
distinguished among the rest by their superior size and 
brightness. These must be few in number, compared with 
all the stars that the unaided eye can see. The inferior 
orbs must be spread more richly throughout surrounding 
space ; and hence some among them must lie nearer to the 
Sun than any of those larger orbs which are his real peers. 
The larger apparent motion of these nearer stars, suffices, 
when averages are taken, to make up for the circumstance 
that distance must inevitably affect the average apparent 
rate of motion, as well as the average brightness. That 
this interpretation is just, is confirmed by the circumstance 
that it is among the fainter stars that the most remarkable 
motions are observed. 

The important conclusion to which we are forced, as I 
judge, is that we must divide the stars into two chief classes 
leading orbs like our own sun, and minor orbs more 



1 92 Our Place among Infinities. 

profusely spread throughout space. On only one point is 
there any doubt. There must be a great range of stellar 
magnitudes, a much wider range than has been usually 
supposed. But it is not quite clear whether our sun belongs 
to the class of smaller, or to that of larger orbs. I have 
spoken hitherto as though he were certainly one of the 
leading stars, and this is the view usually accepted. But 
there are reasons for believing that our sun may be a small 
star by comparison with the greater number of those which 
exist in his neighbourhood. For if we consider the small 
number of stars whose probable dimensions are known, 
we find reason for believing that, whereas the least of these 
orbs is fully one-fifth of our sun, the largest exceeds our 
sun two or three thousand times in magnitude. And to 
this must be added the circumstance, that many stars, 
which cannot be included in the list of those whose dis- 
tances are known, have yet been so far dealt with that the 
astronomer is quite sure that their distances are greater 
than any of the measured distances. All such stars are 
certainly larger than we should judge them to be if their 
distances were measurable. This we know : what we are 
ignorant of is, Jiow much larger they may be. So far then 
as can be judged, our sun is inferior, both in magnitude 
and in brightness, to the greater number of the orbs which 
surround him. 

But to return to what I have spoken of as proved the 
existence, namely, of a very wide range of difference 
amongst star-magnitudes ; let us inquire whether we have 
evidence of even greater variety in the constitution of the 
star-depths. 



The Star- Depths. 193 

So soon as we have passed the range of the unaided 
eye, we have lost all means, or even hope, of measuring 
distances. We are then immersed amid really fathomless 
depths, and all we can hope to do is to form some con- 
ception respecting the relative dimensions of the objects 
brought into our view. 

There is indeed a theory about the star-system, which 
is based on a different idea respecting the difficulties 
which the astronomer has to contend with. I refer to the 
theory, which finds a place in all our text-books of 
astronomy, that the star-system has the form of a cloven 
flat disc. This theory was formed by Sir William 
Herschel, when he was as yet unaware of the vastness 
and complexity of the star-system. The very words used 
in describing his process of research, indicate that the great 
astronomer was full of confidence in the power of his 
great telescopes to fathom all the profundities of the 
sidereal system. He called his method star-gauging, he 
spoke of the distance at which the boundary of the star- 
system lay in this or that direction, and he discussed 
the numerical results he had obtained, without doubting 
that those results really enabled him to determine the 
architecture of the galaxy. 

But as the work progressed Sir William Herschel grew 
less confident. He began to recognize signs of a com- 
plexity of structure which set his method of star-gauging 
at defiance. It became more and more clear to him also, 
as he extended his survey, that the star-depths were in 
fact unfathomable not only by his gauging telescope, 



1 94 Our Place among Infinities. 

(commonly known as the twenty-feet reflector,) but even 
by that mighty mirror which was one of the chief wonders 
of the world, until the great Eosse telescope dwarfed it 
into relative insignificance. At length Sir "William 
Herschel definitively abandoned the principles on which 
his star- gauging had been based ; and his observations, as 
well as his theoretical researches, were thenceforth directed 
to the determination of the general laws which prevail 
amid the star-depths. It cannot be questioned that, with 
those principles, he gave up also the theory of the star- 
system which he had based upon them. But, singularly 
enough, the theory remains, and seems likely to remain, 
in our text-books of astronomy ; while the far more 
wonderful views to which the later labours of Sir 
William Herschel pointed, have been almost wholly 
neglected.* 

If we consider, in the first place, the views of Sir 
William Herschel respecting the Milky Way, we shall 
find that the variety which we have recognized among the 
isolated stars, is altogether slight by comparison with the 
amazing variety of magnitude, of arrangement, and 

* Struve, the highest authority of recent times on the subject of the 
stellar system, with the single exception of Sir John Herschel, 
accounts for this strange circumstance by noting that Sir William 
Herschel nowhere announces, in so many words, that the cloven disc 
theory of the stellar system must be abandoned, though the great 
astronomer did very clearly abandon the principles which had led to 
the enunciation of that theory. It may be added that the theory is 
very simple, and very easily understood, whereas the subsequent 
inquiries and views of Sir William Herschel deal with very complex 
relations. 



The Star- Depths. 195 

probably of constitution, to be recognized among the orbs 
which form the Galaxy. It is only necessary to under- 
stand rightly the change which took place in Sir William 
Herschel's views, to see that this conclusion must be 
accepted by those who regard the opinion of that great 
astronomer as decisive in questions relating to the 
stellar system. 

Herschel's earlier labours had proceeded on the hypothesis 
of a generally uniform distribution of the stars ; and 
according to this hypothesis, those rich regions of the 
Galaxy in which stars of all magnitudes are spread with 
unspeakable profusion, had implied simply an enormous 
extension of the stellar system in the direction in which 
these glories are seen. The smaller and also more pro- 
fusely scattered stars were not to be regarded as in reality 
smaller and in reality spread more richly in space, but as 
lying farther away than the brighter, and occupying a more 
extensive region. 

But Herschel abandoned the theory of a generally 
uniform distribution of stars. In fact, instead of adopting 
any general d priori theory, by means of which to inter- 
pret the aspect of the star-groups, he changed his plan of 
proceeding altogether, and endeavoured, by means of a 
careful study of the laws of star-grouping, to arrive at 
consistent theories respecting the real distribution of the 
stars throughout space. This was undoubtedly the safer 
course ; and we might be disposed to wonder that 
Herschel had not adopted it in the first instance, were it 
not for the circumstance that the theory he actually 



1 96 Our Place among Infinities. 

adopted when he began his labours, had been so long 
regarded an unquestionably sound one.* 

When Herschel began to reason from observed appear- 
ances, he was quickly led to abandon the theory of a uni- 
form distribution of the stars. He saw that the Milky 
Way, for instance, is by no means to be regarded as a 
zone of stars resembling, in their arrangement, those which 
form our constellations. ' The stars we consider as insulated 
are surrounded,' he says, 'by a magnificent collection of 
innumerable stars, called the Milky Way. For though our 
sun, and all the stars we see, may truly be said to be in 
the plane of the Milky Way, yet I am now convinced, by 
a long inspection, and continued examination of it, that 
the Milky Way itself consists of stars very differently 
scattered from those which are immediately about us.'-f 

* It would be unfair, however, to omit mention of the fact that 
Michell had clearly shewn, a quarter of a century before Herschel 
began his labours, that the theory of a uniform distribution of the 
stars is untenable. 

t I have here to correct statements which will be found in more 
than one place in writings of my own. Although I had carefully gone 
through the whole series of Sir William Herschel's papers four or five 
years ago, I failed to notice that his views had undergone a com- 
plete change. Having then been led, by researches of my own, to feel 
grave doubts respecting the generally accepted theory of the star- 
system, or rather to feel absolutely certain that that theory is unsound, 
I have spoken of it as Herschel's, when discussing the objections which 
I have had to note against it. A more careful study of Herschel's own 
words has shewn me that, though the theory was undoubtedly 
enunciated by him, he was the first to abandon it. I believe the 
mistake I fell into is common with those who have given to Herschel's 
papers but a single persual. Even the laborious Struve fell into the 
same error ; and it was only after a careful re-examination of Sir William 
Herschel's papers, that he wrote, "Nous parvenons au resultat, peut- 



The Star- Depths. 197 

And he noted, in a special manner, how he judged that 
certain portions of the Milky Way were constituted. For 
speaking of the great clustering aggregations, which 
can be observed along various portions of the Galaxy, he 
expressed his belief that these aggregations are globular 
in form. 

Now if the stars seen within a certain circular region in 
the heavens, are enclosed in reality within a globular space, 
we can infer the relative distances of the nearest and 
farthest stars witfiin the region. We cannot tell which 
stars are nearer, and which are farther, neither can we tell 
the actual distances of any stars within the circular region 
but we can assure ourselves that the distances of the 
farther stars do not exceed the distances of the nearest in 
more than a certain proportion. If we look at a spherical 
balloon far away in the upper regions of air, we may be 
quite unable to tell how far off the balloon is or how large 
it is, or therefore by how much the distance of the farthest 
part of the balloon exceeds the distance of the nearest part ; 
but though we cannot tell by what amount, we can tell 
quite certainly in what degree the distance of the farthest 
part exceeds the distance of the nearest. For this relation 
depends only on the apparent size of the balloon, and re- 
mains precisely the same whether the balloon is near and 
small, or far away and large. Supposing the balloon had 



etre inattendu, mais incontestable, que le systeme de Herschel, e'nonce' 
en 1785, sur 1'arrangement de la Voie Lacte"e, s'ecroulede toutes parts, 
d'apres les recherches ult4rieures de I'auteur ; et que Herschel luimeme 
1'a entierement abandonne. ' 



1 98 Our Place among Infinities. 

no car, nor carried any object of known dimensions, as a 
man or pony or sheep, we might believe that the farthest 
point of the silken covering was ten yards, or ten feet, or 
but ten inches farther away than the nearest point ; but 
we should be in no doubt whatever as to the relative 
distances of these two points. In fact, if we were to hold 
up a small ball, as a marble or a bagatelle-ball, so as just 
to hide the balloon, the relation between the distances of 
the farthest and nearest points of the ball would be exactly 
the same as the relation between the distances of the 
farthest and nearest points of the balloon. And in precisely 
the same way, if one were to hold up a ball so as to hide 
one of the great globular clustering aggregations of stars 
in the Galaxy, we should know that the distance of the 
farthest star in that aggregation exceeds the distance 
of the nearest star, in the same degree that the dis- 
tance of the farthest point of the ball exceeds that of the 
nearest. 

This result is so important, that I need make no excuse 
for having thus, at some length, urged its real nature upon 
the attention of the reader. For let us consider what the 
lesson thus taught us respecting these star-clusters in 
reality implies. In these clustering aggregations we 
commonly see stars of all orders, from certain not very 
conspicuous orbs say stars of the seventh or eighth magni- 
tude down to stars so faint that they are barely visible, 
even in the most powerful telescopes with which the 
Herschels, Eosse, Lassell, and Bond, have explored the 
depths of space. Nay, in some of these clusters, there are 



The Star- Depths. 199 

regions in which, after the highest powers of the largest 
telescopes have been applied, faint patches of cloudy light 
remain still unresolved into stars. Now according to the 
theory first entertained by Herschel, the faintest stars in 
these clusters, and especially the faint unresolved star-dust, 
(if one may so speak,) would be regarded as many times 
farther away than the stars of the seventh or eighth 
magnitude belonging to the same cluster. There would, 
in fact, be stars of all orders of distance, corresponding to 
the various orders of apparent magnitude, from the seventh 
downwards. But when once it is admitted that these 
clustering aggregations are globular in their general form, 
we can no longer admit such an interpretation of the 
various orders of magnitude seen among the stars which 
form the clustre. The fainter stars are certainly not many 
times farther away than the brighter, certainly not twice 
as far away, nor half as far again. The relative minute- 
ness of these fainter orbs, and their relative closeness to 
each other, are real and not merely apparent phenomena. 
Stars which the earlier theory would have taught us to 
regard as not smaller nor more closely set than the 
brighter, but about ten times as far off, are shewn to be a 
thousand times smaller, and set a thousand times more 
closely;* stars which the earlier theory would have 
placed one hundred times farther away than the brighter 

* The average distances separating, star from star would be in this 
case but ten times smaller, and in the following but a hundred times ; 
but the number of stars included in a given region of space would be, 
respectively, a thousand and a million times greater ; and these 
relations may properly be described in the words used in the text. 



2OO Our Place among Infinities. 

stars in a cluster, are now found to be a million times 
smaller, and set a million times more closely. 

It will be seen at once that the wonderful variety of 
structure recognized by the telescopists in the richer 
regions of the Milky Way, receives quite a new interpreta- 
tion when the later views of Sir William Herschel are 
accepted. Few who have not studied the Galaxy with 
the telescope, can be aware of the real complexity of 
that marvellous system of stars. I know, indeed, of 
nothing which is better calculated to impress the observer 
with a sense of the real magnificence of the stellar system, 
than a view, even through a telescope of moderate power, 
of the glorious star-depths in the constellations Cygnus, 
Aquila, and Perseus. In telescopes of great power, these 
regions and others, more especially some in the southern 
heavens, present a display so marvellous, that all descrip- 
tion must fail to convey any just conception of its 
splendour. 

I have had occasion lately to study somewhat attentively 
the laws according to which the stars are distributed in 
the more densely aggregated regions of the Milky Way ; 
for I have constructed a circular chart, two feet in diameter, 
in which all the northern stars which can be seen with a 
telescope two and three-quarter inches in aperture, are 
included. In all there are 324,1 98 stars in this chart, and 
therefore about one hundred and fifty times as many as 
can be seen with the unaided eye on the darkest and 
clearest night. It is wonderful, indeed, when contem- 
plating this immense congregation of stars, to consider that 



The Star- Depths. 201 

the same portion of the heavens, if surveyed completely 
with the gauging telescopes of the Herschels, would shew 
twenty or thirty times as many stars. But even among 
the stars which smaller telescopes exhibit, there are signs 
of definite laws of arrangement too well marked to be 
regarded as merely accidental that is, as implying 
no real connection between the stars thus seemingly 
associated. 

When larger telescopes are applied to the same rich 
regions of the heavens, fresh peculiarities are brought into 
view. Father Secchi of Eome speaks thus of the distribution 
of stars within a certain very bright portion of the Milky 
Way in the constellation Sagittarius, as revealed by the 
powers of the fine refracting telescope of the Roman 
Observatory : ' There are large stars and lucid clusters ; 
then a layer of smaller stars certainly below the twelfth 
magnitude ; then a nebulous stratum with occasional 
openings.' But what startled him and all to whom he 
shewed it, was the regular disposition of the stars in figures* 
so geometrical that it is impossible to regard them as 
accidental. ' They are for the most part like the arcs of a 
spiral ; one can count as many as ten or twelve stars of 
the ninth and tenth magnitude following each other on 
the same curve like the beads on a rosary ; sometimes they 
seem to diverge from a common centre, and, strangely 
enough, it usually happens that either at the centre of the 

* Thus far the qiiotation is from Webb's charming little work entitled 
' Celestial Objects for common Telescopes,' who has summarised Secchi's 
remarks ; the remainder of the passage in inverted commas, is translated 
from a quotation given by Webb in the same work. (Note, p. 267. ) 



2O2 Our Place among Infinities. 

rays, or at the beginning of the branch of a curve, there is 
a larger star of a red colour. It is impossible to regard such 
an arrangement of the stars as accidental." 

The accounts given by Sir John Herschel of various 
parts of the Milky Way, as seen in the southern hemi- 
sphere, afford even more remarkable evidence of the 
singularly varied and complex nature of the star-grouping 
in those richer parts of the Galaxy. The following 
passage serves to give some idea of the nature of this 
evidence. I quote the passage as it appears in Herschel's 
splendid work entitled 'Observations made at the South 
Cape/ so far, at least, as respects the sequence of the remarks ; 
here and there certain technical phrases have been omitted 
or changed, since the passage otherwise would not be 
suited to these pages : * After passing the dark interval 
between the two streams of the Milky Way,' in Centaurus, 
' the coming on of the Milky Way is thus described' 
Herschel is here quoting from his note-books : ' " The 
edge of a great nebulous projection of the Milky Way of 
great extent, running horizontally. The northern half of 
the field of view has stars on a black ground. After this 
the Milky Way becomes very nebulous, in great cirrous 
masses and streaks." "Further on commences a series of 
great nebulous and semi-nebulous Milky Way patches 
over the whole breadth of the zone." ' Then occur several 
remarkable clusters, * " among alternations of vacuity and 
richness most surprising, and baffling all description ; " as 
the main body of the Milky Way comes on, the frequency 
and variety of these masses increase.' .... Further on, 



The Star-Depths. 203 

the following remarks occur : " The Milky Way is here 
composed of separate, or slightly or strongly connected 
clouds of semi-nebulous light ; and, as the telescope moves, 
the appearance is that of clouds passing in a scud, as 
sailors call it." " I could fill a catalogue with the clusters 
of the sixth class which are here. The Milky Way is 
like sand, not strewed evenly as with a sieve, but as if 
flung down by handfuls, (and both hands at once,) 
leaving dark intervals, and all consisting of stars of the 
fourteenth, fifteenth, ... to the twentieth magnitude, and 
down to nebulosity, in a most astonishing manner." 
Again, "after an interval of comparative poverty, the 
same phenomenon, and even more remarkable. I cannot 
say it is nebulous. It is all resolved, but the stars 
are inconceivably numerous and minute. There must 
be millions on millions, and all most unequally massed 
together ; yet they nowhere run to nuclei or clusters much 
brighter in the middle." This extraordinary exhibition 
terminates ' nearly on the meridian marking the eighteenth 
hour of right ascension, ' where the Milky Way resumes 
its usual appearance.' 

If we regard the Milky Way as a whole we are equally 
struck with the evidence of complexity of structure. As 
described indeed in many text-books of astronomy, the 
aspect of the Milky Way might be regarded as according 
well with the theory that the stellar system is shaped like 
a cloven flat disc. For we are commonly told that the 
Milky Way is a zone, or band, circling the whole of the 
celestial sphere, and divided along one half of its length 



204 Our Place among Infinities. 

into two distinct streams. But as a matter of fact, this 
description is very far indeed from accurately presenting 
the characteristics of the Milky Way. Both portions of 
the descriptions are indeed equally untrue. For, in the 
first place, the Milky Way does not circle the heavens, 
but is in one place cloven right across by a wide dark rift. 
And in the second place, one can only say of a very small 
portion of the Milky Way that it is double. Near the 
constellation Cygnus, in the northern heavens, the Milky 
Way is double ; but one of the branches, after proceeding 
somewhat beyond the head of Ophiuchus (the Serpent- 
bearer) bends away from the other branch and is presently 
lost altogether. Now at the opposite side of the heavens, 
near the constellation Crux, (or the Cross,) the Milky 
Way is again double ; but tracing the second branch on 
the side towards the place where the second branch on 
the other side loses itself, we presently find the southern 
second branch becoming subdivided into several branches, 
and these forming a region of interlaced streaks, accom- 
panied by patches of light, which seemed to be quite dis- 
joined from all the branches. This strangely complex 
region spreads out towards the constellation Libra, where 
it loses itself ; but a well-marked branch bending round 
towards the adjacent continuous stream seems to end in 
three well-marked patches. Over the whole of this 
region, the complexity of the Milky Way, as seen by the 
naked eye, is fairly comparable with the complexity of 
the telescopic aspect of the same region as described by 
Sir John HerscheL 



The Star-Depths. 205 

Even in our northern heavens, however, there are 
regions which are singularly complex, and as it were 
variegated. ' It is indeed,' says Professor Nichol, ' only to 
the most careless glance, or when viewed through an at- 
mosphere of imperfect transparency, that the Milky Way 
seems a continuous zone. Let the naked eye rest thought- 
fully on any part of it ; and if circumstances be favourable, 
it will stand out rather as an accumulation of patches and 
streams of light, of every conceivable variety of form and 
brightness ; now side by side, now heaped on each other ; 
again spanning across dark spaces, intertwining and 
forming a most curious and complex net-work; and at 
other times darting off into the neighbouring skies in 
branches of capricious length and shape, which gradu- 
ally thin away and disappear.' 

Thus far I have been dealing only with the general laws 
of star-distribution. I have endeavoured to shew that 
instead of a system of suns spread with a general uniform- 
ity throughout space, we have to deal with orbs differing 
widely from each other in magnitude, and distributed 
throughout space in the most varied manner. Streams and 
branches of stars, strangely shaped groups, forming, as 
regards their seeming arrangement, the most complex re- 
ticulations ; islands of light and lakes of darkness, result- 
ing from the aggregation of stars towards certain regions 
and their segregation from others ; these, and other 
phenomena of a similarly perplexing nature, serve at least 
to shew that the star-system has not that simplicity of 
structure so commonly assigned to it in our text-books of 



206 Our Place among Infinities. 

astronomy. But we have still to consider details. Among 
the wonders of the star-depths, there are to be noted phen- 
omena even more wonderful than those general features 
which have hitherto been dealt with. Coloured stars; 
double and multiple stars ; periodic, variable, and tempor- 
ary stars ; the various orders of star-clusters, star-cloudlets, 
and star-mist ; these are among the wonders of the star- 
depths. With them we have now to deal, considering 
them rather for the evidence they afford respecting the 
richness and variety of the sidereal system than with 
special reference to the features of individual objects 
belonging to these various classes. "With respect to some 
of them, indeed, my chief task will be to shew reasons for 
believing that they really do belong to the star-depths ; 
and not, as has hitherto been commonly judged, to regions 
of space lying far beyond the bounds of our own star- 
system. 

Let us pause for a moment to survey the ground over 
which we have passed. 

We have considered the scale on which the stellar 
universe has been formed, and the general varieties of 
structure observable within the range of telescopic vision. 
We have seen that, compared with distances separating 
star from star, the dimensions of our Sun, and even of the 
system over which he bears sway, sink into utter insignifi- 
cance. And then, endeavouring to picture to ourselves 
the manner in which these star-ranges are distributed 
the plan on which this system of magnificent distances is 
formed we have seen reason to believe that a variety of 



The Star- Depths. 207 

distribution prevails which renders the scheme of stars 
singularly difficult to interpret aright. So long as we 
could believe in uniformity either of dimensions or dis- 
tribution, we could deduce certain conclusions as to the 
structure of the great star-system. Varieties of appear- 
ance were then at once explicable, as due either to the 
various distances at which the particular regions under 
survey were placed, or else to the various depths to which 
the telescopic sounding-line penetrates before reaching the 
limits of the star-system. But so soon as we are led to 
doubt whether any sort of uniformity exists within the 
star-depths, we lose at once the means of readily interpret- 
ing the scene disclosed to us in the telescopic survey of the 
heavens. A region which appears singularly rich in stars 
may be a true star-cluster a subordinate star- system or 
it may be a region where the bine of sight passes through 
an almost interminable range of stars. Seemingly minute 
stars may form schemes of suns far smaller than our own, 
or than any of the leading orbs of the heavens ; or they may 
be orbs surpassing even Sinus in magnitude and splendour, 
but set at depths compared with which his enormous 
distance is relatively as insignificant as the distance of our 
moon compared with the dimensions of the Solar System. 
A cloud of light in the star-depths may be a vast mass of 
nebulous matter, or it may be a scheme of stars as 
magnificent as the most splendid of all the star-clusters 
discernible with the telescope. 

It does not follow that in the presence of these sources 
of perplexity we need wholly despair of solving the pro- 



208 Our Place among Infinities. 

blems presented by the star-depths ; but it becomes more 
necessary than ever to exercise extreme caution at each 
step of our progress. We must avail ourselves of every 
method of research or inquiry which promises to throw 
the least light on the very difficult questions we have to 
deal with. 'In the midst of so much darkness,' wrote 
Sir John Herschel to me on this point, ' we ought to open 
our eyes as wide as possible to any glimpse of light, and to 
utilize whatever twilight may be accorded to us, to make 
out though but indistinctly the forms that surround us.' 

It is not in this place indeed that this searching 
analysis should be undertaken. My purpose in writing 
these lines is not to exhibit in detail the reasoning by 
which certain conclusions may be attained, but rather to 
present an account of what is known or may be inferred 
respecting the stellar depths. But it is well that the 
reader should notice that the facts to be described have 
an interest other than that which they derive from their 
intrinsic importance, inasmuch as it is to them chiefly 
that we are to look for hints to guide us in the attempt to 
solve the noblest problem ever attacked by man. 

We have already had abundant reasons for believing 
that ' one star differeth from another in glory,' not merely 
as seen upon the heavens, but in reality, and to an extent 
which corresponds with the variety of dimensions recog- 
nized among the members of the Solar System itself. Let 
us now briefly consider the evidence we have of an equally 
remarkable variety of condition and constitution among 
the stars composing our galaxy. 



The Star-Depths. 209 

In the first place, we can infer from the different 
colours of the stars, that their condition, and the condition 
also of worlds dependent upon them, must differ to a 
corresponding extent. Even the naked eye recognizes 
remarkable diversities of star-colour ; but it is only when 
the telescope is directed to the work of survey that 
the true extent of these diversities is fully recognized. 
Confining our attention for the present to single stars, it is 
to be noticed that every variety of pure colour that is, of 
the hues seen in the prismatic spectrum from bluish and 
greenish, (not full green or blue,) through yellow, orange, 
ruddy, and full red, even to the deepest ruby, may be re- 
cognized among isolated stars. But no isolated stars of a 
full blue or green colour have yet been detected.* 

Here we have an instance of variety of condition which 
cannot but be regarded as highly significant. In what- 
ever way we explain the colour of a red or orange star on 
the one hand, or of a greenish or bluish star on the other, 
we cannot but admit that they must differ markedly in 
condition and that the condition of either must be markedly 
different from that of a white star. A red star may be 
heated in different degree than a white star, or it may be 
suiTOunded by absorbing vapours different in character 
from those which surround an orb of the latter class, or the 

* This, however, has been questioned, since some observers (and 
notably the late Admiral Smyth) have considered certain isolated 
stars to be decidedly blue or green. The general opinion is in favour 
of those who assert that the blue or green hues of these stars are not 
well marked, and that a peculiarity of vision has led the before men- 
tioned observers into error. 



2 io Our Place among Infinities. 

difference of aspect may be explicable in some other 
manner ; but it is not conceivable that any explanation can 
present two such stars as alike, or nearly alike, in their 
physical condition. And so of other distinctions of colour. 

We are not left in doubt, however, on this point ; for 
the spectroscope exhibits to us the nature of the character- 
istic difference between stars which differ in colour. 
Father Secchi has been able, in fact, to arrange the stars 
of different colour into four distinct types, according to 
the character -of the rainbow-tinted streak into which the 
spectroscope spreads out their light. 

First in order are the stars usually considered white, 
but in reality shining with a somewhat bluish light. 
Such are Sirius, Vega, Altair, Rigel, and Regulus, as well 
as all the stars of Charles's Wain, except Dubhe. The 
spectrum of a star of this order ' shews rays of all the 
seven colours, and is sometimes crossed by very numerous 
and mostly very fine lines, but always by four broad and 
very dark lines. Of these four lines one is in the red, 
another in the greenish blue, and the remaining two in the 
violet. All the four are due to hydrogen.* The spectra 
of these stars shew also the lines of sodium, iron, and 
magnesium. ' Nearly half the stars in the heavens,' (that 
is, of those visible to the unaided eye,) ' are included in 
this type, and their spectra may be examined even with a 
telescope of small power.' 

* From Dr Schellen's fine work on Spectrum Analysis, translated by 
Jane and Caroline Lassell, and edited by Dr Huggins, F.R.S. See 
further, "The Expanse of Heaven." 



The Star -Depths. 2 1 1 

The second type of fixed stars is that to which our sun 
belongs. 'In this class,' says Secchi, 'most of the yellow 
stars are included, as for instance, Capella, Pollux, 
Arcturus, Aldebaran, Dubhe in the Great Bear, Procyon, 
&c. The dark lines are very strongly marked in the red 
and in the blue portions of their spectra, but are almost 
entirely absent in the yellow.' The well-known dark lines 
in the solar spectrum illustrate this peculiarity ; yet it 
should be noted that though well-marked dark lines are 
absent from the yellow part of the spectrum, fine lines 
are present there in great numbers. ' The close conformity 
to the solar spectrum undoubtedly leads to the conclusion,' 
says Dr Schellen, ' that these stars are composed of similar 
elements, and possess a physical constitution in other 
respects analogous to that of our Sun.' We have seen 
that about one half the stars hitherto observed belong to 
the first type. Secchi considers that the second type 
includes about two-thirds of the remainder ; so that 
already five-sixths of all the observed stars have been 
taken into account. 

The third type includes all the stars shining with a 
well-marked red tint. As an example, the brilliant but 
variable star Betelgeux, which marks the right shoulder of 
Orion, may be cited. The star Alpha Herculis, in the 
head of the Kneeling Hero, also belongs to this type. 
" The spectra of such stars appear like a row of columns 
illuminated from the side, producing a stereoscopic effect ; 
and when the bright bands are narrower than the dark 
ones, the spectrum has the appearance of a series of 

10 



2 1 2 Our Place among Infinities. 

grooves. Red stars of even the eighth magnitude have 
been examined spectroscopically with Secchi's admirable 
instrument, and shew a similar constitution, while no 
spectrum could be obtained from white stars of the same 
magnitude." The spectrum of stars of the third type re- 
sembles in a remarkable degree the spectrum of a solar 
spot, a circumstance which has led Secchi to regard these 
as spot-covered suns. 

Stars of the fourth type, like those of the third, have a 
spectrum presenting a columnar appearance ; but the 
number of the columnar bands is less, and the brighter 
side of each band is towards the violet end of the spectrum, 
whereas in stars of the third type the reverse is the case. 
Into peculiarities such as these, however, we need not here 
enter at length, because they do not affect those general 
relations with which we are here dealing. 

Now, passing from the consideration that these varieties 
of the stellar spectrum indicate corresponding varieties 
of elementary structure in the suns which people space, 
let us consider for a moment how the condition of in- 
habited worlds circling around other suns than ours must 
be affected by the nature of the light emitted by the orbs 
which rule them. 

Our sun sends forth rays which supply three very 
different requirements of living creatures, animal and 
vegetable, peopling our earth. Without light, we should 
all before long perish miserably ; and the sun's rays supply 
us with light. Without heat, we should be even more 
quickly destroyed ; and the sun's rays provide ample 



The Star- Depths. 2 1 3 

supplies of heat. But besides light and heat, we require, 
directly and indirectly, that chemical action of the solar 
rays which has been called actinism. Without this action 
the air we breathe would be loaded before long with 
pestilential vapours, which would destroy the lives of men 
and animals ; plants would wither, and presently die ; the 
whole earth, in fact, would soon be the abode of death, as 
surely, though perhaps not so quickly, as though the sun 
had ceased to supply either light or heat. 

Now at present, these three forms of energy are exerted 
in certain proportions, admirably suited to our require- 
ments. Dividing the solar rays according to the position 
they occupy with reference to the spectrum we have 
from the red rays, and from dark rays beyond the red, 
the chief supply of heat ; from the whole visible spectrum, 
but chiefly from the yellow portion, comes the supply of 
light ; and lastly, the violet rays, and the dark rays beyond 
the violet, afford the chief supply of actinism. If any 
change were to pass over our sun whereby the proportion 
of heat and light and actinism were appreciably modified, 
we should undoubtedly suffer sooner or later. If the 
modification were considerable, all plants and animals 
would probably perish. But if our sun's rays were so 
affected that he was visibly changed in colour either to 
our own eyes, or to the inhabitants of some far distant 
world whence our sun is seen as a star there can be no 
question that this change would result in a considerable 
modification of the proportion in which heat, light, and 
actinism reach our earth. For we have seen that varieties 



214 ur Pl ace among Infinities, 

of stellar colour imply varieties in tlie stellar spectra, 
some stars having the red or heat end relatively more 
brilliant than the rest of the spectrum, others having the 
yellow or light portion in relative excess, others the violet 
or actinic portion. Since, then, the creatures living on 
this earth would unquestionably suffer if our sun were so 
changed as to resemble stars of certain colours, it follows 

O 

that the creatures in worlds circling around stars of those 
colours must differ in many important respects from those 
existing on our own earth. So that the varied tints seen 
amid the star-depths supply evidence of a corresponding 
variety in the scenes displayed by the unnumbered 
myriads of worlds circling around other suns than our own. 

In passing from isolated suns to double and multiple 
star-systems, I scarcely know whether to dwell chiefly on 
the varieties of arrangement observable in these systems 
or on the singularly-marked and beautiful colours seen 
among them, as the more striking illustration of the com- 
plexity of the scheme according to which the universe has 
been formed. But as the subject of colour has already 
been discussed, it may be well to consider the former re- 
lation more particularly at this point. 

If we consider only the double stars, we find a perfectly 
marvellous variety of arrangement as respects magnitude 
and distance. In some pairs the component stars are equal, 
in others we find every degree of disproportion in the mag- 
nitudes of the components, from a slight inequality down 
to such an enormous disproportion as in the case of Sirius 
or Antures, where the chief star is a brilliant of the leading 



The Star-Depths. 215 

order, (a ' double first, ' as it were,) and the companion is 
barely visible in powerful telescopes. As respects distance, 
it is not possible to speak quite so confidently at least, 
in any specified instance ; since a pair whose components 
appear to be very close together may in reality be 
separated by a distance exceeding that which separates a 
' wide double. ' But among so many thousands of double 
stars which have come under telescopic scrutiny, this 
difficulty need not perplex us, since the laws of averages 
assure us that peculiarities of arrangement will not prevail 
in a large array of instances. So that we may feel assured 
that the observed immense variety in the distance of 
double stars whether in the actual observed distance, or 
in the relation between this distance and the seeming 
magnitudes of the component stars corresponds to an 
equally immense variety in the real distances. Then the 
subject of colour enters into the question of arrangement 
(apart from the evidence it supplies as to elementary 
constitution,) and here again we find the most surprising 
variety. We have pairs of white, yellow, orange, and red 
stars ; then we have red and white pairs, red and yellow, 
red and orange, and so on, with all such combinations, 
the larger or smaller star having either colour of any such 
pair; again, we have white and blue, white and green, 
white and violet, red and blue, red and green, red and 
violet, and so on, the larger star in all such cases being 
white, yellow, orange, or red, and the smaller blue, green, 
violet, or purple. We have also small companion stars, 
coloured lilac, fawn, dun, buff, ashen grey, livid, olive, russet, 



2 1 6 Our Place among Infinities. 

citron, and so on, to say nothing of colours so peculiar that 
no ordinary name can be given to them.* 

If we regard a pair of stars as forming a double sun 
round which, or rather round the common centre of which, 
other orbs revolve as planets, we are struck by the differ- 
ence between such a scheme and our own Solar system ; 
but we find the difference yet more surprising, when we 
consider the possibility that in some such schemes each 
component sun may have its own distinct system of 
dependent worlds. In the former case, the ordinary state 
of things would probably be such that both the suns 
would be above the horizon at the same time and then 
probably their distinctive peculiarities would only be 
recognizable when one chanced to pass over the disc of the 
other, as our inoon passes over the sun's disc in eclipses. 
For short intervals of time, however, at rising or setting, 
one or other would be visible alone ; and the phenomena 
of sunset and sunrise must therefore be very varied, and 
also exquisitely beautiful, in worlds circling round such 
double suns. But where each sun has a separate system, 
even more remarkable relations must be presented. For 
each system of dependent worlds, besides its own proper 
sun, must have another sun, less splendid, perhaps, 
(because farther off,) but still brighter beyond com- 
parison than our moon at the full. And according to the 

* For such a colour the celebrated astronomer, W. Struve, invented 
the pleasing name, ' olivaceasubrubicunda, ' respecting which the author 
of ' Celestial Objects for common Telescopes ' remarks that it matches 
Gruithuisen's ' stickstoff'sauerstoffatmospUare, ' and (an English chemist's 
invention) the iodide of methylodiethylamylammonium. 



The Star-Depths. 217 

position of any planet of either sytem, there will result 
for the time being either an interchange of suns instead of 
the change from night to day, or else double sunlight 
during the day, and a corresponding intensified contrast 
between night and day. Where the two suns are very 
unequal, or very differently coloured, or where the orbital 
path of each is very eccentric, so that they are sometimes 
close together, and at others far apart, the varieties of con- 
dition in the worlds circling around either, or around the 
common centre of both, must be yet more remarkable. 
' It must be confessed, ' we may well say with Sir John 
Herschel, ' that we have here a strangely wide and novel 
field for speculative excursions, and one which it is not easy 
to avoid luxuriating in. ' 

If it be supposed that in some instances the smaller 
component of a double system shines either wholly or to a 
considerable degree by reflecting the light of its primary, 
we shall find yet further reason for wonder at the diversity 
of structure within the star-depths. For unquestionably 
the largest of all the planets which circle around the Sun 
would not be visible even under the most powerful 
telescopic scrutiny, at the distance of the nearest fixed 
star. Nay, an opaque orb as large as our Sun, if placed 
where Jupiter is, would not reflect a tenth part of the 
light necessary to render it visible at such a distance. 

But such considerations as these become perfectly 
bewildering when extended to triple, quadruple, and 
generally to multiple star-systems. It will afford some 
idea of the amazing variety of arrangement observable 



2 1 8 Our Place among Infinities. 

among such systems, that even among the host of triple 
stars already observed by astronomers, not two have been 
found which closely resemble each other in arrangement, 
while, so soon as we pass to more complex systems, we 
find that each fresh object of the class differs utterly from 
all which have been previously observed. 

In considering the actual condition of the region of 
space occupied by a triple, quadruple, or multiple star- 
system, we find ourselves surrounded on all sides by 
sources -of perplexity so long, at least, as we compare 
the w r orlds in such regions with our own earth, or with 
any member of the Solar system. All the most marked 
characteristics of life on our earth must be wanting in those 
worlds which circle around the component suns of multiple 
systems. There can be no year, strictly so called, no 
orderly succession of seasons, no regular alternation of day 
and night, in many cases no night at all, save for brief 
periods at exceedingly long intervals. Placed at such a 
distance from any star of one of these systems that that 
star appears as a sun, the others also must supply an 
amount of light sufficient of itself to banish night. More 
commonly, indeed, each star of such a system, while above 
the horizon, would be a sun shining more brightly than 
our sun does to the inhabitants of many planets of his 
scheme. But where there are three or four such suns, 
the simultaneous absence of all from the sky must be 
an uncommon event as uncommon, for instance, as 
those occasions when none of Jupiter's satellites can be 
seen. The inhabitants of worlds such as these can but 



The Star- Depths. 219 

seldom witness the spectacle of the starlit sky ; and the 
study of any orbs beyond their own system must be a task 
of infinite difficulty, since it can only be pursued for a few 
occasional hours of darkness, separated by many months 
of persistent daylight. 

The consideration of these multiple systems leads us on, 
step by step, to the various orders of star-clusters. For 
we can point to multiple systems of greater and greater 
richness, and as it were compactness, until we arrive at 
orders which we are compelled to regard as veritable star- 
clusters. Yet it is to be noticed that we might have 
approached the study of star-clusters in a different 
direction. For we have already had occasion to consider 
the various degrees of stellar aggregation in different parts 
of the heavens ; and some of the regions of aggregation, 
while indubitably features of the galaxy regarded as a 
whole, are yet so well defined, and so clearly separated 
from the surrounding more barren regions, that we cannot 
refuse to regard them as vast star-clusters. We can thus 
either proceed from the smaller star-clusters to which we 
have been led by the study of multiple star-systems 
onwards to larger and yet larger groups of stars, until we 
have arrived at the aggregations just mentioned ; or we 
can pass from these through the successive orders of a 
diminishing scale until we arrive at multiple star-systems. 

Yet here it is well to remark that a difficulty presents 
itself which can only be removed by the theory, to which 
we have been already led by other considerations, that 
the great aggregations of stars are not (or at least, all of 



220 Our Place among Infinities. 

them are not) to be regarded as formed of orbs necessarily 
comparable with Sirius and Arcturus, Capella, Vega, and 
Aldebaran, in real magnitude and splendour. For we can 
pass from the single suns onwards to double suns, multiple 
systems, star-clusters, and stellar aggregations, thence to 
less and less condensed and more and more extended 
aggregations, until we arrive at unaggregated star-groups, 
consisting, in fact, of the single orbs with which we set 
out. Now it is to be observed that we seem to be brought 
to the single stars by a course which is not a mere retracing 
of our steps. For supposing we regard star-clusters as 
intermediate between the least condensed aggregations on 
the one hand, and single stars on the other, we pass onwards 
from these least condensed aggregations to single stars, 
without going through any of the steps of our progress 
towards the aggregations. Obviously there can have been 
no true progression here. And we are compelled to believe 
that by following the course indicated, we arrive at quite 
another order of star-groups than those which form our 
constellations, although in appearance the less densely 
aggregated star-groups may resemble systems of true suns, 
like Sirius and Arcturus, Aldebaran and Capella. 

But the fact is that, again and again, as we contemplate 
the wonders of the star-depths, we find ourselves thus 
tracing out perplexing sequences, one class of objects 
merging into another class seemingly altogether distinct, 
and this class into yet another, until we are bewildered by 
the multiplicity of analogies whereof some at least must 
be deceptive. 



The Star- Depths. 221 

For instance, I have spoken of the various orders of 
star-clusters by which we may be led to the vast stellar 
aggregations ; and there can be no question whatever that 
an apparently perfect sequence can be traced from sharply- 
defined clusters such as the magnificent object '13 Messier' 
in the constellation Hercules, to such groups as the Pleiades, 
or Prsesepe in Cancer, or the splendid star-clusters near 
the sword-hand of Perseus, these groups being undoubtedly 
mere condensations in rich star-regions. It also cannot 
be doubted that we can pass from such a cluster as the 
one in Hercules, to others less rich in numbers, but equally 
compact, and so to clusters continually poorer and poorer 
(numerically) until we arrive at mere multiple systems, 
and so to quadruple, triple, double, and single stars. But 
it is equally certain that we can pass from the globular 
star-clusters to others oval in shape, and more and more 
closely set,* until at length we arrive at the nebulae, 
properly so called that is, spots of cloudy light which 
have not been resolved into separate stars by any telescopic 
power yet applied. Here, then, a progression as real as 
either of the preceding seems to lead us to objects which 
have been commonly regarded as wholly distinct from any 
portions of the galactic system, and probably analogues of 
the whole of that system. 

* The connection between shape and closeness of star- setting is 
certain, though most perplexing. Sir John Herschel writes : 'It may 
be generally remarked, as a fact undoubtedly connected in some very 
intimate manner with the dynamical conditions of their subsistence, 
that the elliptic nebulae are, for the most part, beyond comparison more 
difficult of resolution than those of globular form. 



222 Our Place among Infinities. 

But it may be urged that this progression may relate 
simply to distance, and that therefore we need not regard 
it as forming a new and distinct sequence. To illustrate 
the matter, suppose that we could recognize among the 
companies of persons proceeding along a road, many 
different kinds of groups and that we arranged these 
different orders into a perfect sequence ; then, taking any 
given order, we should find the various groups belonging 
to this order presenting different aspects according to their 
distance. Say the order comprised sets of persons travell- 
ing six together ; then a set of six close by would differ in 
appearance from a set of six far away; and we might form 
many sets of six at different distances into a perfect 
sequence, according to their varying appearance. 

Now according to this view of the matter the various 
orders of regularly-shaped nebulae, even down to those 
which no telescope can resolve, would be star-clusters 
lying at great distances. And since the star-clusters, 
properly so called, must be regarded as belonging to our 
own galactic system, it would follow that all the orders of 
nebulae belong to that system. We should at least find it 
it very difficult to say up to what point this complete 
sequence of objects belonged to our star-system, and where 
external star-systems began to be in question) and still less 
easily could we explain how complete external systems 
should thus be linked, as far as appearances extend, with 
mere portions, and relatively minute portions, of our own 
star-system. 

So that whether we consider distance to be solely 



The Star-DeptJis. 223 

in question, or that the various orders of nebulae are 
associated with star-clusters, as forming parts of a real 
sequence of objects, we alike find reason for believing that 
the nebulas, or irresolvable star-clusters, belong to our own 
galactic system. 

But at this stage a very striking and beautiful argument 
can be adduced to indicate the real place of the nebulse 
so long regarded as external galaxies in the scheme of 
our own galactic system. 

Tf we were to mark down on a globe the place of every 
nebula yet known to astronomers, we should not find that 
the marks were spread in a random manner over the 
sphere. On the contrary, we should find them aggregated 
in a well-defined manner into two large regions, separated 
by a wide ring-shaped region of nebular poverty. An 
interesting circumstance, this, whatever opinion we may 
form as to the nature of these star-cloudlets. Placed as 
we are, in the midst of a region of star-space, which 
appears to our conceptions as spherical, the existence of 
two great clusters of nebulas in opposite regions of this 
seemingly spherical space, is a significant phenomenon, 
and one which any theory of the universe, to be established 
on a firm basis, is bound to account for. But the circum- 
stance becomes yet more significant when we notice where, 
on the star sphere, the intervening zone of barrenness is 
situated. If the globe had been originally free from 
marks, and we sought to indicate by a circular streak the 
central circle of this ring-shaped vacancy, the streak 
would occupy the very place which astronomers have 



2 24 Our Place among Infinities. 

assigned as the central circle of the Milky Way. Now I 
shall not pause here to dwell on the significance of this 
fact, though I regard it as one of the most significant in 
the whole array of facts hitherto learned respecting the 
galaxy. The special argument I wish at present to 
insist upon is of a more delicate, though not less significant 
kind. The star-clusters, which as we have seen are 
associable with (or rather not separable from) the nebula, 
are also connected, as respects distribution,, with the 
galactic circle. But whereas the irresolvable star-cloudlets 
are withdrawn from the galactic region the star-clusters 
are aggregated over that region. This, however, is not 
all. If we consider the various intermediate classes be- 
tween the brightest globular clusters and the faintest of 
the irresolvable star-cloudlets, we find that their relation to 
the Milky Way corresponds with their order in the series : 
the brightest and most obviously stellate clusters are 
found almost exclusively within the Milky Way ; the 
next order of clusters are chiefly in the Milky Way, but 
a few are met with outside its borders ; the next order 
are but slightly aggregated towards the Milky Way ; the 
next are pretty evenly distributed over the heavens ; the 
next are slightly segregated from the Milky Way ; and 
lastly, the actually irresolvable star-cloudlets, though 
counted by thousands, have scarcely ten of their order near 
the galactic zone. 

It is not difficult to recognize the significance of these 
facts, though it may be exceedingly difficult to give their 
exact interpretation. Any doubts we might before have 



The Star- Depths. 225 

had, respecting the reality of the seqiience of association 
linking together the most stellate clusters with the faintest 
star-cloudlets, must be removed, when we find in their 
distribution a law of sequence corresponding exactly with 
that recognized in their aspect. That they all form part 
and parcel of one and the same scheme, appears to me to be 
an inference as inevitable as it is important. The whole 
aspect of the universe, or of that which is for us the 
universe that is, the region of space to which our range 
of research extends is at once altered when we are led to 
regard the star-cloudlets, which have so long been looked 
upon as external galaxies, as forming, instead, subordinate 
features of our own star-system. Nor is the conclusion 
one which should lead us to entertain less exalted ideas of 
the real universe, although at first sight we seem to have 
blotted from existence thousands of star-systems, each as 
important as our own galaxy. For as certainly as we 
must recognize the fact that the external galaxies are at 
least not demonstrated realities, so surely must we regard 
the ideas which have been entertained respecting our own 
galaxy as falling far short infinitely short, I had almost 
said of the reality. It's unnumbered myriads of suns are 
reinforced, according to these new conceptions, by 
thousands of star-systems. Its imagined limits are 
shewn to be only the limits of certain portions of its 
extent. We find the Milky Way of the Herschels 
already chosen as the apt emblem of the infinite power of 
the Creator presented to us as the merest fragment 
of the great star-system to which our Sun belongs, the 



226 Our Place among Infinities. 

merest drop in the infinite star-depths. In place of an 
unlimited series of star-universes like our own, we find 
that our own star-universe is unlimited, or at least 
ungaugable by the most powerful telescopes man has 
yet constructed. 

I have said in the preceding paragraph that the nebulae 
have not been demonstrated to be external galaxies, 
assigning thus the lowest possible degree of significance 
to the argument which I myself regard as demonstrating 
that they form part and parcel of our own star-system. 
But it cannot be too often repeated that the reasoning of 
Sir John Herschel respecting the Magellanic clouds has 
in effect finally established the fact of which I have just 
attempted to give an independent demonstration. I have 
already indicated the bearing of his reasoning on our ideas 
respecting the distribution of stars throughout the galactic 
system ; but the evidence he adduces is yet more striking 
as respects the nebulae For within the two Magellanic 
clouds are found all orders of nebuhe, from the most ob- 
viously stellate orders, to those which Sir John Herschel's 
fine telescope failed wholly to resolve. All classes of these 
objects, then, exist within the regions of space occupied by 
the Magellanic clouds regions which we have already 
seen to be roughly globular in shape, and unquestionably 
far within the limits of distance enclosing our own 
star-system. 

But perhaps the most surprising of all the facts yet 
ascertained respecting the mysterious star-depths surround- 
ing us on all sides, is the circumstance that inconceivably 



The Star-Depths. 227 

vast spaces are occupied by gaseous matter, shining with 
a faintly luminous light. I have spoken hitherto of 
nebulae as star-cloudlets, and unquestionably large num- 
bers of these objects are really composed of stars, and 
give forth the same sort of light (in general respects) as 
our sun, and other single stars. But others have been 
shewn by the researches of our great physicist, Dr. 
Huggins, to be composed of luminous gas or vapour. The 
famous nebula in Orion is among the number thus con- 
stituted, so are the dumb-bell nebula in Vulpecula, the ring 
nebula in Lyra, and other well-known objects. In the 
southern hemisphere the great nebula in Argo has been 
shown to be gaseous, (by Captain Herschel,) and the fine 
irregular nebula in the greater Magellanic Cloud is another 
of these gaseous masses. The strange objects called the 
planetary nebulae are also all gaseous, so far as these 
researches have yet extended. 

Here again we find a distinct association between the 
distribution of the gaseous nebulae, and the features of the 
galaxy. The irregular nebulae, such as the one in Orion, 
the great Argo nebula, and the great nebular masses in 
Sagittarius and Cygrms, are all on, or else close by, the 
Milky Way, with one solitary exception, the nebula 
(already mentioned) in the greater Magellanic cloud, that 
wonderful region which includes all forms of celestial 
objects. The planetary nebulae also show a decided tend- 
ency to aggregation along the galactic zone of the heavens. 
Added to this is the noteworthy circumstance that all the 
irregular gaseous nebulae seem to cling around the stars 



228 Our Place among Infinities. 

forming certain very remarkable star-groups. For example, 
the Orion nebula clings round the group of stars of which 
the well-known set of four called the trapezium is the 
central aggregation. The Argo nebula is described by Sir 
John Herschel as ushered in by a marvellous array of 
stars, of which it forms in a sense the climax. And so of 
all these regions of irregular nebulous matter ; they are all, 
without exception, rich in stars. Of the association of 
this gaseous matter with our own star-system there can 
be no question whatever. 

And here in passing, I may be permitted to make a few 
remarks on the bearing of Dr. Huggins's noteworthy dis- 
covery, on the famous nebular hypotheses of Sir W. 
Herschel and Laplace. These hypotheses, (for they must 
by no means be regarded as forming one and the same 
hypothesis,) were intended to account on the one hand for 
the various orders of objects seen in the star-depths, and 
on the other for the various signs of a process of growth 
or development in the Solar System. Herschel sought to 
shew how irregular nebulous masses might develop into 
solar systems. Laplace endeavoured to prove that our 
Solar System has been developed from rotating nebulous 
masses. 

That the reasoning of Sir W. Herschel as to the really 
nebulous character of many of the cloud-like objects he 
observed has been abundantly confirmed and justified by 
Dr. Huggins's discovery, cannot reasonably be questioned. 
It needs but a careful comparison of Herschel's remarks 
with Dr Huggins's account of his own discoveries, to see 



The Star-Depths. 229 

that in this case, as in so many other instances, Sir W. 
Herschel rightly analysed what his telescopes had revealed 
But when we pass from Herschel's interpretation of 
what he actually saw, to his speculations respecting the 
unknown to his views, in fact, respecting the past history 
of the objects revealed to him we do not find any fresh 
reasons in Dr. Huggins's discovery for accepting, or at 
least insisting upon, the nebular origin of suns. We 
have vast gaseous masses intermingled with and surround- 
ing groups of stars, and apparently spread with exceptional 
richness \vhere these stars or suns are most densely aggre- 
gated. But this is not what we should expect to find if 
stars were formed out of this gaseous matter. On the 
contrary, we should expect that where stars were most 
numerous, there the nebulous matter would have been 
most completely used up, so .to speak exhausted, as it 
were, in the work of star-making. Nor again can we re- 
cognize in the substances which appear to constitute the 
gaseous nebulae the fitting materials for making stars. So 
far as the spectroscopic analysis of the gaseous nebulae 
extends, their chief constituent would appear to be the gas 
nitrogen, the element next in importance in their con- 
stitution being the gas hydrogen, while a third element, 
as yet not identified, seems to be present in their sub- 
stance, T would not insist too much on this evidence ; 
but it must not be forgotten that it is all the evidence 
we have : and it must be regarded as at least an unsatis- 
factory basis on which to rear the hypothetical develop- 
ment of suns like our own, in whose orb exist the glowing 
vapours of iron, copper, and zinc, sodium, antimony, and 



230 Our Place among Infinities. 

mercury, barium, carbon, silicon, and sulphur, and probably 
every single element known to our chemists. 

As respects the nebular hypothesis of Laplace, Dr. 
Huggins's discovery must be regarded as wholly silent. 
In the mere existence of vast masses of glowing gas, we 
have no evidence whatever of those regularly rotating 
spheroids of vapour which Laplace's hypothesis requires 
as the primal forms of stars or suns. 

These objections are not urged because of the special 
difficulties which have been recognised by some in the 
bearing of the nebular hypotheses on religious questions. 
It has indeed always seemed to me a circumstance to be 
regretted, that religious questions should have been in any 
way associated with the scientific difficulties involved in 
this particular question. There is always this objection to 
such associations, that in forming them we are apt to 
associate scientific errors with religious teachings ; and 
these truths seem to suffer when the scientific errors are 
exposed. Thus well-meaning men have again and again 
injured the cause they were most eager to serve, by calling 
in to its aid unsuitable allies. But although I can see no 
religious reasons for casting discredit on the theory that 
processes have gone on and are going on upon an infinitely 
vast scale, resembling those which we see daily going on 
around us upon a finite scale, yet it does appear to me 
that there are many excellent scientific reasons for doubt- 
ing very gravely whether all the suns which people space 
were originally formed from masses of glowing gas. 

To return, however, to the wonders of the star-depths. 



The Star-Depths. 231 

Hitherto I have considered only the various forms of 
matter which occupy surrounding space. Stars and star- 
systems, star-clusters and star-aggregations, star-cloudlets 
and star-mist all these, and probably yet other forms of 
matter, spread throughout the immeasurable depths which 
surround us on all sides form a scene altogether amazing 
in splendour and sublimity. But how infinitely are the 
wonders of this scene enhanced, when we recognize in 
every part of its extent the existence of the most stupend- 
ous vitality ! 

In the first place, we know that those wonderful pro- 
cesses, taking place, as recent discoveries shew, in the 
central orb of our system, must have their analogues in 
the economy of every star of the universe. Not one star, 
indeed, may resemble our sun very closely in details ; but 
in general respects, every self-luminous orb in the universe 
must be, like the Sun, the scene of the most amazing 
activity. For no otherwise can the continuance of their 
intense luminosity be maintained. We have, indeed, in 
the case of many stars, direct proof of a degree of activity 
far exceeding even that recognized in the case of our own 
sun. For many stars vary in lustre to an extent so 
remarkable as to be scarcely comparable with those minute 
changes of lustre which our sun undergoes as his spots 
alternately wax and wane in number and extent ; while 
one or two as the star Mira in the Whale, and the star 
Eta in the Ship undergo changes so remarkable, that it 
is almost impossible to conceive that these orbs can be the 
centres of schemes of inhabited worlds. 



232 Our Place among Infinities. 

The motions taking place within, the star-system are 
also altogether amazing when rightly apprehended. Con- 
templating the stars on a still night, the idea of infinite 
repose is suggested by their serenity of aspect. Judging 
the stars again ty the ordinary te*ts of motion, the 
astronomers of old had abundant reason to regard them 
as the very emblems of fixity. But in the light of modern 
astronomical research, we have this lesson forced upon us, 
that every one of these bright orbs, and all the millions 
that are unseen save by telescopically strengthened vision, 
are urging their way so swiftly through space, that the 
most rapid motions familiar to us must be regarded as 
absolute rest by comparison. "We know with what 
startling rapidity an express train rushes past a quiet 
country station. In its swift motion and heavy mass, it 
seems the embodiment of might and energy. Yet the 
swiftest express train moves but at the rate of about one 
mile in a minute of time, and its bulk is utterly insignifi- 
cant compared with that of the smallest member of the 
Solar System. What inconceivable energy must we 
recognize, then, in the motion of our sun through 
space, at a rate of hundreds of miles per minute, the 
whole of his attendant family (each member of which is 
travelling rapidly around him) accompanying him in his 
swift rush through the interstellar depths ? Yet even this 
wonderful energy of motion seems little when compared 
with the flight of Sirius, an orb a thousand times larger 
than the Sun, and travelling many times more swiftly. 
And we have abundant reasons for believing that amongst 



The Star- Depths. 233 

the stars revealed by powerful telescopes there are thou- 
sands as large as Sirius, and millions as large as our Sun 
all with their attendant systems speeding with inconceiv- 
able rapidity on their several courses ! 

I would ask, in conclusion, whether we have now better 
reason than the astronomers had of old time to consider 
the mysteries of the universe as fully revealed to us and 
interpreted. We know much that was unknown until of 
late, and we have been able to understand some matters 
which once seemed inexplicable ; but the star-depths, as we 
see them now, are even more mysterious, as well as far 
more wonderful, than as displayed to the astronomers 
of old. 



STAR GAUG1NC4. 

THE account of Sir W. Herschel's labours and views 
presented iu our text-books of astronomy, is unfortunately 
so inexact, that the title itself of this paper will appear 
strange to many readers. We not only hear nothing about 
Sir W. Herschel's employment of two different methods of 
star-gauging in such treatises, but we actually find neither 
of his methods presented correctly, inasmuch as the pro- 
perties of the two methods are assigned to a single nonde- 
script method, the incongruities thus arising being 
apparently altogether overlooked. It is partly with the 
hope of rendering better justice to the greatest of observa- 
tional astronomers than has heretofore been accorded to 
him, that I now write, but partly and chiefly in order to 
prepare the way for submitting to the notice of students 
of the heavens a method of research which promises to 
throw light on the noblest but most difficult of all the 
problems of astronomy, the determination of the laws 
according to which the sidereal universe has been con- 
structed. It was this problem which Sir W. Herschel 
regarded as the end and aim of all his astronomical re- 
searches, even of those which seemed to bear little upon it. 
He observed other objects for practice and to test his tele- 
scopes, the stars alone he studied as the final aim of his 



Star-Gauging. 235 

researches, "A knowledge of the construction of the 
heavens," he wrote in 1811, after more than a quarter of 
a century of stellar study, " has always been the ultimate 
object of my observations." 

I cannot but express some degree of surprise at the fate 
which has befallen the noble series of papers in which Sir 
W. Herschel presented his researches to the world. As I 
have elsewhere pointed out, little " has hitherto been done 
to bring the records of his labours properly before the 
student of astronomy. His papers, merely collected into 
a volume, would form a most important addition to 
astronomical literature ; but, if suitably edited, and 
illustrated by the work of his son, and of others who have 
succeeded him in his own field of work, the volume would 
do more to advance the study of sidereal astronomy than 
any work which has been published during the last 
century." With very few exceptions, what has hitherto 
been done in making Herschel's words and work public, 
has been an injustice to his memory. It seems to have 
been supposed that his papers could be treated as we 
might treat such a work as Sir J. Herschel's " Outlines of 
Astronomy ;" that extracts might be made from any part 
of any paper without reference to the position which the 
paper chanced to occupy in the complete series. Nay, 
it seems to have been thought a tribute of respect to his 
memory thus to quote his words without question or 
debate. The idea does not seem to have occurred to any 
one (with the solitary exception of Wilhelm Struve), that 

it is but an ill compliment to the great astronomer to 
11 



236 Our Place among Infinities. 

assume that he laboured from 1784 to 1818 upon a subject 
scarcely touched before his day, without making any such 
progression towards new knowledge that his earlier views 
had to be corrected in the light of later researches. It 
seems to have mattered little that he himself in so many 
words expressed the fact that his views had altered : he 
had said such and such things in 1784 and 1785 ; and those 
things the world was bound to accept as his teaching, 
whatever he might say thereafter to the contrary. And if 
anyone should express doubts as to those earlier views, and 
should endeavour to strengthen his position by quoting 
Sir W. Herschel in 1818 against Sir \V. Herschel when 
thirty-two years younger, it was the fashion to denounce 
such attempts as altogether rash and presumptuous. This 
is as though every writer on astronomy should present 
Kepler's youthful fancies about the relations between the 
regular solids and the planetary orbits as the matured 
views of that astronomer, and denounce as irreverent any 
attempt to suggest that, on the whole, the laws of elliptic 
motion subsequently discovered by him were better worthy 
of respectful consideration. 

We owe, I conceive, to French writers part of the 
misconception which has arisen respecting Herschel's 
labours. It pleased Arago to forsake in Herschel's favour 
the usual attitude of French men of science with respect 
to foreigners. He published a work, purporting to be an 
Analysis of Herschel's Life and Labours. In this work 
the earliest ideas of Sir W. Herschel respecting the con- 
stitution of the heavens, the views which he entertained 



Star-Gauging. 237 

before he had made any systematic observations whatever, 
are presented with an unfortunate perspicuity. I refer 
to Herschel's paper of 1784, about which I shall presently 
have to speak more at length. It is here we find the first 
enunciation of the famous grindstone theory of the 
universe, at least the first remarks of Sir W. Herschel on 
that theory, for it is to Wright of Durham that the first 
enunciation of the theory is really due. This theory 
Arago presents, making use of the relations which in 1784 
Sir W. Herschel expected to find. At p. 456 Arago says, 
" the galactic system is a hundred times more extended in 
one direction than in another," and he then refers to a 
picture of a certain solid figure illustrating Herschel's ideas 
in 1784 respecting the shape of our system. But as 
\Vilhelm Struve justly remarks, the only section based on 
Herschel's observation (presented in the paper of 1785) 
shows the greatest extension as exceeding the least not in 
the proportion of 100 to 1, but only as 5 \ to 1 ; while the 
solid figure pictured in 1784 did not in any way relate 
to observations made by Herschel. It is not too much to 
say that Arago probably limited his real study of Herschel's 
papers to the paper of 1784, dipping into the others to 
gather thence the more striking passages, in full confidence 
that they accorded well with the views enunciated in 1784, 
and consequently without any attempt to understand the 
gradual progression of Herschel's ideas respecting the 
universe. 

The effect of this has been disastrous. All the French 
writers and most of the continental writers, Guillemin, 



238 Our Place among Infinities. 

Flammarion, and the rest, follow Arago unhesitatingly. 
Too many of our English writers of text-books have 
borrowed directly from French authors. A few others 
have presented original analyses of Herschel's papers, but 
still such analyses have only been sound for the earlier 
papers (1784 and 1785), while the blending of matter 
taken from later papers introduces the same real confusion 
of ideas as in Arago's work, though not always accompanied 
with the same unfortunate perspicuity of statement. 

Passing over such occasional reference to Sir W. 
Herschel's labours as we find in the pages of writers of a 
higher order than those just mentioned, it may be said 
that the elder Struve alone, of all astronomers who have 
dealt with Herschel's papers, clearly recognized the change 
which took place in the great astronomer's views as his 
labours proceeded. We owe this, I believe, to the 
fortunate chance which led Struve to go over a second 
time, with close attention, the series of papers which he 
had probably before read once through (no astronomer 
would be worthy of the name who had not done so), but 
without a careful consideration of the bearing of the several 
papers on Sir W. Herschel's progressive researches. While 
on a visit to England he received from Sir J. Herschel a 
volume containing not only the complete series of the 
elder Herschel's papers, but many valuable manuscript 
notes by the gieat astronomer. Struve had already 
carried out a series of researches into the laws of stellar 
distribution ; and he was under the impression that his 
results were opposed to those which Sir W. Herschel had 



Star-Gauging. 239 

obtained. On carefully re-reading Herschel's papers, 
however, he found that his own results were in agreement 
with those to which Herschel had been led during the 
later portion of his observing career. In fact, Struve had 
overlooked, as I believe every first reader of Herschel's 
papers invariably does overlook, the fact that Herschel 
not only adopted new views of the heavens as his labours 
proceeded, but abandoned the very principles which he 
had taken for his guidance in the earlier part of his career. 
It was the merest accident that Struve, already engaged 
in the careful study of stellar distribution, received the 
interesting present just mentioned, which led to the 
re-examination of the great master's papers on the heavens. 
Yet Struve, a skilful astronomer, an excellent mathe- 
matician, a laborious student, and doubtless a careful 
reader, might fairly have been expected to derive correct 
impressions from his first reading of those papers. The 
fact that he did not, that by his own account the second 
reading almost reversed the ideas he had derived from the 
first, renders less surprising the fact (for such it is) that 
men like Nichol, Grant, and even Sir John Herschel, 
among those who have published their impressions, and 
others of the utmost eminence in astronomy who have 
not done so, have entertained altogether erroneous 
ideas respecting the relations which exist between the 
earlier and the later views of Sir William Herschel. 
There are many who have read every paper by the elder 
Herschel on the constitution of the heavens, who would 
be quite unable to explain by what steps he was led to 



240 Our Place among Infinities. 

abandon the principles on which he based his first method 
of star-gauging, in favour of those which formed the basis 
of his second method. Nay, I happen to know that not 
a few of those who have read Herschel's papers have not 
recognized the distinction between the two methods, even 
if they are aware that Herschel ever employed more than 
one mode of star-gauging. 

For my own part, I have not found five successive 
readings of Herschel's series of papers, and the analysis of 
some passages, as carefully as one analyses the most con- 
centrated portions of a process of mathematical reading, 
to be one whit more than the proper mastery of Herschel's 
papers require. They are not, by any means, easy to 
understand. Sir W. Herschel was seldom at the pains to 
indicate that he had changed his views, being, for the most 
part, satisfied with presenting his newly-adopted opinions 
without any special reference to those he had before 
entertained. Where he did refer to any change of opinion, 
he did not enter into details, but simply noted that the 
views he had formerly entertained had given place to 
others, the results of a more complete acquaintance with 
the facts. Nor was Sir W. Herschel a particularly lucid 
writer ; we shall see, as we proceed, that at times, in order 
to understand his meaning, we have to examine the 
context more carefully than is usually necessary in 
scientific or explanatory writing. 

In 1774, Herschel enunciated his general views respect- 
ing the sidereal system, and the method which seemed to 
him, at that time, the best for attempting to ascertain the 



Star-Gauging. 241 

true figure of the system. This, his first method oj 
star-gauging, has been described, though not with strict 
accuracy, in most of our text-books of astronomy. If we 
suppose that our siin is a member of a system of suns 
scattered with a certain general uniformity throughout a 
region of space having a certain well-defined figure, then 
a method exists by which it is possible to determine that 
figure, provided only that a telescope can be constructed 
which is powerful enough to reach to the limits of the 
system in all directions. For manifestly the farther the 
system extends in any given direction, the greater will be 
the number of stars lying towards that direction (since 
we have supposed a certain general uniformity of dis- 
tribution) ; so that if we use the same telescope with 
unchanged " power," and direct it in turn to every part of 
the heavens, then, by counting the number of stars brought 
into view in these different directions, we can determine 
the relative extension of the system along those directions 
in other words, we can determine the shape of the 
system. 

This is the famous method of gauging the heavens. I 
give another description of it (borrowed from the pages 
of that fine work, Grant's history of " Physical Astro- 
nomy"), because the method should be very carefully 
considered by the reader. Grant speaks of the plan as a 
" remarkable method, devised by Herschel for ascertaining 
the configuration in space of this great sidereal system, by 
examining the heavens at different distances from the 
Galactic Circle, and numbering the stars visible in the 



242 Our Place among Infinities. 

field of view of his telescope. Assuming that the stars 
are uniformly distributed throughout space, and that the 
telescope suffices to penetrate to the utmost limits of the 
sidereal stratum constituting the Milky Way, it is mani- 
fest that the number of stars visible in the field of view of 
the telescope would increase with the length of the visual 
line, and would thereby afford an indication of the distance 
from the observer to the exterior surface of the Milky 
Way. Hence, by comparing together the lengths of the 
various lines formed in this manner, and taking into 
consideration their respective distances from the Galactic 
Circle, the actual configuration in space of the Milky Way 
may be ascertained. Such is a brief outline of the cele- 
brated method of gauging the heavens, which Herschel 
practised to a vast extent in tlie early period of his re- 
searches on the constitution of the Milky Way." Here 
the italics are mine. I invite special attention to Grant's 
recognition of a change in Herschel's methods of research 
towards the latter part of his career as an observer. It is 
remarkable that, notwithstanding this, Grant failed to 
notice how and in what respects Herschel modified the 
views to which his earlier method of star-gauging had led 
him. 

It will be noticed that this plan of star-gauging con- 
sisted essentially in applying one and the same telescopic 
power to different parts of the heavens. It involved the 
assumption of a general uniformity of stellar distribution 
within the limits of our system. And it required that the 
telescope should penetrate to these limits, at least, if in 



Star-Gauging. 243 

any part of the heavens this was not the case, the shape of 
the system towards that part could not be determined. 

It is necessary to notice, however, that the general 
uniformity of distribution by no means implied the 
non-existence of clustering aggregations of stars, or of 
streams, branches, and nodules of stars within the limits 
of the system. On the contrary, Herschel, so early as 
1785, clearly indicated his recognition of such varieties ; 
and all that he insisted upon at that time was that such 
peculiarities were themselves so distributed as to produce 
within the system, regarded as a whole, a general uni- 
formity of distribution. 

Tt is absolutely essential, if we would understand 
Herschel's earlier views, to take his own preliminary 
description, which somehow appears to have escaped the 
notice of commentators, unless we suppose the difficulty 
of grasping Herschel's real meaning to have caused them 
to misunderstand the passage. 

" It will be best," Herschel says, " to take the subject 
from a point of view at a considerable distance, both of 
space and of time. Let us suppose, then, numberless 
stars of various sizes scattered over an indefinite portion of 
space in such a manner as to be almost equally distributed 
throughout the whole. The laws of attraction, which no 
doubt extend to the remotest region of the fixed stars, 
will operate in such a manner as most probably to produce 
the following remarkable effects " : 

" Form I. In the first place, since we have supposed 
the stars to be of various sizes, it will frequently happen 



244 Our Place among Infinities. 

that a star being considerably larger than its neighbouring 
ones, will attract them more than they will be attracted by 
others that are immediately around them ; by which 
means they will be, in turn, as it were, condensed about 
the centre ; or, in other words, form themselves into a 
cluster of stars of almost a globular figure, more or less 
regularly so, according to the size and original distance of 
the surrounding stars." 

" Form II. The next case, which will also happen 
almost as frequently as the former, is where a few stars 
though not superior in size to the rest, may chance to be 
rather nearer each other than the surrounding ones ; for 
here also will be found a prevailing attraction in the 
combined centre of gravity of them all, which will 
occasion the neighbouring stars to draw together, not, 
indeed, so as 'to form a regular, or globular figure, but, 
however, in such a manner, as to be condensed towards the 
common centre of gravity of the whole irregular cluster. 
And this construction admits of the utmost variety of 
shapes, according to the number and situation of the stars 
which first give rise to the condensation of the rest." 

" Form III. From the composition and repeated con- 
junction of both the foregoing forms, a third may be 
derived,* when many large stars, or combined small ones 
are situated in long-extended, regular, or crooked rows, 
hooks, or branches ; for they will also draw the surrounding 

* Here the words " may be derived " are not intended to imply doubt 
as to the fact that the groups of the third form exist. The context 
shows that Herschel means that we may deduce the existence of the 



Star-Gauging. 245 

ones, so as to produce figures of condensed stars, coarsely 
similar to the former, which gave rise to these con- 
densations." 

"Form IY. We may likewise admit of still more 
extensive combinations when, at the same time that a 
cluster of stars is forming in one part of space, there may be 
another collecting in a different, but perhaps not far distant 
quarter, which may occasion a mutual approach towards 
their common centre of gravity." 

" Form V. In the last place, as a natural consequence 
of the former cases, there will be formed great cavities, or 
vacancies, by the retreat of the stars towards the various 
centres which attract them ; so that upon the whole, there 
is evidently a field of the greatest variety for the mutual 
and combined attractions of the heavenly bodies to exert 
themselves in." 

After considering the possibility of catastrophes during 
the evolution of the forms here described, Herschel pro- 
ceeds to consider the position of the terrestrial observer in 
his " own retired station, in one of the planets attending 
a star." He shows that to such an observer, placed in a 
far extending stratum " or branching cluster of millions of 
stars, such as may fall under Form III.," considered above, 
the following appearances will be presented : To the 
naked eye, " The heavens will not only be richly scattered 

third form from considering that both the other forms must be com- 
pounded and repeatedly conjoined. It is important to notice this, 
because " Form III." is the key of the whole passage, being the form 
which Herschel attributed to our Milky Way at this stage of his 
researches. 



246 Our Place among Infinities. 

over with brilliant constellations, but a sliming zone or 
Milky Way will be perceived to surround the whole sphere 
of the heavens, owing to the combined light of those stars 
which are too small, that is too remote, to be seen." 
Let this passage be particularly noted before we proceed, 
as on its right comprehension depends our entire judgment 
as to Herschel's earlier views. He here presents the sidereal 
system as a far-extending stratum or branching cluster of 
millions of stars, of Form III., and therefore including 
within its limits many subordinate clusters and nebulae of 
Forms I. and II. ; while he regards the light of the Milky 
Way as resulting from the extension of the system towards 
that zone much farther than in other directions.* This must 
be borne carefully in mind in reading what immediately 
follows. " Our observer's sight," proceeds Herschel, 
" will be so confined that he will imagine this single 
collection of stars, of which he does not even perceive the 
thousandth part, to be the whole contents of the heavens. 
Allowing him now the use of a common telescope he 
begins to suspect that all the milkiness of the bright path 
which surrounds the sphere may be owing to stars. He 
perceives a few clusters of them in various parts of the 
heavens, and finds also that there are a kind of nebulous 
patches ; but still his views are not extended so far as to 

* In fact, his views at this stage corresponded closely with those 
which had been advanced by Lambert nearly a quarter of a century 
earlier. In the papers of 1784, Herschel presents views more nearly 
resembling those which Wright of Durham had advanced half a 
century earlier, and which Kant adopted a year or two before Lambert 
advanced his more correct views. 



Star-Gauging. 247 

reach to the end of the stratum in which he is situated, so 
that he looks upon these patches as belonging to that 
system which to him seems to comprehend every celestial 
object. He now increases his power of vision, and apply- 
ing himself to a close observation, finds the Milky "Way is 
indeed no other than a collection of very small stars. He 
perceives that those objects which had been called nebulae 
are evidently nothing but clusters of stars. He finds their 
number increase upon him, and when he resolves one 
nebula into stars he discovers ten new ones which he can- 
not resolve. He then forms the idea of immense strata of 
fixed stars, of clusters of stars, and of nebulas, till going 
on with such interesting observations he now perceives 
that all these appearances must naturally arise from the 
confined situation in which he is now placed. Confined, 
it may justly be called, though in no less a space than 
what before appeared the whole region of the fixed stars ; 
but which now has assumed the shape of a crookedly 
branching nebula, not one of the least, but perhaps very far 
from being the most considerable of those numberless 
clusters that enter into the construction of the heavens." 

It cannot be denied that the passage just quoted is not 
very easy to understand. At one stage, or rather through- 
out the greater part of the passage, it seems abundantly 
clear that Herschel is describing our sidereal system as 
including multitudes of subordinate clusters and nebulae. 
But then at the end, he describes it as itself a nebula, 
greater than some, but less than others, of numberless 
clusters, composing the sidereal heavens. And the per- 



248 Our Place among Infinities. 

plexity which the passage as a whole thus occasions, is 
accompanied by a perplexity arising from the variety of 
meaning which may be attributed to the different sentences. 
For instance, where he says that the observer " forms the 
idea of immense strata of fixed stars, of clusters, and of 
nebulae," he might (so far as the grammatical interpreta- 
tion of the sentence is concerned) mean either (1) the idea 
of immense strata, composed of fixed stars, clusters, and 
nebulae, or (2) the idea of immense stellar strata, star- 
clusters, and nebulaa. The latter has been the meaning 
usually adopted if, at least, this particular sentence has 
been discussed at all Such a meaning accords with the 
theory (the familiar Grindstone Theory) commonly at- 
tributed to Herschel. Nevertheless it should be manifest, 
from the passage just quoted (regarded as a whole), that 
Herschel not only recognized star-strata, including within 
their limits subordinate clusters and nebulas, but that he 
regarded our sidereal system as a star-stratum of that kind. 
How, then, are we to remove the difficulties I have noted 
in the passage as a whole, and in its several parts ? It 
must certainly be by taking a meaning which covers both 
the two views which appear contradictory, for no one will 
for a moment admit that Sir W. Herschel really held con- 
tradictory views. Accordingly, we must believe both that 
Herschel held our galaxy to be a stratum, including in its 
limits star -clusters and nebulae, and that he regarded it as 
one among many systems of its own order, that is, one 
among many star-clusters and nebulae, and of a higher 
order than those (spoken of under the same name ; but 



Star- Gauging. 249 

really) subordinate to, and included within, itself and its 
fellow systems.* 

That this is Herschel's meaning we perceive clearly 
from a passage following almost immediately after the one 
just quoted. "It will appear," he says, "that many 
hundreds of nebulae, of the first and second forms, are 
actually to be seen in the heavens, and their places will 
hereafter be pointed out ; and many of the third form will 
be described. " Thus, there can be seen in the heavens many 
hundreds of clusters and nebulae of one k : nd (Forms I. and 
II), and also many clusters of a higher order (Form III.), 
within which the others exist as subordinate parts or, in 
other words, we can see the clusters and nebulae which 
form part of the architecture, as it were, of our own 

* The case is one of those to which I have referred above, where we 
have to reason from the context in order to understand Herschel's true 
meaning. And it would be unfair, I think, to blame the ordinary 
commentator for failing to apply such reasoning to Herschel's volumin- 
ous papers. What, however, does seem unfortunate, is the course 
adopted by our text- book writers, in selecting passages from Herschel's 
papers at random, notwithstanding these difficulties, and stringing 
them together as Herschel's matured views. It is as though a person 
not very familiar with a language were to pretend to analyse a book in 
that language by selecting from the book all the sentences he was able 
to understand. I may note, in passing, that the author of one of the 
best treatises on observational astronomy in existence, has been led into 
a most curious misapprehension. Herschel had expressed a belief that 
the stellar stratum extends one hundred times farther in the direction 
of its general level than at right angles to that level : but later (in the 
paper I am quoting from above) he assigned 5J to 1 as the proportion. 
Now the late Admiral Smyth, at p. 310 of his "Bedford Cycle," 
presents a picture of the sidereal system, showing that he had com- 
bined these two different results into one, thus giving to our system 
length, breadth, and thickness as 1, 54, and 100. 



250 Our Place among Infinities. 

sidereal system ; while we can see, but not in such great 
numbers, external nebulae of the same order in the scale 
of creation as our own galaxy. Herschel, in fact, describes 
ten nebulas of the latter order, speaking of them as 
external Milky Ways. Instances of the fourth order 
"will be related," he proceeds; "a few of the cavities 
mentioned in the fifth will be particularized, though many 
more have already been observed : so that upon the whole, 
I believe it will be found that the foregoing theoretical 
view, with all its consequential appearances, as seen by an 
eye enclosed in one of the nebulse, is no more than a 
drawing from nature, wherein the features of the original 
have been closely copied ; and I hope the resemblance 
will not be called a bad one, when it shall be considered 
how very limited must be the pencil of an inhabitant of 
so small and retired a portion of an indefinite system, in 
attempting the picture of so unbounded an extent." 

In further confirmation of this interpretation of 
Herschel's views at this stage of his labours I will now 
quote a passage which is perfectly irreconcilable, I venture 
to affirm, with the simple theory of the sidereal system so 
commonly attributed to Sir W. Herschel. 

" If," he says, " it were possible to distinguish between 
the parts of an indefinitely extended whole, the nebula we 
inhabit might be said to be one that has fewer marks of 
profound antiquity upon it than the rest To explain this 
idea, perhaps, more clearly, we should recollect that the 
condensation of clusters of stars has been ascribed to a 
gradual approach ; and whoever reflects upon the number 



Star- Gauging. 251 

of ages that must have passed before some of the clusters 
could be so far condensed as we find them at present, will 
not wonder if I ascribe a certain air of youth and vigour 
to many very regularly scattered regions of our sidereal 
stratum. There are, moreover, many places in the stratum 
where there is the greatest reason to believe that the stars, 
if we may judge from appearances, are now drawing 
towards various secondary centres, and will in time 
separate into different clusters so as to occasion many 
subdivisions. Hence we may surmise that when a 
nebulo.us stratum consists chiefly of nebulas of the first 
and second form, it probably owes its origin to what may 
be called the decay of a great compound nebula of the 
third form ; and that the subdivisions which happened to 
it in the length of time occasioned all the small nebulae 
which spring from it to lie in a certain range, according 
as they were detached from the primary one. In like 
manner our system, after numbers of ages, may very 
possibly become divided so as to give rise to a stratum of 
two or three hundred nebula ; for it would not be difficult 
to point out so many beginning or gathering clusters in it. 
This view of the subject throws a considerable light upon 
the appearance of that remarkable collection of many 
hundreds of nebulas which are to be seen in what I have 
called the nebulous stratum of Coma Berenices. It 
appears from the extended and branching figure of our 
nebula, that there is room for the decomposed nebulas of a 
large, reduced, former great one to approach nearer to us 
in the sides than in other parts. Nay, possibly, there 



252 Our Place among Infinities. 

might originally be another very large joining branch, 
which in time became separated by the condensation of 
the stars : and this may be the reason of the little remain- 
ing breadth of our system in that very place ; for the 
nebulae of the stratum, of Coma are brightest and most 
crowded just opposite our situation, or in the pole of our 
system. As soon as this idea was suggested, I tried also 
the opposite pole, where, accordingly, I have met with a 
great number of nebulae, though under a much more 
scattered form." 

I apprehend that this conception even of the possi- 
bility that the two great nebular systems lying (roughly) 
towards the galactic poles, may be the fragments of 
branches formerly belonging to our own sidereal system, 
which is itself tending towards a dissolution into such 
fragments, cannot in any way be reconciled with "the 
absurd cloven-grindstone theory which is advanced over 
and over again in our text-books as the outcome of Sir W. 
Herschel's labours. 

I could quote several other passages from the fine paper 
of 1785, in confirmation of the thesis, that, even at this 
early stage, Sir W. Herschel not only recognized great 
variety of structure within the limits [of our sidereal 
system, but also regarded large numbers of clusters and 
nebulae as forming parts of that system. I will, however, 
content myself with two short passages ; one indicating 
his ideas respecting the relation between our Milky Way 
and star-clusters, the other showing what orders of nebulae 
he alone regarded as probably external systems, resembling 



Star-Gauging. 253 

our own in extent and importance. " Some parts of our 
system seem indeed," he says, in the former, "to have 
already suffered greater ravages of time than others, if this 
way of expressing myself may be allowed. For instance, 
in the body of Scorpio is an opening, or hole, which is 

probably owing to this cause This opening is at least 

four degrees broad; but its height (sic) I have not yet 
ascertained. It is remarkable that the nebula 80 Messier, 
which is one of the richest and most compressed clusters 
of small stars I remember to have seen, is situated just on 
the western border of it ; which would almost authorize a 
suspicion that the stars of which it is composed were 
collected from that place, and had left the vacancy. 
What adds not a little to this surmise is, that the same 
phenomenon is once more repeated with the cluster of 
stars 4- Messier, which is also on the western border of 
another vacancy, and has, moreover, a small miniature 
cluster, or easily resolvable nebula following it at no very 
great distance." The other passage runs thus : " There 
are some very remarkable nebulae which cannot well be 
less, but are probably much larger than our system ; and 
being also extended, the inhabitants of the planets that 
attend the stars which compose these nebulas, must 
likewise perceive the same phenomena ; for which reason 
these nebulae may also be called Milky Ways' by way of 
distinction." 

It was to a sidereal system which he regarded as thus 
complex in structure and in shape that Sir W. Herschel 
applied his first method of star-gauging. He believed 



254 O UT Pl ace among Infinities. 

himself to be gauging, not, as has been so commonly 
supposed, a simple cluster of stars belonging to the same 
order in the scale 01 creation as the clusters and nebulae 
discernible in the telescopic scrutiny of the heavens, but 
a great clustering aggregation of stars, star-clusters, and 
nebulae, belonging to the same order as certain of the more 
remarkable and extended of the nebulae. 

In what sense, then, it may be asked, did he recognize 
general uniformity in the sidereal system ? And in what 
respect did his views at this stage differ from those which 
he subsequently adopted ? 

It is easy to reply to these questions, when once the 
scope of Herschel's series of researches has been recognized. 
It is manifest that at this early period he regarded the 
sidereal system as presenting a general uniformity of 
structure within its irregular boundary, such uniformity 
arising, not from a general uniformity of stellar distribution, 
but from a general uniformity in the distribution of the 
stars, star-clusters, and nebulae within the system. He 
believed, in fact, in what may be termed regular irregu- 
larity ; and one may present his theory on this point in 
some such manner as this : " If any two very large 
portions of the sidereal system be compared with each 
other, the number of stars, star-clusters, and nebulae, in 
these several portions, will be proportional (or nearly so) 
to the volume of those portions respectively." That this 
was his view is not only clear from the passages I have 
cited, but is strikingly manifested by his applying to our 
sidereal system the term " Milky Way," as inclusive of 



Star-Gauging. 255 

the whole, and his use of the same term for external 
systems, all those nebulae which he regarded as external, 
being at this stage of his labours called indifferently 
external systems, galaxies, or Milky Ways. But he also, 
even more distinctly, shews that he believed the sidereal 
system to be regularly constituted, when regarded as a 
whole, in the following remarkable passage, which presents 
more clearly than any other I have met with his true 
views at this time : " The rich parts of the Milky Way, 
as well as those in the distant broad part of the stratum, 
consist of a mixture of stars of all possible sizes, that are 
seemingly placed without any apparent order. Perhaps 
we might recollect that a greater condensation towards the 
centre of the system than towards the borders of it should 
be taken into consideration ; but with a nebula of the third 
form, containing such various and extensive combinations 
as I have found to take place in ours, this circumstance, 
which in one of the first form would be of considerable 
moment, may, I think, be safely neglected." 

But Sir W. Herschel by no means regarded this view of 
the sidereal system as demonstratively established, not- 
withstanding the fact that it was presented in company 
with the long list of star-gauges for which he is so justly 
celebrated. He knew perfectly well, what many of his 
admirers have overlooked, that a hypothesis cannot be 
established by the observations which it was devised to 
interpret. He reasoned thus : Granting the truth of a 
certain hypothesis, a series of star-gauges, described in the 
paper of 1785, has a certain significance, and shews the 



256 Our Place among Infinities. 

sidereal system to have a certain shape : if the hypothesis 
be not true, they cannot be so interpreted. 

This question, then (to be answered by other observa- 
tions) remained for him, "Is the sidereal system con- 
stituted as supposed in the hypothesis I have been 
employing ?" If he had overlooked this question, he would 
not have been HerscheL No matter how great his skill 
as an observer, or how numerous his observations, he 
would not have been entitled to a higher position as a 
reasoner or as an interpreter of observations than any of 
his predecessors in the discussion of the stellar system, 
and not to so high a position as Wright, or Kant, or 
Lambert, or the ingenious MichelL But he was not thus 
negligent of cardinal considerations. He clearly recognized 
the weak point of the theory he was discussing (rather than 
advocating). "2 would not be understood" he says, 
(immediately after the words last quoted from the paper 
of 1785,) " to lay a greater stress on these calculations than 
the principles on which they are founded will permit; and if, 
hereafter y we shall find reason, from experience and observa- 
tion, to believe that there are parts of our system where the 
stars are not scattered in the manner here supposed, we ought 
then to make proper exceptions." 

I propose now to describe how Herschel did "find 
reason, from experience and observation, to believe that" 
the Milky Way itself, which he had thus far regarded as 
not only resembling the rest of the sidereal system, but as 
being the sidereal system (the stars scattered over our skies 
being merely parts of the Milky Way stratum) is composed 



Star- Gauging. 257 

of stars quite differently arranged from those composing 
the rest of the sidereal system ; I shall shew how he 
devised another mode of star-gauging differing essentially 
in plan and principle from that which he adopted in 1784, 
and first applied systematically in 1785 ; and then I shall 
endeavour to shew how the careful comparison of his 
results with others obtained since his time, suggests a 
method of* star-gauging combining the principles of both 
Herschel's methods, advantageously applicable with every 
order of telescopic power, and promising, if patiently 
applied by a sufficient number of observers, to lift the 
veil from some at least of the mysteries of the stellar 
depths. 

Let us pause, however, for a moment to notice that a new 
interest is given to Sir W. Herschel's researches when his 
earlier papers are correctly interpreted. We see him 
preparing in 1785 to deal with the most stupendous of all 
the problems of astronomy. A noble theory of the 
universe had presented itself to his mind, and already he 
had carried out a series of observations tending to indicate 
the proportions of the sidereal system, if that theory were 
true. But now he was preparing for labours of a more 
arduous kind, the thorough examination, in fact, of the 
stellar heavens so far as they were visible from his 
northern point of view. No celestial objects, except 
the members of our solar system, and the mysterious 
comets, were to be regarded as unimportant in this 
inquiry. The stars by their distribution in greater or 
less profusion, the nebulae and clusters within our system 



258 Our Place among Infinities. 

as representing various stages of stellar aggregation, those 
external to it as indicating its more striking characteristics, 
and other orders of objects (not suspected when he began 
his labours), as affording new evidence respecting its 
structure, all might throw light on the theory he had 
advanced, or might, when carefully studied, afford reason 
for abandoning or modifying that theory. 

I apprehend, then, that had the notice of astronomers 
been attracted, at this early stage, to the work on which 
Herschel was entering, they could not but have awaited 
with extreme interest the result of his labours. It does 
not appear that this was actually the casa It may be 
that the difficulty and complexity of the problem he had 
taken in hand, or perchance the quiet and unobtrusive 
manner in which he presented it as it then appeared to 
him, or some other cause may have been in operation, but 
certain it is that very little notice was taken of Herschel's 
special work then, or during the remainder of his life. 
None helped him, though his researches were manifestly 
far beyond the strength of any single worker. No com- 
ments on his stellar observations, so far as they related to 
the great problem he was attacking, were made by con- 
temporary astronomers.* It was alone, but confidently, 
that he advanced into the mysterious depths surrounding 
our solar system, seeking by the dim light which made 

* To the general public Herschel was known as the discoverer of 
the Georgium Sidua, the observer of supposed volcanic eruptions on the 
inoon, and for a variety of other such discoveries as are easily under- 
stood, or misunderstood (which comes to the same thing so far as 
general fame is concerned). 



Star- Gaug ing. 259 

the darkness visible, to determine, if it might be, the 
forms dimly discernible within those gloomy wildernesses 
of space. 

Many years passed before he again addressed the 
scientific world on the great subject which he had taken 
as the "ultimate object of his observations." Eleven 
years * after the enunciation of the theory described in the 
former part of this essay, we find him pointing out, as the 
result of his researches during that long period, that the 
hypothesis of a general uniformity of structure in the 
galaxy " is too far removed from the truth to be depended 
upon." And although this does not imply a definite 
withdrawal from the theory of 1785, yet the stress now laid 
by Herschel on probable varieties of structure is a novel 
feature in his theoretical treatment of the subject. 

But it was in 1802, (seventeen years, be it noticed, after 
the theory had appeared which is so commonly referred to 
as though it were the result of Herscliel's observations 
instead of the occasion of them,) that Herschel first began 
to present an entirely new view of the general structure 
of the universe. In the essay of that year he described 
the results to which he had been led by the study of 
double stars. As Struve has well pointed out, there was 
much in Herschel's work in this direction which naturally 
suggested the adoption of new views on the wider subject 

* The paper of 1789 contained a list of 1000 nebulae discovered by 
Herschel, and was prefaced by a remarkable essay on the gradual 
development of stellar nebulae. The reasoning does not readily admit 
of condensation, and this part of the paper is too long to be quoted in 
full. 

12 



260 Our Place among Infinities. 

of the sidereal universe itself. He had begun to observe 
double stars, liot with the idea of recognising any connection 
between the, components of these objects, but on the con- 
trary, in the belief that double stars are simply stars which, 
though really at enormous distances from each other, 
chance to lie nearly in the same direction as seen by the 
terrestrial observer. He conceived (independently, we 
may suppose, though Galileo and Christian Huyghens had 
anticipated him), the idea of determining the distance of 
the brighter, and presumably the nearer, member of such 
a pair of stars, by noticing how much the orbital motion 
of the earth caused the brighter star to shift in position 
with respect to the fainter (necessarily much less affected 
by the earth's motion if really much farther away than the 
brighter). It would be interesting to note how the 
prosecution of this task, begun long before 1784, gradually 
led Herschel to the conception of binary systems, and 
later to the certain assurance that there are many systems 
of this class in the celestial depths. Still more interesting 
would be the history of the steps by which he was led 
from the same starting-point, but on another course, to the 
discovery of the motion of our sun through space, and 
therefore to the recognition of that most stupendous of 
the phenomena presented by the heavens to us, the 
motion of all the suns accompanied by their attendant 
systems through the interstellar regions. But these 
matters, full of interest though they are, must here be 
touched on only incidentally, in their relation to the 
processes of star-gauging, by which Herschel hoped in 



Star- Gauging. 261 

a more direct manner to ascertain the structure of the 
universe. 

It was natural that the recognition of binary stars, that 
is, of pairs of stars not merely connected by an optical rela- 
tion, but specially associated by the bonds of their mutual 
attraction, should suggest to Herschel the conception of 
other and more complicated systems, and that he should 
be prepared thenceforth to find in the star-depths other 
relations than those which the analogy of our sun had 
suggested. Our sun is an insulated star, the components 
of a " binary " are associated stars. May not higher orders 
of association exist, affecting other stars than those mani- 
festly belonging to clusters or nebulae ? For note that, 
although the conception of associated stars had already 
(as I have shewn) been abundantly recognised by Herschel 
in the paper of 1785, yet the cases in which it had been 
recognized were those in which it was obvious at a single 
view ; the study of double stars had led to the conclusion 
that stars not obviously associated, stars to which the 
method of star-gauging would have been applied without 
any suspicion, might be so near as to be bound together, 
(and, as it were, separated from other stars) by their mutual 
attraction. Herschel never applied his first method of 
star-gauging to any field of view containing a cluster of 
stars, in such sort as to infer from the large number of 
stars in the cluster an enormous extension of the sidereal 
system in the direction of that field of view. He himself 
pointed out the objection to such an inference the fact, 
namely, that a cluster is. manifestly a rounded group of 



262 Our Place among Infinities. 

stars, not a region of the sky which is rich because of 
enormous extension in the line of sight. But until many 
double stars had been proved to be ' binaries,' or pairs of 
stars 'whereof the one more bright is circled by the 
other,' he would not have thought of excluding fields in 
which double, triple, and multiple stars were numerous. 
Now however (in 1802), that he has to describe the 
recognition of binary stars, we find him for the first time 
drawing a distinction between insulated stars and all 
orders of multiple stars. 

It is worthy of notice, especially by those who know 
what interest Sir W. Herschel took in the subject of life 
in other worlds,* that he regarded the insulated suns as 
alone, in all probability, the centres of planetary systems 
resembling our own. * The question will arise/ he says, 
' whether every insulated star be a sun like ours, attended 
with planets, satellites, and numerous comets ? And here, 
as nothing appears against the supposition, we may from 
analogy admit the probability of it But, were we to 
extend this argument to other sidereal constructions, or 
still further to every star of the heavens, as has been done 
frequently, I should not only hesitate, but even think 
that, from what will be said of stars which enter into 
complicated sidereal systems, the contrary is far more 
likely to be the case ; and that probably we can only look 
for solar systems among insulated stars.' 

* His discussion of the question whether life can exist in our own 
Bun, is, perhaps, the strongest extant proof of the interest which this 
subject had for him. 



Star-Gauging. 263 

Observing, then, that in 1802 Herschel first presented 
the distinction between insulated stars and ' those which 
enter into complicated sidereal systems,' a capital interest 
attaches to whatever he might at that time say about 
the Milky Way. In 1785, he had so fully believed the 
Milky Way to be only the richer part of our sidereal 
system, that he took the name Milky Way as a conven- 
ient title for the whole system, and called those nebula3 
which he believed to be external sidereal systems, ' Milky 
Ways,' as adequately distinguishing them from the 
clusters and nebulae which form parts of our stellar 
system. Let us see whether in 1802 he so viewed the 
Milky Way for we may be assured that if he did, his 
views in 1802 were in the main very much like those he 
had held in 1785, whereas if he did not, we may be sure 
his views were greatly altered. His words are decisive 
on this all-important point : 

" The stars we consider as insulated are also surrounded 
by a magnificent collection of innumerable stars, called 
the Milky Way, which must occasion a very powerful 
balance of opposite attractions to hold the intermediate 
stars in a state of rest. For though our sun and all the 
stars we see, may truly be said to be in the plane of the 
Milky Way, yet / am now convinced by a long inspection 
and continued examination of it, that the Milky Way itself 
consists of stars very differently scattered from those which 
are immediately about us" 

So much as to the general and more important view of 
the question. It is clear that by the words, 'a long 



264 Our Place among Infinities. 

inspection and continued examination of the Milky Way,' 
Herschel refers to the seventeen years of observation 
which had followed the enunciation of the views he held 
in 1785. It is clear also from the words, ' I am now 
convinced' that he had changed his views, apart from 
the proof of the fact which I have deduced from the 
comparison of his statements in 1785, with the results to 
which he had been led in 1802. I mean, that no nice 
analysis of his words is required to shew that in 1802 he 
came before the scientific world with entirely new ideas 
as to the construction of the universe ; since he says as 
much very plainly almost as plainly as (we shall 
presently see) he stated the fact nine years later in the 
preface to the remarkable paper of 1811. 

But let us see in what the change of view consisted : 
' On a very slight examination,' * he says, speaking of 
the Milky Way, ' it will appear that this immense starry 
aggregation is by no means uniform. The stars of which 
it is composed are very unequally scattered, and show 
evident marks of clustering together into many separate 
allotments. By referring to some one of these clustering 
collections in the heavens, what will be said of them will 
be much better understood than if we were to treat of 
them in a general way.' He selects the fine portion of 

* One might pause here to ask whether, speaking as he does here of 
a 'very slight examination,' Herschel can be referring to results to 
which he had been led ' by a long inspection and continued examina- 
tion.' But I think we need not find any difficulty in this, since results 
acquired with great labour may need but a very slight examination to 
indicate highly significant truths. 



Star- Gauging. 265 

the Milky "Way which occupies the lower half of the 
' Cross ' in the constellation Cygnus (a group which may 
be fairly called the Northern Cross). Here, he says, ' the 
stars are clustering with a kind of division between them, 
so that we may suppose them to be clustering towards two 
different regions. By a computation founded on observa- 
tions which ascertain the number of stars in different fields 
of view, it appears that our space ' in Cygnus,' * taking an 
average breadth of about five degrees of it, contains more 
than 331,000 stars ;t and admitting them to be clustering 
two different ways, we have 165,000 stars for each cluster- 
ing collection. Now the above-mentioned milky appear- 
ances deserve the name of clustering collections, \ as they 
are certainly much brighter about the middle, and fainter 
near their undefined borders. Tor in my sweeps of the 
heavens it has been fully ascertained that the brightness 
of the Milky Way arises only from stars, and that their 
compression increases according to the brightness of the 
Milky Way.' 

It is not easy to overrate the importance of the results 
embodied in the reasoning here quoted. Here are two rich 

* That is the selected portion of the Milky Way. 

t More stars in this small space, as viewed by Herschel's 18-inch re- 
flector, than in the whole northern heavens, including this space as 
viewed with Argelander's 2-inch telescope. And yet my chart of 
Argelander's results presents 324,000 stars as a collection bewildering 
in its richness. 

J The reader's attention is specially directed to the fact that the 
clustering collections here spoken of are not telescopic small clusters. 
They are two of the cloudlike masses which the Milky Way presents 
to ordinary vision on any dark, clear night. 



266 Our Place among Infinities. 

regions of the Milky Way (which, according to the theory 
of 1785, indicated two projecting regions of the stellar 
system), now viewed as clustering collections, and selected 
as typical instances of want of uniformity in the structure 
of the Milky Way. They are not clustering collections in 
appearance only that of course would have been no new 
fact, and would not have been worth announcing to the 
scientific world ; but they are real aggregations of stars, 
surrounded on all sides by relatively vacant space. Be- 
tween us, therefore, and these rich clustering regions, there 
lies a vast space not so richly filled with stars. The con- 
tinuity of structure within the sidereal system, which 
constituted the very basis of the first method of star- 
gauging, is accordingly disproved. Thus the^rs^ method of 
star-gauging is shewn to be inapplicable in this case and in 
all similar cases. Moreover the case being typical of the 
general want of uniformity in the structure of the Milky 
Way, the first method of star-gauging fails for the Milky 
Way itself, to interpret the nature of which it had been 
originally devised. 

If any doubt remain in the reader's mind as to Herschel's 
real meaning if, for instance, it be supposed possible that 
Herschel may after all have referred to aggregation in 
particular parts of the heavens, as distinguished from 
aggregation in particular regions of space then what 
Herschel proceeds to say respecting the great rich regions 
in Cygnus, can scarcely fail to remove all question as to 
his meaning. Yet, before quoting his words, I must 
premise that again we have to deal with a passage which, 



Star- Gauging. 267 

though really unmistakable, requires careful attention 
before its real import can be apprehended : 

' We may indeed/ he says (as if expressing hesitation, 
though really about to render his inferences more certain), 
'partly ascribe the increase both of brightness and of 
apparent compression ' in those clustering regions, ' to a 
greater depth of the space which contains the stars, but 
this will equally tend to shew their clustering condition ; 
for since the increase of brightness is gradual, the space 
containing the clustering stars must tend to a spherical form, 
if the gradual increase of brightness is to be explained by 
the situation of the stars.' In other words, whether we 
consider the greater central richness as due to the cluster- 
ing of the stars towards the central parts of these groups, 
or to the shape of the groups themselves, or partly con- 
sider both causes of central aggregation, we are still led 
to the conclusion that the groups are roughly spherical in 
shape. 

As the whole theory of 1785 was concerned in the 
reasoning here presented, I cannot too specially invite the 
reader's attention to the result to which Herschel had 
been led. I may illustrate the distinction between 
Herschel's views in 1802 and those which he held in 1785 
in the following manner : We know that when a 
moderately thick low-lying mist covers a level plain, an 
observer placed on the plain sees through the mist above 
him, while near the direction of his horizon it is im- 
penetrable, because the line of sight extends so much farther 
through it in such a direction. Now, let us suppose the 



268 Our Place among Infinities. 

case of a being a visitant, let us say, from another world 
not familiar as we all are with the appearances 
commonly presented by clouds, mists, or fogs, and 
introduced gradually to their various forms. If placed on 
a plain in the circumstances above described, he would 
readily convince himself that the impenetrability of the 
air towards the horizon was due to the fact that a mist 
within which he was himself placed had the shape of a 
flat stratum, so that where he looked along or nearly along 
the direction of the stratum's extension, the line of sight 
passed through a much greater range of mist. And we 
may conceive him attempting to determine the shape (the 
relative thickness and extension) of the misty stratum, by 
a method analogous to Sir W. Herschel's first method of 
star-gauging, estimating the extension of the mist in 
different directions by the apparent density of the mist in 
those directions. But now, suppose our observer intro-. 
duced to a new state of things. Conceive him placed on 
a level plain, with mist enough low down to hide all 
terrestrial objects which otherwise might guide his eye, 
and that the sky for a considerable distance from the 
horizon is wholly cloud-laden, but not mist-enshrouded, 
the sky overhead being visible, with occasional cloud 
masses suspended there, while more and more clouds are 
in view the farther the line of sight is directed from the 
point overhead. We can readily conceive that the first 
interpretation he would assign to the observed appearances 
would correspond with the result of his former observa- 
tions. He would suppose that towards the horizon there 



Star-Gauging. 269 

was a great extension of mist-laden air, and that there 
was also a great extension of misty matter towards those 
parts of the upper sky which shewed an impenetrable 
cloudiness. He would not at first be prepared to conceive 
a state of things unlike that which he had formerly 
recognised, or to suppose there was not, as in that case, a 
continuity of mist-laden air between himself and those 
regions where he perceived dense cloudiness. Gradually, 
however, the idea would present itself that the round- 
looking cloudy regions were really round in shape, not 
bounded merely by an apparent outline on the sky, but 
by a rounded surface, outside of which he, the observer, 
was placed. A variety of observations so familiar to us 
that we hardly recognise the process of reasoning by which 
the mind becomes satisfied with their significance, would 
before long satisfy our observer of the justice of this con- 
clusion. He would soon see reason to believe that not 
only the clouds seen separately overhead, but those con- 
fusedly intermixed towards the horizon through the effects 
of foreshortening, were in reality rounded masses of mist- 
laden air. Now, just as markedly as the groups of clouds 
which are seen on a summer's day differ from a low-lying 
mist (so far as their relation to the observer is concerned} 
so completely does the system of great stellar clusterings 
recognized in the Milky Way by Herschel in 1802, differ 
from the stratum of stars, small clusters, and nebulae, of 
which in 1785 he supposed the Milky Way to be the fore- 
shortened, and the stars of our constellations to be the trans- 
verse view. 



2 70 Our Place among Infinities. 

But it does not follow that Herschel in giving up the 
most striking result to which his first method of star- 
gauging had seemed to lead, was bound to give up also the 
method itself. It had failed for certain cases, simply 
because the principle on which it was based was not 
applicable to those cases ; but wherever there was any ap- 
proach to the uniformity of scattering on which the method 
depends, there the method might still be applied. Precisely 
as our imagined observer might still continue to test the 
shape and extension of a mist in which he found himself 
involved, by noting its apparent density towards different 
directions, abandoning that method only where he had 
reason to believe that cloudiness was due to mist within 
which he was not placed, so Herschel might still refer 
the richness of many of his star-gauges to great exten- 
sion of stars in the corresponding directions, abandoning' 
such inferences only where he had reason to believe that 
he was analysing the wealth of great clustering aggrega- 
tions outside the bounds of which our solar system is 
situated. 

But although after 1802 Herschel still occasionally 
referred to his first series of star-gauges, we do not find 
that he any longer regarded them in the same light as in 
1785. 

As my subject now is star-gauging according to the two 
methods devised by Herschel, I scarcely feel justified in 
entering at any length into another striking feature of the 
paper of 1802. And yet it may be well, to notice how 
markedly Herschel's whole conception of the constitution 



Star- Gauging. 271 

of the universe changed at that epoch. Not only did he in 
1802 advance his proof of the association between double 
and multiple stars, deducing thence and otherwise illus- 
trating his inferences respecting wider laws of association, 
but he also selected this occasion to abandon the theory 
that, the great irresolvable nebulse are composed of stars. 
He now regarded some among them as 'possessing the 
quality of self-luminous, milky luminosity, and possibly 
at no great distance from us.' * 

* It is worthy of notice how readily a logically trained mind recog- 
nizes incongruities in result apparently presented with the highest 
possible authority. It is well known that Humboldt, quoting Arago's 
account of the results of Herschel's labours so that the combined 
weight of these three names seemed to authorise the statement 
presents our sidereal system as a "starry island, or nebula," forming 
a ' lens-shaped, flattened, and everywhere detached stratum. ' 
Herbert Spencer, reasoning on the relations presented by Humboldt, 
shews the incongruity and absurdity of the statements ( 1 ) that this our 
island nebula has such and such proportions, and (2) that the nebulse 
are remote sidereal systems, whether we assume, with Humboldt and 
Arago, that the differences of star magnitude are due to differences of 
distance, or reject this assumption. In a letter written to a weekly 
journal on Jan. 31, 1870, Mr Spencer, after quoting the passages in 
which he had shewn this, remarks that ' when they were written 
spectrum analysis had not yielded the conclusive proof which we now 
possess, that many nebulaa consist of matter in a diffused form. But 
quite apart from the evidence yielded by spectrum analysis, it seems 
to me that the incongruities and contradictions which may be evolved 
from the hypothesis that nebulae are remote sidereal systems, amply 
suffice to shew that hypothesis to be untenable. ' Thus, in this case 
Spencer was led by abstract reasoning to reject a conclusion which, so 
far as his authority could be trusted, had the combined weight in its 
favour of Sir W. Herschel's opinion, Arago's, and Humboldt's, and 
which astronomical authorities had never been at the pains to question. 
Yet the conclusion to which Spencer was thus led on the comparatively 
slight evidence he possessed was, in reality, the same which Sir W. 
Herschel had adopted in 1802, after a score of years of persistent study 



272 Our Place among Infinities. 

In 1811, Herschel published another remarkable essay, 
mainly relating to the milky luminosity which he had now 
recognized, not only in nebulous patches, but spread thinly 

of the heavens. Comparing the value of Spencer's abstract reasoning 
with that of the enormous mass of observed facts which astronomers 
had been collecting during a half-century since Herschel's day so 
long as these facts remained unsifted we find a curious illustration of 
the mistake made by those who would divorce observation from theory. 
In the same paper by Mr Spencer, there occurs the following passage : 
'"The spaces which precede or follow simple nebulae," says Arago, 
"and, a fortiori, groups of nebulae, contain generally few stars. 
Herschel found this rule to be invariable. Thus every time that, 
during a short interval, no star approached, in virtue of the diurnal 
motion, to place itself in the field of his motionless telescope, he was 
accustomed to say to the secretary who assisted him, ' Prepare to 
write ; nebulae are about to arrive. " ' How does this fact consist with 
the hypothesis that nebulae are remote galaxies ? If there were but 
one nebula, it would be a curious coincidence were this one nebula so 
placed in the distant regions of space as to agree in direction with a 
starless spot in our own sidereal system. If there were but two 
nebulae, and both were so placed, the coincidence would be excessively 
strange. What, then, shall we say on finding that they are habitually 
so placed? (the last five words replace some that are possibly a little 
too strong). . . . When to the fact that the general mass of nebulae 
are antithetical in position to the general mass of stars, we add the 
fact that local regions of nebulae are regions where stars are 
scarce, and the further fact that single nebulae are habitually found in 
comparatively starless spots, does not the proof of a physical connec- 
tion become overwhelming ? " Here Mr Spencer has deduced from 
the same facts which Arago and other astronomers have quoted in 
favour of the theory of external nebulae, the inference which Sir W. 
Herschel arrived at, as we may see from the two passages quoted 
in an earlier part of this essay (see page 253). It is singular, 
however, how little weight the argument, from the improbability 
of repeated coincidences, here correctly applied by Spencer, has 
with ordinary minds. Michell employed this argument skilfully more 
than a century ago, in effect demonstrating the laws of association 
between certain groups of stars : but it was not till Sir W. Herschel 
had actually watched one star circling around another that even 



Sta r- Gauging. 273 

over large parts of the heavens, and had learned to dis- 
tinguish it from the milky light produced by multitudes 
of distant stars. His observations and deductions are full 
of interest, and especially interesting are his ideas as to 
the evolution of stars from the matter producing milky 
nebulous light. However, except in so far as they indicate 
his changed views respecting the constitution of the universe, 
these matters, worthy of study though they are in them- 
selves, do not here concern us. There is one passage, 
however, from the essay of 1811, which cannot be too 
carefully studied by those who would rightly apprehend 
the nature and results of Herschel's work during the 
twenty-six years which had now elapsed since he enun- 
ciated the stratum theory of the sidereal system: "I must 
freely confess," he says, "that by continuing my sweeps 
of the heavens, my opinion of the arrangement of the stars 
and their magnitudes, and of some other particulars has 
undergone a gradual change; and indeed, when the novelty 
of the subject is considered we cannot be surprised that 
many things formerly taken for granted should, on 
examination, prove to be different from what they were 
generally but incautiously supposed to be. For instance, 
an equal scattering of the stars may be admitted in certain 
calculations ; but when we examine the Milky Way or the 
closely compressed clusters of stars, of which my catalogues 

astronomers began to believe in such systems ; and a third of a 
century later still, the idea was not accepted save by a few astronomers. 
Abstract reasoning must be strong indeed (and easy to follow, also) to 
overcome the inertia of slow apprehension. 



2 74 Our Place among Infinities. 

have recorded so many instances, this supposed equality of 
scattering must be given up. We may also have supposed 
nebulae to be no other than clusters of stars disguised by 
their very great distance ; but a longer experience and a 
better acquaintance with the nature of nebulse, will not 
allow a general admission of such a principle ; although 
undoubtedly a cluster of stars may assume a nebular 
appearance when it is too remote for us to discern the stars 
of which it is composed." 

It will be observed that in this passage Herschel 
abandons two of the principles on which his views in ] 785 
had been founded,* the general uniformity of stellar 
distribution, and the theory that all nebulas, whether 
components of our system or external, are formed of stars. 
Each of the two principles here given up was essential to 
that theory (in its entirety), while the first of the two 
principles was cardinal even as respects the general 
relations of the theory. Two links of the chain of ideas 
enunciated by Herschel in 1785 were now rejected (as in 
fact broken under the strain of observation). One of these, 
at least, had to bear so large a part of the theory, that with 
its failure the theory itself came to the ground. 

It must have been, then, at about this time, certainly 
not later, that the necessity for a new method of star- 
gauging presented itself to Herschel's mind. He was, 
however, too busily engaged in observing nebulae and in 
endeavouring to detect the law of their development, to 

* Compare the italicized passage in the quotation at page 256 
of the present Essay. 



Star-Gauging. 275 

enter on any scheme of observation for determining the 
constitution of the universe. It is necessary to notice, 
however, before we pass to the new attack made by 
Herschel on the wider subject, that he now recognised a 
much more complete series of celestial objects than he had 
imagined in 1785. Then, and in the remarkable paper of 
1789, he pictured various degrees of stellar aggregation, 
from uniformly scattered stars to the most compressed 
clusters. Now, he placed at the lower extremity of the 
scale of celestial objects the widely spread luminosity first 
noticed in the paper of 1802. He passed from this 
irregularly diffused nebulosity through all the orders of 
gaseous nebulae irregular nebulas, planetary nebulas, 
nebulous stars formed by the gradual condensation of the 
gaseous matter, until the star itself is formed ; then, and 
then only, he entered on the part of the series earlier 
recognised, passing on to the various orders of stellar 
aggregation, diffused clusters, ordinary stellar nebulae, 
and more and more condensed stars, up to the richest 
clusters. He no longer speaks of external nebulas. 
The paper of 1814 begins with these words : " The 
observations contained in this paper are intended to display 
the sidereal part of the heavens, and also to show the 
intimate connection between the two opposite extremes, 
one of which is the immensity of the widely diffused and 
seemingly chaotic nebulous matter; and the other the 
highly complicated and most artificially constructed 
globular clusters of compressed stars. The proof of an 
intimate connection between these extremes will greatly 



276 Our Place among Infinities. 

support the probability of the conversion of one into the 
other." 

For much that relates to the sidereal heavens, Herschel 
refers in this paper of 1814 to the paper of 1785, and it 
may be that such reference has prevented [most of his 
commentators from noticing how completely his views had 
changed. In reality it is only where he is speaking of 
insulated stars that he quotes the earlier paper. So soon 
as he deals with aggregations of stars, though he refers to 
the star-gauges of 1785 he no longer explains them as of 
yore. He dwells afresh on what he had written in 1802 
respecting the clustering condition of portions of the stellar 
heavens. He explains that his expression "forming 
clusters " was " used to denote that some peculiar arrange- 
ment of stars in lines making different angles, directed to 
a certain aggregation of a few central stars, suggested the 
idea that they" (the former) "might be in a state of 
progressive approach to them" (the latter).* "This tendency 
to clustering seems chiefly to be visible in places extremely 
rich in stars. In order, therefore, to investigate the 
existence of a clustering power, we may expect its effects 
to be most visible in and near the Milky Way.'' I would 
invite the reader's special attention to the circumstance 
that the Milky Way is here pointedly referred to as a 
stellar region distinct in its characteristics from the region 
of the stars forming our constellations. In studying 

* We may notice here, again, a certain inexactness in Herschel's 
manner of writing, accounting, perhaps, for the extent to which he has 
too often been misinterpreted. 



Star- Gauging. 277 

Herschel's papers we have continually to be on the watch 
for indications of the sort, and although this particular 
view is not new, since he had expressed the same opinion 
in 1802, yet as Herschel was now very near the close of his 
observing career, it is important to notice that in this critical 
respect he retained the views which he had adopted in 
1802. 

Thirty years had now passed since Herschel had 
enunciated his first method of star-gauging, and as yet we 
have found no indication of a second method. But at the 
close of this paper of 1814 he mentions a new mode of 
research, by which he hoped to determine the laws 
according to which the stellar universe is constructed. 
"The extended views I have taken," he says, "in this and 
my former papers, of the various parts that enter into the 
construction of the heavens, have prepared the way for a 
final investigation of the universal arrangement of all these 
celestial bodies in space ; but as I am still engaged in a 
series of observations for ascertaining a scale whereby the 
extent of the universe, as far as it is possible for ILS to pene- 
trate into space, may be fathomed, I shall conclude this 
paper by pointing out some inferences which the continua- 
tion of the action of the clustering power enables us to 
draw from the observations that have been given. " 

We find Herschel, then, in 1814, preparing a scale 
whereby to gauge the extent of the universe, " as far as it 
is possible for us to penetrate into space." 

But in 1814, Herschel reached his seventy-sixth year, 
and itw as scarcely to be anticipated that he would live 



2 78 Our Place among Infinities. 

to complete in its entirety the task he had entered upon 
so late in his career the most stupendous task which 
any astronomer had ever thought of undertaking. In 
1784 and 1785 he believed that he had something finite 
to deal with ; his telescopes reached, as he supposed, to the 
limits of the galaxy ; he had but to gauge, by counting 
stars in field after field, to ascertain the shape of 
the sidereal system. Moreover he was then in the 
prime of life. Now, in his old age, the stellar system 
had widened on his view. Infinitely more complex than 
he had supposed, unfathomable (in parts at least of its 
extent) even with his mightiest instruments how was he 
to hope in the few years remaining to him, to solve the 
mighty problem with which he alone of all men who had 
ever lived had dared to grapple ? 

There was no shrinking on his part, however, from the 
tremendous task which lay before him. Be did not even 
allow himself to attack the work hurriedly. Thoughtfully 
he prepared the scale (the new method of gauging of which 
he had spoken in 1814), and not until 1817 did he 
describe the plan in detail and with illustrative instances 
of its application. 

The reader may be prepared, after what has been said 
at the beginning of this paper, to find the new method 
differing little from the method of 1 784. He may think 
that, since the two methods have been confounded 
together by many, perhaps the second is the same as the 
first, but applied on a larger scale and with higher powers, 
or if different from the other is still closely related to it. 



Star-Ganging. 279 

So far, however, is this from being the case, that the 
methods may be described as not only unlike, but even 
antithetical to each other. 

In the first method the same telescope was to be applied 
successively to different parts of the heavens ; in the 
second the same part of the heavens was to be examined 
successively with different telescopes. In the first 
method the stars in each field were to be counted ; in the 
second, the observer was to note simply to what degree the 
telescopes successively employed separated from each 
other the component stars brought into view, or, in 
technical terms, to what degree the telescope effected the 
resolution of the stars in each field. 

It seems to me tolerably clear that up to the year 1814, 
and possibly for a year or two longer, Herschel had been 
steadily advancing towards new and wider truths respect- 
ing the universe, and that the new method of star- gauging, 
as it first presented itself to his mind, was a well-con- 
sidered means of attacking the great problem in the en- 
larged form to which it had grown. It is manifest that the 
higher the telescopic power we employ, the farther do we 
penetrate into the spaces surrounding us on all sides. It 
is, of course, probable (or rather it is certain) that many 
objects visible with a lower telescopic power may lie 
farther away than others brought into view with a higher 
power, because a very large star is visible from beyond 
depths which suffice to hide smaller but nearer orbs. Yet 
unless we assume that there are limits beyond which none 
of the larger stars exist, it is clear that each increase of 



280 Our Place among Infinities, 

telescopic power, by bringing into view new members of 
these larger orders, must carry our vision beyond the 
limits which it had before reached. And if we wish to 
form just conceptions of the structure of the universe, it 
seems manifest that our best, in fact our only available 
first step towards such knowledge, is to ascertain the 
aspect of the space surrounding us, as viewed with 
gradually increasing powers of vision. This, as I judge, 
was what Herschel proposed when, in 1814, he spoke of 
"fathoming the extent of the universe, so far as it is 
possible for us to penetrate into space." 

But it is certain that the plan, as he began to carry it 
out in 1817 and 1818, does not correspond with this 
description. Nor does Herschel appear, in my judgment, 
to have worked in these years with his former skill and 
acumen. Power was not wanting, but there is no 
longer the elasticity which hitherto had been so marked a 
characteristic of Herschel's mind. I think, too, that it will 
become manifest to anyone who carefully studies the 
whole series of Herschel's papers, that when he wrote 
these last two, the great array of facts which he had been 
so long engaged in gathering together was no longer 
present in its entirety to his mind. It must not be held 
to involve irreverence towards the greatest astronomer the 
world has known, to suppose that in his seventy-ninth and 
eightieth years his mental powers were not so great as they 
had been, and especially that his memory began to fail 
for facts observed during the preceding ten or twelve years 
of his life, Assuredly no honest student of science should 



Star- Gauging. 2 8 1 

allow his respect for the work of HerschePs former years 
to cause him to overlook defects, if such exist, in the 
reasoning with which Herschel's latest observations were 
accompanied. 

It is not difficult to show that his reasoning in 1817 
and 1818 was no longer so sound as in former years. He 
was now applying, be it remembered, a process by which 
he hoped to determine the relative distances of star-groups. 
Supposing that a particular clustering aggregation began 
to be resolved into discrete stars with a certain telescopic 
power, and was entirely resolved when a certain higher 
power was employed, there would be pnmd facie evidence 
as to the distance of the aggregation because, given a 
group of stars of certain sizes and set at certain distances 
from each other, it is manifest that the farther away that 
group is placed the higher will be the telescopic powers 
required (1) to begin, and (2) to complete the resolution of 
that group into separate stars. But although such con- 
siderations may be reasonable enough when we are com- 
paring two groups together, and even within certain limits 
when applied to different parts of the same group, there 
are circumstances under which their application to partic- 
ular star-groups would be altogether incorrect, and which 
shew also how unsafe the general principle is on which 
this particular method of star-gauging depends. 

In order to shew this, I will take as a typical instance 
a splendid pair of star-groups (not clusters properly so 
called) which adorn the uplifted hand of The Eescuer, 
quoting Prof. Nich.ol's account of Herschel's study of this 



282 Our Place among Infinities. 

remarkable object : ' In the Milky Way,' lie says, 
' thronged all over with splendours, there is one portion 
not unnoticed by the general observer, the spot in the 
sword-hand of Perseus. That spot shews no stars to the 
eye ; the milky light, which glorifies it, comes from regions 
to which unaided we cannot pierce. But to a telescope of 
considerable power* the space appears lighted up with 
unnumbered orbs ; a#d these pass on through the depths 
of the infinite, until, even to that penetrating glass, they 
escape all scrutiny, withdrawing into regions unvisited 
by its power. Shall we adventure into these deeper 
retirements ? Then, assume an instrument of higher 
efficacy, and lo ! the change is only repeated ; those scarce 
observed before appear as large orbs, and behind, a new 
series begins, again shading gradually away, leading 
towards farther mysteries ! The illustrious Herschel 
penetrated on one occasion into this spot, until he found 
himself among depths whose light could not have reached 
him in much less than four thousand years : no marvel 
that he withdrew from the pursuit, conceiving that such 
abysses must be endless ! ' The younger Herschel, speak- 
ing of instances such as these, where telescope after 
telescope has been directed to the same spot without 
apparently reaching its limits, says that here 'we are 
compelled by the clearest evidence the telescope can afford 
to believe that star-strown vistas lie open, exhausting their 
powers and stretching out beyond their utmost reach, 
as is proved by infinite increase of number and diminu- 
* A good opera-glass shows abundant stars in this wonderful group. 



Star-Gauging. 283 

tion of magnitude, terminating in complete irresolvable 
nebulosity.' 

It was thus that the elder Herschel interpreted these 
wondrously rich spots in the papers of 1817 and 1818. 
Followed as he has been in this interpretation by Sir John 
Herschel, Struve, Grant, Nichol, and others, it may seem 
incredible that an argument practically resistless opposes 
itself to such a conclusion. Yet there is such an argu- 
ment ; nor has its strength ever been impeached or even 
questioned. 

Eepeatedly in his earlier papers, Sir W. Herschel had 
noted the probability, rising almost to certainty in each 
individual case, and absolutely certain for many cases, 
that groups of stars which are rounded in appearance are 
roughly globular in reality, and that groups markedly 
distinct by their richness from surrounding parts of the 
star-sphere are really distinct as to richness from surround- 
ing parts of interstellar space. If we consider the very 
group in Perseus which Herschel, as we have seen, 
regarded otherwise or as a star-region extending away 
and away into space, along the track over which his 
telescopes of greater and greater power had carried him 
we shall find abundant reason for that earlier interpreta- 
tion. The group is much smaller in apparent size than 
the moon, but for the sake of argument imagine it as 
large. Conceive a cone having the eye as apex and just 
large enough to enclose the moon, extending out 
into space towards the great double cluster. Then, 
whatever else we may be in doubt about, we know 
18 



284 Our Place among Infinities. 

quite certainly that the whole star region examined by 
Herschel is enclosed within that long tapering cone. If his 
later principle of interpretation is just, the brighter and, 
as he judged, the nearer stars of the cluster are so far 
away within this cone, that their light takes about a 
hundred years in reaching us but say two hundred 
years to favour his interpretation (as will immediately 
appear) as far as possible. The farther parts, we have seen, 
he regarded, on the same principle, as so far away that their 
light takes 4000 years in reaching us, or twenty times as 
long. How much farther the star-region extends (on this 
interpretation) we do not know. But here we have the 
farthest known part, twenty times as far away as the nearest. 
Now, if any one will make a very taper cone of paper (it 
should be a yard high if its base is only a third of an inch 
in diameter, or three yards high for a one-inch base), and 
will cut off a twentieth part of its length, from the apex, 
the remaining part will show the shape of the region of 
space occupied, according to the interpretation of 1818, 
by the stars of the rich cluster. The paper frustum (still 
nearly a yard high, if the first of the above-mentioned 
sizes be adopted, and at its thickest part only a third 
of an inch wide), is, indeed, immensely exaggerated in 
width, long and slender though it seems. That wonderful 
group of stars, then, forms in reality, if rightly interpreted 
by Herschel in 1818, a long, thin, almost cylindrical 
array of stars, happening by a singular chance to have its 
length directed exactly towards our earth ! As there are 
two clusters, indeed, there are two such ononnously long 



Star-Gauging. 285 

and slender arrays, thus strangely adjusted ! And all 
other similar cases of which Herschel cites no less than 
ten, while many others were recognized by his son in the 
southern Milky Way must be similarly interpreted. 

The objections to such an inference are manifest ; and in 
corresponding cases Sir W. Herschel had clearly recog- 
nized them. Note again, how Sir John Herschel disposes 
of such conceptions as being utterly improbable in the 
much less marked case of the two Magellanic Clouds. 
' Were there but one such object,' he says, ' it might be 
maintained without utter improbability that its apparent 
sphericity is only an effect of foreshortening ; but such an 
adjustment, improbable enough in one case, must be 
rejected as too much so for fair argument in two.' 
How much more, therefore, in the multitudinous instances 
presented by the clustering aggregations of the Milky 
Way. 

The inference clearly is, then, that where Herschel 
had supposed (in 1817 and 1818) that he was fathoming, 
or attempting to fathom, the depths of stellar space, he 
was in reality only scrutinising more and more closely, as 
higher and higher powers were employed, one and the 
same region occupied by many orders of stars from suns 
perhaps surpassing our own many times in volume, down 
to orbs which, large though they may be absolutely, must 
relatively be regarded as mere star-dust. I do not speak 
of this conclusion as doubtful, for it appears to me 
demonstrated. As the elder Herschel spoke of the two 
great clustering regions of Cygnus as spherical in shape, as 



286 Our Place among Infinities. 

the younger Herschel spoke similarly of the Magellanic 
Clouds, so may we justly say of these regions which had 
been regarded as the fathomless parts of our stellar 
system, that demonstrably they are ' island star-systems,' 
infinitely rich in stars, and infinitely varied in structure. 
We may indeed apply to them the very words which Sir 
John Herschel applied on sufficient but far weaker 
evidence to the Magellanic Clouds, ' it must be taken as a 
demonstrated fact that stars of the seventh and eighth 
magnitude, and irresolvable nebula' (not nebulae] 'may 
coexist within limits of distance not differing more than as 
9 to 10.' The caution which this discovery should inspire 
when we are dealing with other cases where the evidence 
is less simple, need hardly be insisted upon. 

Both methods of star-gauging had been tried, then, 
when Herschel ceased from his labours, and in one sense 
both had failed. It had been at least demonstrated that 
the principles by which Herschel had hoped to be able to 
interpret either method, were unsound. He himself 
established the fact that the stars are not spread through- 
out our system with such an approach to uniformity that 
one can estimate the extension of the system in different 
directions by counting the stars which a single powerful 
telescope brings into view. He also collected the materials 
which prove that we cannot hope to estimate the distances 
of different parts of the system by testing with different 
telescopes the degree of stellar resolvability in those parts. 

Is, then, the problem altogether hopeless ? It seems 
to me that it is very far from being so, and that even 



Star- Gauging . 287 

where Herschel's methods seemed to fail they afford 
excellent promise of success. His first method, for ex- 
ample, had to be abandoned so far as his original purpose 
was concerned, because he found reason to believe that 
the great rich regions of the Milky Way are situated like 
great clouds of stars in space, and are not mere ranges of 
stars extending continuously from our own neighbourhood. 
But it was the method itself which taught this, which, 
in fact, effected this capital discovery. The second 
method, again, cannot be interpreted as Herschel hoped. 
It cannot tell us how far off, relatively, are different star- 
groups. But this application of the method has to be 
abandoned simply because the use of the method itself 
has taught us that the architecture of the heavens is far 
too complex to be interpreted in so simple a manner. 
Here then is another great discovery effected by a method 
of star-gauging which, so far as its original purpose was 
concerned, has had to be rejected. We have learned, 
from the seeming failure of the two methods, two import- 
ant and interesting facts first, that the stars are gathered 
into certain regions of space, and segregated from others ; 
and, secondly, that where stars are so gathered they exist in 
many orders of real magnitude, and are spread in different 
parts of such aggregations with very different degrees 
of profusion. Furthermore, over and above these valuable 
deductions, we have the observations themselves still 
available for use in other ways, still ready to reward 
whoever shall devote close and attentive scrutiny to them. 
But it appears to me that so soon as we recognize the 



288 Our Place among Infinities. 

success of both methods in one sense, and their failure 
in another, a method of research suggests itself which 
promises to combine all those qualities of each method 
which can really be trusted, and to be open to no 
objections. It was a grand idea of Herschel's to deter- 
mine the varying richness of the heavens in different 
directions under the scrutiny of one powerful telescope. 
It was an equally noble occupation to watch the heavens 
"widening on man's view" with the widening pupil of 
the telescopic eye. Each method of research proved 
effective as used separately. But only by combining the 
two can the secret of the star-depths be mastered. We 
must not limit ourselves, however, to the study of a star- 
field here and a star-field there. With each telescopic 
power employed, the whole heavens must be surveyed. 
The results obtained with each power must be compared 
together, after being carefully indicated in suitable charts 
(since the most powerful intellect cannot grasp those results 
presented merely as statistics). Differential charts, shewing 
by how much each increase of power increases in each region 
of the heavens the number of stars brought into view, 
must also be constructed. No preconceived opinions must 
be suffered to mar the teaching thus obtained ; but the 
architecture of the heavens so disclosed must be viewed 
precisely as it is presented to us by these results : because 
then, though it may be far too complex for our compre- 
hension, we shall be less likely to be deceived than if we 
were prepared beforehand to recognize in it certain 
characteristic features. 



Star-Gauging. 289 

This is a work in which almost every student of 
astronomy can help. Gaugings with small telescopes 
should by no means be neglected. Indeed, when we re- 
member that the structure of the stellar universe is so 
complex and varied that some of the nearer parts cannot 
be analysed to their inmost recesses, even by the most 
powerful telescopes yet constructed, we see that our 
information about these parts can alone be brought near to 
completeness, and it is precisely about these parts that 
the smaller telescopes can give the most useful informa- 
tion. 

I believe there is a great future for that noble domain of 
astronomy which Sir W. Herschel made the chief object 
of his study. By such methods of star-gauging as I have 
indicated by the application of spectroscopy to distin- 
guish the stars into their various orders as respects 
physical structure by the careful analysis of stellar 
motions, in order to recognize the laws of association and 
by other methods of research, the stupendous problem 
presented by the stellar heavens may be hopefully attacked ; 
and even should the observations directed to its solution 
fail, so far as their main purpose is concerned, there can 
yet be no manner of doubt that the collected results will 
be full of value and interest. 



SATURN AND THE SABBATH OF THE JEWS 

IN one of the most striking passages of his "Study of 
Sociology," Herbert Spencer considers what might be said 
of our age " by an independent observer living in the far 
future, supposing his statements translated into our 
cumbrous language." 

" ' In some respects,' says the future observer, ' their code of 
conduct seems not to have advanced beyond, but to have gone back 
from the code of a still more ancient people from whom their creed 
was derived . . . The relations of their creed to the creed of this 
ancient people are indeed difficult to understand. . . Not only did 
they, in the law of retaliation, outdo the Jews, instead of obeying 
the quite opposite principle of the teacher they worshipped as divine, 
but they obeyed the Jewish law, and disobeyed their divine teacher 
in other ways, as in the rigid observance of every seventh day, 
which he had deliberately discountenanced . . . Their substantial 
adhesion to the creed they professedly repudiated, was clearly 
demonstrated by this, that in each of their temples they fixed up in 
some conspicuous place the Ten Commandments of the Jewish 
religion, while they rarely, if ever, fixed up the two Christian 
Commandments given instead of them. And yet,' says the reporter, 
after dilating on these strange facts, ' though the English were 
greatly given to missionary enterprises of all kinds, and though I 
sought diligently among the records of these, I could find no trace 
of a society for converting the English people from Judaism to 
Christianity.' " 

It is, indeed, a strange circumstance that Christian 
teachings in our time respecting the observance of each 



Saturn and the Sabbath of the Jews. 291 

seventh day, should be at variance, not only with what is 
known of the origin of the observance of Sunday, as 
distinguished from the Sabbath of the Jews, but even 
more emphatically with the teachings of Christ, both as 
to the purpose of a day of rest, and as to the manner in 
which the poor should be considered. Our Sunday is in 
fact, if not in origin, the Sabbath of the Jews, not the 
Lord's Day of the Apostles ; it is regarded, not as a day 
set apart to refresh those who toil, but as though man 
were made for its observance ; while the soul-wearying 
gloom of the day is so ordered as to affect chiefly the 
poorer classes, who want rest from work and anxiety, 
not rest from the routine of social amusements, which 
are unknown to them. But although the thoroughly non- 
Christian nature of our seventh day is remarkable in a 
country professedly Christian, and although it is a serious 
misfortune for us that an arrangement which might be 
most beneficial to the working classes is rendered mis- 
chievous by the way in which it is carried out, I certainly 
have no purpose here to discuss the vexed question of 
Sunday observance. There are some points, however, 
suggested by Spencer's reference to the origin of our 
weekly resting day, which are even more curious than 
those on which he touches. We take our law of weekly 
rest from Moses ; we practically follow Jewish observances 
in this matter : but in this, except in so far as the contrast 
between Judaism and Christianity is concerned, there is 
nothing incongruous. For the Jewish nation was of old 
the sole Eastern nation whose priesthood taught the 



292 Our Place among Infinities. 

worship of one God, and resisted the tendency of their 
people to worship the gods of other nations. But the real 
origin of the Jewish Sabbath was far more singular. The 
observance was derived from an Egyptian, and primarily 
from a Chaldeean source. Moreover, an astrological origin 
may be recognized in the practice ; rest being enjoined by 
Egyptian priests on the seventh day, simply because they 
regarded that day as a dies infaustus, when it was unlucky 
to undertake any work. 

It needs no very elaborate reasoning to prove that the 
Jewish observance of the Sabbath began during the sojourn 
in Egypt. Without entering into the difficult question of 
the authorship and date of the Pentateuch, we can perceive 
that the history of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the 
Elohistic portion of the narrative, is introductory to the 
account of the Jews' sojourn in Egypt and exodus thence 
under their skilful and prudent commander, Moses. It is 
incredible that the person who combined these two 
accounts into one history, including an exact record of the 
rules for observing festivals, should have failed to add 
some reference to the seventh day of rest when quoting 
(from the Elohist) the ordinances which Abraham and the 
other patriarchs were so carefully enjoined to obey, if it 
really had been' a point of duty in patriarchal times to 
keep holy the seventh day. In every injunction to the 
Israelites after they left Egypt, the duty of keeping the 
Sabbath is strongly dwelt upon. It not only became from 
this time one of the commandments, but " a sign between 
the Lord and the children of Israel for ever." In the 



Saturn and the Sabbath of the Jews. 293 

patriarchal times, on the contrary, we find no mention of 
it : the test of righteousness was the worship of one God 
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In the book of 
Job, again, no reference whatever is made to the ob- 
servance of the Sabbath ; and this is the more remarkable 
because Job makes "solemn protestation of his integrity " in 
several duties. He claims integrity in the worship of God ; 
" If I beheld the sun when it shined," he says, " or the 
moon walking in brightness, and my heart hath been 
secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand " (the 
token of worship), "this also were an iniquity to be 
punished by the judge : for I should have denied the God 
that is above." But he says no word about the observance 
which, after the exodus, is so specially associated with the 
worship of God. 

It is, indeed, somewhat singular that the observance of 
the Sabbath should be derived from far remoter times, by 
those who insist on the literal exactness of the Bible 
record, seeing that the Bible distinctly assigns the exodus 
from Egypt as the epoch when the observance had its 
origin. For Moses, in solemnly reminding all Israel of 
the covenant in Horeb, says : 

" Remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and 
that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence, through a mighty 
hand and by a stretched-out arm : therefore the Lord thy God com- 
manded thee to keep the Sabbath-day." (Deut. v. 15). 

And these words occupy the position in the Fourth Com- 
mandment, which, in Exodus xx. 11, is occupied by the 
orcls, 'For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth,' &c. 



294 O ur Place among Infinities. 

Assigning the origin of the first Jewish observance of 
the Sabbath to the time of the exodus, we are forced to 
the conclusion that the custom of keeping each seventh 
day as a day of rest was derived from the people amongst 
whom the Jews had been sojourning more than two 
hundred years. It is unreasonable to suppose that Moses 
would have added to the almost overwhelming difficulties 
which he had to encounter in dealing with the obstinate 
people he led from Egypt, the task of establishing a new 
festival. Such a task is at all times difficult, but at the 
time of the exodus it would have been hopeless to under- 
take it. The people were continually rebelling against 
Moses, because he sought to turn them from the worship 
of the gods of Egypt, in whom they were disposed to trust. 
It was no time to establish a new festival, unless one could 
be devised which should correspond with the customs 
they had learned in Egypt. Moses would seem indeed to 
have pursued a course of compromise.* Opposing man- 

* There is a passage in Jeremiah which, as it seems to me, cannot 
otherwise be reconciled with the Pentateuch viz., chapter vii. 21-23, 
where he says, " Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel ; Put 
your burnt-offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh. For I spake 
not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought 
them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices : 
but this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey uiy voice, and I will 
be your God, and ye shall be my people ; and walk ye in all the ways 
that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you." It seems 
plainly intimated here that (in Jeremiah's opinion, at any rate) the 
ordinances relating to burnt-offerings and sacrifices on the Sabbath and 
new moons were not commanded by God, however plainly the account 
in the Pentateuch may seem to suggest the contrary ; and the two 
accounts can scarcely be reconciled except by supposing that the Mosaic 
laws on these points were intended to regulate and also to sanction an 
observance not originally instituted by Moses. 



Saturn and the Sabbath of the Jews. 295 

fully the worship of the Egyptian gods, he adopted, never- 
theless, Egyptian ceremonies and festivals, only so far 
modifying them that (as he explained them) they ceased 
to be associated with the worship of false gods. 

We have also historical evidence as to the non-Jewish 
origin of the observance of the seventh day, as decisive 
as the arguments I have been considering. For Philo- 
Judaeus, Josephus, Clement of Alexandria, and others, 
speak plainly of the week as not of Jewish origin, but 
common to all the Oriental nations. I do not wish, how- 
ever, to make use of such evidence here, important though 
it is or rather because it is so important that it could 
not properly be dealt with in the space available to me. 
I wish to consider only the evidence which lies directly 
before us in the Bible pages, combining it with the astro- 
nomical, relations which are involved in the question. 
For it is to an astronomical or rather an astrological 
interpretation that we are led, so soon as we recognise 
the non-Jewish origin of the Sabbath. Beyond all doubt, 
the week is an astronomical period, and that in a two-fold 
sense ; it is first a rough sub-division of the lunar month, 
and in the second place it is a period derived directly 
from the number of celestial bodies known to ancient 
astronomers as moving upon the sphere of the fixed stars. 

The astronomical origin of the Sabbath is shown by 
the Mosaic laws as to festivals, illustrated by occasional 
passages in other parts of the Bible. In the 28th chapter 
of Numbers we find four forms of sacrifice to be offered at 
regular intervals first the continual burnt-offering to be 



296 Our Place among Infinities. 

made at sunrise and at sunset (these epochs, "be it noted, 
being important in the astrological system of the 
Egyptians) ; secondly, the offering on the Sabbath ; 
thirdly, the offering in the time of the new moon ; and 
fourthly, the offering at the luui-solar festival of the 
Passover. That is, we have daily, weekly, monthly, and 
yearly offerings. An attempt has been made to show that 
in the beginning of the Mosaic rule the months were not 
lunar; but, apart from all other evidence, repeated re- 
ferences to " Sabbaths and new moons" negative this view, 
and show that as Spencer (Hit. iii 1) maintains, the 
Hebrews began their month when the new moon first 
appeared. It is also clear from the nature of the offerings 
made, that the festival of the new moon was held in equal 
esteem with the Sabbath ; and although the observances 
were different, yet both days were strictly religious in 
character. For when the Shunammite woman said to her 
husband that she would "run to the man of God," he 
answers (supposing she went to hear the sacred books 
read), "Wherefore wilt thou go to him to-day? it is neither 
new moon nor Sabbath." And again, the new moon 
resembled the Sabbath in being a day when sale was 
prohibited. " Hear this," says Amos, "O ye that swallow 
up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, 
saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may 
sell corn ? and the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat?" 
It seems also, as Tirin has pointed out, that servile work 
was prohibited, for we read (1 Samuel xx. 18, 19) that 
Jonathan said to David, " To-morrow is the new moon : 



Saturn and the Sabbath of the yews. 297 

and thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will be empty. 
And when thou hast stayed three days, then thou shalt go 
down quickly, and come to the place where thou didst hide 
thyself when the business was in hand" or as in the Douay 
translation, " in the day when it is lawful to work." * 

We have evidence equally clear to show that the seven 
days of the week were connected with the seven planets, 
that is, with the seven celestial bodies which appear to 
move among the stars. It was by no mere accidental 
agreement between the number of the days and the number 
of planets that so many of the Oriental nations were led 
to name the days of the week after the planets. The 
arrangement of the nomenclature is indeed so peculiar that 
a common origin for the practice must be admitted, when 
we find the same arrangement adopted by nations otherwise 
diverse in character and habits. Moreover, the arrange- 
ment is manifestly associated with Sabaism on the one 

* Tirin also asserts that the Jews observed the lunar system, and 
that their months consisted of 29 and 30 days alternately (294 days, 
within about three-quarters of an hour, being the length of the mean 
lunar month). Hence the feast of the new moon came to be called the 
thirtieth Sabbath, that is, the Sabbath, of the thirtieth day. Thus 
Horace (Sat. I. ix.) " flodie tricesima sabbata : vin' tu Curtis Judaeis 
oppedere ? " Macrobius mentions that the Greeks, Komans, Egyptians, 
Arabians, &c., worshipped the moon (Sat. I. xv.) ? and it is probable that 
despite the care of Moses on this point, the Jews were prone to return 
to the moon-worship whence the feast of the new moon had its origin. 
We must not, however, infer this from the passage in Jeremiah vii. 
17, 18, " Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the 
streets of Jerusalem ? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle, 
the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen 
of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings unto other gods." For the 
queen of heaven is Athor, parent of the universe. 



298 Our Place among Infinities. 

hand, and with astrological superstitions on the other; and 
we find the clearest evidence in the Bible not only that 
Sabaism and astrology were known to the Jews, but that 
Moses had extreme difficulty in separating the observances 
he enjoined (or permitted ?) from the worship of the Host 
of Heaven. He was learned, we know, in all the wisdom 
of the Egyptians (Acts vii 22), and therefore he must 
have known those astronomical facts, and have been 
familiar with those astrological superstitions, which the 
Chaldaeans had imparted to the Egyptians of the days of 
the Pharaohs.* It is noteworthy, too, that the first 
difficulties he met with in the exodus arose from the wish 
of the Jews to return to Sabaism. This is not manifest in 
the original narrative; but the real meaning of the account 
is evident from the following passage (Acts vii 40), where 
Stephen, speaking of Moses, says, "This is he ... whom 
our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and 
in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, saying unto 
Aaron, Make us gods to go before us ; for as for this Moses, 
which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not 
what is become of him. And they made a calf in those 
days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in 
the works of their own hands. Then God turned, and 

* He showed considerable skill, if -Dr Beke was right, in his applica- 
tion of such knowledge (combined with special knowledge acquired 
during his stay in Midian) so that his people should cross a part of the 
Gulf of Suez during an exceptionally low tide. For though the 
Egyptians may have been acquainted with the general tidal motion in 
the Red Sea, it may well be believed that the army of Pharaoh would 
be less familiar than Moses with local peculiarities affecting (in his time) 
the movements of that sea. 



Saturn and the Sabbath of the Jews. 299 

gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is 
written in the book of the prophets .... Ye took up the 
tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Eemphan, 
figures which ye made to worship them." * 

Now I might pass from what has here been shewn, to 
the direct inference that the Sabbath corresponded with 
the day which Oriental Sabaisin consecrated to the planet 
Saturn ; because we have the clearest possible evidence 
that all nations which adopted the week as a measure of 
time named the seven days after the same planets. 
But I prefer, at some risk of appearing to weaken 

* This passage, and the passage from Amos, to which the proto- 
martyr refers, are curious in connection with the special subject of this 
paper, as indicated by its title. For where Stephen says Remphan, 
Amos says Chiun. Now it is maintained by Grotius that Remphan is 
the same as Rimmon, whom Naaman worshipped, and Rimmon or 
Remmon signifies "elevated" (lit. a pomegranate), and is understood 
by Grotius to refer to Saturn, the highest of the planets. (The student 
of astronomy will remember Galileo's anagram on the words 
" Altissimum planetam tergeminum observavi") Now Chiun, which 
denotes a "pedestal," is considered to be equivalent in this place to 
Chevan, or Kevan, the Saturn of the Arabians. (Parkhurst men- 
tions that the Peruvians worshipped Choun. Moloch, of course, 
signifies king. Because children were sacrificed to Moloch, Bonfre"re 
considers this god to be the same as Saturn, described as devouring his 
own children. If so, the words "tabernacle of Moloch and the star 
of Remphan " relate to the same special form of Sabaism that, namely, 
which assigned to Saturn the chief place among the star-gods. I must 
remark, however, that this point is by no means essential for the main 
argument of this paper, which is in reality based on the unquestioned 
fact that amongst all the nations which used the week as a division of 
time, the seventh day was associated with the planet Saturn. It is 
necessary to call attention to this point, because not unfrequently it 
happens that some subsidiary matter, such as that touched on in this 
note, is dealt with as though the whole question at issue turned 
upon it. 



3OO Our Place among Infinities. 

the argument by introducing matters less certain, to 
consider the evidence we have as to the position of the 
god corresponding to the Latin Saturn in the Assyrian 
mythology. 

Many years since, Colonel (then Major) Eawlinson, in a 
paper read before the Eoyal Asiatic Society, referring to 
an inscription beginning, " This the Palace of Sardanapalus, 
the humble worshipper of Assarach," made the following 
remarks : 

"There can be no doubt," he said, (I quote from a report not pro- 
fessing to be verbatim) " that this Assarach was the Nisroch 
mentioned in Scripture, in whose temple Sennacherib was slain. He 
was most probably the deified father of the tribes, the Assur 
of the Bible. This Assarach was styled in all the inscriptions as 
the king, the father, and the ruler of the gods, thug answering 
to the Greek god, Chronos, or Saturn, in Assyrio- Hellenic my- 
thology." 

Again Layard, speaking of Assyrian mythology, says 

" All we can now venture to infer is that the Assyrians worshipped 
one supreme God as the great national deity, under whose 
immediate and special protection they lived, and their empire 
existed. The name of this god appears to have been Asshur, 
as nearly as can be determined at present from the inscriptions. 
It was identified with that of the empire itself, always called ' the 
country of Asshur.' With Asshur, but apparently far inferior to 
him in the celestial hierarchy, although called the great gods, were 
associated twelve other deities . . These twelve gods may have 
presided over the twelve months of the year." (Nineveh and Babylon, 
p. 637.) 

In a note, Layard refers to doubts expressed by Colonel 
Eawlinson respecting the identity of Asshur and Nisroch, 
presumably removed by Eawlinson's later reading of the 



Saturn and the Sabbath of the Jews. 301 

inscription referred to above. He remarks that this 
supreme god was represented sometimes under a triune 
form ; and ' generally, if not always, typified by a winged 
figure in a circle.' Plate XIV. of my treatise on Saturn 
shews how these two descriptions are reconcilable ; for 
there are shewn in it two figures of Msroch, both winged 
and within a ring, but one only triune.* 

Amongst the twelve great gods were included six 
corresponding" to the remaining planets, though doubts 
exist as to the gods associated with the different 
celestial bodies. It seems probable that Sham ash cor- 
responded with the Sun ; Ishtar (Astarte or Ashtar) with 
the Moon ; Bel with Jupiter -f- ; Merodach with Mars ; 
Mylitta with Venus ; and Nebo with Mercury. But the 



* I do not here dwell on the curious coincidence if, indeed, Chaldean 
astronomers had not discovered the ring of Saturn that they shewed 
the god corresponding within a ring, and triple. Galileo's first view 
of Saturn, with feeble telescopic power, shewed the planet as triple 
(tergeminus) ; and very moderate optical knowledge, such indeed as we 
may fairly infer from the presence of optical instruments among Assyrian 
remains, might have led to the discovery of Saturn's ring and Jupiter's 
Moons. (Bel, the Assyrian Jupiter, was represented sometimes with 
four star-tipped wings.) But it is possible that these are mere coinci- 
dences. Saturn would naturally come to be regarded as the God of 
Time, on account of his slow motion round the ecliptic ; and thus the 
ring (a natural emblem of time) might be expected to appear in figures 
of the god corresponding to this planet. It is curious, however, that 
the ring is flat, and proportioned like Saturn's. 

t Layard associates Bel, " the father of the great gods," with Saturn, 
and Mylitta the consort of Bel with Venus, but without giving any 
reasons, and probably merely as a guess. He elsewhere remarks, how- 
ever, that from Baal came the Belus of the Greeks, who was confounded 
with their own Zeus or Jupiter, and apart from the clear evidence 
associating Nisroch with Saturn, the evidence connecting Bel with 



302 Our Place among Infinities. 

question would only be of importance in its bearing on my 
present subject, if we knew the Assyrian time-measure-- 
ment, and especially their arrangement of the days of the 
week. Since we have to pass to other sources of informa- 
tion on this point, the only really important fact in the 
Assyrian mythology, for our purpose, is the nearly certain 
one that their supreme god Asshur or Nisroch corresponded 
to the ' highest ' or outermost planet Saturn. He was also 
the Time God, thus corresponding to Chronos. But it is 
necessary to notice here that mythological relations must 
to some degree be separated from astrological considera- 
tions, in dealing with the connection between various 
Assyrio-Chaldsean deities and the planets. For instance, 
it is important in mythology to observe that the Greek 
god Chronos and the Latin god Saturn are unlike in many 
of their attributes, yet the association between the planet 
Saturn and the Assyrian deity Nisroch is not on that 
account brought into question, although we can only 
connect Nisroch with Saturn by means of the common 
relation of both to Chronos. 

Many circumstances point to the Chaldaean origin of 
Egyptian astronomy. The Egyptian zodiac corresponded 
with the Dodecatemoria of the Chaldseans, and though 
some of the Chaldaean constellations were modified in 
Egyptian temples, yet sufficient general resemblance exists 
between the Egyptian arrangement and that which other 

Jupiter is tolerably satisfactory. The point is not important, however, 
in relation to the subject of this paper. On etymological grounds, Yav, 
the fifth of the great gods, may perhaps be associated with Zeus, 
identical with the Sanscrit Dyaus, and the Latin root " Jov." 



Saturn and the Sabbath of the Jews. 303 

nations derived from the Chaldseans, to shew the real 
origin of the figures which adorn Egyptian zodiac temples.* 
The argument derived from astrological fancies is even 
stronger, for the whole system of astrological divination is 
so artificial and peculiar that it must of necessity be 
ascribed to one nation. To find the system prevailing 

* In an essay on ' The Shield of Achilles ' ( ' Light Science for 
Leisure Hours, ' first series), I called attention, seven years ago, to the 
probability that the description of the Shield, a manifest interpolation, 
related originally to a zodiac temple, erected by star- worshippers long 
before Homer's time. Some of the Egyptian zodiac temples exist to 
his day, though probably they belong to a much later date, and were 
only copies (more or less perfect) of the ancient Chaldsean temples. 
That Homer, if he had visited such a temple, and had composed a poem 
descriptive of its sculptured dome, would have 'worked in' that 
description if he saw the opportunity when singing the Iliad, all 
Homeric students will be ready to admit. Like every improvisatore, 
the glorious old minstrel knew the advantage of the rest afforded by 
an occasional change from invention to recitation. In so using it, he 
appears to have pruned the description considerably ; for in the 
' Shield of Hercules ' (manifestly taken from the same Homeric poem, 
though sometimes attributed to Hesiod) we find, along with much 
almost identical matter, several passages which are omitted from the 
Achillean description. Very curious evidence of the nature of the 
original poem is found in one of these passages. In a zodiac.emple, the 
constellation of the Dragon (whatever the age of the temple) would 
occupy the boss or centre of the dome, for the north pole of the zodiac 
falls in the middle of that constellation. Now in the ' Shield of 
Hercules ' 

' The scaly horror of a dragon coil'd 
Full in the central field, unspeakable 
With eyes oblique retorted, that aslant 
Shot gleaming flame. 

(The very attitude, be it noted, of the Dragon of the Star sphere.) 
There is much more evidence of this kind to which, for want of space, 
I cannot here refer. 



304 Our Place among Infinities. 

among any people is of itself a sufficient proof that they 
were taught by that nation. Nor can any question arise 
as to the nation which invented the system. The 
Egyptians themselves admitted the superiority of the 
Chaldaean astrologers, and the common consent of all the 
Oriental nations accorded with this view. We know that 
in Rome, although Armenians, Egyptians, and Jews were 
consulted as astronomers, Chaldseans were held to "be the 
most proficient. 'Chaldseis sed major erit fiducia,' says 
Juvenal, of the Eoman ladies, who consulted fortune- 
tellers : ' quicquid Dixerit astrologus, credent a fonte 
relatis Ammonis,' whatever the Chalda?an astrologers 
may say, they trust as though it came from Jupiter 
Ammon. Another argument in favour of the Chaldsean 
origin of astronomy and astrology is derived from the fact 
that the systems of astronomy taught in Egypt, Babylon, 
Persepolis, and elsewhere, do not correspond with the 
latitude of these places ; but this argument (which I have 
considered at some length in Appendix A. to my treatise 
on Saturn) need not detain us here. It is sufficient to 
observe that in Egypt the astrological system was early 
received and taught : 

'Egypt,' says a modern writer, 'a country noted for the love- 
liness of its nights, might well be the supporter of such a 
system . . To each planet was attributed a mystic influence, and 
to every heavenly body a supernatural agency, and all the stars that 
gem the sky were supposed to exert an influence, over the birth, and 
life, and destiny of man ; hence arose the casting of nativities, 
prayers, incantations, and sacrifices, of which we have traces even 
to the present day in those professors of astrology and divination, the 



Saturn and the Sabbath of the Jews. 305 

gipsies, whose very name links them with the ancient country of 
such arts."* 

One of the cardinal principles of astrology was this : 
that every hour and every day is ruled by its proper 
planet. Now, in the ancient Egyptian astronomy there 
were seven planets ; two, the sun, and moon, circling 
round the earth, the rest circling round the sun. The 
period of circulation was apparently taken as the measure 
of each planet's dignity, probably because it was judged 
that the distance corresponded to the period. We know 
that some harmonious relation between the distances and 
periods was supposed to exist. When Kepler discovered 
the actual law, he conceived that he had in reality found 
out the mystery of Egyptian astronomy, or, as he expressed 
it, that he had " stolen the golden vases of the Egyptians. " 
Whether they had clear ideas as to the nature of this 
relation or not, it is certain that they arranged the planets 
in order (beginning with the planet of longest period) as 
follows : 

1. Saturn. 5. Venus. 

2. Jupiter. 6. Mercury. 

3. Mars. 7. The Moon. 
4. The Sun. 

The hours were devoted in continuous succession to 
these bodies ; and as there were twenty-four hours in each 
Chaldeean or Egyptian day, it follows that with whatever 

* This may be questioned. It is said, however, that when the 
gipsies first made their appearance in Western Europe, about the year 
1415, their leader called himself Duke of Lower Egypt. 



306 Our Place among Infinities. 

planet the day began the cycle of seven planets (beginning 
with that one) was repeated three times, making twenty- 
one hours, and then the first three planets of the cycle 
completed the twenty-four hours, so that the fourth 
planet of the cycle (so begun) ruled the first hour of the 
next day. Suppose, for instance, the first hour of any 
day was ruled by the Sun the cycle for the day would 
therefore be the Sun, Venus, Mercury, the Moon, Saturn, 
Jupiter, and Mars, which, repeated three times, would 
give twenty-one hours ; the twenty-second, twenty-third 
and twenty-fourth hours would be ruled respectively by 
the Sun, Venus, and Mercury, and the first hour of the 
next day would be ruled by the Moon. Proceeding in 
the same way through this second day, we find that the 
first hour of the third day would be ruled by Mars. The 
first hour of the fourth day would be ruled by Mercury ; 
the first hour of the fifth day by Jupiter ; of the sixth by 
Venus ; and of the seventh by Saturn. The seven days 
in order, being assigned to the planet ruling their first 
hour, would therefore be 

1. The Sun's day (Sunday). 

2. The Moon's day (Monday, Lundi). 

3. Mars' day (Tuesday, Mardi). 

4. Mercury's day (Wednesday, Mercredi). 

5. Jupiter's day (Thursday, Jeudi). 

6. Venus's day (Friday, Veneris dies, Vendredi). 

7. Saturn's day (Saturday ; Ital. il Sabbato). 

Dion Cassius, who wrote in the 3rd century of our era, 



Saturn and the Sabbath of the Jews. 307 

gives this explanation of the nature of the Egyptian week 
and of the method in which the arrangement was derived 
from their system of astronomy. It is a noteworthy point 
that neither the Greeks nor Romans in his time used the 
week, which was a period of strictly Oriental origin. 
The Eomans only adopted the week in the time of 
Theodosius, towards the close of the fourth century, and 
the Greeks divided the month into periods of ten days ; so 
that, for the origin of the arrangement connecting the days 
of the week with the planets, we must look to the source 
indicated by Dion Cassius. It is a curious illustration of 
the way in which traditions are handed down, not only 
from generation to generation, but from nation to nation, 
that the Latin and western nations receiving the week 
along with the doctrines of Christianity, should neverthe- 
less have adopted the nomenclature in use among 
astrologers. It is impossible to "say how widely the 
superstitions of astrology had spread, or how deeply they 
had penetrated, for the practices of astrologers were 
carried on in secret, wherever Sabaism was rejected as a 
form of religion ; but that in some mysterious way 
these superstitions spread among nations professing 
faith in one God, and that even to this day they are 
secretly accepted in Mahometan and even Christian com- 
munities, cannot be disputed. How much more must 
such superstitions have affected the Jews, led out by Moses 
from the very temple of astrology ? Knowing what we do 
of the influence of such superstitions in our own time, can 
we wonder if three thousand years ago Moses found it 
14 



308 Our Place among Infinities. 

difficult to dispossess his followers of their belief in " the 
host of heaven," or if, a few generations later, even the 
reputed prophetess Deborah should have been found 
proclaiming that " the stars in their courses " had fought 
against the enemies of Israel.* 

* We are apt to overlook the Pagan origin of many ideas referred to 
in the Bible, as well as of many ceremonies which Moses at least per- 
mitted, if he did not enjoin. The description of the Ark of the Cove- 
nant, of the method of sacrifices, of the priestly vestments, &c. , indicate 
in the clearest manner an Egyptian or Assyrian origin. The cherubim, 
for instance figures which united, as Calmet has shewn, the body of 
the lion or ox with the wings of an eagle are common in Assyrian 
scriptures. The oracle of the temple differed only from some of the 
chambers of Nimrod and Korsabad, in the substitution of ' palm trees ' 
for the sacred tree of Assyrian scriptures, and open flowers for the 
Assyrian tulip-shaped ornament. Layard (' Nineveh and Babylon,' p. 
643) states further that 'in the Assyrian halls, the winged human- 
headed bulls were on the side of the wall, and their wings, like those of 
the cherubim, 'touched one another in the midst of the house.' 
The dimensions of these figures were in some cases nearly the same 
namely, fifteen feet square. The doors were also carved with cherubim 
and palm trees, and open flowers, and thus, with the other parts of the 
building, corresponded with those of the Assyrian palaces. On the 
walls at Nineveh, the only addition appears to have been, the intro- 
duction of the human form and the image of the king, which were an 
abomination to the Jews. The pomegranates and lilies of Solomon's 
temple must have been nearly identical with the usual 'Assyrian 
ornament, in which and particularly at Khorsabad the pomegranate 
frequently takes the place of the tulip and the cone.' After quoting 
the description given by Josephus of the interior of one of Solomon's 
houses, which even more closely corresponds with and illustrates the 
chambers in the palace of Nineveh, Layard makes the following 
remark : ' To complete the analogy between the two edifices, it would 
appear that Solomon was seven years building the temple, and Sen- 
nacherib about the same time building his great palace at Kouyunjik.' 
The introduction into the Ark of figures so remarkable as the cherubim 
can hardly be otherwise explained than by assuming that these figures 
corresponded with some objects which the Jews during their stay 



Saturn and the Sabbath of the Jews. 309 

That the Egyptians dedicated the seventh day of the 
week to the outermost or highest planet, Saturn, is certain ; 
and it is presumable that this day was a day of rest in 
Egypt. It is not known, however, whether this was 
ordained in honour of the chief planet that is their 
supreme deity, or because it was held unlucky to work on 
that day. It by no means follows from the fact that 
Nisroch, or his Egyptian representative, was the chief 
deity, that he was therefore regarded as a beneficent ruler. 
Rather what we know of Oriental superstitions would 
lead us to infer that the chief deity in a system of several 
gods was one to be propitiated. And indeed, the little we 
know of Egyptian mythology suggests that the beneficent 
gods were those corresponding to the sun and moon, 
later represented by Osiris and Isis (deities, however, 
which had other interpretations), Saturn, though superior 

in Egypt had learned to associate with religious ceremonies. That 
the Egyptians used such figures, placing them at the entrance of their 
temples, is certain. Neither can it be doubted that the setting of 
dishes, spoons, bowls, shewbread, &c., on the table within the Ark, 
was derived from Egyptian ceremonials, though direct evidence on 
these points is not (so far as I know) available. We know, however, 
that meats of all kinds were set before Baal (see 'Apocrypha,' Bel 
and the Dragon). The remarkable breast-plate worn by the Jewish 
high priest was derived directly from the Egyptians. In the often- 
repeated picture of judgment the deceased Egyptian is seen conducted 
by the god Horus, while ' Anubis places on one of the balances a vase 
supposed to contain his good actions, and in the other is the emblem of 
truth, a representation of Thmei, the goddess of Truth, which was also 
worn on the judicial breast-plate.' Wilkinson, in his ' Manners and 
Customs of the Ancient Egyptians,' shows that the Hebrew Thummim 
is a plural form of the word Thmei. The symbolism of the breast-plate 
is referred to in the ' Apocrypha, ' Book of Wisdom, Ixviii. 24. 



3 io Our Place among Infinities. 

to the sun and moon, not only in the sense in which 
modern astronomers use the term superior, but also in the 
power attributed to him, was probably a maleficent if not 
a malignant deity. We may infer this from the qualities 
attributed to him by astrologers 

* If Saturn be predominant in any man's nativity, and cause melan- 
choly in his temperature,' says Burton, in his 'Anatomy of Melan- 
choly,' 'then he shall be very austere, sullen, churlish, black of 
colour, profound in his cogitations, full of cares, miseries, and 
discontents, sad and fearful, always silent and solitary.' 

"VVe may not unreasonably conclude, therefore, that either 
rest was enjoined on Saturn's day as a religious observance 
to propitiate this powerful but gloomy god, or else because 
bad fortune was expected to attend any enterprise begun 
on the day over which Saturn bore sway. The evil 
influence, as well as the great power attributed to Saturn, 
are indicated in the well-known lines of Chaucer : 

' . . . Quod Saturne, 
My core, that hath so wide for to turne, 
Hath more power than wot any man ; 

***** 

' I do vengeaunce and pleine correction 

While I dwell in the signe of the leon ; 

***** 

' Min ben also the maladies colde 
The darke tresons, and the castes oldo 
My loking is the fader of pestilence.' 

It is, however, possible that the idea of rest on the day 
dedicated to Saturn may have been suggested to Egyptian 
astrologers and priests by the slow motion of the planet in 



Saturn and the Sabbath of the Jews. 3 1 1 

his orbit, whereby the circuit of the ecliptic is only com- 
pleted in about twenty-nine years. 

However this may be, we know certainly that on the 
Sabbath of the Jews rest was enjoined for a different 
reason. Moses adopted the Egyptian week and allowed 
the practice of a weekly day of rest to continue. But in 
order that the people whom he led and instructed might 
not fall into the worship of the host of heaven, he 
associated the observance of the seventh day with the 
worship of that one God in whom he enjoined them to 
believe, the God of their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob. So far as appears from the Bible narrative, there 
is no scriptural objection to this view. On the contrary, 
strong scriptural reasons exist for accepting it. If the 
account of the creation given in the first chapter of 
Genesis could be accepted as literally exact, it neverthe- 
less would not follow that the seventh day of rest was 
enjoined before the time of exodus. And we have seen 
that the Bible account itself assigns the departure from 
Egypt as a reason for the observance, so that whatever 
view we form respecting the real origin of the seventh 
day of rest, we have no choice as to the time we must 
assign for the commencement of its observance by the 
Jews, unless Deuteronomy v. be rejected as not even 
historically trustworthy. 

Nothing, therefore, that I have shewn in this paper 
need be regarded as necessarily opposed to the faith of 
those who honestly believe in the literal exactness of the 
reason assigned in Exodus xxxi. 17, for the observance of 



3 1 2 Our Place among Infinities. 

the Sabbath 'of the Jews. Such persons may accept 
the week as of Pagan origin, and the original observance of 
Saturn's day as of astrological significance, while believing 
in the reason given by Moses for the adoption of the practice 
by his followers, that ' in six days the Lord made heaven and 
earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.' 
(The idea of rest, accepted literally, accords neither better 
nor worse with the conception of an Almighty Creator, 
than the idea of work.) But it seems to me that those 
who thus regard the Jewish Sabbath as a divinely in- 
stituted compromise between the worship of the seven 
planets as gods, and the worship of one only God the 
Creator of all things, may yet find in what I have here 
shewn a new reason for Christianising our seventh day of 
rest, even if we must still continue to miscall it the 
Sabbath. Since it was permissible for Moses to adopt 
a Pagan practice (to sanction, if not to sanctify, a super- 
stition), it may well be believed that a greater than Moses 
was entitled to change the mode of observance of the 
seventh day of rest. We know that in Christ's time the 
Sabbath (of its very nature a convenient ceremonial 
substitute for true religion) had become a hideous tyranny ; 
nay, that many, wanting real goodness, were eager to 
prove their virtue by inflicting the Sabbath on those who 
most needed 'to rest and be refreshed' on that day. 
Whether in the obedience to the teaching of Christ, who 
(we learn) rebuked those hypocrites, all this has been 
changed in our time, is a point which may be left to the 
reflection of the reader. 



THOUGHTS ON ASTROLOGY. 

WE are apt to speak of astrology as though it were an alto- 
gether contemptible superstition, and to contemplate with 
pity those who believed in it in old times. And yet, if we 
consider the matter aright, we must concede, I think, that 
of all the errors into which men have fallen in their desire 
to penetrate into futurity, astrology is the most respectable, 
one may even say the most reasonable. Indeed, all other 
methods of divination of which I have ever heard, are not 
worthy to be mentioned in company with astrology, which, 
delusion though it was, had yet a foundation in thoughts 
well worthy of consideration. The heavenly bodies do rule 
the fates of men and nations in the most unmistakable 
manner, seeing that without the controlling and beneficent 
influences of the chief among those orbs the sun every 
living creature on the earth must perish. The ancients 
perceived that the moon has so potent an influence on our 
world that the waters of the ocean rise and fall in unison 
with her apparent circling motion around the earth. Seeing 
that two among the orbs which move upon the unchanging 
dome of the star-sphere are thus potent in terrestrial 
influences, was it not natural that the other moving bodies 
known to the ancients should be thought to possess also 



3 1 4 Our Place among Infinities. 

their special powers ? The moon, seemingly less important 
than the sun, not merely by reason of her less degree of 
splendour, but also because she performs her circuit of the 
star sphere in a shorter interval of time, was seen to possess 
a powerful influence, but still an influence far less import- 
ant than that exerted by the sun, or rather than the many 
influences manifestly emanating from him. But other 
bodies travelled in yet wider circuits if their distances could 
be inferred from their periods of revolution. Was it not 
reasonable to suppose that the influences exerted by those 
slowly moving bodies might be even more potent than 
those of the sun himself? Mars circling round the star- 
sphere in a period nearly twice as great as the sun's, Jupiter 
in twelve years, and Saturn in twenty-nine, might well be 
thought to be rulers of superior dignity to the sun, though 
less glorious in appearance ; and since no obvious direct 
effects are produced by them as they change in position, it 
was natural to attribute to them influences more subtle, 
but not the less potent. 

Thus was conceived the thought that the fortunes of 
every man born into the world depend on the position of 
the various planets at the moment of his birth. And if 
there was something artificial in the rules by which various 
influences were assigned to particular planets, or to 
particular aspects of the planets, it must be remembered 
that the system of astrology was formed gradually and 
perhaps tentatively. Some influences may have been 
inferred from observed events, the fate of this or that king 
or chief guiding astrologers in assigning particular in- 



Thoughts on Astrology. 3 1 5 

fluences to such planetary aspects as were presented at the 
time of his nativity;. Others may have been invented, and 
afterwards have found general acceptance because con- 
firmed by some curious coincidences. In the long run, 
indeed, any series of experimental predictions must have 
led to some very surprising fulfilments, that is, to fulfil- 
ments which would have been exceedingly surprising if 
the corresponding predictions had been the only ones made 
by astrologers. Such instances, carefully collected, may 
at first have been used solely to improve the system of 
prediction. The astrologer may have been careful to 
separate the fulfilled from the unfulfilled predictions, and 
thus to establish a safe rule. For it must be remembered, 
that admitting the cardinal principle of astrology, the 
astrologer had . every reason to believe that he could 
experimentally determine a true method of prediction. If 
the planets really rule the fate of each man, then we have 
only to calculate their position at the known time of any 
man's birth, and to consider his fortunes, to have facts 
whence to infer the manner in which their influence is 
exerted. The study of one man's life would of course be 
altogether insufficient. But when the fortunes of many 
men were studied in this way, the astrologer (always 
supposing his first supposition right) would have materials 
from which to form a system of prediction. 

Go a step further. Select a body of the ablest men in 
a country, and let them carry out continuous studies of 
the heavens, carefully calculate nativities for every person 
of note, or even for every soul born in their country, and 



3 1 6 Our Place among Infinities. 

compare the events of each person's life with the planetary 
relations presented at his birth. It is manifest that a 
trustworthy system of prediction would, in the long run, 
be deduced by them, if astrology have a rea~l basis in fact. 

I do not say that astrologers always proceeded in this 
experimental manner. Doubtless in those days, as now, 
men of science were variously constituted, some being 
disposed to trust chiefly to observation, while others were 
ready to generalize, and yet others evolved theories from 
the depths of their moral consciousness. Indeed, what we 
know of the development of astrology in later times, as 
well as the way in which other modes of divination have 
sprung into existence, shows that the natural tendency of 
astrologers would be to invent systems rather than to 
establish them by careful and long-continued observation. 
Within a very few years of the discovery of the spots on 
the sun, a tolerably complete system of divination was 
founded upon the appearance, formation, and motions of 
these objects. Certainly this system was not based on 
observation, nor will anyone suppose that the rules for 
' reading the hand ' had an observational origin, or that 
fortune-telling by means of cards was derived from a care- 
ful comparison of the result of shuffling, cutting and deal- 
ing, with the future fortunes of those for whose enlighten- 
ment these important processes were performed. 

But we must not forget that astrology was originally a 
science, though a false one. Grant the truth of its cardinal 
idea, and it had every right to this position. No office 
could be more important than that of the astrologer, no 



Thoughts on Astrology. 317 

services could be more useful than those he was capable 
of rendering according to his own belief as well as that of 
those who employed him. It is only necessary to mention 
the history of astrology to perceive the estimation in which 
it was held in ancient times. 

As to the extreme antiquity of astrology it is perhaps 
needless to speak ; indeed, its origin is so remote that we 
have only imperfect traditions respecting its earliest 
developments. Yet it may be worth while to mention 
some of these traditions, seeing that, whether true or not, 
they shew clearly enough the great antiquity attributed 
to astrology, even in times which to ourselves appear 
remote. Philo asserts that Terah, the father of Abraham, 
was skilled in all that relates to astrology ; and, according 
to Josephus, the Chaldsean Berosus attributed to Abraham 
a profound knowledge of arithmetic, astrology, and astro- 
nomy, in which sciences he instructed the Egyptians. 
Diodorus Siculus says that the Heliadse, or children of the 
sun (that is, men from the east,) excelled all other men in 
knowledge, particularly in the knowledge of the stars. 
One of this race, named Actis (a ray), built Heliopolis, 
and named it after his father, the sun. Thenceforward 
the Egyptians cultivated astrology with so much assiduity 
as to be considered its inventors. On the other hand 
Tatius says that the Egyptians taught the Chaldaeans 
astrology. The people of Thebais, according to Diodorus 
Siculus, claimed the power of predicting every future event 
with the utmost certainty ; they also asserted that they 
were of all races the most ancient. 



3 1 8 Our Place among Infinities. 

However, we have, both in Egypt and in Assyria 
records far more satisfactory than these conflicting state- 
ments to prove the great antiquity of astrology, and the 
importance attached to it when it was regarded as a 
science. The great pyramid in Egypt was unquestionably 
an astronomical, that is (for in the science of the ancients 
the two terms are convertible,) an astrological building. 
The Birs Nimroud,* supposed to be built on the ruins of 
the tower of Babel, was also built for astrologers. The 
forms of these buildings testify to the astronomical pur- 
pose for which they were erected. The great pyramid, 
like the inferior buildings copied from it, was most care- 
fully oriented, that is, the four sides were built facing 
exactly north, south, east, and west. The astronomical 
use of this arrangement is manifest. By looking along 
either of the two long straight sides lying east and west, 
the astronomer could tell the true east or west points of 
the horizon, and determine when the sun rose in the east f 



* Every brick hitherto removed from this edifice bears the stamp of 
King Nebuchadnezzar. It affords a wonderful idea of the extent and 
grandeur of the building raised by the tyrants of old times, that the 
ruins of a single building on the site of Babylon (Rich's Kasr) has ' for 
ages been the mine from which the builders of cities rising after the fall 
of Babylon have obtained their materials. ' Layard's ' Nineveh. ' 

+ A good story is told about the rising of the sun in the east, the 
point of the joke being different, perhaps, to astronomers, than to 
others : A certain baron was noted for never replying directly, even 
to the simplest questions, and a wager was laid that, if he were asked 
whether the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, he would not 
answer directly, even though told of the wager. The question was put, 
and he began ' The terms east and west, gentlemen, are conventional, 
but admitting that , ' the rest of the reply was lost, the wager 



Thoughts on Astrology. 319 

exactly, or set exactly in the west. By looking along the 
straight sides lying north and south, the astronomer could 
tell when the sun, or any other celestial body, was in the 
meridian. The figure of the pyramid has even been sup- 
posed to symbolize certain astronomical and mathematical 
relations ; and a long slanting passage, opening in its 
northern slope, has been supposed to have been intended 
for the observation of the star Alpha of the Dragon, the pole 
star of about 2,000 years before the Christian era. Indeed, 
some go so far as to say that the builders of the great 
pyramid were instructed by a divine revelation in planning 
and building the pyramid. This idea, however, seems absurd 
on the face of it, seeing that the only conceivable object of 
such a revelation would be to preserve and render always 
available certain important astronomical relations ; and 
the pyramid has not served this purpose, no one having 
understood it (according to those who have advanced this 
view) until now, when the building has lost the exactness 
of figure originally given to it. Tar more probably, it 
symbolized such knowledge as the astrologers of Chaldsea 
and of ancient Egypt possessed, and was specially intended 
to advance the study of astrology, from which men 
expected to gain a complete knowledge of the future. 
Proclus informs us that the pyramids terminated at the 

being won, which was all the enquirers cared for. If this worthy had 
answered simply ' Yes, ' the wager would have been lost, but the reply 
would not have been correct ; for the sun never has risen in the east 
and set in the west, exactly, at any place or on any day since the 
world began. If the sun rises due east on any day, he does not set due 
west, and vice versA. 



320 Our Place among Infinities. 

top in a platform, on which the priests made their celestial 
observations. 

The figure of the Babylonian temple of astronomy was 
probably different, though it is possible that Nebuchad- 
nezzar altogether modified the proportions of the original 
temple. We may infer the nature of the earlier use of 
such temples from later usages. We learn from Diodorus 
Siculus that, in the midst of Babylon, a great temple was 
erected by Semiramis, and dedicated to Belus or Jupiter, 
' and that on its roof or summit the Chaldean astronomers 
contemplated, and exactly noted, the risings and settings 
of the stars.' 

If we consider the manner in which the study of science, 
for its own sake, has always been viewed by Oriental 
nations, we must admit that these great buildings, and 
these elaborate and costly arrangements for continued 
observation, were not intended to advance the science of 
astronomy. Only the hope that results of extreme value 
would be obtained by observing the heavenly bodies 
could have led the monarchs of Assyria and of Older 
Egypt to make such lavish provision of money and labour 
for the erection and maintenance of astronomical observa- 
tories. So that, apart from the evidence we have of the 
astrological object of celestial observations in ancient 
times, we find in the very nature of the buildings erected 
for observing the stars the clearest proof that men in those 
times hoped to gain results of great value from such work. 
Now, we know that neither the improvement of navigation 
nor increased exactness in the surveying of the earth were 



Thoughts on Astrology. 321 

aimed at by those who built those ancient observatories : 
the only conceivable object they can have had was the 
discovery of a perfectly trustworthy system of prediction 
from the study of the motions of the heavenly bodies. 
That this was their object is shewn with equal clearness by 
the fact that such a system, according to their belief, was 
deduced from these observations, and was for ages accepted 
without question. 

Closely associated with astrological superstitions was 
the wide-spread form of religion called Sabaism, or the 
worship of the host of heaven (Sabaoth). It is not easy to 
determine whether the worship of the sun, moon, and 
planets, preceded or followed the study of the heavens as 
a means of divination. It is probable that the two forms 
of superstition sprang simultaneously into existence. 
The shepherds of Chaldasa, who 

'Watched from the centres of their sleeping flocks 
Those radiant Mercuries, that seemed to move, 
Carrying through aether in perpetual round, 
Decrees and resolutions of the gods, 

can hardly have regarded the planetary movements as 
indicating, without believing that those movements 
actually influenced, the fate of men and nations ; in other 
words the idea of planetary power must from the very 
beginning, it would seen*, Lave been associated with the 
idea of the significance of planetary motions. Be this as 
it may, it is certain that in the earliest times of which 
we have any historical record, belief in astrology was 
associated with the worship of the host of heaven. In the 



322 Our Place among Infinities. 

Bible record we find the teachers and rulers of the Jewish 
nation compelled continually to struggle against the 
tendency of that people to follow surrounding nations in 
forsaking the worship of the God of Sabaoth for the 
worship of Sabaoth, turning from the Creator to the 
creature. They would seem even, as the only means of 
diverting the people from the worship of those false gods, 
to have adopted all the symbols of Sabaism, explaining 
them, however, with sole reference to the God of Sabaoth. 
Moses adopted in this way the four forms of sacrifice to 
which the Jewish people had become accustomed in Egypt 
the offerings to the rising and setting sun (Numbers 
xxviii. 3, 4) ; the offerings on the day dedicated to the planet 
Saturn, chief of the seven star-gods (Numbers xxviii. 9) ; 
the offerings to the new moon (Numbers xxviii 11) ; and 
the offerings for the luni-solar festival belonging to the first 
month of the sun's annual circuit of the zodiacal constella- 
tions (Numbers xxviiL 16, 17). All these offerings were in 
a sense sanctified by the manner in which he enjoined them, 
and the new meaning he attached to them ; but that the 
original offerings were Sabaistic is scarcely open to question. 
The tenacity, indeed, with which astrological ceremonies 
and superstitions have maintained their position, even 
among nations utterly rejecting star-worship, and even in 
times when astronomy has altogether dispossessed astro- 
logy, indicates how wide and deep must have been the 
influence of those superstitions in remoter ages. Even now 
the hope on which astrological superstitions were based, 
the hope that we may one day learn to lift the veil 



Thoughts on Astrology. 323 

concealing the future from our view, has not been 
altogether abandoned. The wiser reject it as a supersti- 
tion, but even the wisest have at one time or other felt its 
delusive influence. 



THE END 



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Money and the Mechanism of Exchange. 

Vol. XVII. of the INTEBNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SERIES. By "W. STANLEY JEVONS, M. A., 
F. E. S., Professor of Logic and Political Economy in the Owens College, Man- 
chester. 1 vol., 12mo. Cloth. Price, $1.75. 

" He offers us what a clear-sighted, cool-headed, scientific student has to say on the 
nature, properties, and natural laws of money, without regard to local interests or na- 
tional bias. His work is popularly written, and every page is replete with solid instruc- 
tion of a kind that is just now lamentably needed by multitudes of our people who are 
victimized by the grossest fallacies." Popular Science Monthly, 

" If Professor Jevons's book is read as extensively as it deserves to be, we shall 
have sounder views on the use and abuse of money, and more correct ideas on what a 
circulating medium really means." Boston Saturday Evening Gazette. 

" Prof. Jevons writes in a sprightly but colorless style, without trace of either 
prejudice or mannerism, and shows no commitment to any theory. The time is not 
very far distant, we hope, when legislators will cease attempting to legislate upon 
money before they know what money is, and, as a possible help toward such a change, 
Prof. Jevons deserves the credit of having made a useful contribution to a depart- 
ment of study long too much neglected, but of late years, we are gratified to say, be- 
coming less so." The Financier, New York. 



Weights, Measures, and Money, of all Nations. 

Compiled by F. "W. CLABKE, S. B., Professor of Physics and Chemistry in the Uni- 
versity of Cincinnati. Price, $1.50. 

" This work will be found very useful to the merchant, economist, and banker, as 
the arrangement is highly convenient for reference, and in a form and classification 
never before presented to the public. It also contains a series of tables, arranged alpha- 
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standards. The metric system is used coextensively with the ordinary system, and 
is a characteristic feature of the book. 

" The contents, among other things, contain the following useful and comprehen- 
sive tables, viz. : I. Measures of Length, in both the English or American feet or 
inches, and in French metres. II. Road-Measures in English miles and French kilo- 
metres. III. Land-Measures. IV. Cubic Measures. V. Liquid Measures. VI. 
Dry Measures. VII. Weights, and finally Money. This latter table is one of the most 
useful and valuable tables probably to be found, giving as it does the standards in 
dollars, francs, sterling, and marks, and alone is worth the cost of the book." N. Y. 
Commercial and Financial Chronicle. 

" "We commend this carefully-prepared and convenient volume to. all persons who 
wish to acquire information on the subject of which it treats." Boston Globe. 

"The work necessary to the production of this little volume has been judiciously 
planned and skillfully executed." Chicago Tribune, 

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