402 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



foreign to the writer, who is no friend 

 to catastrophic theories of the Satur- 

 nian ring. Verification of the resolu- 

 tion will be even easier during the next 

 presentations of the planet, especially 

 in 191 3 and 1914. 



The Satisfactions of Star Study. 



BY W. J. LOCK WOOD. 



"I don't know one star from another, 

 and what is more, I don't care," said a 

 man the other day, a man whose place 

 in life would certainly make it impos- 

 sible for him to lack the opportunity 

 to know. "I can see some sense in my 

 knowing where Chicago is, or even 

 Madagascar, for that matter, but why 

 should I bother my head about the 

 stars?" 



Now the remarkable part of that 

 man's attitude is that he should give 

 so little credit to his own intelligence; 

 for it is only because of his calm as- 

 surance regarding the orderly move- 

 ment of the heavenly bodies, his per- 

 fect reliance upon what he knows about 

 the stars, that he imagines himself 

 more concerned about Madagascar 

 than Mars. It requires but a slight 

 manifestation of the unusual, an 

 eclipse, or the visit of a comet, to 

 prompt everyone to amazement, while 

 the newspapers spread front page 

 columns with astronomical reassur- 

 ance that the world will survive. Per- 

 haps it is because for many centuries 

 devoted men have explained the mys- 

 teries of the universal routine, have 

 feasted their less observant fellows 

 with facts and scientific accuracies, 

 until from second-handed familiarity 

 has grown a contemptous indifference ; 

 an indifference which is worn as a 

 cloak within which men wrap them- 

 selves against any chance appreciation 

 of the stars, lest those sirens of the 

 sky shall inspire that curiosity, awe, 

 and imagination, which is their due. 



Is it not more commendable that a 

 man should be discontent with the nar- 

 rowing influences of his career, and 

 should embrace the simplest means of 

 enlargement that comes with each 

 reoccurring night? Surely man, the 

 supreme creature of the universe, can 



find an interest in that of which he is 

 a part. The lives of thoughtful men 

 teach such a lesson. 



We are told that Seneca, during his 

 long exile in Corsica, wrote, "So long 

 as my eyes are not robbed of that spec- 

 tacle with which they can not be sat- 

 iated, so long as I may look upon the 

 sun and moon and fix my lingering 

 gaze upon the constellations, and con- 

 sider their rising and setting and the 

 spaces between them and the causes 

 of their less and greater speed — while 

 I may contemplate the multitude of 

 stars glittering throughout the heavens, 

 some stationary, some revolving, some 

 suddenly blazing forth, others dazzling 

 the gaze with a flood of fire as though 

 they fell, and others leaving over a 

 long space their trails of light ; while 

 I am in the midst of such phenomena, 

 and mingle myself, as far as man may, 

 with things celestial — while my soul is 

 ever occupied in contemplations so sub- 

 lime as these, what matters it what 

 ground I tread?" And it was a part 

 of Bacon's philosophy that man, the 

 minister and interpreter of Nature, can 

 act and understand in as far as he has, 

 either in fact or in thought, observed 

 the order of Nature, and that more he 

 can neither know nor do. 



The wondrous order with which a 

 wise Creator has endowed His universe 

 is no where more manifest than in the 

 perfect systems of the heavenly bodies. 

 The absolute timeliness of their ap- 

 pearing" and disappearing from our 

 vision, the amazing distances with 

 which we may deal with unfailing ac- 

 curacy — to say nothing of the marvel- 

 ous beauty of them all, are reasons, 

 which should inspire in every thinking 

 person some desire to attain a famil- 

 iarity with the prominent constella- 

 tions and planets visible to the naked 

 eye. 



He who has devoted no time to this 

 subject, who does not know one star 

 from another, has missed one of the 

 most potent of human interests and 

 left untouched a positive source of in- 

 spiration. For it is difficult to con- 

 ceive of any more wonderful illustra- 

 tion, or a clearer example, of Nature's 

 perfect plan than is spread before the 



