142 Dr Olbers ori the Transparency of Space. 



great distance ; and thus we perceive, with the naked eye, stars 

 which are probably twelve or fifteen times more remote than 

 those of the first magnitude. The more perfect our instruments 

 are, the more stars do we count in the heavens, and the more do 

 we discover of small ones, so that, although it may be difficult 

 to imagine, our reason must conceive distances and spaces so 

 vast, that Herschel, armed with his gigantic telescopes, might 

 place in them bodies 1 500 or several thousands of times more 

 distant from us than Sirius or Arcturus. 



But has the keen search of Herschel penetrated to the limits 

 of the universe ? or. Has he only sensibly approached them ? Who 

 could think it ? Is not space infinite? Can boundaries be as- 

 signed to it ? Can it be supposed that creating Omnipotence 

 has left void those interminable regions ? Let us hear what the 

 celebrated Kant says on this subject ; " Where will creation 

 cease ?" says he ; " We immediately see that, to remain in rela- 

 tion with the power of the infinite Being, it ought to have no 

 limit. We do not approach nearer the infinity of the creative 

 power of God, when we extend the space in which it is mani- 

 fested into a sphere engendered by the radius of the Milky Way, 

 than when we confine it to a globe an inch in diameter. What- 

 ever is finite, whatever has limits, and a determinate relation to 

 an unity, is equally distant from infinity. It would, therefore, 

 be equally absurd to restrict the divinity to an infinitely small 

 part of his creative energy, as to suppose that this measureless 

 power could remain eternally in a state of inaction. Is it not 

 more rational, or, to speak more correctly, is it not necessary, to 

 look upon creation as a representation of that power which can- 

 not be estimated by any scale ? According to this view, the field 

 of the manifestation of the divine perfections is as infinite as 

 these perfections themselves. Eternity does not suffice to ren- 

 der testimony of the supreme being, if it is not connected with 

 the infinity of space.'^ 



So reasoned Kant. It is therefore probable, that not only 

 the portion of space which our eye has penetrated with the aid 

 of instruments, or may yet penetrate, but infinite space itself, is 

 sprinkled over with suns, each accompanied with its train of pla- 

 nets and comets. I say, that this is very probable, for our li- 



