166 SEE— DYNAMICAL THEORY [April 19, 



may so largely absorb the talents of the most illustrious geometers 

 of the age of Herschel, hozv much more justly may the problem of 

 the stability of clusters, involving many thousands of such systems, 

 claim the attention of the modem geometer, zvho has zvitnessed the 

 perfect unfolding of the grand phenomena first discovered by that 

 unrivaled explorer of the heavens f 



The grandeur of the study of the origin of the greatest of side- 

 real systems is worthy of the philosophic penetration of a Herschel ! 

 The solution of the dynamical problem presented surpasses the 

 powers of the most titanic geometers, and would demand the in- 

 ventive genius of a Newton or an Archimedes ! 



Yet notwithstanding the transcendent character of the problem, 

 and the hopelessness of a rigorous solution in our time, even an 

 imperfect outline of nature's laws may aid the thoughtful astron- 

 omer, in penetrating the underlying workings of the sidereal uni- 

 verse, and thus enable him to perceive the great end subserved by the 

 development of the cosmos. If so, he may well rejoice, and ex- 

 claim with Ptolemy: 



" Though but the being of a day, 

 When I the planet-paths survey, 

 My feet the dust despise ; 

 Up to the throne of God I mount 

 And quaff from an immortal fount 

 The nectar of the skies." 



Starlight on Loutre, 



Montgomery City, Missouri, 

 February 19, 1912. 



