128 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Dec. 



may well be lost in admiration by the contemplation of these 

 wondrous works that are manifest in 



" the wide expanse, 

 Where stars, and suns, and systems shine." 



The progress of astronomical science has shown us that our sun 

 can no longer be regarded as the centre of our solar system, but 

 that all the starry host is moving yearly in a grand procession 

 towards another, a far distant central sun, the great centre of our 

 universe ; and we may well say, in the words of the poet, 



" He sets the bright procession on its way, 

 And marshals on the order of the year." 



Scarce a year has passed without adding to our list of the 

 Asteroids, until the number now reaches 85 ; while a very few 

 years ago it was but four. Are these asteroids the particles of a 

 larger planet ? or are they new worlds opened up to human vision, 

 aided by science- in the construction of the telescope ? or have they 

 been for ever wanderers in the pathless regions of space ? Here 

 science will one day, with a spectroscope, tell us if they are the 

 remains of a larger body. A short time will no doubt set this 

 question at rest, for if they are the particles of a larger planet, 

 which from any cause has burst asunder, the spectra will furnish 

 the same results for them all. 



Modern investigations have shown that our sun possesses an 

 atmosphere, and that this atmosphere is disturbed by some action 

 that renders visible certain spots at different times, spots which 

 led Galileo to demonstrate the rotation of the sun upon its axis. 

 It is the opinion of modern observers that the photosphere, (our 

 sun's atmosphere) consists of solid or liquid bodies of a greater or 

 less magnitude, either slowly sinking, or suspended in equilibrio 

 in a gaseous medium ; and that either the body of the sun itself 

 is older than the surrounding medium, or else that some chemical 

 or molecular changes have taken place where a spot is formed ; 

 or that it is produced by matter coming from a colder region ; or, 

 may be, by the solidification of its particles. But more recent 

 investigation would tend to show that the body of the sun itself is 

 hotter than the surrounding photosphere. 



From the surface of the sun that imponderable fluid, light, is 

 diffused, shedding on this earth all the brilliancy of colour, and 

 tinting the landscape with an ever-varying degree of beauty. 

 What a glorious expanse of view, and what a vast field of know- 



