THE VISIBLE CREATION. 175 



Swan in 9^ years ; from Arcturus in 26 years ; from the Polar star in 

 48 years ; and from Capella in 70f years ; or Capella, the beautiful star 

 in the Goat, is seen by the light which left it nearly three-quarters of 

 a century ago, and has been travelling at the rate of one hundred 

 and ninety-two thousand miles per second during the whole of that 

 interval. 



Let us next notice the combinations of the stars. It is a very 

 curious circumstance, to say the least, that wherever we direct the 

 telescope to the heavens we shall find the stars combined in pairs ; 

 and so frequently does this combination occur that we cannot regard 

 it as the result of accidental position. It is true that when two stars 

 are almost one behind the other they might not appear to be very far 

 apart, though really at very different distances from us ; but by careful 

 measurement, in some cases, it has been ascertained that they are 

 really, as well as apparently, near. In fact they are connected to- 

 gether, and revolve around each other, as is the case with the earth 

 and sun. We have here represented two or three such double stars. 

 Tnere is one in Gemini ; also one in Scorpio, one of the two stars 

 being blue and the other yellow. The blue star does not show well, 

 unless in a very good light ; but the representation is therefore the 

 more true to nature, the sky being itself so blue that it is more diffi- 

 cult to see such a star. Red and yellow stars are also of frequent 

 occurrence ; and in the case of the beautiful star in Andromeda, the 

 two individual stars are, the one rose color, and the other green ; the 

 colors of the double stars are complementary, or such as, when com- 

 bined together, form a white light, the star appearing white and 

 single to the bare eye. We can perceive something extremely elegant 

 in the arrangement if planets should circulate around these red or 

 green suns ; then a red or a green light would be seen as long as it 

 alone were visible ; but a white light, when both suns were above the 

 horizon, poetic fancy never sketched anything more sublimely elegant 

 than this combination of tinted suns, these parti-colored gems which 

 sparkle in the diadem which surrounds the dark brow of night. 



We come now to a more extensive combination of stars. We cannot 

 look at the sky with any sort of attention even once without perceiving 

 an amazing collection of the stars in the direction of one singla great 

 band or girdle. This constitutes what is called the milky way. 

 Throughout one half of its circuit it is divided into at least two parts. 

 Most of the stars in heaven are situated in one part, and in the other 

 portions of the sky the stars are comparatively sparse. The attempt 

 was made by Sir William Herschel to ascertain the relative distance 

 of the fixed stars before the actual distance of any of them was deter- 

 mined. Some idea may be formed of this by ascertaining how many 

 more can be seen in one direction rather than another, as we might 

 judge of the extent of a crowded audience in one direction rather than 

 in another, by ascertaining how many could be seen in the one and in 

 the other direction. A better method of sounding the heavens, as it was 

 called, consisted in using successively telescopes of greater and greater 

 space-penetrating power. The space-penetrating power may be ascer- 

 tained by comparing the brightness of the beam of light emitted by a 

 telescope with that seen by the bare eye. The science of optics will 

 readily enable us to ascertain that. Then, if we bear in mind that light 



