THE STARS IN ACTION — JOY 191 



velocities have varied from the secular contraction of the giant stars 

 to the velocit}^ of light which Doctor Michelson finds rushes from 

 Mount Wilson to Mount San Antonio and back more than four 

 thousand times a second. The masses vary from thirty million times 

 that of the earth for the most massive stars to 10'^° of the earth's mass 

 for an electron. 



Yet, in spite of the great diversity of time and space, we find 

 all matter behaving in an orderly fashion. The activity which is 

 found everywhere is controlled by the fundamental laws of nature, 

 which work in the same way, so far as we know, in the stars as on 

 the earth. In searching out the mechanism of unknown action in the 

 universe, whether large or small, the scientist finds his pleasure and 

 pt'ivilege. His satisfaction is vastly enhanced if, in addition to not- 

 ing some significant occurrence, he can come to understand the under- 

 lying laws governing its action. 



