ZODIACAL LIGHT. 201 



Analogous fluctuations between cosmical and terrestrial hy- 

 potheses, between universal space and the atmosphere, still 

 lead, at last, to a more correct view of natural phenomena. 



IV. 



THE RING OF THE ZODIACAL LIGHT. 



IN our solar system, so rich in varieties of form, the exist- 

 ence, place, and configuration of many individual members 

 have been discovered, since scarcely a century and a half, 

 and at long intervals of time : first, the subordinate, or 'par- 

 ticular systems, in which, analogous to the principal system 

 of the Sun, smaller spherical cosmical bodies revolve round a 

 larger ; then concentric rings round one, and that, indeed, 

 one of the less dense and exterior planets which possesses 

 the greatest number of satellites ; then the existence, and 

 probably material cause, of the mild, pyramidal-formed, zo- 

 diacal light, very visible to the naked eye ; then the mutu- 

 ally intersecting orbits of the so-called small planets, or as- 

 teroids, inclosed between the regions of two principal planets, 

 and situated beyond the zodiacal zone ; finally, the remarka- 

 ble group of interior comets, whose aphelia are smaller than 

 .those of Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. In a cosmical repre- 



sentibus. Rerum natura sacra sua non simul trad it. Initiates uos cre- 

 dimus; in vestibulo ejus haeremus. Ilia arcana non promiscue nee om- 

 nibus patent, reducta et in interiore sacrario clausa sunt. Ex quibus 

 aliud h;ec a3tas, aliud qua? post nos subibit, dispiciet. Tarde magna 

 proveniunt." " For I do not think that comets are a casual outburst 

 of fire, but belong to the eternal works of nature. For why should it 

 surprise us that comets, so rare a phenomenon, should not yet be sub- 

 ject to the regulation of any known laws? and that their origin and 

 ends should be hid from us, who see them only at immense intervals? 

 It is not yet five hundred years since Greece gave names and number 

 to the stars. And to this day there are many nations who know nothing 

 of the heavenly bodies but as they appear to the eye, who are still ig- 

 norant of the causes of the waves and eclipses of the moon ; even we 

 ourselves have only lately attained an accurate knowledge of these phe- 

 nomena. The time will arrive when the diligence of a remoter age 

 shall throw light on subjects which are now involved in obscurity. 

 The time will arrive when our posterity will wonder at our ignorance 

 of things so plain to them. Eleusis reserves her favors for those who 

 repeat their visits. Nature does not permit us to explore her sanctua- 

 ry all at once. We believe we are initiated, whereas we halt at the 

 very threshold. Those mysteries are not revealed indiscriminately to 

 all; they are laid up and enshrined within the penetralia. Some are 

 revealed to the men of our age, some to those who shall come after us 

 Great results proceed slowly." 



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