328 DISCOVERY CH. 



which the heat is so intense that all known substances 

 are driven into vapour ; then a ball like the earth, with 

 a thin, solid crust covering a nucleus of rock hot enough 

 to be fluid ; and finally, a globe like the moon rolling 

 through space as a frozen world this apparently repre- 

 sents the course of evolution in the heavens. 



But we only see these things " through a glass darkly "; 

 we grope in unfathomable space, and try to understand 

 the structure of a universe which may be only one 

 among many. Though a position may be gained from 

 which the whole of our universe may be grasped, there 

 will still be the boundary over which man cannot look to 

 see whether there are other universes beyond. Yet, with 

 unceasing desire for new knowledge, the man of science 

 pursues his ascent to exalted planes. Conscious that he 

 can know only in part, he still seeks to read the signs 

 and wonders of the heavens, and to find the inter- 

 pretation thereof. He takes the visible universe in 

 his mental grasp, and sees worlds in all stages of 

 growth, from formless mist to the finished star, w r hich, 

 though fervidly shining now, must finally end and 

 be numbered among the dark and decaying systems 

 in space. 



The human intellect can comprehend these things 

 because they have a beginning and an end, but imagina- 

 tion shrinks before the prospect of an infinite number of 

 universes, each perhaps more glorious than the one we 

 are permitted to explore. The heart that weeps and 

 trembles cannot face infinitude, which even in a vision 

 is awful in its majesty. In Jean Paul Richter's beautiful 

 dream, a man was called up into the vestibule of heaven 

 and carried to universe upon universe in endless space, 

 until his mind reeled before the transcendental distances 

 which were still before him. 



