8 WHAT JS LIFE ? 



These objects are always in motion perpetual 

 motion, but their distances are so vast that they appear 

 fixed. 1 That which we see, does it show the confines of 



most abstract speculations, he discovers the laws which regulate all 

 celestial movements, and defines the nature of the universal force 

 which sustains the worlds." 



" Nothing is more fitted to elevate the mind towards the infinite 

 than the thoughtful contemplation of the starry vault in the silent 

 calm of night. A thousand fires sparkle in all parts of the sombre 

 azure of the sky. Varied in colour and brilliancy, some shine with a 

 vivid light, perpetually changing and twinkling ; others, again, with 

 a more constant one more tranquil and soft ; while very many only 

 send us their rays intermittently, as if they could scarce pierce the 

 profundity of space." 



" To enjoy this spectacle in all its magnificence, a night must be 

 chosen when the atmosphere is perfectly pure and transparent one 

 neither illuminated by the Moon, nor by the glimmer of twilight or 

 of dawn. The Heavens then resemble an immense sea, the broad 

 expanse of which glitters with gold dust or diamonds." 



i; In presence of such splendour, the senses, mind, and imagina- 

 tion are alike enthralled. The impression gathered is an emotion 

 at once profound and religious, an indefinable mixture of admiration, 

 and of calm and tender melancholy. It seems as if these distant 

 worlds, in shining earthwards, put themselves in close communica- 

 tion with our thoughts." 



" The Milky Way itself is nothing more than an immensely ex- 

 tended zone of stars, that is, of suns ; since, as we know, and as we 

 shall explain in the sequel, each star, from the most brilliant to the 

 faintest, is a sun." 



" Thus, in the contemplation of celestial phenomena, the idea of 

 infinite duration impresses itself on the mind with the same irresistible 

 power as the idea of the infinity of space." (" The Heavens," 

 Amede'e Guillemin, 1878, pp. 1-6.) 



1 " In a thousand years, or in a hundred years, or ten years, or 

 even in one year, a number of alterations take place in the positions 



