56 LIGHT SCIENCE FOR LEISURE HOURS. 



apparent movements of the stars, taught any other 

 lesson. It has, indeed, shown that the stars are even 

 more steadfast than they seem, in so far as it teaches 

 that their diurnal and annual motions are but apparent, 

 while the great precessional swaying of the star-sphere 

 is but the reflexion of the earth s gyration. More and 

 more just, so far as these motions are concerned, has 

 appeared the title of the fixed stars, assigned by 

 astronomers to the suns which people space. 



Yet the depths displayed to our view in the stillness of 

 the calmest and clearest night are, in reality, astir with 

 the most stupendous activity. The least of the orbs we 

 see some star so faint that it is only discerned by 

 momentary gleams is the abode of forces whose action 

 during a single instant surpasses in effect all the forces 

 at work upon the earth during a decade of years. All 

 the wonderful processes taking place within and around 

 the globe of our own sun have their analogues in that 

 distant orb. Let it be remembered also that our sun 

 himself presents an aspect which in no sense suggests 

 his real condition. If we would picture him as he 

 actually is, we must consider the uproar and tumult 

 which prevail where, to our ordinary perceptions, all 

 seems at perfect rest. The least movement on that 

 glowing photosphere represents the action of forces so 

 tremendous that they would be competent to destroy 

 in an instant this earth on which we live. The most 

 hideous turmoil, outvying a million-fold the roar of the 

 hurricane or the crash of the thunderbolt, must prevail 

 for ever in every part of the solar atmosphere. And in 



