NUMBER, DISTANCE, AND MAGNITUDE OF STARS. 165 



the star is 896,804 times the same distance ; and it is a well-known law, that the light 

 which the eye receives from a luminous object will diminish in the same proportion as the 

 square of the distance increases. Now supposing the sun and the star to have equally 

 brilliant surfaces, and the former to be removed to the same distance as the latter, it is 

 computed that the stellar lustre would exceed that of the solar in the proportion of 146 

 to 1. The conclusion is thus arrived at, that the surface of Sirius is 146 times greater 

 than the surface of the sun. 



Now we cannot suppose the magnificent orb of Sirius to dwell alone. As our smaller 

 sun has planets with their satellites circulating round him, rejoicing in his light, it is rea 

 sonable to infer that a much larger globe serves a similar purpose, and is the common 

 centre of a more numerous family, refreshed and beautified by the glorious beams that 

 emanate from it. The inference holds good with reference to every star, for that all the 

 stars are suns admits not of a moment's doubt, and we are justified in attributing to each 

 its dependent Jupiters and Saturns. Thus we gain some insight into the economy of 

 the universe, and gather rational ideas of its immeasurable amplitude its multitude of 

 worlds its countless myriads of sentient beings. Sir John Herschel soberly answers the 

 enquiry : " For what purpose are we to suppose such magnificent bodies scattered through, 

 the abyss of space ? Surely not to illuminate our nights, which an additional moon of the 

 thousandth part of the size of our own would do much better not to sparkle as a pageant 

 void of meaning and reality, and bewilder us among vain conjectures. Useful, it is true 

 they are to man, as points of exact and permanent reference ; but he must have studied 

 astronomy to little purpose, who can suppose man to be the only object of his Creator's 

 care, or who does not see, in the vast and wonderful apparatus around us, provision for 

 other races of animated beings. The planets derive their light from the sun ; but that 

 cannot be the case with the stars. These doubtless, then, are themselves suns, and may 

 perhaps, each in its sphere, be the presiding centre round which other planets, or bodies 

 of which we can form no conception from any analogy offered by our own system, may be 

 circulating." 



These views are reasonable, elevating, and useful. It is well to become familiar with them. 

 Though of the extent and arrangements of that wondrous fabric of which our system forms 

 one of the minuter parts, it may be said, that such knowledge is too wonderful for us, yet 

 some measure of intelligence is placed within our reach, and we may grasp it with high 

 advantage. He who has read but a few pages of the magnificent book of the universe, and 

 has enstamped upon his mind a lively impression of the greatness of that scheme of exist 

 ence with which he is connected, is in circumstances to steer clear of the two extremes 

 into which unreflecting humanity is often betrayed, those of arrogant self-importance and 

 puling imbecility. Man the lord of a few acres while absorbed with his terrestrial 

 patrimony, is prone to forget the higher duties of life, and to rest content with taking 

 part in the pageant of an hour, stepping across his fields in the pride of a self-satisfaction 

 at being the proprietor of the scene. Or in other situations in contact with the grander 

 class of terrestrial phenomena the thunder reverberating among the mountains, the 

 lightning playing around their peaks, and the tempest-clouds discharging their torrents 

 he is apt to feel and to display an abject spirit appropriate to the grovelling worm. But 

 he who possesses a cultivated acquaintance with his true position in the scheme of the 

 creation that glorious whole of which the world is but an infinitesimal part, yet man 

 a member of the intellectual part will have views, which, legitimately used, will be a 

 safeguard against self-idolatry and abasement. 



