i.i.iiir. 07 



as truly mechanical as the breaking of tin- \vnvcn 

 on the slu'iv." 'I'll,- idea is a very be.i'itii'ul OQ6, '":! WJ hard 

 to comprehend, lor lie adds, "a wave of light comes from 

 Jupiter to us in a second ! 186,000 miles." .\ 



of light have waves of dill'eivnt lengths. " 39,000 



of re<l light placed >'i'd i end make up one inch ; accordingly 



170,139,680,000,000 red waves enter the eye in a single 



second; while 699,000,000,000,000 ot violet waves enter in 



.me time." 



;vat mistake, it will be observed, is made between light 

 and sight. 



Both Light and Sight arc instantaneous. It we shut our eyes 



mid open them again, we can see any object within their range, 



whethi r live or ten miles away. It does not require a distant 



! or house to st'iid waves of their colour to us in order 



that we may distinguish them ; so also is it with a candle. 



If we place it in a room, we see it as a bright light, and 

 everything in its immediate vicinity is rendered distinct by its 

 reflection ; but place it a hundred yards away, and we only see 

 it as a point of light. Place it ten miles away and we cannot 

 see it at all, and if it be kept burning for a million of years, the 

 light will never reach us. 



It is :is ;. -rt.ed as one of the poetical facts of astronomy, that the 

 light of probably some thousands of stars has been travelling 

 toward- vis i-vcr since, if not before, Adam was created, and it 

 has not reached us y. t. If, as we assume, sight and light are 

 one, both instantaneous, then we may safely all'mn, that the 

 light from these thousands of stars beyond our vision, \vill 

 never reach us. 



Again, if we hold a pi> before us we can see Jupiter 



