Masterpieces of Science 



time the more they excite the attention of the 

 astronomer, if only he can hope to acquire positive 

 knowledge about them. Not, however, because 

 he is more interested in things distant than in 

 things near, but because thus he may more com- 

 pletely embrace in the scope of his work the be- 

 ginning and the end, the boundaries of all things, 

 and thus, indirectly, more fully comprehend all 

 that they include. From his standpoint 

 " All are but parts of one stupendous whole, 

 Whose body nature is and God the soul." 



Others study nature and her plans as we see 

 them developed on the surface of this little planet 

 which we inhabit; the astronomer would fain 

 learn the plan on which the whole universe is 

 constructed. The magnificent conception of 

 Copernicus is, for him, only an introduction to 

 the yet more magnificent conception of infinite 

 space containing a collection of bodies which we 

 call the visible universe. How far does this 

 universe extend? What are the distances and 

 arrangements of the stars? Does the universe 

 constitute a system? If so, can we comprehend 

 the plan on which this system is formed, of its 

 beginning and of its end ? Has it bounds outside 

 of which nothing exists but the black and starless 

 depths of infinity itself ? Or are the stars we see 

 simply such members of an infinite collection as 

 happen to be the nearest to our system ? A few 

 such questions as these we are perhaps beginning 

 to answer; but hundreds, thousands, perhaps 

 even millions of years may elapse without our 

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