Photography of the Skies 



ocean and the plain,. with all their myriad ten- 

 antry, are what they are because the atoms 

 which built them were present, and in such and 

 such proportions, in the birth-cloud of the world. 

 If a rose has tints of incomparable beauty, they 

 'are conferred by elements thence derived, 

 whose kin, aflame in an orb a celestial diameter 

 away, send forth the beam needful to reveal that 

 beauty. Were the sun less rich in variety of 

 fuel than it is, the earth, despite its own diversity 

 of substance, would be vastly less a feast for the 

 eye than that newly spread before us at every 

 dawn. 



When we remember how disinterested was the 

 quest which has led to so great and unexpected 

 knowledge, we begin to see that the philosopher 

 is often, and unwittingly, the chief est prospector 

 and the best. It is doubtful whether any path 

 of discovery whatever, no matter how unrelated 

 to utility it may seem, can be pursued without 

 leading to gain at last. No study would at the 

 first glance appear to be more remote from in- 

 fluence upon human thought and feeling than the 

 portrayal of heavenly bodies too distant for 

 telescopic view. Yet that portrayal has served 

 to enlarge our conceptions of the varied forms 

 which worlds and suns may display; the shimmer 

 of the nebulae enters the camera to corroborate 

 the story of the rock, the plant and the animal 

 as each tells us how it came to be. Adding to 

 vision the eye of artifice, we are confirmed in the 

 faith that nature is intelligible to her inmost 

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