36 THE BORDERLAND OF SCIENCE. 



of the background on which the stars were shown ; for 

 the light of the stars as suddenly increased in an equal 

 degree, while thousands of thousands of stars not before 

 seen, in a moment leapt into view (I can use no other 

 expression). The familiar constellations were there, 

 but they seemed lost in the splendour of a thousand 

 more wonderful constellations hitherto unrevealed, 

 except (' as through a glass and darkly ') to the tele- 

 scopist. Each star of all these unnumbered thousands 

 shone with its proper splendour, and yet each, as 

 respects size, seemed to be the merest point of light. 

 It would be utterly useless for me to attempt to 

 describe the amazing beauty of the spectacle thus pre- 

 sented, or the infinite complexity of structure seen 

 amidst the star-depths. We stayed for a while en- 

 tranced by the sublime picture suddenly disclosed to 

 us ; and it was with difficulty that X. (even more en- 

 thusiastic, you remember, as a student of the stars than 

 as one of our modem sun-worshippers) could be with- 

 drawn from the contemplation of the wonderful display. 

 One other circumstance I must mention before 

 describing the scene which we witnessed when the sun 

 and sun-surrounding regions became the object of our 

 study. I have spoken above of the silence which pre- 

 vailed around us after we had reached a certain height 

 above the earth. To our infinite amazement, we found, 

 as we passed the limit of the atmosphere, that what we 

 had regarded as silence, nay, as an almost oppressive 

 silence, was only silence by comparison with the noise 

 and tumult lower down. A sudden change from the 



