226 A CENTURY'S PROGRESS IN ASTRONOMY. 



These calculations absolutely overwhelm the 

 mind, which is unable to comprehend such vast 

 distances. Our universe is indeed, as Flammarion 

 expresses it, a point in the infinite. The cal- 

 culations of J. E. Gore represent our highest 

 scientific conception of the universe. He sums 

 up his investigations with the following words : 

 " Although we must consider the number of 

 visible stars as strictly finite, the numbers of 

 stars and systems really existing, but invisible 

 to us, may be practically infinite. Could we 

 speed our flight through space on angel wings 

 beyond the confines of our limited universe to 

 a distance so great that the interval which 

 separates us from the remotest fixed star might 

 be considered as merely a step on our celestial 

 journey, what further creations might not then 

 be revealed to our wondering vision ? Systems 

 of a higher order might there be unfolded to 

 our view, compared with which the whole of 

 our visible heavens might appear like a grain 

 of sand on the ocean shore, systems perhaps 

 stretching out to infinity before us, and reach- 

 ing at last the glorious * mansions ' of the 

 Almighty, the Throne of the Eternal." 



