4O LIGHT SCIENCE FOR LEISURE HOURS. 



whereas the reputation of the eminent man of science 

 who stands at the head of the astronomy of this country 

 will in no degree be affected if the proposed expedition 

 be undertaken somewhat later than was desirable, it 

 will suffer seriously hereafter if that expedition should 

 not be undertaken at all. 



Eraser's Magazine for March 1873. 



THE EVER-WIDENING WORLD OF STARS. 



As the science of astronomy has advanced, the ideas 

 men have formed respecting the extent of the universe 

 have gradually become more and more enlarged. In 

 far-off times, when astronomers were content to judge 

 of the conformation of the universe by the appearances 

 directly presented to their contemplation, the ideas 

 formed respecting the celestial bodies were singularly 

 homely. We read that Theophrastus looked upon the 

 Milky Way as the fastening of the stellar hemispheres, 

 which are ' so carelessly knitted together, that the fiery 

 heavens beyond them can be seen through the spaces.' 

 Anaximenes believed the heavens to be made of a kind 

 of fine earthenware, and that the stars are the heads of 

 nails driven through the domed vault formed of this 

 material. And even Lucretius, whose views of nature 

 were so noble, has referred without disapproval to the 

 bizarre theory of Xenophanes that the stars are fiery 

 clouds collected in the upper regions of air. 



