MOVEMENTS IN THE STAR-DEPTHS. 77 



the problem is well worthy of the most thorough in- 

 vestigation. There is, indeed, something startling in 

 the thought that man, placed as he is on a tiny orb 

 an orb rotating swiftly on its axis, carried swiftly round 

 the sun, and borne along with him in his swift motion 

 through space man, shortlived and weak, and unable 

 by his unaided vision to perceive a thousandth part of 

 the star-system, should yet attempt (and not unhope- 

 fully) to master the secret of its structure and motions. 

 It may be that what has hitherto been done is but the 

 beginning of the series of labours by which, if ever, 

 that end will be accomplished ; or it may be that we 

 are nearer to the mastery of the problem than we at 

 present imagine: but, in any case, there is but one 

 course by which success can be achieved. Piece by 

 piece the facts on which our reasoning is to depend 

 must be gathered together ; while at every stage of the 

 inquiry, the full meaning of observed facts must be as 

 far as possible evolved. Success will not be obtained 

 by observation alone, nor by theorising alone ; but by 

 that combination only of observation and theory to 

 which we owe all the most important discoveries 

 hitherto effected by astronomers. 



Eraser's Magazine for November 1872. 



