108 TWO NEW WORLDS 



given moment be obscured by dark ones. If we 

 assume that the dark stars have the same average 

 sectional area as the sun, it is easy to calculate how 

 far we can see into space before our vision is com- 

 pletely obscured by the dark bodies. The distance 

 comes out, according to the distribution of the dark 

 bodies, as between 100 and 10,000 light-years, or just 

 about the distance of the inner and outer edges of 

 the galaxy. 1 



This system would account completely for the 

 apparent limitation of the universe. The fact of 

 many of the brightest stars, like Canopus, being so 

 far away as to have no appreciable parallax would 

 be accounted for by the accident of their light 

 not being intercepted by dark bodies. The laws 

 of distribution of light by magnitudes would be 

 explained, or, at least, not contradicted. "Rifts" 

 and "holes in the heavens" would be interpreted 

 as accumulations of dark bodies, and the most 

 powerful telescopes, instead of piercing through 

 the star- veil into empty space, would penetrate so 

 far as the black wall which cuts us off from the 

 ultra-galactic worlds. 



But how will this system fare against the argu- 

 ments of infinity ? The optical argument advanced 

 by Newcomb no longer affects it, since the light 

 from outer galaxies is completely intercepted. But 

 the thermal objection might still hold good, and 

 1 See Note A at end of this chapter. 



