NUMBER OF THE STARS. 



THE NUMBER OF THE STARS. 



How many are the stars ? 



To such a question comes the immediate answer, They are 

 infinite in number. 



But, after a little meditation, we begin to perceive that the 

 question, apparently so simple, is, in reality, one of very great 

 complexity. Let us endeavour to disentangle its various 

 threads. 



We must not forget that, in every scientific analysis, it is 

 important we should, in the first place, separate two intimately 

 united elements, the individual who observes, and the pro- 

 duct of the observation. The former, the " sensorial factor," 

 is subject to every condition of space and time ; the second, 

 the " intellectual factor," tends, by its generalisations, to free 

 itself from those veiy conditions which are the inseparable 

 co-efficients of matter and movement. The individual passes ; 

 save from an outer standpoint, we know not whence he 

 comes, nor whither he goes. The product of the observation 

 remains; transmissible from generation to generation, it will 

 gradually expand and increase, if it be founded upon truth ; 

 but. on the contrary, its splendour will wane, and will 

 eventually disappear, if it be founded upon error. Eternal 

 is this spectacle of actors and puppets succeeding one an- 

 other uninterruptedly upon the same stage ! As one falls, 

 another steps forward into his place, and so the great army 

 marches forward with unbroken ranks. 



He who, "in cities pent," sees the sky only through a 



