116 ASTRONOMY AS A SCIENCE THE SUN. 



their most exalted application. Testifying thus to the 

 highest conditions of mental endowment, it casts a reflex 

 light on that creative design and power which, what- 

 ever the manner of evolution, could bring these facul- 

 ties into existence and exercise. 



Look simply at what this science expresses regard- 

 ing man in comparison with the animals nearest to 

 him in the scale of life. The lights of heaven, the sun, 

 moon, and stars give images to the eyes of all these 

 creatures, as to those of the astronomer. But to them 

 they are images only, without note or result. To the 

 astronomer those simple circles and points of light are 

 the interpreters of the universe. He discovers through 

 their places, aspects, and motions those astonishing facts 

 as to space, time, and magnitude which figures fail to 

 express to the thought, and the laws which, with un- 

 erring power, pervade these vast spaces and periods 

 of time and govern all the movements and mutual 

 relations of the worlds around us. Few men reach 

 this high intellectual level, but man is the only being 

 to reach it. 



Astronomy is rich in examples, but one or two may 

 suffice to show this meaning. A satellite has just been 

 discovered of Sirius that great globe shown to be 

 equal in size and light to sixty of our suns, and some 

 millions of times more distant in space. A few years 

 ago Bessel, from a minute periodical variation in the 

 right ascension of this star, conjectured the existence 

 of such a satellite. It has now been seen, and with it 

 some fainter luminous points, the possible indices of a 

 planetary system of this great sun. But a short time 



