OCEAN OF ETHER: STAR-DUST 153 



to the 2300th order. We can only say with Horace 

 Walpole on looking at these figures, One's imagination 

 cracks! But definite distances had not been deter- 

 mined then, and are not determined yet. 



Whether these be the dreams of an enthusiastic 

 romancer, or the sober facts of science, there can be 

 no doubt that the observations on which they rest are 

 a delightful mixture of poetry and scientific truth. 

 Thickly strewn over the pages of a scientific memoir 

 are such entries as these: "The stars are so exceed- 

 ingly close and small that they cannot be counted"; 

 " a beautiful cluster of stars " ; " stars are so small that 

 I can but just perceive some and suspect others " ; 

 " light without stars " ; "a brilliant cluster " ; "a coarse 

 cluster of large stars of different sizes " ; "a rich cluster 

 of very compressed stars." The wealth of the heavens 

 passes both the language and the comprehension of 

 man. Star-dust, sparkling with more than diamond 

 lustre on the dark background of the heavens, has 

 become a common figure of speech. Jewels of silver, 

 jewels of gold, rubies, diamonds, and sapphires are seen 

 in admirably distinct disorder in the great mirror of 

 the telescope. The prose of the heavens surpasses the 

 brightest poetry of earth. 1 



Whether William Herschel was justified in holding 

 to the theory of an ocean of ether with thousands of 

 dimly seen Milky Ways floating about in it, or whether 

 he modified his view into a belief that the starry 

 worlds, seen from our earth, are parts of a connected 

 whole, is of little consequence in these days. Perhaps 

 he was himself in doubt which view to take. But he 

 was nearer to realising infinitude of space and eternity 



1 Phil. Trans., 1818, pp. 437-50. 



