29 



RESULTS OF OBSERVATIONS IN THE TTRANC LOG ICAL PORTION 

 OF THE PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE WORLD. 



WE again commence with the depths of cosmical space, and 

 the remote sporadic starry systems, which appear to te- 

 lescopic vision as faintly shining nebulae. From these we 

 gradually descend to the double stars, revolving round one 

 common centre of gravity, and which are frequently bi- 

 coloured, to the nearer starry strata, one of which appears 

 to enclose our own planetary system; passing thence 

 to the air-and-ocean-girt terrestrial spheroid which we 

 inhabit. We have already indicated in the introduction to the 

 General Delineation of Nature, 1 that this arrangement of ideas is 

 alone suited to the character of a work on the Cosmos, since 

 we cannot here, in accordance with the requirements of direct 

 sensuous contemplation, begin with our own terrestrial abode, 

 whose surface is animated by organic forces, and pass from 

 the apparent to the true movements of cosmical bodies. 



The uranological, when opposed to the telluric domain of 

 the Cosmos, may be conveniently separated into two divisions, 

 one of which comprises astrognosy, or the region of the fixed 

 stars, and the other our solar and planetary system. It is 

 unnecessary here to describe the imperfect and unsatisfac- 

 tory nature of such a nomenclature and such classifications. 

 Names were introduced into the physical sciences before the 

 differences of objects and their strict limitations were suffi- 

 ciently known. 2 The most important point, however, is the 

 connection of ideas, and the order in which the objects are to 



1 Cosmos, pp. 62-66. 8 Op. cit. pp. 38, 39. 



