EVOL UTION IN ASTRONOMY AND PHILOLOGY. 31 



nebulae appear to be composed, to the compara- 

 tively solid orbs, varying infinitely in density 

 and composition, known as suns and planets. 

 Nothing in the universe is stationary ; every- 

 thing is changing place and state at each 

 moment of its existence. It is only true in a 

 very general sense that " the thing that hath 

 been, it is that which shall be, and that which 

 is done, is that which shall be done, and there is 

 no new thing under the sun."* If we reflect a 

 moment we perceive that everything which is, 

 must depend upon everything which has pre- 

 viously existed in the eternal past, and that 

 what has once happened, can never happen 

 again under precisely the same circumstances, 

 unless the plan of the universe is that of an 

 endless succession of cycles, exactly repeating 

 each other, an Oriental speculation which 

 probably finds few supporters among ourselves. 

 But for the slight variations in our surroundings, 

 which we do not notice because we are so used 

 to them, life would perhaps soon become too 

 monotonous to be borne. 



The periods with which Astronomy deals are 

 so vast that the higher cosmical phenomena 



* Eccles. i. 9, 



