4 THE BODIES OF SPACE, 



course round the ring, from west to east, crossing and recross- 

 ing the middle of the annular circle. " Some stars will de- 

 part more, others less, from either side of the circumference of 

 equilibrium, according to the places in which they are situ- 

 ated, and according to the direction and the velocity with 

 which they are put in motion. Our sun is probably one of 

 those which depart furthest from it, and descend furthest into 

 the empty space within the ring."( 8 ) According to this 

 view, a time may come when we shall be much more in the 

 thick of the stars of our astral system than we are now, and 

 have of course much more brilliant nocturnal skies ; but it 

 may be countless ages before the eyes which are to see this 

 added resplendence shall exist. 



The evidence of the existence of other astral systems 

 is much more decided than might be expected, when we 

 consider that the nearest of them must needs be placed at a 

 mighty interval beyond our own. The elder Herschel, di- 

 recting his wonderful tube towards the sides of our system, 

 where stars are planted most rarely, and raising the powers 

 of the instrument to the required pitch, was enabled with 

 awe-struck mind to see suspended in the vast empyrean 

 astral systems, or, as he called them, firmaments, resembling 

 our own. Like light cloudlets to a certain power of the 

 telescope, they resolved themselves, under a greater power, 

 into stars, though these generally seemed no larger than the 

 finest particles of diamond dust. The general forms of these 

 systems (nebulce) are various. So also are the distances, as 

 proved by the different degrees of telescopic power necessary 

 to bring them into view. The furthest observed by the astro- 

 nomer were estimated by him as thirty-five thousand times 

 more remote than Sirius, supposing its distance to be about 

 twenty millions of millions of miles. 



More recently, the Earl of Bosse has brought his superb 

 instruments to bear upon these distant objects, and thus re- 

 vealed them in more wondrous forms than before. Many 

 which Herschel saw only as filmy matter, spread in patches 

 over the sky, are now found to be vast aggregations of stars. 

 Many which to the elder philosopher seemed round and well 



