22 THE YEAR. 



The position of the axis round which the earth per- 

 forms its daily rotation, makes with the plane of this 

 orbit, taken in the direction of the largest diameter, an 

 angle of 66 32', or rather less than three-fourths of^a 

 right angle ; and this position it always retains, or, as 

 the astronomers say, its successive positions are all 

 parallel to each other. The axis thus always remains 

 steady, except a very trifling vibration, called the nut- 

 ation, and that has little or no effect upon the pheno- 

 mena of the seasons. On account of this permanence 

 of the position of the axis with reference to the plane 

 of the orbit, the two extremities are called the poles ; 

 and in the course of a year each pole points in succes- 

 sion to the circumference of an ellipse in absolute space, 

 having a diameter of about two hundred millions of 

 miles. Thus, by the way, one gets a glimpse of the 

 vast magnitude of the universe, of the mere nothing 

 that the earth, and even the earth's orbit is, compared 

 with the inhabited space which surrounds it. If the two 

 hundred millions of miles formed any measurable part 

 of the distance of the pole star, that star would appear 

 to describe a little ellipse in the heavens annually ; but 

 it does not, and therefore the distance of the pole star 

 must be so great that two hundred millions of miles is 

 not a measurable portion of it. Nor have we any 

 reason to conclude that any one star is nearer to 

 another than the pole star is to the earth. The stars 

 seen by the eye are very many ; and as the powers of 

 the telescope are increased they multiply almost to 

 infinitude, many thousands in an extent which, to the 

 naked eye, is but a mere point. Those myriads and 



