ASTRONOMY AND GEOLOGY 



COMPAEED. 



THERE is a certain affinity between these two sciences : 

 they have this feature in common that each in its 

 respective province extends the intellectual vision 

 of Man far beyond the limits of his present mortal 

 existence. They enable him to comprehend a vast 

 portion of those *two great infinities of time and of 

 space by which he is surrounded. How wonderful 

 that a being so 'ephemeral, whose life is compressed 

 within the bounds of some seventy or eighty years at 

 the utmost, and is cribbed and tethered to a narrow 

 spot on this earth's surface, should thus be enabled 

 to traverse in thought such a boundless area ! Our 

 first sentiment is perhaps one of melancholy and dis- 

 couragement. When we contrast our own nothing- 

 ness with the immensity of the Universe, which these 

 sciences disclose to us, how infinitesimally small we 



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