1 6 VESTIGES OF THE 



some of vast extent and irregular figure, as that in the 

 sword of Orion, which is visible to the naked eye ; others 

 of shape more defined; others, again, in which small 

 bright nuclei appear here and there over the surface. 

 Between this last form and another class of objects, 

 which appear as clusters of nuclei with nebulous matter 

 around each nucleus, there is but a step in what appears 

 a chain of related things. Then, again, our astral space 

 shows what are called nebulous stars — namely, luminous 

 spherical objects, bright in the centre and dull towards 

 the extremities. These apj^ear to be only an advanced 

 condition of the class of objects above described. Finally, 

 nebulous stars exist in every stage of concentration, down 

 to that state in which we see only a common star with a 

 slight hiir around it. It may be presumed that all these 

 are but stages in a progress, just as if, seeing a child, a 

 boy, a youth, a middle-aged, and an old man together, we 

 might presume that the whole were only variations of one 

 being. Are we to suppose that we have got a glimpse of 

 the process through which a sun goes between its original 

 condition, as a mass of diffused nebulous matter, and its 

 full-formed state as a compact body ? We shall see how 

 far such an idea is supported by other things known 

 with regard to the occupants of space, and the laws of 

 matter. 



A superficial view of the astronomy of the solar system 

 gives us only the idea of a vast luminous body (the sun) 

 in the centre, and a few smaller, though various sized 

 bodies, revolving .at difierent distances around it ; some 

 of these, again, having smaller planets (satellites) re- 

 volving around them. There are, however, some general 

 features of the solar system which, when a })rofounder 

 attention makes us acquainted with tliom, strike tlie 

 mind verv forciblv. 



