194 IN STARRY REALMS. 



surface. No longer need the dense clouds of the giant 

 planet be a mystery ; they are merely an indication of a 

 certain stage in the process of cooling, through which 

 Jupiter, like every other globe in our system, has to pass. 

 They are of interest and instruction to us. In the present 

 appearance of Jupiter, we may see what our earth was 

 once in those early days ere it had cooled to such an 

 extent that the oceans passed from the vaporous to the 

 fluid form in which we now find them. 



Such studies convey to our minds an imposing idea of 

 the magnificence of the universe. We have only been speak- 

 ing of a few of the bodies belonging to our own system, 

 and such systems are spread in countless myriads through 

 space. They raise in us a majestic conception of the 

 extent and splendour of that universe we see, which must 

 itself be only an inconceivably small fraction of the entire 

 extent of the universe, of which the greater part lies for 

 ever beyond our view. 



