274 THROUGH LIBRARY WINDOWS 



tre. If we could stand where our earth Is and 

 have it removed, we would see this blazing cir- 

 cle completely surrounding us. To the unaided 

 eye, it appears simply as a bright band in the 

 glorious galaxy, but the power of the telescope 

 has resolved it into countless Suns. "Infinity's 

 illumined fields where bloom the worlds like 

 flowers about God's feet." 



It divides for a portion of its length into two 

 roughly parallel streams and glows in places, 

 as if illuminated by blazing cosmic fires. As- 

 tronomers tell us there are over twenty millions 

 of suns with their attendant planets concen- 

 trated in this magnificent belt. Most of the 

 stars are in it or near it, and the farther you 

 get from it the greater the starless spaces. I 

 think the finest bit of poetry concerning the 

 Milky Way was written by Elizabeth Carter: 



"Throughout the galaxy's extended line 

 Unnumbered worlds, in gay confusion shine; 

 Where every star that gilds the gloom of night 



With the faint trembling of a distant light, 

 Perhaps illumes some system of its own 



With the strong influence of a radiant sun." 



We know more than a million stars that have 

 been studied and named and catalogued and 

 registered on charts, the telescope brings added 



