THROUGH LIBRARY WINDOWS 277 



are luminous patches in the heavens, billions of 

 miles beyond the vast limits of our solar sys- 

 tem. They appear to the telescopic eye as faint 

 clouds of hazy light. By the aid of photogra- 

 phy, they are known to be composed of hydro- 

 gen and other gases strongly condensed and in 

 processes of evolution. In these different 

 stages of its development one can trace the pro- 

 cess of all world building. For instance, in the 

 constellation Canes Venatici, there is one that 

 shows a central condensation; one in Aquarius 

 and also in Lyra that show a ring; one in Pe- 

 gasus is surrounded by rings of gaseous spirals ; 

 in Taurus one is crab-shaped, beautiful and 

 singular; the one in Andromeda has a bright 

 ball in the centre and is spindle-shaped, and in 

 looking at it one way it resembles Saturn with 

 its brilliant rings; the Nebula in Orion is the 

 most wonderful of all ; in form like a trapezium 

 in a field of floating glowing gas, so vast that 

 our entire solar system would be instantly lost 

 in it. It is in the Sword handle, middle star 

 and can be glimpsed by the unaided eye. But 

 for the most part these nebulae lie outside the 

 range of our starry worlds. Up in the Milky 

 Way, packed with its billions of suns, they are 

 very rare. They are seen in all conceivable 

 forms, circular, oval, lenticular, conical, spiral, 



