THE CONCEPTIO.N OF THE GREAT REALITY. 233 



to the naked eye ; but look forward : the himinous cloud to 

 which we are urging our flight has expanded, until what at one 

 time was a mere patch of light has now swelled into a mighty 

 star cluster ; myriads of suns burst into sight — we have reached 

 the confines of another Milky Way as glorious and mighty as 

 the one w^e have left, whose limits would require 10,000 years 

 to traverse ; and yet in whatever direction the telescope is 

 placed, star clusters are to be seen strewn over the whole 

 surface of the heavens. Let us take now the utmost limit of 

 the telescopic power in every direction. Where are we after 

 all but in the centre of a sphere whose circumference is 100,000 

 times as far from us as the nearest fixed star, and beyond 

 whose circuit infinity, boundless infinity, still stretches un- 

 fathomed as ever ; we have made a step indeed, but perhaps 

 only towards acquaintance with a new order of infinitesimals ; 

 once the distances of our solar system seemed almost infinite 

 quantities ; compare them with the intervals between the fixed 

 stars, and they become no quantities at all. And now when 

 the spaces between the stars are contrasted with the gulfs of 

 dark spaces separating firmaments, they absolutely vanish below 

 us. Can the whole firmamental creation in its turn be only a 

 corner of some mightier scheme ? But let us not 2:0 on to be- 

 wilderment ; we have passed from planet to planet, star to star, 

 universe to universe, and still infinite space extends for ever 

 beyond our grasp. We have gone as far towards the infinite 

 as our sight, aided by the most powerful telescope, can hope to 

 go. Is there no way then by which w^e can continue our 

 journey further towards the appreciation of this infinity? A 

 few years ago we should probably have denied it was possible for 

 man to go further ; but quite lately a new method of observation 

 has been developed. This I shall take for my next stepping-stone. 



Let us first consider this question: Why is it that the 

 further an object is withdrawn from the eye the fainter and 

 smaller that object becomes, until at last it disai)pears altogether 

 from the sight ? There are two quite distinct reasons for 

 this. First, the rays from any shining point diverge from such 

 point in all directions ; hence the nearer the object the greater 

 the number of rays which will enter the pupil of the eye ; 

 and, conversely, when the object is removed to a great distance, 

 so small a quantity of light finds its way into the eye that it 

 fails to excite the retina sufficiently to cause the impression 

 of sight, and the object is invisible. Xow, if you take a lens, 

 or what is popularly called a burning-glass, and place it 

 in the beams of the sun, you will see that it gathers all the 



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