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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
The zone of the fixed stars was the true Heaven or yEther 
in which the gods dwelt, and from whence they descended 
from time to time to favour the sons and daughters of Earth 
with their celestial society. 
It would be impossible for us here to refer to all the teach- 
ings of the Pythagorean school. Then’ doctrines explained every 
celestial phenomenon, real or imaginary; the supposed dis- 
tances of the heavenly bodies from the Earth ; their motions ; 
the eclipses; the milky- way, and the music of the spheres , 
which was supposed to exist although it was inaudible. 
And wherefore, does the reader suppose, it was “ inaudible?” 
According to some philosophers, it was in consequence of the 
“ constant habit ” of hearing it ; whilst others attributed the 
silence of this harmony to its “ extreme loudness ! ” 
However, imperfect as these teachings were, they held their 
sway until, in the sixteenth century, Copernicus laid the 
foundation of that theory of the universe which places the Sun 
in the centre of our system, and converted the fixed stars into 
so many solar centres of other systems, at present immea- 
surably distant, but which the magic tube and the advancing 
intelligence of man are bringing nearer to us day by day. With 
these distant worlds mankind will no doubt one day be better 
acquainted than we are at present with the nature of those 
companion planets that accompany our bright and beautiful 
world in its annual revolution round the central orb of light. 
“ But why,” some of our readers may be disposed to inquire, 
“ in a periodical devoted to the popular exposition of scientific 
truth, are we treated to a dissertation upon the errors or crude 
conceptions of our forefathers, long since defunct and for- 
gotten ? ” 
“ Why,” we would ask, in reply, “ is it pleasant to unbend, 
after the rigid and wearisome study of those subjects which tax 
our powers to the utmost, and to listen to the innocent prattle 
of our children as they discourse learnedly upon these all- 
important topics, and endeavour in their innocence to cut 
through those knotty problems which we are seeking labo- 
riously to unloose ?” 
It is as agreeable to the modern student of science to look 
back upon the half-mythical theories ; upon the imaginings of 
the earliest inhabitants of our globe, as it must have been to 
the parent who had taught his child that it was God who made 
the stars, to hear his little one exclaim, as the first twinkling 
light made its appearance in the heavens, “ See ! see ! God 
has made a star ! ” 
But there is also an important lesson to be derived from the 
consideration of this interesting subject, which recommends 
