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THE PHYSICAL PHENOMENA OF OTHEE WOELDS. 
BY EGBERT HUNT^ F.R.S. 
K > t 
Ye stars ! which are the poetry of Heaven — 
* * * ye are 
A beauty and a mystery. 
T he lights which spangle the blue robe of space have^ 
through all time, exerted a strange, though varying, 
influence on the minds of men. The uncivilized wanderer 
has ever acknowledged, in his own wild way, the existence of 
a mysterious power in the stars ; and under their mild influ- 
ences he has almost forgotten his savage nature. The more 
civilized dwellers within those cities on which a true philosophy 
had not yet shone, clothed every orb with mystic forces, ever 
active for good or for evil ; and to them the stars in their 
courses were the rulers of their destinies. The ^^PoePs 
eye, with a fine frenzy rolling,^^ pierces the vault of heaven ; 
in ecstasy he wings his way from star to star, till his mind, 
oppressed with the immensity of worlds, confesses its weak- 
ness in proclaiming them a mystery The philosopher, 
however, who has been trained in the school of inductive 
science, notes the peculiar characteristics of terrestrial powers, 
and each fact established becomes to him a new bar on the 
ladder, by which he tranquilly ascends to the examination of 
celestial phenomena. Thus science has taught us something 
respecting the nature of a sun, and is advancing the human 
mind still further into space, to open to us some of the mys- 
teries of A STAR and the wonders of a nebula. Many a man, 
gifted with no mean powers, and anxious to witness the 
advance of his kindred in the paths of goodness and truth, 
expresses an honest fear lest the darings of science should 
prove dangerous to the teachings of his school. The pre- 
sumptuous flights of erratic minds are ever fraught with 
danger to themselves and others ; but the cautious progress 
of the trained observer leads us onward, in safety, to the full 
blaze of Truth, and upward, to a more exalted appreciation of 
the powers of the Almighty Intelligence, who binds the 
sweet influences of Pleiades,^^ or looses the bands of Orion^'’ 
— who brings forth ‘’^Mazzaroth in his season,^^ or guideth 
Arcturus with his sons.-’^ 
