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which tempts us to throw off our allegiance to our Heavenly 
Father, but rather to increase our religious awe and admiration. 
These portentous and mysterious bodies, as our ancestors 
esteemed them, coming suddenly, and with fearful velocity 
from the depths of space, and heralding, as they in their 
superstition believed, war, or pestilence, or famine, are now 
proved to be harmless. 
We do not even fear a collision with them, and their con- 
stituent particles, many of which it is believed do not exceed 
one-third of an ounce in weight, flash across the sky when 
ignited by our atmosphere, and are only subjects for our 
curiosity. In this we believers may find cause to thank God 
for His mercies, and for His providence in keeping evil from our 
dwelling-place. 
Discoveries in stellar astronomy have kept pace with those 
in other branches of Astronomical science. 
The spectroscope, with its wonderful power of analysis, has 
been applied by Dr. Huggins and Padre Secchi to the stars, 
with as much success as by Mr. Lockyer to the sun. Both 
Huggins and Secchi have examined with minuteness a 
great many of the brighter stars, and the results show that 
the uniformity of structure which was observed in the solar 
system, is extended to the stars. The most remarkable of the 
published results of Dr. Huggins, are those arising from the 
examination of the two stars Aldebaran and a Orionis. In the 
spectra of both a great number of absorption-lines were found, 
of which it was possible to compare several with terrestrial sub- 
stances, as in the case of the sun. In the case of Aldebaran 
at least nine chemical elements were identified, — hydrogen, 
iron, magnesium, antimony, and quicksilver being among them ; 
in the case of a Orionis six substances were identified ; amongst 
which were magnesium, calcium, and iron, hydrogen being 
absolutely wanting. Secchi’ s researches were of a still more 
elaborate nature. He was enabled, in the comparatively clear 
atmosphere of Rome, to examine about 500 stars, and to divide 
them into four typical classes, distinguished by the nature of 
their absorption-bands. 
The first class contained stars of a white colour, like a 
Lyrse ; the second contained yellow stars, in which the bands 
bore a close resemblance to those of our sun ; the third included 
reddish stars like a Herculis, j3 Pegasi, and a Orionis ; and 
in the fourth were included stars of a lower magnitude (never 
above the sixth), with the interesting peculiarity that the 
spectrum consisted of bright bands, separated by dark intervals. 
How wonderful is all this variety, and at the same time how 
