SOLAR AND STELLAR PROPER MOTIONS. 
171 
the proper character, gave declinations with which to begin 
the discussion, and at least another century must elapse be¬ 
fore the necessary data can be obtained for a satisfactory 
solution of the problem. 
Finally, lest, after rehearsing the obstacles that confront 
our progress in this direction, I be misunderstood, I wish to 
disclaim most earnestly any pessimistic views in regard to 
the results of genuine investigation in this field of astro¬ 
nomical research. 
For more centuries than we now reckon since the Chris¬ 
tian era, a peculiar theory of the immobility of the solar sys¬ 
tem held undisputed and dominating sway in the minds of 
those who formulated the philosophy of the physical world 
and only yielded, at last, to the accumulated evidence gath¬ 
ered by those patient watchers of the stars who labored not 
for present gain or future glory, but to learn the secrets of 
the heavens. 
And shall we now grow faint hearted because we may be 
forced to wait for one or two centuries for the solution of an 
interesting problem, while the progressive evolution of the- 
result is visibly manifest from year to year ? It is, rather,, 
the attractive duty of the astronomer of these later days to 
strive cheerfully to fix, for his epoch, the evidence of each 
member of that starry host of witnesses whose cumulative 
testimony will make clear, sooner or later, the laws that 
guide their motions through the depths of space. 
