146 
HAROLD’S DISCUSSIONS. 
size. If we look at one in the northern part of our 
sky in winter it seems to be no brighter than in July, 
although we are then over three million miles nearer 
to it. 
When God wished to impress Abraham with the 
greatness of his promise, he said, “ Look now toward 
heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number 
them.” The stars visible to Abraham that night 
could not have exceeded three thousand in number. 
The whole sky, it is estimated, will not show more 
than six thousand to the unaided eye. Galileo’s 
“ baby ” telescope added a long list, which was much 
increased by Lord Rosse’s great reflector. Our famous 
modern glasses, and particularly photography, are 
steadily adding to the number. After considerable 
study. Sir John Herschel estimated the number of 
stars to be flve and a half millions; a later astrono¬ 
mer made it twenty millions. 
Numerous and interesting have been the answers 
through all ages to the question. What are the stars ? 
The answers cover a great range of thought from the 
little child’s idea that they were gimlet-holes in the 
sky to let the light in, to the most elaborate statement 
of the physicist. 
The stars are, in short, suns like our o’svn. Indeed, 
our sun removed to the distance of Sirius would prob¬ 
ably become a star so small as to be unseen by the 
naked eye. Not only does the appearance of these 
luminaries suggest this answer, but students of the 
stars have actually examined a considerable number 
of them with the spectroscope, and found that their 
