The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1857-08-27

The diameter Of the earth's orbit is, as It
were, the pocket-rule of the astronomer, with
which he measures distances which the mind
can no more grasp than infnity. This star
measurer is one hundred and ninety millions
Of miles in length. This the astronomer laws
down on the floor Of Heaven, and drawing
lines from its extrrmeties to the nearest fixed
star, or centauri. he finds the angle thu. sub
tended by this base line to be not quite one
second! BY the simple Rule Of Three he
arrives at the fact that the nearest fixed star
is 2f,oo0 oOo ,oOO,00s. 2rs
From another simple calculation il follows,
that IN the srace around our soar system de-
void Of stars, there is room in one dimension,
or in one straight line, for II, 900 solar systems;
in two dimensions, or in one plane, there is
room for 100 millions of solar systems; and IN
actual sidereal space of three dimensions, there
is room for 1,5OO, ,0o0, ,OOO, 100 solar systems the
size Of our own. &
Nay, good farmer, do not look so unbeiev-
iDgly. Your boy need not graduate from the
district school to prove all this. One and a
half million million of solar systems, as large
as ours, might be setn the space which divides
between 1t and its nearest neighbor. And, il
we might assume the aggregate population of
our solar system to be 20 600 OOo, 900, then
there would be room enough for thirty thou
sand trilions Of human beings to live, love
and labor in the worlds that might be planted
in this same starless void. $50 .. .rs
Nay. good man of the tow frock, hold on a
moment longer. Our sun is but dull, hazy
speck OF light in :he great milky way, and
DIR. Herschel says he discovered fifty thous.
and just such suns in that highway Of worlds,
IN space apparently yard in breadth, ana
six in length. Think of that moment! and
then that no two of them all are probably near
er each other than twenty billions of miles
and then, that the starless space between their
solar systems might contain l,5OO, ,0Oo, ,0O0, ,OO1
of similar systelnsi Multiply these spaces
and these systems by a hundred millions, and
then you will have numbered the worlds that a
powerful glass will open to your view, FROM
one point of space.
Again, multiply these systems by twenty
thousand millions, and you will have three
billion trillions Of human beings, who might
dwell in peace and unity in that point Of space
which Herschel's glass would disclose to your
vision. e. a@aa
And you ask desparingly, wha. is man -
We will tell you what he is in one respect
the Creator OF all these worlds is his God
II does one good to think long and deeply
on these stupenduous facts. By no other
means accessible to us can we so we'll climb
toward just apprehension of the greatness
and majesty of the Lord our God. These
measurements and estimates seem as a ladder
let down to US in our narrow prison-house, up
whish we may ascend to look abroad little
way over the vast dominions of our grea,
King Jat5 e-# & r.
To this contemplation the Bible itself refer.
us as our means Of knowing the greatness and
might of our iod.
Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who
hath created these things, that bringeth out
their hosts by number he calleih them all by
their names, by the greatness Of his might, fer
thai he is strong in power, not one faileth. .''--
Isaiah 10: 26. 1t is he that sitteth upon the
circle of the earth. and the inhabitants thereof
are as grasshoppers that stretcheth out the
heavens as curtain, and spreadeth them out
as tent to dwell in.'' Isaiah 40: %. "He
siretcheth out the north over the empty place,
and hanseth the earth opon nothing. The pill
lars OF heaven trembie, and are astonished al
his reproof. By his Spirit he hath gsrnished
the heavens. So, these are parts Of his ways;
but how little portion is heard Of him9 but
the thuLcer Of his power who can understand?''
Job 26; I, IL, IS, IA.