The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1882-09-06
elories of the starlit Heavens.
BY X. A. PROCTOR.


If the eye could gain gradually in
hght-gathering power, until it attained
i something like the range of the great
gauglng telescopes of the Herschels.
how utterly would what we see now seem
lost in the inconceivable glories thus
gradually unfolded. Even the revela.
tions of the telescope, save as they
appeal to the minds eye, would be as
nothing to the splendid scene revealed,
when within the spaces which now show
black between the familiar stars of our
consultations, thousands of brilliant
orbs would be revealed. The milky
luminosity Of the galaxy would be seen
aglow with millions of suns, its richer
portions blazing so resplendently that
no eye could bear to gaze long upon the
wondrous display. But with every in.
crease of power more and more myriads
of stars would break into view, until at
last the scene would be unbearable i'm
its splendor. The eye would seek for
darkness as for rest. The mind would
ask for a scene less oppressive in the
magnihcence Of its inner meaning; for
even as seen, wonderful though the
display would be, the glorious scene
would scarce express the millionth part
of its real nature, as recognized by q
mind conscious that each point of light
was sun like ours, each sun was the
centre of q scheme of worlds such as
that globe on which we Give and move
and have our being"
Who shall pretend to picture a
scene so glorious? If the electric light
could be applied to illumine fifty million
amps over the surface of a black domed
vault, and those lamps were here
gathered in rich clustering groups,
here strewn more sparsely, after the
way in which the stars are spread over
he vault of heaven, something like the
,randeur of the scene which we have
imagined would be realized-but no
uman hands could ever produce such
n exhibition of celestial imagery. As
or maps, it is obviously impossible by
ny maps which could be drawn, no mat
er what their scale or plan, to present
nything even approaching to q correct
icture of the heavenly host. There is
o way even Of showing their numeri-
al wealth in single picture.
1t is not till we have learned to look
n all that the telescope reveals as
/ its turn nothing compared with the
eal universe, that we have rightly
armed the lessons which the heavens
Zach, SO far, at least, as it lies within
lr feeble powers to study the awful
,aching of the stars. The range Of
le puny instruments man can fashion is
0 measure, we may be well assured,
{ the universe as it is. The domain of
,lescopically visible space compared with
hich the whole range Of the visible
inverse of stars seems but point can
= in turn but as point compared with
lose infinite realms Of star-strewn
,ace which lie on every side of our uni
erse, beyond the range--millions of
mes further than the EXTREMIST scope
of the instruments by which man has
1tended the powers Of vision given to
i'm by the Almighty. The fnite-for
ter all, infinite though it seems to US,
lie region Of space through which we
ltend our survey is but fnite-can
ever bear any proportion to the infinite
we that Of infinite disproportion.
II that we can see is as moth
g compared with that which is all we
IN know is as nothing; though our
lOwledge "grow from more TO more"
without limit. In fine, we
ay say Gas our gradually widening Wis
n shows us the nothingness of what
e have seen, of what we see, of what
e can ever see), not as Laplace said,
the known is little, but the known is
)thing not the unknown is immense,
ut the unknown is infinite.