Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1882-10-02
Glories of the Starlit Heavens

liihe eye could gain gradually in light
gathering power, until it attained something
like the rang" Of the great gaugng tclc-
scopes of the Ifcyschcls, how utterly would
| what we sec now seem LOST in the nconcei-
Vablc %lolics thus gradually unioldcd. Ev-
en- thc revelations of the telescope. save as
they appeal to the minds eye, would be as
nothing 10 the splendid scene revealed. when
within the spaces which now show black be-
tween the familiar stars ofour consultations
thousands of brilliant orbs would be reveal
cd. The mil.-y luminosity of the galaxy
would be seen aglow with millions of suns.
lis richer portions blazing so rcsplendcntly
that no eye could bear to gaze longupon the
Wondrous display. But with every increase
ofpowcr more and more myriads of stars
would break into view, until ut last tie
scene would be unbclrable in its splendor.
The eye would seek for darkness rs for rest.
The mind would ask for Il scene less op-
prcSsivc i'll the magniiiccucc Of its inner
meaning; for even as seen, wonderful though
the display would be. the glorious scene
would scarce express the miilionth part of
its real nature. as recognized by Il mind con-
Scious that each point OF light was Il sun like
ours. each sun WAS the centre of IL scheme
of worlds slicil aa that globe on which we
live and move amd have our being"
Who shall pretend to picture IL scene 50
glorious? If the electric light could be an
piled to iIIuminc fifty million l;,nns over
those lamps were here gathered in rich
clustering groups, there strcwn more sparse
ly. after the way in which the stars are
spread over the vault OF heaven, something
like grandeur of the scene which we i'm
agincd would be rcalixcd-buJ no human
hands could ever produce such an cxhibi-
ton Of celestial Imagery. As for maps, it is
obviously impossible by any maps which
could be drawn, no matter what their scale
or plan, to present anything even approach
ing to Il correct picture of the heavenly host.
There is no way even of showing their nu-
nclica wealth in Il single picture.
II is not till we have learned to look on
all that the telescope reveals as in its turn
nothing compared with the real universe,
that we have rightly learned the lessons
which the heavens teach. SO far. at least, as
il lies within our feeble pywers To study the
awful teaching of the stnrs. The range of
the puny instruments man can fashion is no
measure we may be we'll assured of the uni
verse. The domain Of tclcscopcally visi-
bic space compared with which the whole
| range OF the visible universe Of stars seems
but Il point, can be in turn but rs Il point.
compared with those infinite realms of star
strewn space which lie on every side of our
universe, beyond the range--milions of
| times further than the EXTREMIST Scopc--of
| the Instruments by which man has extended
The powers of vision given to him by the
Almighty. rhc Iinitc-ior after ALL infinite
though it seems 10 us. the region of space
through which we extend our survey is but
iinite-can never bear any proportion to the
| infinite save that OF the infinite dispropor-
ton. All that we can see is rs nothing com
pared with that which is: all we can know
is nothing: though our knowledge grow
lrom more to more" seemingly without
limit. In fine, we may say tas our gradually
widening vision shows lis the nothingneSs
of what we have seen, of what we see. of
what we can ever scc,l not rs Laplacc said
the known is little, but the known is moth
| ing not the unknown is immense, but the
unknown is iniinitc.-R. 4. Proctor.