Daily Republican., 1885-03-14
THE MAGNITUDE OF THE UNI.
VERSE.
BY A. PARLETT LLOYD.


The human mind Las been called q
great storehouse, wherein men treasure
up all they have acquired through ex.
perience. We find, however, that It IL
very faulty depository, for often Faith
or Time breaks In and rohs 1t Of its
choice st savings, and when we are about
TO make use OF ideas, which at some v
gone time we considered impressed in.
delibly upon our memories, we learn
too late that they have become mildew-
ed by age; or rather, having lost their
brilliancy, they remain only as dim
and fading recollectiOns.
To obvi1te this ~ far AZ possible
l have adopted the custom Of keeping
= notebook ever handy, no that when
an idea, or chain Of ideas, come to
me worth treasuripg, ] can readily jot
It down. Consequently, to-day / am
the possessor, not OF a diary made mp
OF constantly reoccnring incidents, but
OF book which il a storehonse Of my
own reflections.
Oftentimes. trivial, everyday Incl.
dents lead us to realms Of thought
where, bewildered by seeming infinity
We are compelled TO halt. but yet II we
could only remember our conclusions,
We would have demonstrated to our owl
satisfaction great truths upon VIII Oh
on tbs morrow We could build corol, q
ries leading us TO still more sublime
problems.
In presenting clippings from this
note book may simply recall to the
reader pathways along " hich his own
Il ouRhts have travelled But whether
my reflections be or be- not mutual,
trust that they may be both entertain
Ing and instructive.
While at eea last summer, nv
thoughts frequently took exceedingly
lofty fights. One beautiful moonli2h,
night l tried TO measure the universe,
i was seated upon the hurricane deck
of q trans-Atlantic steamship. The
passengers had gathered together in the
saloon below, aud ] was alone The
only signs Of the life within were the
light which glimmered family in the
pilot house, the constant humping OF
the night engine, and the distant sound
OF the lookout's tread, az he walked TO
and fro.
The grand old ocean, but a few days
before wild and tsmpestuous, was now
almost calm and peaceful being dis
turbed only by the Tiny waves, which
playfully raced one another until lost
IN ihs distance. The golden uoon had
us. risen above the horizon, and made
the surface Of the deep resem BILE a
Mighty lake Of sparkling silver, or to
borrow an idea from Lord Byron, a
glorious mirror, where the image Of the
was reelected. Our vessel
like huge bird fleeing over
the waters, and WAS but u speck In
with the wide sweep of sea
stretched before me. Awed BY the
suDliniitv of the scene, was led to
consider my owD ingnificAnce, and the
greatness OF the Creators handiwork
Taxing out my notebook l began to
pcribbl- the fOrtuitous suggestions of
the scene. My view in all directions
was unobsrructed, and the range OF nv
vision SET med INN easurabIe-yet il
that, great though the area
appeared, Il did not exceed one hun
tred and ninety eight square miles or
the earths surface. Then ] recalled the
fact that upon our globe there are over
one hundred and ninety eight million
square miles, Or more tnau one million
times AZ great territory as that
spread before me. To conceive Of such
seemed like trying TO grasp
after infinity, and yet my thoughts
" 3re not there even upon the border.
land Of the universe.
Above me were myriads of stars
twinkling and sparkling like brilliant
vet in the blue vault of heav-
BE-. Two of the solar planets were yisi-
BILE, aud though hardly appearing to be
larger than % twenty collar gold piece.
one of them, (Saturn,) would contain
the dirnen sions of our earth nine hun
4 red times, and the other (Jupiter.)
would contain IT, thirteen hundred
times. Still, thought l, these planets
are hut little fnoons, compared with
our sun, around which they all re-
v Dive. II has been almost demonstrated
that our resplendent orb il eight hun.
dred times as large AZ all the planets
combined, and that 1t would take three
and fifty-six thousand nine
hundred and thirty ak worlds like our
eArth to equal the sun II we could be
10 the sun and travel over
y rface upon an express train, going
ut the rate OF o Thousand miles an hour,
and allowing US TO view five thousand
square miles of territory with each
hours travel. after fifty thousand years
we would not have seen all of his area.
But even these figures are but tiny frac-
tons OF the universe, and was still
only at the threshold.
Brightly Rlittering above us I saw
Sirius, by many supposed to he the
nearest fixed star. The distance its
rays VI light had 10 come to reach my
eye AZ Que hundred and thirty thou
sand millions of miles. II 1t were posi-
BILE for the ship upon which stood to
sail directly towards this star, at the
rate of q hundred miles an hour, 1t
would take her one hundred and forty
{ on .aud years to reach 1t. From this
al most uncomfortable distance, (assum-
iig the parallex Of Sirius TO be correct }
and bis great brilliarcy, 1t has been e5-
{ N .ted that he IL two hundred and
tw anty-four times the volume OF our
sun Astronomers further tell us that
there are other fixed stars greater even
than the one have given, and II this be
30, and no reasonable, well-iDf formed
person can doubt 1t, the glorious orb
from which we receive our light IL but
q wee wax candle, compared with many
In the galaxy of untold THOUSANDS OF
fixed stars or suns, and that from some
Of the latter, which appear to us as sta. q
OF first magnitude, 1t Is very probable
that our sun would not be discerntble.
By this time my head ached, my
brain became dazed. / was lost in In.
hnitude. l tried TO revert my Thoughts
TO more worldly things, but did net
succeed. My poor, feeble and finite
mind was trying to gauge the universe,
and though it seemed the height Of
folly, lowed 1t to soar still higher.
Stretching over a portion of the heav-
ems, Ikea veil OF connected light, was
the " Milky Way" with its twenty.
three billions of stars, and only oover-
Ing q small fraction of that starry cano-