The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1888-02-15
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ASTRONOMICAL SCIENCE.
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we are astonished at the change.
The comparatively simple science of
the heavenly bodies known to our
predecessors, almost perfect so far
as it went, injurious of what lay
beyond its grasp, has developed into
q body of manifold powers and
parts, each with its separate mode
and means of growth, full of strong
vitality, but animated by a restless
and unsatisfed spirit, haunted by
the sense of problems unsolved, and
tormented by conscious impotence
to sound the immensities it perpet-
ually confronts.
knowledge might then be said to
be bounded by the solar system;
but even the solar system presented
itself under an aspect strangely diff
ferent from that it now wears. IL
consisted of the sun, seven plandets,
and twice as many satellites, all cir
cling tremendously in obedience to
a universal law, by the compensa-
ting action of which the indefinite
stability of their mutual relations
was secured. The occasional incur
sion of comet, or the periodical
presence of q single such wanderer
chained by planetary or solar attrac-
ton to prevent escape to outer
space, availed nothing TO impair
the symmetry of the majestic spec
tacle.
Now, not alone have the ascer-
tanned limits of the system been
widened by 1000, 000,00 of miles,
with the addition of one more giant
planet and six satellites to the an
cient classes of its members, but
complexity has been given to its
constitution battling description or
thought. Two hundred and seventy
circulating planetary bodies bridge
the gap between Jupiter and Mars,
the complete investigation of the
movements of any one of which
would overtask the energies of a
lifetime. Meteorites, strangers APP
parently to the fundamental order
ing of the solar household, swarm,
nevertheless, by millions in every
Granny of its space, returning at
regular intervals like the comets so
singularly associated with them, or
sweeping across it with hyperbolic
velocities, brought perhaps from
some distant star. And each of
these cosmical grains of dust has a
theory far more complex than that
of Jupiter; it bears within it the
secret of its origin and fulfills a
functiond in the universe. The sun
itself is no longer semi-fabulous,
freight globe, but the vast scene of
the play of forces as yet imperfectly
known to us, offering boundless
field for the most arduous and in
spring researches. Among the
planets, the widest variety in physi-
cal habitudes is seen to prevail, and
each is recognized as world apart,
inviting inquiries, which, to be effec-
tive, must necessarily be special and
detailed. Even our own moon
threatens TO break loose from the
trammels of calculation, and com
mits "errors" which sap the very
foundations of the lunar theory, and
suggest the formidable necessity for
its revision. Nay, the steadfast
earth has forfeited the implicit con-
fidence placed in it as a time-keeper
and questions relating to the stab
ility of the earth's axis, and the con.
stancy of the earth's rate of rotation
are among those which it behooves
the future to answer. Everywhere
there is multiformity and change
stimulating curiosity which the
rapid development of methods Of
research offers the possibility of a
least partially gratifying.
Outside the solar system the pro
blems which demand practica
solution are all but infinite in num-
Der and extent; and these have al
arisen and crowded upon oul
thoughts within less than 100 years
for sidereal science became recog.
| vi uoblOhOlHt OlII1
through Herschers discovery of the
revolutions of double stars in 1902
Yet already it may be, and has beer
called, st the astronomy of tho
} FUTURE" so rapidly has the develop
ment of keen and universal inter
est attended and stimulated the
growth of power to investigate this
sublime subject. What has beer
done is little-is scarcely a beginning
yet it is much in comparison Will
the total blank of century past
And our knowledge will, we are
easily persuaded, appear in turn thu
merest ignorance to those who com,
after us, Yet it is not to be. DIES
. pissed, since by it we reach up crop
ing fingers to touch the hem of tb'
garment of the Most High.-CSide
,, real Messenger.