Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1894-08-14
MorloN oF HEAVENLY aoDIEs.
Nothing in Nature at Ttest-Every Atom
 and Every Sun Moyinn On.


 Nothing in Nature at Ittst--Jzvery Atom
 and Every Sun MoYifn On.
 1t has been said of nature that it de tests a vacuum, but it is equally true to say that it has a horror for rest. There is no word which is only so relatively true as the word rest. and none that Is more absolutely true than the word motion There is not an object on this earth, or, in fact, in the whole uni verse. of which it may be said with certainty that 1t is at rest. The only point of which we may imagine that it is at absolute rest is the center of gray ity of the whole created universe, | point the exact position of which will in all probability never be ascertained. When in astronomy we speak of mo tion we must carefully discriminate between apparent and actual mo- tion, as in the case of the sun and stars in their daily crossing the vault of the heavens from east to west. which results in reality from the actual motion of the earth about it's axis from west to east.
 The real motion of the celestial bodies is subject the investigation of which called into play the highest analytical and observational powers of man, and forms one of the greatest epochs in the history of the astronom= teal Science. That in our solar system to the sun was assigned the cen tral position is by no means a fact of remote antiquity, for even CepernicuS, to whom is attributed tho establishment of the new system. could not entirely shake him. self free from the shackles of ancient theory that the earth occupies the most prominent place in the solar sys- temi nor did full conception and con viction of the true state of that system take possession of man until Kepler and Newton, by their great laws, based upon the irrefutable principles of msthemattcs, once and for ali explod- ed the old theory and placed the new one beyond the possibility of dispute and doubt.
 With the establishment of the Goper- niean system astronomy received q new and vigorous impulse Magnifying iu- stEnments were improved. calculations put upon q more vigorous basis, the pure rnathematieal science itself being infused with new power by the Car tesian method of geometry and the grand discovery of the calculus by Leibnitz and Newton, observations were extended into the very infnitude Of space, phenomena which before, had either not been noticed, or, if no ticed at all, had baffied all attempts at explanation were explained ill man. tier which left no room for doubt. And so it was announced one day to the maFveling world that the sun. the cen tFhl body of the solar system, around which are whirled in never-ceasing harmonious action the planets with their satellites, the comets. meteors and aerolites, were not fixed, but like his vassals. had a tenfo1d motion on his axis and around some point so dis tant its exact position has not yet been aseertained. The axial motion of the sun was esta by the sun spots but as to its motion through space we only know that its direction is toward the constellation Hercules
 Phore is something grand in the idea of satellites revolving about planets. planets around the sun, all of these at the same time rotating about their axes, and the sun itself sailing into endless space, but this is not all. There cannot be any doubt that all these | glorious suns i've see glittering in the i drmament are also moving in their ap- l pointed paths The proper motion of q number of them has been detected, and by the principles of induction and analogy we are not alone justified in, but almost forced to, the belief that motion is common property of them i all. There is a class of stars which, when viewed through powerful tele- 1 seopeS, reveal the remarkable fact of theif consisting in reality of two or three. nay, even more stars There is a'stgr in the constellation Lyra which, when seen through q telescope of mod. crate power appears as a double star, buEriewed through powerful one re- vaals the Startling fact that each again is double star, all physically con a1scted; that is four stars revolving abept each other.
 Af present we know 6,000 such sys- tems. In Orion there is star, known as Theta 0rionis, which, when viewed through a powerful telescope. appears as septuple star, thus presenting the magnificent panorama of seven suns re- vo1ving about each other 1t is to be supposed that each of these suns is en- eircled by planets, and these again by moons. exhibiting to the imagination a spectacle sublime beyond description. Though the human eye, with the aid of the most powerful instruments which future generations may more and more improve, will never behold the planets that are whirlipg around those glorious double and multiple orbs, since they only shine with the light reflected from the latter, it is not difficult to imagine the grandeur of these solar systems, exceeding in glory our own hundred fold, and the human mind cannot but be impressed with the divine harmony l prevailing the astral creation. -Balti- l more Sun.