Asheville daily citizen., 1894-12-22
INFINITY OF SPACE.
MATTERS BEYOND THE POWERS OF
THE HUMAN MIND.

THE HUMAN MIND.
Still There Has Been Much Light Thrown
Upon the subject Since the Astronomer,
ofthe Seventeenth Century Declared That
There Were Only One Thousand Stars.
There can be no subject moro calculated
to impress mans mind with his own in
significance, compared with the over
whelming power and glory of his Creator,
than the study and contemplation of the
armament In all its boundloss inhnity. Ii
is not to be wondered at that from the
earliest ages tho subject has never failed
To exercise a fascination over men, and
that those who, by their genius and learn
ing, have most nearly succeeded in solv.
ing its mysteries have always been rever
enccd and esteemed to he among the wis
est men of their day. More has been done
within the last 90 years than In all the
rest of the worlds history toward til,
piercing of the veil which shuts off from
our eyes the beauties and mysteries of far
off realms. and doubtless by means of the
spectroscope and increased size in the
lenses OF our telescopes, we shall bo enn
bed before long to unravel still moro St.
crets Of the universe and further add to
our stock of information regarding the
construction and conditions Of other
worlds besides our own.
The question as to whether space is finite
or infinite san never be satisfactorily ar
gucd out or indeed even thought of, for
the human mind is incapable of grasping
the existence Of limit to space, even in
its most abstract form, but the question
of the intnity of worlds and their distri.
button in the intlnty of space lies more
closely within the scope of human intel
lect, for we have many material facts and
calculations to go upon in discovering the
probable answer to this most fascinating
question.
Only as far back as the seventeenth cen
fury astronomers placed the number Of
stars in the universe rs little over 1000,
but this was absurd as the real number
visible to the naked eye is about 1000,
and perhaps treble thn. number can be
seen by persons with exceptionally good
eyesight. When the heavens, however, are
examined througha n telescope, the number
of visible stars are enormously Increased.
In fact, it has been calculated that the
great Lick telescope, the most powerful yet
made reveals aS many as 100 600
Yet what is that vast number compared
with infinity5 1t cannot even be llkened
to grain of sand on the scaShoro, and
yet If we think the matter out carefully
we shall see that the number Of visible
stars cannot really be infinite, for If they
were the heavens would be u complete
blaze of light This, of course We know
Is far from being the case, and indeed
there cannot be any doubt that, in certain
parts of the heavens at least the number
of visible stars is already known, for even
with the very strongest telescope, there
are blank spaces which are absolutely de
void of stars below u certain magnitude
or even the ycricst trace of ncbulous light.
These spaces are known to astronomers
by the name Of coal sacks, They con
tain no stars fainter than the twelfth mag
nitude, and, In fact, appear to mark hose
parts of the universe which are compare.
lively thin, On the other hand, in other
parts of the heavens We have not by any
means reached the limit of telescope re
solvability. 1t is curious, though, that
these intensely dark holes in the bright
cmpyrean are mostly to BE- found in those
parts of the heavens where most stars
abound. notably in the Milky Way. These
remarkable blank spots have been favor
ite theme Of discussion and argument
among all astronomers, for, whatever Tho
real shape or distribution Of that universe
may be, they point to the almost certain
inference that in u particular direction al
least there is an actual limit tu the mum
Der of stars, and il there is limit in one
direction we have every right To suppose
that such is the case in others and that
we have only to whit for telescopes strong
enough to resolve those parts which ar,
still Unreasonable to discover that poil'
can bo reached when all the stars of tn,
universe are unfoldcd to our gaze, ant
that, no matter how keen the power o
our mechanical vision, wo can find nc
more.
II, now, we admit that the number o
visible stars is limited the next question
to be asked is, What is the order or Shap,
of their distribution, Various astrono
mcrs have had various theories about tht!
matter. llorschel was inclined to thinl
that the visible universe was in the shapt
of u disk, though his views in this drcc
tion were considerably modified during tn
later part of his life. Struvc considered
that the universe was in the shape of
disk of limited thickness, but iuilnit
lcngth-a theory which is hard to support
as, unless the ultimate extinction If ligh
in space is believed in, that part Of TN
heavens which lay toward the plane Of tn
disk would necessarily shine with til
brightness Of the sun The late Mr.. Proc
tor, though finding it impossible to dciln
any particular shape for the visible uni
verse, as whole, was of the opinion tina
the brightest part OF it--namely, the Milk
Way-was in the form Of spiral. Thi
latter theory, however has many obicC
tions to contend with. Othernstronomcr
have had different theories on this qucs
tion, but all or ne rly all, appear 10 nd
nit an ultimate limit to the size Of tn
visible universe, or, In other words, bt
licvc that the galaxy of worlds which sui
round us form, in fact, but an islot in til
vast intlnity Of space,
1t would appear at first sight that an
attempt to solve the question Of tho cxis,
cncc of external galaxics and their di,
tancc was absolutely futile, yet such is nc
the case, The result of calculation is thl
the nearest external universe is SO far di!
tant that light from 1t travelling at tn
speed of lS6, 600 miles second would tax
nearly 00,000,000 years to reach us!-
Chambers journal.
The Queen mates New ClUthcs.
Will il be comfort to the loungcr {