Daily Kennebec journal., 1894-12-29
iNFIN1TY OF SPACE.
MATTERS BEYOND THE POWERS OF
THE HUMAN MIND.

stiu Tsere Has Been Much Light Thrown
Upon the Subject Since the Astronomers
of the Seventeenth Century Declared That
There Were Only Ore Thousand Stars.
There can be no subject more calculated
to impress a mans mind with his own IN
sionificance, compared with the over
whelming power and glory OF his creator
than the study and contemplation OIL tne
armament in all its boundless infinlty. IL
is not to he wondered at that from tne
earliest ages the subject has never ialieu
to exercise a fascination over men, ana
that those who, by their genius and learn
ing, have most nearly succeeded IN SOW
ing its mysteries have always been rever-
enced and esteemed to be among the WIS
est men of their day. More has been done
within the last so years than in all the
rest of the worlds history toward tue
piercing of the veil which shuts OH from
our eyes the beauties and mysteries OF lar
off realms, and doubtless, by means OF the
Nectroscope and increased size IN inc
.enscs of our telescopes, we Shall De eha-
bled before long to unravel stlli more Sc
crets of the universe, and further auu 10
our stock of information regarding the
construction and conditions OF othef
worlds besides our own.
The question as to whether space is hnloe
or infinite can never be satisfactorily ar
gued out or indeed even thought Oh ior
the human mind is incapable OF grasping
the existence of limit to space, even III
it's most abstract form, but the question:
of the infnity of worlds and their distri-
button in the infinity of space lies more
closely within the scope OF human lhtel-
lect, for we have many material 1acts ana
calculations to go upon IN discovering the
probable answer to this most fascinating
question.
Only as far back as the seventeenth cen
tury astronomers placed the NUMBER oi
stars in the universe as little over l,ooo,
but this was absurd, as the real NUMBER
visible to the naked eye is about f,ooo,
and perhaps treble that number can pe
seen by persons with exceptionally good
eyesight When the heavens, however, are
examined through a telescope, the nunpcf
of visible stars are enormously lncreaseu-
In fact it has been calculated that the
great Lick telescope, the, most powerful yer
made, reveals as many as loo,o ,ooo, ooo.
Yet what is that vast number compared
with inflnity? 1t cannot even be llkened
to grain of sand on the seashore, ana
vet if we think the matter out carefully
we shall see that the number OF vlsipie
stars cannot really be infinite for II they
were the heavens would be complete
blaze of light. This, of course, we know,
is far from being the case, ana 1haceu
there cannot be any doubt that, III certain
parts of the heavens at least, the NUMBER
of visible stars is already known, for even
with the very strongest telescopes thefe
are blank spaces which are absolutely de
void of stars below certain magnitude
or even the yeriest trace of nebulous llght.
These spaces are known to astronomers
by the name of 'coal sacks -" Ihey con-
tain no stars fainter than the twelfth mag
nitude, and, in fact, appear to mark those
parts of the universe which are compara-
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
empyrean 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 the
real shape or distribution of that universe
may be, they point to the almost certain
inference that in a particular direction at
least there is an actual limit to the num-
Der of stars, and if 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 wait for telescopes strong
enough to resolve those parts which are
still unresolvable to discover that point
can be reached when all the stars of the
universe are unfolded to our gaze, and
| that, DO matter how keen the power of
our mechanical vision, We can find no
more.
If. now. we admit that the number OF
visible stars is limited, the next question
! to be asked is, What is the order or shape
of their distribution? Various astrono-
mers have had various theories about this
matter. Herschel was inclined to think
! that the visible universe was in the shape
! of a disk, though his views in this dircc-
| ton were considerably modified during the
! later part of his life. Struve considered
that the universe was in the shape of q
disk of limited thickness, but Infinite
| length-a theory which is hard to support,
as, unless the ultimate extinction of light
| in space is believed in that part of the
| heavens WHICH lay tOWuIu uuC pistho VI oi'N
| disk would necessarily shine with the
| brightness of the sun. The late Mr.. Proc
tor, though finding it impossible todefine
any particular shape for the visible uni
verse, as whole, was of the opinion that
| the brightest part of it-namely, the Milky
! Way-was in the form of spiral. This
/ latter theory, however, has many objec-
tions to contend with OtherastronomerS
| have had different theories on this ques-
| tion, but ALL or nearly all, appear to ad'
| nit an ultimate limit to the size of the
| visible universe, or, in other words, be
! lieve that the galaxy of worlds which sur
round us form, in fact, but an islet in the
vast infinity of space.
1t would appear at first sight that any
attempt to solve the question of the exist
ence of external galaxies and their dis
tance was absolutely futile, yet such is not
the case The result of calculation is that
! the nearest external universe is so far dis
tant that light from It travelling ut the
I speed of 1S6, 900 miles second would take
nearly 80, 900, 000 years to reach us!-
Chambers Journal.
|
/ Horns.
| Professor Cyrus Adler, assistant curator
| of oriental antiques in the United States