Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-01-08
-INFINITY OF SPACE.
MATTERS BEYOND THE POWERS OF
THE HUMAN MIND.

Still There Has Been Much Light Thrown
Upon the Subject Since the Astronomers
of the Seventeenth Century Declared That
There Were Only One Thousand Stars.
There can be no subject more calculated
to impress a 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 boundless inflnity. 1t
Is not to be wondered at that from the
earliest ages the subject has never failed
to exercise q 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-
enced and esteemed to DO among the wis
est men of their day. More has been done
within the last 30 years than in all the
rest of the worlds history toward the
piercing of the veil which shuts off from
our eyes the beauties and mysteries of far
off realms, and doubtless, by means of the
speotroscope and increased size in the
lenses of our telescopes, we shall be ena-
bled before long to unravel still moro Sc
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 can never be satisfactorily ar
gued 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 infnity of worlds and their distri
button in the infnity 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 as little over 1,O00
but this was absurd, as the real number
visible to the naked eye is about 7,0O0
and perhaps treble that number can be
seen by persons with exceptionally good
eyesight. When the heavens however, are
examined through 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, 900, 900!
Yet what is that vast number compared
with inflnity? 1t cannot even be likened
to a grain Of sand on the seashore, 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 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
~ tho bpayanS at 1pnst tho 1on111 hpr
of visible stars is already known, for even
with the very strongest telescopes there
are blank spaces which are absolutely de-
void of stars below certain magnitude
or even the veriest trace of nebulous 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 those
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
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 Unreasonable to discover that a point
can be reached when all the stars of the
universe are unfolded to our gaze, and
that, no 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, tho next question
to be asked is, What is the order or shape
of their distributions Various astrono-
mers have had various theories about this
matter Hcrschel was inclined to think
that the visible universe was in the shape
of disk, though his views in this direc-
ton were considerably modified during the
later part of his life. Strive considered
that the universe was in the shape of
disk of limited thickness, but infinite
length-a theory which is hard to support
as, unless the ultimate extinction of ligh
in space is believed in, that part of the
heavens which lay toward the plane of the
disk would necessarily shine with the
brightness of the sun. The late Mr.. Proc
tor, though finding it impossible to define
any particular shape for the visible uni
verse, as a whole was of the opinion that
the brightest part of it-namely, the Milky
Way-was in the form of a spiral. This
latter theory, however, has many objec-
tions to contend with. Otherastronomers
have had different theories on this ques-
ton, 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 infnity 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
lance 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 at the
speed of 1856, 900 miles second would take
nearly 9O,OOO,OO0 years to reach usI-
Chambers journal.