The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1895-06-04
INFINITY OF SPACE.
MATTERS BEYOND THE POWERS OF
THE HUMAN MIND.

Il
Upon the Subject Since the Astronomers
Ofthe Seventeenth Century Declared That
There Were Only One Thousand Stars.
There can be no subject more calculated
| 60 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 indnity. 1t
is not to be wondered at that from the
earliest ages the 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-
| 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 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
spectrosoope and increased size i'm the
lenses of our telescopes, we shall be ena-
bled before long to unravel still more Sc
crets of the universe, and further add to
our stock of information regarding the
construction and conditions of other
worlds besides our own.
OF 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 inflnity of space lies more
closely within the scope of human intel
leot, 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
tury astronomers placed the number of
stars in the universe as little over 1000,
but this was absurd, as the real number
visible to the naked eye is about 1000,
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, 600, 0OO
Yet what is that vast number compared
with inhnity2 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
! bbt1ES C1llOb really Dt lnllulle, lOE IL OlltJ
were the heavens would be a 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 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 arc 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 a 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 particular direction at
least there is an actual limit to the mum
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 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 nc
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 distributionP Various astrono
mers have had various theories about this
matter. Hersohel was inclined to think
that the visible universe was in the shape
of a disk, though his views in this direc
ton were considerably modified during the
later part of his life. Struve considered
that the universe was in the shape of {
disk of limited thickness, but infinit,
length-a theory which is hard to support
as unless the ultimate extinction of ligh
in space is believed in, that part of th'
heavens which lay toward the plane of th,
disk would necessarily shine with tn,
brightness of the sun. The late Mr.. Proc
tor, though finding it impossible to defin
: any particular shape for the visible uni
? verse, as a whole was of the opinion tina
9 the brightest part of it--namely, the Milk!
! Way-was in the form of a spiral. Thi
latter theory, however, has many objec
/, tions TO contend with. Otherastronomer
: have had different theories on this ques
= tion but all, or nearly all, appear TO ad
NIT an ultimate limit to the size of th
= visible universe, or, in other words, be
= lieve that the galaxy of worlds which sur
round us form, in fact, but an islet in th
vast infnity of space,
1t would appear at first sight that an.
1 attempt to solve the question of the exist
= ence of external galaxies and their dis
a tanoe was absolutely futile, yet such is no
4 the case. The result of calculation is tina
v the nearest external universe is so far dis
L tant that light from 1t travelling at tn
L speed of 1856, 600 miles a second would tax
d nearly 90,000,00O years to reach usl-
Chambers Journal