The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1905-06-23
Astronomical Lnmensities.


Is there anything in modern science
more staggering to our credulity than
the revelations of astronomy? Some.
body says that Astronomical knowledge
should be acquired at the rate of page
day. If faster than this, the mind is
confused" OF all the sciences which over.
whelm and confound US with their vast.
ness, astronomy may take the palm. Nc
wonder it has been called par excellence
''the sublime study" for it is too stupen.
dous for mind of ordinary caliber to
grasp; only one of Baconian or Miltonic
dimensions can fully apprehend, not to
say comprehend, its grandeur and glo.
ries. To ordinary nortals who have
never scaled the dizzy heights of mathe-
matics-the mysteries of the multiplied.
ton table being enough for their poor
brains-the millions, billions, trillions
quadrillions, etc, with which astronomy
sports so freely, are perfectly overwhelm.
ing. If we undertake to acquaint our
selves with its complications of systems,
it's endless succession of worlds beyond
worlds, with their machinery of centrifu-
gal and centripetal forces regulating their
motions, tits but to find ourselves lost in
sea of "vastv vagueness," dark il
limitable ocean," like that which greeted
Millions Satan when the Internal gates
were thrown open,
Without bound,
Without dimension, where length, breadth,
and height
And time and place are lost
Though humility is a good thing, a
sense of utter insignifcance is not; and,
when we turn from the study of astrono-
my to consider what we human beings
are in comparison with what it discloses
to us. we are overwhelmed with the
thought of our own infnitesimal little
ness. or rather our utter nothingness,
even though we view ourselves through
that powerful magnifer, our own self-es.
TEEN. In the study of natural history,
when we read of the myriads of animal
cules inhabiting a drop of water, or the
millions of their shells compacted in. a
cubic inch of chalk or colonizing a green
leaf, we swell and dilate with conscious
Importance; we are Brobdignagians; the
the veriest Tom Thumbs of our species
are giants. But when we are taught
that this great globe itself. with its
Handicapped towers, the gorgeous pal
aces, the solemn temples" and again,
with its Andes and Himalayas, its storms
and thunders, is, in point of size, speck
to that of the suns blazing in the depths
of space; when we are told, too, that all
the stars visible in the armament, this
majestical roof. fretted with golden fire, y
are but few of an infnity of worlds; the
thought is depressing to the last degree
What. we ask, is man, that he should be
proud of his birth, abilities, or attain.
ments what the pride, pomp, and cir,
instance" of human life, its seeming
glory or grandeur what our wit or wis.
dom, our civic, military, or literary
fame? We collapse at the thought, drop
from our stills, and, losing our qualities
as men and women, become the merest
mites, the veriest animalcules.
We have spoken of the astounding
numbers. the millions. billions, trillions
and quadrillions, with which astrono
| mers craze our brains. The soaring ma
ture of man, the boldness of his imagina
ton, and his persistent scrutiny of ma
lures secrets, are exemplihed in nothing
more strikingly than in the stupendous
superstructure which the star-gazer:
have within the last two centuries raised
upon the simple astronomy of the an
clients. Today, not content even will
the staggering numbers just mentioned
| they talk of thousands and even million.
of millions and billions as Familiarity "a:
maids do of puppy dogs" In former
days, before these calculations were an
nounced, we used to think of the state
ment of the British national debt as tn,
most august and imposing mass of fig
ures that could be brought together 70,
any legitimate purpose. But howis tina
sum dwarfed into nsignifcance-wha
an utterly contemplate vulgar fraction
does it become-beside the numerals o
modern astronomy! Take as a specimen
of these the following calculation by tn
late Prof. r. A. Proctor: IF you were {
giant large enough, and should thrus
your hand into the burning sun, it would
take 1875 years for the sensation to pas
up the arm to the brain, and 1875 year
more before the ve-message from tn
brain could reach the muscles, and bit
them draw the hand out of the flame"
Again, take the following: The dis
tance of the star Draconius, it appear
by DIR, Bradley's observations, is at leas