The enterprise-recorder. (Madison, Fla.) 1908-1933, 1909-07-22

the cycles involved IN astronomical
history that we are unconscious of the
mighty forces everywhere existing in
space. Could the author OF the book
OF Job return and view the midnight
sky he would detect but little change
in the relative position Of the stars.
A few OF the brighter objects, par
tlcularly Arcturus, have become some.
what displaced BY careful compari-
son he would find that the larger bear
had slightly changed its form. In gen.
eral, however, he would come back
to the same arching sky with which
he was familiar, its limits somewhat
altered by the procession OF the equi.
noxes.
This appearance is deceptive Slow
though they may be, changes are con.
stantly in operation and their effect is
cumulative. From these alterations
much may be learned. In one quar-
ter Of the sky the distance between
the individual stars is gradually les.
sening and in the opposite quarter the
stars are with unvarying regularity
drifting from one another
Nearly a century and half has now
gone by since Bradley labored at the
Greenwich Observatory. Far in ad-
vance Of the general thought Of his
time, he instinctively seemed to recog.
nize problems whose solution would
be of the greatest service to future
generations. He laid the foundations
of the modern science Of exact astron.
omy. Because he lived we are grad.
ually obtaining ideas Of the constltu.
he done nothing else than give us an
exact catalogue Of the position Of the
brighter stars as they existed in his
century, his work would not have been
in vain.
All the lines of astronomical inyes'
tigatlon with regard TO our position
in the celestial spaces converge on one
fact; the sun is a star and all the
stars are suns. Although it may hum
BILE our pride TO acknowledge 1t, we
cannot call the sun more than an
acreage star in size, llght-giving pow
er and the other qualities that make
up such a body. Compared with its
brethren, It has possibly passed It's
prime and may even now be approach
ing old age. The only reason for It's
great importance to us lies in its near
ness. In the depths of space, the solar
system, with its planets and their
moons, its comets and meteorlc debris,
is often duplicated in all its essential
features. Who can tell how often in
the past ages the Almighty has
watched oyer other children in other
worlds? 1t is far from impossible that
human history, with its loves and
hatreds, has been often repeated.
Since Bradleys time the immense
improvement in our means OF measure
ment has allowed the collection OF a
vast amount Of material dealing with
star position at various epochs. From
the study Of this material has emerged
the interesting fact that the stars are
all in constant movement with regard
to each other.
Had we no means of determination
other than inference from what has
already been outlined, we might cas-
Hy assume that our sun, like the 9TH
er stars. was not fixed, but was DRIFT
ing through space. This was perceived
by Bradley himself as early at l74S,
but the inaccuracy OF the work OF MS
predecessors. prevented him from prov
ing his contention. A half century
later Herschel attacked the same PROB
lem. The greatness Of his genius was
never better illustrated than by tns
fact that his results are in their es-
sentials accepted today. During the
early summer evening, If we stand and
look overhead to the boundary that
separates the consultations OF Lyra
and Hercules, we are then gazing very
nearly in the direction in when We
are travelling impelled by some IN
known force.
Not only the direction but the We
locity of this motion is also known
with o fair approach to accuracy Inc
Lick observatory has made an espec
ial study Of this question and camp
bell has been able to assign thirteen
miles per second as the most probable
velocity On account Of this forward
motion of the sun, as the earth traVel'
in its yearly orbit, 1t is tracing splra
in space. Year by years it climbs th'
edge of gigantic corkscrew curve
the distance between the successive
splrals being about four times the u''
lance from the earth to the sun
Recent work has seemed to snow