118 ASTRONOMYANDTHEBIBLE
blazeswithamagnificenceequaltothatofourown.
Herewepause,andlookoutuponthestarryheavens
whichsurroundus.
"Wehavepassedoversixtymillionsofmillions of
miles. Wehavereachedanewsystemofworlds,re-
volving about another sun; and from this remote
point,wehavearighttoexpectanewheaven,aswell
asanew earth onwhichwestand. Butno; liftup
youreyes,and lo!theold familiar constellationsare
allthere. YonderblazesOrion,withitsrichandgor-
geous belt; there comes Arcturus, and yonder the
NorthernBearcircleshisceaselessjourneyroundthe
pole. Allisunchanged,andthemightydistanceover
whichwehavepassedisbutthethousandthpartofthe
entirediameterofthisgrandclusterofsunsandsys-
tems,theMilkyWay. Althoughwehavesweptfrom
oursuntooneofthenearestfixedstars,6iCygni,and
havetraveledadistancewhichlightitselfcannottrav-
erseinlessthantenyears,thechangewroughtbythis
mightyjourney, intheappearanceoftheheavens, is
nogreaterthanwouldbeproducedintherelativeposi-
tions of the persons composing this audience to a
person nearits center, who should change his seat
withhisimmediateneighbor.
"Such,then,isthescaleonwhichthestarryheavens
arebuilt. If, inexaminingthemagnificentorbitsof
theremoter planets, and in tracingthe interminable
careerofsomeofthefar-sweepingcomets,wefeared
thattheremightnotberoom fortheaccomplishment
of theirvast orbits, our fears are nowat an end."
Thereisinfiniteroom.