Astronomy and the Bible;

THEFIXEDSTARS 145

year;whileothers, inconsequenceoftheirenormous
distance, mayrequire centuries to detectany appre-
ciablechange. Intheoutset,theseextraordinarymove-
mentsseemedtobedirectedbyno law—some stars
weresweepinginonedirection,andsomeinanother.
"Motion, ceaseless, eternal motion, seems to be
stampedon theentire universe;and whilethe stars
are pursuing their mighty orbits, we cannot resist
theidea thatour own sun,the center ofour great
planetarysystem,itselfastar,mustparticipateinthe
generalmovement,andis,inallprobability,urgingits
flight, accompanied by all itsplanets, satellites, and
comets,tosomeunknownregionofspace.
"Whenforcedto acknowledgetherotationof our
globe on itsaxis, andits swift orbitalmotion, sur-
rounded by wheelingplanets and flying comets, the
mindnaturallyretreatstothesunasthegreatimmov-
ablecenter, whereit can restand contemplatethese
circlingworlds. Butevenherethereisnorest. The
sun himself is a subordinate member of a grander
combination of worlds, and, obedient to higher in-
fluence,sweepsaroundinitsimmeasurableorbit.
"Herschel succeeded, at least approximately, in
soundingtheprofunditiesoftheMilkyWay,andfixed
therelativepositionofourownsunamongthestars
bywhichitissurrounded. Hefoundittobelocated
notveryfardistantfromthecenterofthegreatstra-
tum,andnearthelinewheretheprincipalcurrentof
starsdividesintotwogreatstreamswhichforatime
separatefromeachother,butfinallyreuniteinadis-
tantregionoftheheavens.

10