Astronomy and the Bible;

THEOPENSPACEINORION 237

Now,letusdelveintothescienceofastronomywith
referencetothismatter,andseeifthetermisdueto
ignorance. Possiblythereis morescience intheex-
pressionthansomelearnedastronomershaveguessed.
And finally,ifthis writeristobe takentotask for
usingsuchwords,thenastronomersthemselvesshould
clean house; forsome of themhave been guilty of
similarwords,orwordsevenmore emphatic.
Whatis"theopenspaceinOrion"? Isitthatwhich
wassuggestedbyHuyghens oftheseventeenth cen-
tury? Heissupposed tohave discoveredthenebula
in 1656. It struck its distinguished observer with
amazement,assomethingtotallydifferentinitsnature
from those sidereal aggregations of which nebulous
objectshadhithertobeenfoundtoconsist. 'Theas-
pect ofthe heavens around this nebulous lightwas
intensely black, a circumstance which suggested to
Huyghens theideaofthe phenomenon'sbeing occa-
sionedbylookingthroughanapertureintheheavens
intoaluminousregionbeyond." ("HistoryofPhysi-
calAstronomy,"byRobertGrant,page563.) Oras
anotherastronomerputsit,"EvenHuyghens,thedis-
coverer,... wasalreadyoftheopinionthatinview-
ingitwesaw,asit were,throughanopeningintoa
regionofHght." ("TheUniverseofSuns,"Richard
Proctor,quotingfromHerschel.) IbelievethatHuy-
ghens'sownwords,describinghissensations,were,"a
curtainopening,throughwhichone had a freeview
intoanotherregion,whichwasmoreenlightened."
But thisisnottheideatobeconveyedbytheex-
pression, "theopenspace inOrion." Theskyisnot