ARCTURUSWITHHISSONS^173amileaminute,orsixtymiles anhour,isasnothing
comparedwithit. Tenmilesasecondissixhundred
milesaminute. Therefore thevelocityof thestars
issixhundredtimesthatofourfastesttrains. Abody
traveling atthis rate would go from NewYork to
Chicagoinalittlemore thanaminute,orfromNew
YorktoSanFranciscoinlessthanfiveminutes.
Suchavelocitythemind cannotgrasp. Itis im-
possibletopicture,fortheeyehasneverseenanything
fromwhichthemindcouldmakethepicture. Such
is thevelocityof thestars. Such is the speedthat
ourownsunismakingthroughspaceeverysecondof
time. At his unflagging velocity, it moves ten or
twelvemileswhileyouarereadingonesentence.
Butwhatdoyouthinkofastarthattranscendsin
velocitythismovementthat wehaveindicated? The
sunmoves, as wehave said,tenmilesasecond; but
Arcturus flies away atthe incomprehensiblevelocity
of 257 milesasecond, ornearlytwenty-six timesas
fastasoursun. Letuscomparethistremendousve-
locity withdistancesontheearth,andthemotionof
a fasttrain. Instead ofgoingamileaminute,like
ourexpresstrains, Arcturus travelsattheenormous
speed of 15,420 miles aminute. This would carry
abodyaroundtheworld,or25,000miles, ina little
overaminute and a half. Themind cannotgrasp
theawfulmovementdepictedinthesefigures.
Butthatisnotallthereisto considerinthis con-
nection. Momentum,orthepowertoproducemove-
ment,andthereforethepowertostopit,ismeasured
bytheweightmultipliedbythevelocity. Wehavethe