ROLLEDTOGETHERASASCROLL 261''Herethe'witchinghour'isatsunset,asunset of
orangeandflowerladenplains,andwaterywastesbe-
yond. Roundandaboutthewintersolstice,thesolar
disk may be seen standing on the sea. Soon half
ofthemighty sphereonly isvisible. Thelastview
iscomparable toanarclight. Thenoneby onethe
firstmagnitude starsare seen, flashing between dis-
tantpeaks. Beforethelastgleamofthesunhasvan-
ished,Aldebaran,Altair, Rigel,andProcyonillumine
thesky....
"Carpet a floor with jet-black velvet, and throw
downuponitamyriadofdiamondsinwildconfusion,
andperhapsyoumayconceivehowthedenselypacked
MilkyWayappears fromtheobservatory. 'Millions'
isa wordbecomingastronomically obsolete;'billions
ofstars' is anexpressionmuchmore nearly true of
the Milky Way. Billions of suns appear in the in-
finite deepsoftheGalaxy. Theseconstitute theap-
parent cosmic floor,the base of nature, and of the
stellarstructure. Inhundredsofareas,theredoesnot
seem tobeplace formore stars. Millions are finer
thanthepointsofneedles,andthesemakeapavement
ofstarrysand.
"Ineverreallysawthissiderealbaseuntilwiththe
telescopeuphere. Afterseveraldaysofrain,theat-
mosphereis sweptclearofdust. Thenoneis really
within cosmic deeps when the telescope suddenly
sweeps over fathomless interstellar chasms,doors or
windowsthroughwhichoneapparentlylooksintothe
very bottom of space. These areas are absolutely
black. Nosensationwithintheentirerangeofstellar