Now, once again, let us look at the star. It is _precisely_ where we left it. Our instruments, however delicate, a.s.sure us that its relative position is absolutely-is identically the same as at the commencement of our unutterable journey. _No_ parallax-none whatever-has been found.

The fact is, that, in regard to the distance of the fixed stars-of any one of the myriads of suns glistening on the farther side of that awful chasm which separates our system from its brothers in the cl.u.s.ter to which it belongs-astronomical science, until very lately, could speak only with a negative certainty. a.s.suming the brightest as the nearest, we could say, even of _them_, only that there is a certain incomprehensible distance on the _hither_ side of which they cannot be:-how far they are beyond it we had in no case been able to ascertain.

We perceived, for example, that Alpha Lyrae cannot be nearer to us than 19 trillions, 200 billions of miles; but, for all we knew, and indeed for all we now know, it may be distant from us the square, or the cube, or any other power of the number mentioned. By dint, however, of wonderfully minute and cautious observations, continued, with novel instruments, for many laborious years, _Bessel_, not long ago deceased, has lately succeeded in determining the distance of six or seven stars; among others, that of the star numbered 61 in the constellation of the Swan. The distance in this latter instance ascertained, is 670,000 times that of the Sun; which last it will be remembered, is 95 millions of miles. The star 61 Cygni, then, is nearly 64 trillions of miles from us-or more than three times the distance a.s.signed, _as the least possible_, for Alpha Lyrae.

In attempting to appreciate this interval by the aid of any considerations of _velocity_, as we did in endeavoring to estimate the distance of the moon, we must leave out of sight, altogether, such nothings as the speed of a cannon-ball, or of sound. Light, however, according to the latest calculations of Struve, proceeds at the rate of 167,000 miles in a second. Thought itself cannot pa.s.s through this interval more speedily-if, indeed, thought can traverse it at all. Yet, in coming from 61 Cygni to us, even at this inconceivable rate, light occupies more than _ten years_; and, consequently, were the star this moment blotted out from the Universe, still, _for ten years_, would it continue to sparkle on, undimmed in its paradoxical glory.

Keeping now in mind whatever feeble conception we may have attained of the interval between our Sun and 61 Cygni, let us remember that this interval, however unutterably vast, we are permitted to consider as but the _average_ interval among the countless host of stars composing that cl.u.s.ter, or "nebula," to which our system, as well as that of 61 Cygni, belongs. I have, in fact, stated the case with great moderation:-we have excellent reason for believing 61 Cygni to be one of the _nearest_ stars, and thus for concluding, at least for the present, that its distance from us is _less_ than the average distance between star and star in the magnificent cl.u.s.ter of the Milky Way.

And here, once again and finally, it seems proper to suggest that even as yet we have been speaking of trifles. Ceasing to wonder at the s.p.a.ce between star and star in our own or in any particular cl.u.s.ter, let us rather turn our thoughts to the intervals between cl.u.s.ter and cl.u.s.ter, in the all comprehensive cl.u.s.ter of the Universe.

I have already said that light proceeds at the rate of 167,000 miles in a second-that is, about 10 millions of miles in a minute, or about 600 millions of miles in an hour:-yet so far removed from us are some of the "nebulae" that even light, speeding with this velocity, could not and does not reach us, from those mysterious regions, in less than 3 _millions of years_. This calculation, moreover, is made by the elder Hersch.e.l.l, and in reference merely to those comparatively proximate cl.u.s.ters within the scope of his own telescope. There _are_ "nebulae,"

however, which, through the magical tube of Lord Rosse, are this instant whispering in our ears the secrets of _a million of ages_ by-gone. In a word, the events which we behold now-at this moment-in those worlds-are the identical events which interested their inhabitants _ten hundred thousand centuries ago_. In intervals-in distances such as this suggestion forces upon the _soul_-rather than upon the mind-we find, at length, a fitting climax to all hitherto frivolous considerations of _quant.i.ty_.

Our fancies thus occupied with the cosmical distances, let us take the opportunity of referring to the difficulty which we have so often experienced, while pursuing _the beaten path_ of astronomical reflection, _in accounting_ for the immeasurable voids alluded to-in comprehending why chasms so totally unoccupied and therefore apparently so needless, have been made to intervene between star and star-between cl.u.s.ter and cl.u.s.ter-in understanding, to be brief, a sufficient reason for the t.i.tanic scale, in respect of mere _s.p.a.ce_, on which the Universe is seen to be constructed. A rational cause for the phaenomenon, I maintain that Astronomy has palpably failed to a.s.sign:-but the considerations through which, in this Essay, we have proceeded step by step, enable us clearly and immediately to perceive that _s.p.a.ce and Duration are one_. That the Universe might _endure_ throughout an aera at all commensurate with the grandeur of its component material portions and with the high majesty of its spiritual purposes, it was necessary that the original atomic diffusion be made to so inconceivable an extent as to be only not infinite. It was required, in a word, that the stars should be gathered into visibility from invisible nebulosity-proceed from nebulosity to consolidation-and so grow grey in giving birth and death to unspeakably numerous and complex variations of vitalic development:-it was required that the stars should do all this-should have time thoroughly to accomplish all these Divine purposes-_during the period_ in which all things were effecting their return into Unity with a velocity acc.u.mulating in the inverse proportion of the squares of the distances at which lay the inevitable End.

Throughout all this we have no difficulty in understanding the absolute accuracy of the Divine _adaptation_. The density of the stars, respectively, proceeds, of course, as their condensation diminishes; condensation and heterogeneity keep pace with each other; through the latter, which is the index of the former, we estimate the vitalic and spiritual development. Thus, in the density of the globes, we have the measure in which their purposes are fulfilled. _As_ density proceeds-_as_ the divine intentions _are_ accomplished-_as_ less and still less remains _to be_ accomplished-so-in the same ratio-should we expect to find an acceleration of _the End_:-and thus the philosophical mind will easily comprehend that the Divine designs in const.i.tuting the stars, advance _mathematically_ to their fulfilment:-and more; it will readily give the advance a mathematical expression; it will decide that this advance is inversely proportional with the squares of the distances of all created things from the starting-point and goal of their creation.

Not only is this Divine adaptation, however, mathematically accurate, but there is that about it which stamps it _as divine_, in distinction from that which is merely the work of human constructiveness. I allude to the complete _mutuality_ of adaptation. For example; in human constructions a particular cause has a particular effect; a particular intention brings to pa.s.s a particular object; but this is all; we see no reciprocity. The effect does not re-act upon the cause; the intention does not change relations with the object. In Divine constructions the object is either design or object as we choose to regard it-and we may take at any time a cause for an effect, or the converse-so that we can never absolutely decide which is which.

To give an instance:-In polar climates the human frame, to maintain its animal heat, requires, for combustion in the capillary system, an abundant supply of highly azotized food, such as train-oil. But again:-in polar climates nearly the sole food afforded man is the oil of abundant seals and whales. Now, whether is oil at hand because imperatively demanded, or the only thing demanded because the only thing to be obtained? It is impossible to decide. There is an absolute _reciprocity of adaptation_.

The pleasure which we derive from any display of human ingenuity is in the ratio of _the approach_ to this species of reciprocity. In the construction of _plot_, for example, in fict.i.tious literature, we should aim at so arranging the incidents that we shall not be able to determine, of any one of them, whether it depends from any one other or upholds it. In this sense, of course, _perfection_ of _plot_ is really, or practically, unattainable-but only because it is a finite intelligence that constructs. The plots of G.o.d are perfect. The Universe is a plot of G.o.d.

And now we have reached a point at which the intellect is forced, again, to struggle against its propensity for a.n.a.logical inference-against its monomaniac grasping at the infinite. Moons have been seen _revolving_ about planets; planets about stars; and the poetical instinct of humanity-its instinct of the symmetrical, if the symmetry be but a symmetry of surface:-this _instinct_, which the Soul, not only of Man but of all created beings, took up, in the beginning, from the _geometrical_ basis of the Universal irradiation-impels us to the fancy of an endless extension of this system of _cycles_. Closing our eyes equally to _de_duction and _in_duction, we insist upon imagining a _revolution_ of all the orbs of the Galaxy about some gigantic globe which we take to be the central pivot of the whole. Each cl.u.s.ter in the great cl.u.s.ter of cl.u.s.ters is imagined, of course, to be similarly supplied and constructed; while, that the "a.n.a.logy" may be wanting at no point, we go on to conceive these cl.u.s.ters themselves, again, as _revolving_ about some still more august sphere;-this latter, still again, _with_ its encircling cl.u.s.ters, as but one of a yet more magnificent series of agglomerations, _gyrating_ about yet another orb central _to them_-some orb still more unspeakably sublime-some orb, let us rather say, of infinite sublimity endlessly multiplied by the infinitely sublime. Such are the conditions, continued in perpetuity, which the voice of what some people term "a.n.a.logy" calls upon the Fancy to depict and the Reason to contemplate, if possible, without becoming dissatisfied with the picture. Such, _in general_, are the interminable gyrations beyond gyration which we have been instructed by Philosophy to comprehend and to account for, at least in the best manner we can. Now and then, however, a philosopher proper-one whose phrenzy takes a very determinate turn-whose genius, to speak more reverentially, has a strongly-p.r.o.nounced washerwomanish bias, doing every thing up by the dozen-enables us to see _precisely_ that point out of sight, at which the revolutionary processes in question do, and of right ought to, come to an end.

It is hardly worth while, perhaps, even to sneer at the reveries of Fourrier:-but much has been said, latterly, of the hypothesis of Madler-that there exists, in the centre of the Galaxy, a stupendous globe about which all the systems of the cl.u.s.ter revolve. The _period_ of our own, indeed, has been stated-117 millions of years.

That our Sun has a motion in s.p.a.ce, independently of its rotation, and revolution about the system's centre of gravity, has long been suspected. This motion, granting it to exist, would be manifested perspectively. The stars in that firmamental region which we were leaving behind us, would, in a very long series of years, become crowded; those in the opposite quarter, scattered. Now, by means of astronomical History, we ascertain, cloudily, that some such phaenomena have occurred. On this ground it has been declared that our system is moving to a point in the heavens diametrically opposite the star Zeta Herculis:-but this inference is, perhaps, the maximum to which we have any logical right. Madler, however, has gone so far as to designate a particular star, Alcyone in the Pleiades, as being at or about the very spot around which a general _revolution_ is performed.

Now, since by "a.n.a.logy" we are led, in the first instance, to these dreams, it is no more than proper that we should abide by a.n.a.logy, at least in some measure, during their development; and that a.n.a.logy which suggests the revolution, suggests at the same time a central orb about which it should be performed:-so far the astronomer was consistent. This central orb, however, should, dynamically, be greater than all the orbs, taken together, which surround it. Of these there are about 100 millions. "Why, then," it was of course demanded, "do we not _see_ this vast central sun-_at least equal_ in ma.s.s to 100 millions of such suns as ours-why do we not _see_ it-_we_, especially, who occupy the mid region of the cl.u.s.ter-the very locality _near_ which, at all events, must be situated this incomparable star?" The reply was ready-"It must be non-luminous, as are our planets." Here, then, to suit a purpose, a.n.a.logy is suddenly let fall. "Not so," it may be said-"we know that non-luminous suns actually exist." It is true that we have reason at least for supposing so; but we have certainly no reason whatever for supposing that the non-luminous suns in question are encircled by _luminous_ suns, while these again are surrounded by non-luminous planets:-and it is precisely all this with which Madler is called upon to find any thing a.n.a.logous in the heavens-for it is precisely all this which he imagines in the case of the Galaxy. Admitting the thing to be so, we cannot help here picturing to ourselves how sad a puzzle the _why it is so_ must prove to all _a priori_ philosophers.

But granting, in the very teeth of a.n.a.logy and of every thing else, the non-luminosity of the vast central orb, we may still inquire how this...o...b.. so enormous, could fail of being rendered visible by the flood of light thrown upon it from the 100 millions of glorious suns glaring in all directions about it. Upon the urging of this question, the idea of an actually solid central sun appears, in some measure, to have been abandoned; and speculation proceeded to a.s.sert that the systems of the cl.u.s.ter perform their revolutions merely about an immaterial centre of gravity common to all. Here again then, to suit a purpose, a.n.a.logy is let fall. The planets of our system revolve, it is true, about a common centre of gravity; but they do this in connexion with, and in consequence of, a material sun whose ma.s.s more than counterbalances the rest of the system.

The mathematical circle is a curve composed of an infinity of straight lines. But this idea of the circle-an idea which, in view of all ordinary geometry, is merely the mathematical, as contradistinguished from the practical, idea-is, in sober fact, the _practical_ conception which alone we have any right to entertain in regard to the majestic circle with which we have to deal, at least in fancy, when we suppose our system revolving about a point in the centre of the Galaxy. Let the most vigorous of human imaginations attempt but to take a single step towards the comprehension of a sweep so ineffable! It would scarcely be paradoxical to say that a flash of lightning itself, travelling _forever_ upon the circ.u.mference of this unutterable circle, would still, _forever_, be travelling in a straight line. That the path of our Sun in such an orbit would, to any human perception, deviate in the slightest degree from a straight line, even in a million of years, is a proposition not to be entertained:-yet we are required to believe that a curvature has become apparent during the brief period of our astronomical history-during a mere point-during the utter nothingness of two or three thousand years.

It may be said that Madler _has_ really ascertained a curvature in the direction of our system's now well-established progress through s.p.a.ce.

Admitting, if necessary, this fact to be in reality such, I maintain that nothing is thereby shown except the reality of this fact-the fact of a curvature. For its _thorough_ determination, ages will be required; and, when determined, it will be found indicative of some binary or other multiple relation between our Sun and some one or more of the proximate stars. I hazard nothing however, in predicting, that, after the lapse of many centuries, all efforts at determining the path of our Sun through s.p.a.ce, will be abandoned as fruitless. This is easily conceivable when we look at the infinity of perturbation it must experience, from its perpetually-shifting relations with other orbs, in the common approach of all to the nucleus of the Galaxy.

But in examining other "nebulae" than that of the Milky Way-in surveying, generally, the cl.u.s.ters which overspread the heavens-do we or do we not find confirmation of Madler's hypothesis? We do _not_. The forms of the cl.u.s.ters are exceedingly diverse when casually viewed; but on close inspection, through powerful telescopes, we recognize the sphere, very distinctly, as at least the proximate form of all:-their const.i.tution, in general, being at variance with the idea of revolution about a common centre.

"It is difficult," says Sir John Hersch.e.l.l, "to form any conception of the dynamical state of such systems. On one hand, without a rotary motion and a centrifugal force, it is hardly possible not to regard them as in a state of _progressive collapse_. On the other, granting such a motion and such a force, we find it no less difficult to reconcile their forms with the rotation of the whole system [meaning cl.u.s.ter] around any single axis, without which internal collision would appear to be inevitable."

Some remarks lately made about the "nebulae" by Dr. Nichol, in taking quite a different view of the cosmical conditions from any taken in this Discourse-have a very peculiar applicability to the point now at issue.

He says:

"When our greatest telescopes are brought to bear upon them, we find that those which were thought to be irregular, are not so; they approach nearer to a globe. Here is one that looked oval; but Lord Rosse's telescope brought it into a circle.... Now there occurs a very remarkable circ.u.mstance in reference to these comparatively sweeping circular ma.s.ses of nebulae. We find they are not entirely circular, but the reverse; and that all around them, on every side, there are volumes of stars, _stretching out apparently as if they were rushing towards a great central ma.s.s in consequence of the action of some great power_."[12]

[12] I must be understood as denying, _especially_, only the _revolutionary_ portion of Madler's hypothesis. Of course, if no great central orb exists _now_ in our cl.u.s.ter, such will exist hereafter. Whenever existing, it will be merely the _nucleus_ of the consolidation.

Were I to describe, in my own words, what must necessarily be the existing condition of each nebula on the hypothesis that all matter is, as I suggest, now returning to its original Unity, I should simply be going over, nearly verbatim, the language here employed by Dr. Nichol, without the faintest suspicion of that stupendous truth which is the key to these nebular phaenomena.

And here let me fortify my position still farther, by the voice of a greater than Madler-of one, moreover, to whom all the data of Madler have long been familiar things, carefully and thoroughly considered.

Referring to the elaborate calculations of Argelander-the very researches which form Madler's basis-_Humboldt_, whose generalizing powers have never, perhaps been equalled, has the following observation:

"When we regard the real, proper, or non-perspective motions of the stars, we find _many groups of them moving in opposite directions_; and the data as yet in hand render it not necessary, at least, to conceive that the systems composing the Milky Way, or the cl.u.s.ters, generally, composing the Universe, are revolving about any particular centre unknown, whether luminous or non-luminous. It is but Man's longing for a fundamental First Cause, that impels both his intellect and his fancy to the adoption of such an hypothesis."[13]

[13] Betrachtet man die nicht perspectivischen eigenen Bewegungen der Sterne, so scheinen viele gruppenweise in ihrer Richtung entgegengesetzt; und die bisher gesammelten Thatsachen machen es auf's wenigste nicht nothwendig, anzunehmen, da.s.s alle Theile unserer Sternenschicht oder gar der gesammten Sterneninseln, welche den Weltraum fullen, sich um einen grossen, unbekannten, leuchtenden oder dunkeln Centralkorper bewegen. Das Streben nach den letzten und hochsten Grundursachen macht freilich die reflectirende Thatigkeit des Menschen, wie seine Phantasie, zu einer solchen Annahme geneigt.

The phaenomenon here alluded to-that of "many groups moving in opposite directions"-is quite inexplicable by Madler's idea; but arises, as a necessary consequence, from that which forms the basis of this Discourse. While the _merely general direction_ of each atom-of each moon, planet, star, or cl.u.s.ter-would, on my hypothesis, be, of course, absolutely rectilinear; while the _general_ path of all bodies would be a right line leading to the centre of all; it is clear, nevertheless, that this general rectilinearity would be compounded of what, with scarcely any exaggeration, we may term an infinity of particular curves-an infinity of local deviations from rectilinearity-the result of continuous differences of relative position among the mult.i.tudinous ma.s.ses, as each proceeded on its own proper journey to the End.

I quoted, just now, from Sir John Hersch.e.l.l, the following words, used in reference to the cl.u.s.ters:-"On one hand, without a rotary motion and a centrifugal force, it is hardly possible not to regard them as in a state of _progressive collapse_." The fact is, that, in surveying the "nebulae" with a telescope of high power, we shall find it quite impossible, having once conceived this idea of "collapse," not to gather, at all points, corroboration of the idea. A nucleus is always apparent, in the direction of which the stars seem to be precipitating themselves; nor can these nuclei be mistaken for merely perspective phaenomena:-the cl.u.s.ters are _really_ denser near the centre-spa.r.s.er in the regions more remote from it. In a word, we see every thing as we _should_ see it were a collapse taking place; but, in general, it may be said of these cl.u.s.ters, that we can fairly entertain, while looking at them, the idea of _orbitual movement about a centre_, only by admitting the _possible_ existence, in the distant domains of s.p.a.ce, of dynamical laws with which _we_ are unacquainted.

On the part of Hersch.e.l.l, however, there is evidently _a reluctance_ to regard the nebulae as in "a state of progressive collapse." But if facts-if even appearances justify the supposition of their being in this state, _why_, it may well be demanded, is he disinclined to admit it?

Simply on account of a prejudice;-merely because the supposition is at war with a preconceived and utterly baseless notion-that of the endlessness-that of the eternal stability of the Universe.

If the propositions of this Discourse are tenable, the "state of progressive collapse" is _precisely_ that state in which alone we are warranted in considering All Things; and, with due humility, let me here confess that, for my part, I am at a loss to conceive how any _other_ understanding of the existing condition of affairs, could ever have made its way into the human brain. "The tendency to collapse" and "the attraction of gravitation" are convertible phrases. In using either, we speak of the reaction of the First Act. Never was necessity less obvious than that of supposing Matter imbued with an ineradicable _quality_ forming part of its material nature-a quality, or instinct, _forever_ inseparable from it, and by dint of which inalienable principle every atom is _perpetually_ impelled to seek its fellow-atom. Never was necessity less obvious than that of entertaining this unphilosophical idea. Going boldly behind the vulgar thought, we have to conceive, metaphysically, that the gravitating principle appertains to Matter _temporarily_-only while diffused-only while existing as Many instead of as One-appertains to it by virtue of its state of irradiation alone-appertains, in a word, altogether to its _condition_, and not in the slightest degree to _itself_. In this view, when the irradiation shall have returned into its source-when the reaction shall be completed-the gravitating principle will no longer exist. And, in fact, astronomers, without at any time reaching the idea here suggested, seem to have been approximating it, in the a.s.sertion that "if there were but one body in the Universe, it would be impossible to understand how the principle, Gravity, could obtain:"-that is to say, from a consideration of Matter as they find it, they reach a conclusion at which I deductively arrive. That so pregnant a suggestion as the one just quoted should have been permitted to remain so long unfruitful, is, nevertheless, a mystery which I find it difficult to fathom.

It is, perhaps, in no little degree, however, our propensity for the continuous-for the a.n.a.logical-in the present case more particularly for the symmetrical-which has been leading us astray. And, in fact, the sense of the symmetrical is an instinct which may be depended upon with an almost blindfold reliance. It is the poetical essence of the Universe-_of the Universe_ which, in the supremeness of its symmetry, is but the most sublime of poems. Now symmetry and consistency are convertible terms:-thus Poetry and Truth are one. A thing is consistent in the ratio of its truth-true in the ratio of its consistency. _A perfect consistency, I repeat, can be nothing but an absolute truth._ We may take it for granted, then, that Man cannot long or widely err, if he suffer himself to be guided by his poetical, which I have maintained to be his truthful, in being his symmetrical, instinct. He must have a care, however, lest, in pursuing too heedlessly the superficial symmetry of forms and motions, he leave out of sight the really essential symmetry of the principles which determine and control them.

That the stellar bodies would finally be merged in one-that, at last, all would be drawn into the substance of _one stupendous central orb already existing_-is an idea which, for some time past, seems, vaguely and indeterminately, to have held possession of the fancy of mankind. It is an idea, in fact, which belongs to the cla.s.s of the _excessively obvious_. It springs, instantly, from a superficial observation of the cyclic and seemingly _gyrating_, or _vorticial_ movements of those individual portions of the Universe which come most immediately and most closely under our observation. There is not, perhaps, a human being, of ordinary education and of average reflective capacity, to whom, at some period, the fancy in question has not occurred, as if spontaneously, or intuitively, and wearing all the character of a very profound and very original conception. This conception, however, so commonly entertained, has never, within my knowledge, arisen out of any abstract considerations. Being, on the contrary, always suggested, as I say, by the vorticial movements about centres, a reason for it, also,-a _cause_ for the ingathering of all the orbs into one, _imagined to be already existing_, was naturally sought in the same direction-among these cyclic movements themselves.

Thus it happened that, on announcement of the gradual and perfectly regular decrease observed in the orbit of Enck's comet, at every successive revolution about our Sun, astronomers were nearly unanimous in the opinion that the cause in question was found-that a principle was discovered sufficient to account, physically, for that final, universal agglomeration which, I repeat, the a.n.a.logical, symmetrical or poetical instinct of Man had predetermined to understand as something more than a simple hypothesis.

This cause-this sufficient reason for the final ingathering-was declared to exist in an exceedingly rare but still material medium pervading s.p.a.ce; which medium, by r.e.t.a.r.ding, in some degree, the progress of the comet, perpetually weakened its tangential force; thus giving a predominance to the centripetal; which, of course, drew the comet nearer and nearer at each revolution, and would eventually precipitate it upon the Sun.

All this was strictly logical-admitting the medium or ether; but this ether was a.s.sumed, most illogically, on the ground that no _other_ mode than the one spoken of could be discovered, of accounting for the observed decrease in the orbit of the comet:-as if from the fact that we could _discover_ no other mode of accounting for it, it followed, in any respect, that no other mode of accounting for it existed. It is clear that innumerable causes might operate, in combination, to diminish the orbit, without even a possibility of our ever becoming acquainted with one of them. In the meantime, it has never been fairly shown, perhaps, why the r.e.t.a.r.dation occasioned by the skirts of the Sun's atmosphere, through which the comet pa.s.ses at perihelion, is not enough to account for the phaenomenon. That Enck's comet will be absorbed into the Sun, is probable; that all the comets of the system will be absorbed, is more than merely possible; but, in such case, the principle of absorption must be referred to eccentricity of orbit-to the close approximation to the Sun, of the comets at their perihelia; and is a principle not affecting, in any degree, the ponderous _spheres_, which are to be regarded as the true material const.i.tuents of the Universe.-Touching comets, in general, let me here suggest, in pa.s.sing, that we cannot be far wrong in looking upon them as the _lightning-flashes of the cosmical Heaven_.

The idea of a r.e.t.a.r.ding ether and, through it, of a final agglomeration of all things, seemed at one time, however, to be confirmed by the observation of a positive decrease in the orbit of the solid moon. By reference to eclipses recorded 2500 years ago, it was found that the velocity of the satellite's revolution _then_ was considerably less than it is _now_; that on the hypothesis that its motions in its...o...b..t is uniformly in accordance with Kepler's law, and was accurately determined _then_-2500 years ago-it is now in advance of the position it _should_ occupy, by nearly 9000 miles. The increase of velocity proved, of course, a diminution of orbit; and astronomers were fast yielding to a belief in an ether, as the sole mode of accounting for the phaenomenon, when Lagrange came to the rescue. He showed that, owing to the configurations of the spheroids, the shorter axes of their ellipses are subject to variation in length; the longer axes being permanent; and that this variation is continuous and vibratory-so that every orbit is in a state of transition, either from circle to ellipse, or from ellipse to circle. In the case of the moon, where the shorter axis is _de_creasing, the orbit is pa.s.sing from circle to ellipse and, consequently, is _de_creasing too; but, after a long series of ages, the ultimate eccentricity will be attained; then the shorter axis will proceed to _in_crease, until the orbit becomes a circle; when the process of shortening will again take place;-and so on forever. In the case of the Earth, the orbit is pa.s.sing from ellipse to circle. The facts thus demonstrated do away, of course, with all necessity for supposing an ether, and with all apprehension of the system's instability-on the ether's account.

It will be remembered that I have myself a.s.sumed what we may term _an ether_. I have spoken of a subtle _influence_ which we know to be ever in attendance upon matter, although becoming manifest only through matter's heterogeneity. To this _influence_-without daring to touch it at all in any effort at explaining its awful _nature_-I have referred the various phaenomena of electricity, heat, light, magnetism; and more-of vitality, consciousness, and thought-in a word, of spirituality.

It will be seen, at once, then, that the ether thus conceived is radically distinct from the ether of the astronomers; inasmuch as theirs is _matter_ and mine _not_.

With the idea of a material ether, seems, thus, to have departed altogether the thought of that universal agglomeration so long predetermined by the poetical fancy of mankind:-an agglomeration in which a sound Philosophy might have been warranted in putting faith, at least to a certain extent, if for no other reason than that by this poetical fancy it _had_ been so predetermined. But so far as Astronomy-so far as mere Physics have yet spoken, the cycles of the Universe are perpetual-the Universe has no conceivable end. Had an end been demonstrated, however, from so purely collateral a cause as an ether, Man's instinct of the Divine _capacity to adapt_, would have rebelled against the demonstration. We should have been forced to regard the Universe with some such sense of dissatisfaction as we experience in contemplating an unnecessarily complex work of human art. Creation would have affected us as an imperfect _plot_ in a romance, where the _denoument_ is awkwardly brought about by interposed incidents external and foreign to the main subject; instead of springing out of the bosom of the thesis-out of the heart of the ruling idea-instead of arising as a result of the primary proposition-as inseparable and inevitable part and parcel of the fundamental conception of the book.

What I mean by the symmetry of mere surface will now be more clearly understood. It is simply by the blandishment of this symmetry that we have been beguiled into the general idea of which Madler's hypothesis is but a part-the idea of the vorticial indrawing of the orbs. Dismissing this nakedly physical conception, the symmetry of principle sees the end of all things metaphysically involved in the thought of a beginning; seeks and finds in this origin of all things the _rudiment_ of this end; and perceives the impiety of supposing this end likely to be brought about less simply-less directly-less obviously-less artistically-than through _the reaction of the originating Act_.

Recurring, then, to a previous suggestion, let us understand the systems-let us understand each star, with its attendant planets-as but a t.i.tanic atom existing in s.p.a.ce with precisely the same inclination for Unity which characterized, in the beginning, the actual atoms after their irradiation throughout the Universal sphere. As these original atoms rushed towards each other in generally straight lines, so let us conceive as at least generally rectilinear, the paths of the system-atoms towards their respective centres of aggregation:-and in this direct drawing together of the systems into cl.u.s.ters, with a similar and simultaneous drawing together of the cl.u.s.ters themselves while undergoing consolidation, we have at length attained the great _Now_-the awful Present-the Existing Condition of the Universe.

Of the still more awful Future a not irrational a.n.a.logy may guide us in framing an hypothesis. The equilibrium between the centripetal and centrifugal forces of each system, being necessarily destroyed upon attainment of a certain proximity to the nucleus of the cl.u.s.ter to which it belongs, there must occur, at once, a chaotic or seemingly chaotic precipitation, of the moons upon the planets, of the planets upon the suns, and of the suns upon the nuclei; and the general result of this precipitation must be the gathering of the myriad now-existing stars of the firmament into an almost infinitely less number of almost infinitely superior spheres. In being immeasurably fewer, the worlds of that day will be immeasurably greater than our own. Then, indeed, amid unfathomable abysses, will be glaring unimaginable suns. But all this will be merely a climacic magnificence foreboding the great End. Of this End the new genesis described, can be but a very partial postponement.

While undergoing consolidation, the cl.u.s.ters themselves, with a speed prodigiously acc.u.mulative, have been rushing towards their own general centre-and now, with a thousand-fold electric velocity, commensurate only with their material grandeur and with the spiritual pa.s.sion of their appet.i.te for oneness, the majestic remnants of the tribe of Stars flash, at length, into a common embrace. The inevitable catastrophe is at hand.

But this catastrophe-what is it? We have seen accomplished the ingathering of the orbs. Henceforward, are we not to understand _one material globe of globes_ as const.i.tuting and comprehending the Universe? Such a fancy would be altogether at war with every a.s.sumption and consideration of this Discourse.

I have already alluded to that absolute _reciprocity of adaptation_ which is the idiosyncrasy of the divine Art-stamping it divine. Up to this point of our reflections, we have been regarding the electrical influence as a something by dint of whose repulsion alone Matter is enabled to exist in that state of diffusion demanded for the fulfilment of its purposes:-so far, in a word, we have been considering the influence in question as ordained for Matter's sake-to subserve the objects of matter. With a perfectly legitimate reciprocity, we are now permitted to look at Matter, as created _solely for the sake of this influence_-solely to serve the objects of this spiritual Ether. Through the aid-by the means-through the agency of Matter, and by dint of its heterogeneity-is this Ether manifested-is _Spirit individualized_. It is merely in the development of this Ether, through heterogeneity, that particular ma.s.ses of Matter become animate-sensitive-and in the ratio of their heterogeneity;-some reaching a degree of sensitiveness involving what we call _Thought_ and thus attaining Conscious Intelligence.

In this view, we are enabled to perceive Matter as a Means-not as an End. Its purposes are thus seen to have been comprehended in its diffusion; and with the return into Unity these purposes cease. The absolutely consolidated globe of globes would be _objectless_:-therefore not for a moment could it continue to exist. Matter, created for an end, would unquestionably, on fulfilment of that end, be Matter no longer.

Let us endeavor to understand that it would disappear, and that G.o.d would remain all in all.

That every work of Divine conception must coexist and coexpire with its particular design, seems to me especially obvious; and I make no doubt that, on perceiving the final globe of globes to be _objectless_, the majority of my readers will be satisfied with my "_therefore_ it cannot continue to exist." Nevertheless, as the startling thought of its instantaneous disappearance is one which the most powerful intellect cannot be expected readily to entertain on grounds so decidedly abstract, let us endeavor to look at the idea from some other and more ordinary point of view:-let us see how thoroughly and beautifully it is corroborated in an _a posteriori_ consideration of Matter as we actually find it.