every hour; which is 68,000 miles an hour greater than the velocity of Mercury, which is the swiftest moving body in the planetary system. Here, then, we have a system of bodies of immense size moving with amazing velocity in different directions; for as these stars are doubtless suns, and, consequently, have a system of planets revolving round each, the planets must move round the sun to which they more immediately belong, and likewise round the other sun, or their common centre of gravity, and at the same time they are carried forward to some distant region with the velocity now stated. Among single stars, that which is marked μ Cassiopeia, one of the smaller stars in that constellation, is remarked as having the greatest proper motion of any yet ascertained. The amount of its annual motion is estimated at 34 seconds, which in the course of a century will amount to 6 minutes 15 seconds, a space in the heavens equal to one fifth of the apparent diameter of the moon. If this star be reckoned at the same distance from the earth as the double star 61 Cygni, the velocity of its motion every day will be 3,112,000 miles; every hour, 130,000; and every minute, 2160. The annual proper motion of Arcturus, in declination, is 1.72, which is nearly one half the motion of μ Cassiopeia; and a great many others are found by observation to be constantly progressing through the heavens by annual intervals of different degrees in extent, but generally smaller than those stated above. These changes of position in the stars cannot be perceived by the naked eye, and are consequently imperceptible to common observers; and even with the most accurate astronomical instruments some of them cannot be determined until after a lapse of years. Such motions give us reason to conclude that all the bodies in the universe are in perpetual motion, and many of them acted upon by separate forces, which carry them in different directions; and although some of these motions appear little more than just perceptible at the immense distance at which we are placed from them, yet it is probable that even the slowest motion of any of the stars is not less than at the rate of several thousands of miles every hour, indicating the operation of forces incomprehensible by the human mind. ON THE CHAPTER XIV. DESTINATION OF THE STARS; OR, THE DESIGNS THEY ARE INTENDED TO SUBSERVE IN THE SYSTEM OF THE UNIVERSE. FOR many ages during the infancy of astronomy, the stars were considered chiefly as an appendage to the world in which we dwell. The crystalline sphere in which they were supposed to be fixed was regarded as only the canopy of man's terrestrial habitation, and the orbs with which it is diversified as so many brilliant spangles to adorn it, and to diffuse a few glimmering rays to cheer the darkness of the night. This celestial arch, in which the sun and moon are also placed, was supposed to revolve around us every twenty-four hours, producing an alternate succession of light and of darkness, while the earth, as the centre of the universe, was considered as remaining in a state of perpetual quiescence. Above the visible heavens, where the stars are placed, nothing was supposed to exist but the throne of the Almighty and the abodes of the blessed; and such are still the contracted views of the majority of the inhabitants of our globe, respecting that immense and glorious firmament with which we are surrounded. It is true, indeed, that the stars, in a certain subordinate sense, were intended for the benefit of man'; for we actually derive many advantages from their apparent motions and influence. They present to our view a scene of beauty and magnificence which enchants the eye and gratifies the imagination, and tends to raise the soul above grovelling pursuits and terrestrial vanities. They cheer the shades of midnight, and enable us to prosecute our journeys after the sun has left our hemisphere; without the influence of whose light our winter evenings would be surrounded in impenetrable darkness, and not an object around us could be distinguished. In the absence of the moon all would be dark, as was chaos before light was formed to illuminate creation. Were the light of the starry orbs extinguished, instead of the grand and beautiful aspect now presented from above the firmament would ap pear only like an immense blank or a boundless desert, where nothing would be seen to stimulate human inquiry or to display the attributes of the Creator. Those orbs are likewise of essential service in different departments of human life; they serve as guides to the traveller when journeying through vast and unfrequented deserts, and to the mariner when conducting his vessel from one country to another through the wide and pathless ocean. The Pole-star, on account of its apparently fixed position, has in every age been viewed with solicitous attention by the navigator: and before the invention of the compass it was his principal guide to direct his bark to the desired haven. In short, by means of the stars we have been enabled to determine the exact length of the day and of the year, the various subdivisions of time, the commencement and termination of the seasons, the circumference of the globe, the density of its materials, and the relative positions of places on every part of its surface; all which advantages it becomes. man duly to appreciate, and with a grateful heart to adore the wisdom and goodness of Him" who made the sun to rule the day, and the moon and stars to rule the night," and who has rendered all his arrangements subservient to the happiness of his intelligent offspring. But, although the stars are of essential benefit to the inhabitants of our globe, yet we ought not for a moment to imagine that this was the chief and ultimate end for which they were brought into existence. We know that they are bodies of immense size, the least of them many thousands of times larger than our globe. But such a number of magnificent globes were not necessary in order to shed a few glimmering rays upon the earth; since the creation of an additional moon would diffuse far more light over our world than that which descends to the earth from all the visible stars in the firmament. And we know that the Creator does nothing in vain. It is the characteristic of infinite wisdom to proportionate means to the end intended to be accomplished; but in this case there would be no proportion between the means and the end; between creating a thousand globes of light of incalculable magnitude, and shedding a few glimmering rays to alleviate the darkness of midnight; and therefore this cannot be supposed the chief end of their creation, without impeaching the wisdom and intelligence of Him "who stretched out the heavens by his understanding." Besides, whatever might be said in reference to the stars visible to the unassisted eye, it is impossible for a moment to conceive that those thousands, and tens of thousands, and millions of stars, which are only visible through the most powerful telescopes, and whose light had never yet reached our globe, could have been created merely for the use of the inhabitants of this earth. Such a supposition must be for ever discarded by every one who would entertain an honourable and consistent idea of the operations of infinite wisdom. What, then, it may be asked, is the chief and ultimate destination of those magnificent globes? We may answer in general terms, that it is a destination corresponding to the magnitude and grandeur, and the intrinsic splendour of those distant bodies. It is the characteristic of every wise artist and architect, that he elects the most proper means to accomplish the end intended, and proportionates every part of a machine or edifice to all the other parts, so as to produce a harmony and unity of design. A philosophical instrument-maker, for example, in constructing an orrery, does not make wheels of a hundred yards in diameter for carrying balls of less than an inch in diameter round a circle of only six feet in circumference; nor does a watchmaker employ two hundred wheels and pinions in the construction of a timepiece when less than a dozen may suffice; nor does an architect make the portico of an edifice five hundred times larger than the whole structure. Were any individual to act in this manner, he would at once be denounced as utterly destitute of wisdom, and viewed as a fool or a maniac. Now we are to consider the Almighty, in all his arrangements throughout the universe, as acting on the same general principle which directs a wise and intelligent artist in all his plans and operations; for wisdom is an essential attribute of the Divinity, and all his works, when minutely inspected, must necessarily display this perfection to intelligent minds. To suppose otherwise, to imagine for a moment either that he has not proportionated one part of the universe to another, or that the greater part of it was created for no use at all, would be the height of profanity and impiety, and would rob the eternal Majesty of Heaven of one of the most distinguishing attributes of his nature. Bearing this principle in mind, we are necessarily led to the conclusion-a conclusion as certain as any mathematical demonstration-namely, that the benefit of the inhabitants of our U globe was not the chief or ultimate design for which the stars were created, but that the Deity had a higher and more expansive design to accomplish in their formation. We do not pre tend to fathom all the subordinate designs the Creator may have had in his view in the creation of the stars, or of any other object; but, as he has endowed us with rational faculties for the investigation of his works, it is evident that he intended we should be able to discover some of the main and leading designs which he intended to accomplish in the formation of the great bodies of the universe. We therefore maintain, that one of the grand and leading designs of the creation of the stars was, that they should serve as suns to give light to other worlds and systems with which they are more immediately connected. This proposition I have all along taken for granted in the preceding pages, and shall now adduce a few arguments to elucidate and support it. This 1. They all shine by their own native light. This is the peculiar characteristic of a sun in distinction from the planetary globes, which all shine with reflected light, derived from the luminous centre around which they revolve. The immense distance at which the nearest stars are placed from our globe is a clear proof that they shine, not with borrowed, but with inherent splendour; for reflected light from such a distance would be entirely dissipated ere it could reach our eyes. likewise appears from actual observation, and from a comparison of the brilliancy of the fixed stars with that of the planets, in which there is found a striking difference. Mercury and Venus are the two planets which revolve in the immediate neighbourhood of the sun, and, consequently, derive from him a greater portion of light than any of the other planets; yet it is found that the lustre of the star Sirius, and even that of Capella, is much more brilliant than that of either Mercury or Venus; and it is demonstrably certain, that both these stars are situated beyond the orbit of Uranus; and therefore, if they derived their light from the sun, they behooved to be incomparably more obscure than any of the planets. The lustre and brilliancy which the fixed stars exhibit when viewed with telescopes of large apertures and powers is exceedingly striking. Sir W. Herschel seldom looked at the larger stars through his forty-feet telescope, because their blaze was injurious to his sight. At one time, after sweeping a portion of the heavens with that instrument, he tells us that "the appear |