Views of astronomy : seven lectures delivered before the Mercantile Library Association of New York in the months of January and February, 1848 / by J.P. Nichol ; reported for the New-York Tribune by Oliver Dyer.
- John Pringle Nichol
- Date:
- 1848
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Views of astronomy : seven lectures delivered before the Mercantile Library Association of New York in the months of January and February, 1848 / by J.P. Nichol ; reported for the New-York Tribune by Oliver Dyer. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
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![through all these Stellar Hosts—how, wherever such orbs are, there is change—immense motions accomplishing majestic purposes—all things rush- ing on toward some new condition—proclaiming that evolution, ceaseless and irresistible—advanc- ing from the imperfect to the perfect is the Law of the Universe. That, indeed, was a noble specta- cle—myriads of Suns in gorgeous arrangement marching onward, each on its great way, pointing toward regions far beyond the sigbt; but with a significance how much more profound is this same lofty truth when once more declared. The develop- ment of which I there spoke, was only an altera- tion in internal distribution of groups of stars, pro- ducing a change and gradual perfecting or simplify- ing of external form : but now we discern the orbs themselves rising, enduring, and then melting away; even these most stupendous manifestations of a material organization undergoing in their in- most structure the doom of mutability, bowing be- fore that profound Law which persists or eminent ]y endures as the cause and substratum of all change! How overwhelming must be those pur- poses whose greatness even these Heavens are not adequate to represent—whose amplitude, even these unfathomable depths cannot contain—of whose purity and expanse that whole Universe of stars is fitted to be an emblem only so transient! There, a mere speck in the void, yet of itself bo complex, so perfect so grand, floats that Solar Syi. tem of which onr varied and beauteous world is &nt a minor part—it is but as a blossom fitted for a mo- ment only to unfold itself and live, as the seasons of the august Universe pass. What, then, is this scheme as a whole?—where its beginning?—where its end?—and what the solemn Forms of which these existing splendors are but the early and im- perfect rudiments ? Questions, indeed, most vain! never, it may be, to be resolved by any whose ten- ement is in the flesh! And yet not vain in this. Tbey seem to tell of that light which shall pour through the opening of yonder portals—sbadowg cast toward Earth by Alpine heights of thought- inaccessible now, but into whose presence anon, as a reverent child, the soul shall come, at that dread but not fearful moment, when, amid the crash of worlds, the meaning of the Phantasma shall all be revealed—the awful vail being rent in twain.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21143821_0034.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
