fill the mind with the consciousness of a stupendous and all-
embracing frame, beside which all human affairs sink into
insignificance. A new idea will be formed of such a well-known
fact of astronomy as the motion of the solar system in space, by
reflecting that, during all human history, the sun, carrying the
earth with it, has been flying towards a region in or just south
of the constellation Lyra, with a speed beyond all that art can
produce on earth, without producing any change apparent to
ordinary vision in the aspect of the constellation. Not only Lyra
and Aquila, but every one of the thousand stars which form the
framework of the sky, were seen by our earliest ancestors just as
we see them now. Bodily rest may be obtained at any time by
ceasing from our labors, and weary systems may find nerve rest at
any summer resort; but I know of no way in which complete rest can
be obtained for the weary soul--in which the mind can be so
entirely relieved of the burden of all human anxiety--as by the
contemplation of the spectacle presented by the starry heavens
under the conditions just described. As we make a feeble attempt
to learn what science can tell us about the structure of this
starry frame, I hope the reader will allow me to at least fancy
him contemplating it in this way.

The first question which may suggest itself to the inquiring
reader is: How is it possible by any methods of observation yet
known to the astronomer to learn anything about the universe as a
whole? We may commence by answering this question in a somewhat
comprehensive way. It is possible only because the universe, vast
though it is, shows certain characteristics of a unified and
bounded whole. It is not a chaos, it is not even a collection of
things, each of which came into existence in its own separate way.