power and after I have shown you on a clear winter's night, through
my telescope, Sirius, your eyes and soul will be dazzled.

"Do you in good faith believe that Sirius Altair, Regulus,
Aldebaran, all these suns are luminary only? Do you believe that
this old Phoebus, who incessantly forces into space, wherein we are
swimming, his inordinate surge of heat and light, has no other
function but to light the earth and some other paltry and
imperceptible planets? What a candle! A million times greater than
the dwelling.

"I have to present to you first of all the idea that the universe is
composed of suns and that the planets which may be in it are less
than nothing. But as I foresee your wish to make an objection, I'll
reply to it beforehand. The suns, you want to say, put themselves
out in the course of centuries and by that also change into mud. No!
is my reply; they keep themselves alive by means of comets which
they attract and which fall on them. It is the dwelling of true
life. The planets and this our earth are but the abode of ghosts.
Such are the verities of which I have to convince you.

"Now that you understand, my son, that fire is the principal
element, you'll easier comprehend what I wish to teach you and which
is of greater importance than anything you may have learned up to
now, or was even known to Erasmus, Turnebe or Scaliger. I do not
speak of theologians like Quesnel or Bossuet who, between ourselves,
I consider as the lees of human spirit, and who have no better
understanding than a simple captain of guards. Don't let us hamper
ourselves by despising those brains comparable in volume, as well as
in construction, to wrens' eggs, but let us at once enter fully into