While thus, however, the discoveries in the south were only objects of increasing wonder, and did not tend to dissipate the "nebular theory" of La Place, those in the north took a different direction, and at once rendered questionable those opinions which. had now begun to be regarded as axioms, and upon which numerous infidel theories and systems had been founded; moulding into fresh shapes, and tinging with fresh colours, the general opinions of mankind. The still more powerful telescope of Lord Rosse had been applied to a number of nebula which Herschel had already discovered and drawn ; and under its higher magnifying power they presented quite other outlines, and entirely different characteristic features. The nebulous character from which they had received their name was speedily suspected, and soon after proved to be only imaginary and apparent. Spot after spot of soft white milky light was resolved into distinct starry clusters, indicative of the truth originally propounded by Sir William Herschel, which soon after shone with refulgence on the minds of nearly all the students of the firmament, that all the nebula were in reality distinct galaxies or clusters of stars, whose immense distance hid from the observer all but the milky stream of their commingled rays.

The glorious conceptions of La Place, of a universe in process. of formation, were thus eclipsed by a still more glorious reality. Man's ideas of the universe, once bounded by the visible stars in our own galaxy, were enlarged to a comparative infinitude. The resolution of nearly all the nebulous light in the northern region of the milky-way into distinct stars and star-dust, was taken as a pledge that even other nebulæ might be made to yield, in like manner, to increased magnifying power; and especially the resolution of Orion's "soft white cloud" into a gorgeous bed of stars by the Parsonstown instrument, was so strong a confirmation of this view, as to cause it to be received by most living astronomers for indisputable truth, and again remodel the opinions of the scientific world. For this spot in Orion had been looked upon as the very type of unresolvable nebulosity; even Sir John Herschel having said of it :

"In all the [resolvable] nebulæ the observer remarks (whatever be the magnifying power) points of star-light, or he thinks that such would be perceived, if the vision was rendered more distinct. The nebula in Orion produces quite a different sensation. It does not suggest any idea of stars."

By the power of the same great telescope, many nebulæ, pronounced unresolvable, have been already resolved. The shapes of others, classed as globular, annular, and perforated nebulæ, have been entirely changed. Some of those upon whose form and appearance, especially, the once widely prevalent notion of selfcreation was founded, have proved to be really of a very different

form and appearance from that on which these notions were based. And, to quote the words of Dr. Lardner :

"There is no reason to doubt that the constitution of these objects is the same as that of other nebulæ; and that they are in fact clusters of stars, which, by mutual proximity and vast distance, are reduced to the [apparent] form of planetary discs."

Indeed, as is remarked by the same author in another place :

"Such an hypothesis [as that of diffuse nebulous matter] is not needed to explain appearances which are so much more obviously and simply explicable by the admission of a gradation of distances."

What, then, teach the nebula? Their lessons are:

1. That men of science should not be too ready to adopt, or to give way to, theories and assumptions contrary to the teachings of the word of God. That word has many times been placed in abeyance, as it were, by the fond theories of man; but has always shone out with additional brilliance after its temporary obscu

ration.

2. That the Christian may well abide in patience when the evidences of the truth of his faith appear for a little season to be dimmed. God, in his providence, has hitherto always sent forth moral, historical, or scientific light, just at the time when it was most needed to render those evidences clear and brilliant; and this may be taken as an earnest that he will continue to do so. 3. That there are not, in this whole vast universe, as far as man is able to examine it, any evidences of a creation different from that which Christianity teaches, the calling of material things into existence by the fiat of an independent, intelligent, and personal power supreme.

And, now, must we revert to the volume before us? When the whole tendency of scientific discovery, for at least ten years past, has been to dissipate the ideas of self-creation and of "diffuse nebulous matter," which Lacaille and La Place inculcated, and to which Sir William Herschel at length gave way, wherefore, in a book intended to be circulated as an authoritative work in the present day, this attempt to reproduce and perpetuate the "century-old" ideas of Lacaille? Why step back from 1859 to 1755? If M. Arago's infidel predilections would not permit him to give up the "glorious" vision, notwithstanding the revelations of the Parsonstown telescope, was there any reason that such incipient scepticism should be surreptitiously foisted upon the unscientific readers of our country, many, perhaps even the majority, of whom would be wholly unacquainted with the true state of the question, and might thus be inoculated with a virus which thay had no means of expelling from their mental system? To other portions of the work the editors have attached notes, if they did not feel it right to alter the text; and surely some such notes were called for here, to obviate the tendency to error

Vol. 59.-No. 269.

D

at once scientific and theological. It is, indeed, without some such qualification, no less than a gratuitous impertinence offered to the christian public, to present them with chapters upon the "Distribution of the phosphorescent matter in true nebula". "Modifications which attraction induces with the lapse of time" -"Historical details relative to the transformation of nebulæ into stars"-"The condensation which nebulous matter ought to undergo in order that it may be transformed into stars,' &c. &c. Such speculations belong to a past state of science, and not to its now existing condition; and whatever their object might be, their tendency, as far as human opinion is concerned, is to transfer the universe from a Creator's providential care, to the iron rule of principles and laws.

In

Thus far our observations and objections have all had reference to the eleventh book of M. Arago's astronomy. With what is yet to follow, the twelfth book also is in some degree connected. that book, the general title of which is "The Milky Way," there is a chapter entitled, "Is the milky-way destined to exist for ever under its present form? Does it not begin to offer symptoms of dissolution ?" In this chapter the breaking up, or complete dislocation of the milky-way-in other words, the abandonment of our galaxy to the operation of laws and forces which might lead to its entire ruin and destruction,-is spoken of as an idea which "everything" justifies. Such an opinion may certainly be suited to the contemplation of the pantheist whose so-called deity, guiltless of providing for emergencies, could with the same equanimity see

"As God of all, A hero perish or a sparrow fall,

Atoms or systems into ruin hurled,

And now a bubble burst, and now a world."

But it is not so adapted to the contemplation of the Christian, who regards the Deity as a Being all-wise and all-benevolent, whose providence extends over all things, and who operates in all events either for general or individual good.

But before offering any further remarks, we will give, in M. Arago's own words, the facts on which this conclusion is founded:

"Almost in every region of the heavens where there appear stars very close to each other beyond the apparent limits of the milky-way, we have found that they have a tendency to group about several centres; that they seem to obey an attractive force like the different bodies of our solar system; that, in fine, this force has already produced, in certain groups, very considerable effects of concentration. Why should the stars of the great nebula of which we form a part, have escaped this mode of action any more than the others? If, at some former epoch, they were uniformly distributed, this condition ought to have been modified, and will be modified more and more every day.

These

deductions are confirmed by facts. The stars, far from appearing uniformly distributed over the whole extent of the milky-way, offered to the telescopic observations of Herschel 157 distinct groups, which have taken their places in the catalogue of nebulæ, without counting 18 analogous groups situate upon the limits, upon the borders, of this same zone." (Vol. i., pp. 360, 361.)

The reader will at once see that the conclusion is hypothetical; and, unless at some former epoch the stars were uniformly distributed, is wholly visionary. Now we must contend that the very idea of such a uniform distribution is almost irrational. He who argues for it may as well at once assert his disbelief in a Deity, and, also, in the operation of principles and laws. No operation of principles and laws, according to the materialistic dream, could have produced such a uniform distribution, unless the imagined" diffuse nebulous matter" were of uniform density, and uniformly distributed over the whole regions of space; and if it were so uniform and so distributed, then, attraction being equal in every place, gravitation could not have operated to produce either local or general centres of condensation; and therefore no universe could have been formed. If, on the other hand, we admit the existence of a Creator, to argue for such a "uniform distribution" is to assert that there is no such thing in reality as symmetry or beauty, that aesthetics are wholly visionarywhile nature in all its departments testifies that, in carrying out ideas of beauty, man is only carrying out principles which God has implanted at once in matter and in mind. The most prevalent, the most unconquerable instincts of our nature, rebel against such ideas of uniformity. Nature, in this world of ours, presents no such scenes, no such objects, to our view. And whereever man, as a co-worker with God, brings nature under his own control, the principle of "grouping about several [or numerous] centres," is always carried out. Enough, then, as to this "uniform distribution." Why, therefore, should it be necessary to suppose that the grouping and clustering of stars in certain tracts, as shown by Sir William Herschel's telescope, is an indication of approaching dissolution the breaking up of the milky-way? May not that clustering be the result of another operation? The cumulations of stars which crowd one behind another in various portions of what appears to us an annulus or ring, might appear, if viewed from some galaxy or nebula laterally situated, the extended limbs or threads, or the expanding circles, of an immense spiral-shaped cluster. Thus, those very groupings which Arago refers to as evidences of coming dislocation, may indicate conservation rather than destruction. They may be positions assumed by the thronging stars, in accordance with the design of the Omnipotent, who in many, if not in all, those immense, those dazzling and amazing sections of his universe, which are now

called galaxies, has chosen to display a beautiful variety of spiral forms.

We have been wont, when gazing on the heavens, to confine our attention so much to circular and elliptic motions, with occasional parabolas and hyperbolas, as almost to forget that there are any indications of a spiral motion. Yet our moon has in reality a spiral motion, and would appear to have such, if it could be distinctly seen from some far distant region; as must every thing else which describes a circle or an ellipse of small variation round a progressing body. And such a motion are the planets now describing, if, as is almost demonstrated, the sun is making progress towards the constellation Hercules.

Nor are spiral arrangements wanting in the works of God which are nearer to us, and come more directly under our observation. Vegetation exhibits them in all its forms. The branches of our trees are thrown out in a spiral direction from their trunks-the leaves in a spiral direction from the branches. The plants of our gardens exhibit, too, the same arrangement; and only need a little closer observation to make it manifest to the casual gazer. It is one of those "typical forms" which the all-wise Creator has chosen to make use of in untold varieties. And if such an exhibition is constantly made in objects adjacent to us, may we not naturally look for such exhibitions also in the vaster things almost beyond our ken, thus showing a wondrous unity in the works of the Great Supreme?

What, then, teach the nebulæ in addition to the lessons we have already drawn?

They teach us, that there is a oneness, a family likeness, between the works of the Infinite, from the minute right onward to the vast, from the microscopic plant to the great spiral nebula.

They teach us, also, that nature is as full of typical forms and adherence to them, as are the details of the ceremonial law, or the revealed scheme of Providence in its greater or lesser unfoldings, its constantly recurring numbers, days, and seasons. And thus, that in the oneness of his created works, minute and vast, are enfolded the great teachings of that verbal revelation of HimselfTHE BIBLE.