Objects appear to be situate in the direction of the rays which proceed from them. Were light propagated instantaneously, every object, whether at rest or in motion, would appear in the direction of these rays; but, as light takes some time to travel, we see Jupiter in conjunction, by means of rays that left him 16^m 26^s·6 before; but, during that time, we have changed our position, in consequence of the motion of the earth in its orbit: we therefore refer Jupiter to a place in which he is not. His true position is in the diagonal (N. 97) of the parallelogram, whose sides are in the ratio of the velocity of light to the velocity of the earth in its orbit, which is as 192,000 to 19, or nearly as 10,000 to 1. In consequence of the aberration of light, the heavenly bodies seem to be in places in which they are not. In fact, if the earth were at rest, rays from a star would pass along the axis of a telescope directed to it; but, if the earth were to begin to move in its orbit with its usual velocity, these rays would strike against the side of the tube; it would, therefore, be necessary to incline the telescope a little, in order to see the star. The angle contained between the axis of the telescope and a line drawn to the true place of the star is its aberration, which varies in quantity and direction in different parts of the earth’s orbit; but, as it is only 20ʺ·481, it is insensible in ordinary cases (N. 98). The velocity of light deduced from the observed aberration of the fixed stars perfectly corresponds with that given by the eclipses of the first satellite. The same result, obtained from sources so different, leaves not a doubt of its truth. Many such beautiful coincidences, derived from circumstances apparently the most unpromising and dissimilar, occur in physical astronomy, and prove connections which we might otherwise be unable to trace. The identity of the velocity of light, at the distance of Jupiter, and on the earth’s surface, shows that its velocity is uniform; and as light consists in the vibrations of an elastic medium or ether filling space, the uniformity of its velocity shows that the density of the medium throughout the whole extent of the solar system must be proportional to its elasticity (N. 99). Among the fortunate conjectures which have been confirmed by subsequent experience, that of Bacon is not the least remarkable, “It produces in me,” says the restorer of true philosophy, “a doubt whether the face of the serene and starry heavens be seen at the instant it really exists, or not till some time later: and whether there be not, with respect to the heavenly bodies, a true time and an apparent time, no less than a true place and an apparent place, as astronomers say, on account of parallax. For it seems incredible that the species or rays of the celestial bodies can pass through the immense interval between them and us in an instant, or that they do not even require some considerable portion of time.”