it must be with reference to the total volume of infinite, or at least indefinite, space, and not with reference to the relatively minute spark of fire which we call the sun. We have also learned that the moon's electrosphere is repelled by that of its neighbor, the earth, and that whatever vapor and atmosphere it may have can exist only on its opposite side; and we have also learned that, by reason of the moon's peculiar axial rotation with reference to the earth, any other arrangement of the lunar moisture and air, even if such were possible, would have absolutely prohibited all life on that subordinate planet at any stage of its existence whatever. We have applied the above principles to the fixed stars, and have learned that, by the same law, the resplendent star itself is proof conclusive that it, too, must have planets rotating around it, and that these planets must have an oxygen atmosphere and clouds of aqueous vapor like our own. We have interpreted the double and multiple stars, and, by an extension of the same law, explained their frequently contrasted or complementary colors. The new stars which blaze up in sudden conflagration and then die out have no secrets when this new light is turned upon them; they, too, are but the faithful followers of the law; and the temporary and variable stars likewise fall into their appropriate categories and obediently move on with the procession. The comets,--the banner-bearers of the sidereal hosts,--which from the earliest ages have defied science to read their cabalistic legend, find it now "writ large" and in plain English. Even the meteorites, the cosmical dust, the unorganized débris of space, are found to be amenable to the same law. When we turn in wider gaze to spy out the fantastic nebulæ on the very outer fringe of visible things, after we have separated out the star-clusters and organized galaxies of suns, we apply our touchstone to the irresolvable gaseous nebulæ, and lo! their mystery dissolves at a touch. We have even been able to picture the processes of the creation of solar systems and whole galaxies of suns in which the same law finds scope, and by its infinite and harmonious extension we learn that nature moves with a comprehensive plan, and is uniform in her infinite variety and eternal in her ceaseless activity. We have been told that-- "The poem of the universe No rhythm has nor rhyme; Some god recites the wondrous song, A stanza at a time."