In reviewing the path which we have traversed in this volume, though we have penetrated the sidereal depths and wandered at will through space, we feel that we have not yet reached the outskirts of creation. We have never left the center. Beyond us still lies the circumference. We see opened before us the infinite, of which the study is not yet begun! We have seen nothing; we recoil in terror; we fall back astounded. Indeed, we might fall into the yawning abyss--fall forever, during a whole eternity; never, never should we reach the bottom, any more than we have attained the summit. There is no east nor west, neither right nor left. There is no up nor down; there is neither a zenith nor a nadir. In whatever way we look, it is infinite in all directions. In this infinitude of space, the associations of suns and of worlds which constitute our visible universe form but an island, a vast archipelago; and in the eternity of duration, the life of our proud humanity, with all its concerns, its aspirations, and its achievements, the whole life of our entire planet, is but the shadow of a dream! Well might the Hebrew poet, as he looked forth upon nature, exclaim in his amazement: “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him?” The constellations, the charts of the sky; the catalogues of curious stars--variable, double or multiple, and colored; the description of instruments accessible to the observer of the heavens, and useful tables to consult, are only touched upon in this volume. The reader whose scientific desires are satisfied by the elements of astronomy, may stop here. Few have time to pursue the subject further; but it is sweet to live in the sphere of the mind; it is sweet to contemn the rough noises of a vulgar world; it is sweet to soar in the ethereal heights, and to devote the best moments of our life to the study of the true, the infinite, and the eternal! PUBLISHERS’ NOTE. We have now reached the conclusion of “The Story of the Sun, Moon, and Stars.” Miss Giberne’s work has been supplemented with a large amount of matter from other sources. The value of the book has thus been increased without diminishing its popular character. In most admirable form it tells the story of the heavenly world, which is the work of God’s hands, the moon and the stars which he has made. The reverent reader, to whom the Word of God is “sweeter than honey and the honey-comb,” may here find that “the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork.” We confidently present it to the reader as the best and completest work in print on the great subject of which it treats. INDEX Adams, John Couch, 231, 236 Aërolites, 84 Size of, 86 Aldebaran, Movement of, 277 Alexander at Arbela, 146 Alpha Centauri, Distance of, 99 Duration of light journey, 102 Position, 279