When these have been given with a reasonable approach to accuracy, the observer has done his best to provide a real, though small, contribution to the sum of human knowledge; nor is the determination of these points so difficult as would at first appear from their number. The fixing of the points of appearance and disappearance and of the radiant will present a little difficulty to start with; but in this, as in all other matters, practice will bring efficiency. It may be mentioned that the efforts of those who take up this subject would be greatly increased in usefulness by their establishing a connection with the Meteor Section of the British Astronomical Association. One curious anomaly has been established by Mr. Denning's patient labour--the existence, namely, of what are termed 'stationary radiants.' It is obvious that if meteors have the cometary connection already indicated, their radiant point should never remain fixed; as the showers move onwards in their orbit they should leave the original radiant behind. Mr. Denning has conclusively proved, however, that there are showers which do not follow the rule in this respect, but proceed from a radiant which remains the same night after night, some feeble showers maintaining the same radiant for several months. It is not easy to see how this fact is to be reconciled with the theory of cometary origin; but the fact itself is undeniable. CHAPTER XIV THE STARRY HEAVENS We now leave the bounds of our own system, and pass outwards towards the almost infinite spaces and multitudes of the fixed stars. In doing so we are at once confronted with a wealth and profusion of beauty and a vastness of scale which are almost overwhelming. Hitherto we have been dealing almost exclusively with bodies which, though sometimes considerably larger than our world, were yet, with the exception of the sun, of the same class and comparable with it; and with distances which, though very great indeed, were still not absolutely beyond the power of apprehension. But now all former scales and standards have to be left behind, for even the vast orbit of Neptune, 5,600,000,000 of miles in diameter, shrinks into a point when compared with the smallest of the stellar distances. Even our unit of measurement has to be changed, for miles, though counted in hundreds of millions, are inadequate; and, accordingly, the unit in which our distance from the stars is expressed is the 'light year,' or the distance travelled by a ray of light in a year.