The beautiful stars in
the constellation of the Centaur and the Southern Cross will at some future
time be visible in our northern latitudes, while other stars, as Sirius and
the stars in the Belt of Orion, will in their turn disappear below the
horizon. The places of the North Pole will successively be indicated by the
stars ?§ beta and a alpha Cephei, and ?¶ delta Cygni, until after a period
of 12,000 years, Vega in Lyra will shine forth as the brightest of all
possible pole stars. These data give us some idea of the extent of the
motions which, divided into infinitely small portions of time, proceed
without intermission in the great chronometer of the universe. If for a
moment we could yield to the power of fancy, and imagine the acuteness of
our visual organs to be made equal with the extremest bounds of telescopic
vision, and bring together that which is now divided by long periods of
time, the apparent rest that reigns in space would suddenly disappear. We
should see the countless host of fixed stars moving in thronged groups in
different directions; nebulae wandering through space, and becoming
condensed and dissolved like cosmical clouds; the vail of the Milky Way
separated and broken up in many parts, and 'motion' ruling supreme in every
portion of the vault of heave, even as on the Earth's surface, where we see
it unfolded in the germ, the leaf, and the blossom, the organisms of the
vegetable world.
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