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It is the wisdom of God, which is foolishness to men. “If thou hadst the science of all the astronomers,” says Eternal Wisdom; “if thou couldst speak and discourse about God as fully and well as all angels and men; if thou alone were as learned as the whole body of doctors; all this would not bestow on thee so much holiness of life as if, in the afflictions that come upon thee, thou art able to be resigned to Me and to abandon thyself to Me.
Two causes have doubtless contributed to this delay. Both theory and experiment have demonstrated the extreme sensitiveness of the "interference fringes," on the observation of which the method depends, and it was generally supposed by astronomers that disturbances in the earth's atmosphere would prevent them from being clearly seen with large telescopes.
Before the use of the telescope in astronomical work, which was begun by the illustrious Galileo in 1608, astronomers were unable to approach the problem of the structure of the sun. They could discern no more than can be seen by any one who looks at the great sphere through a bit of smoked glass, as we know this reveals a disklike body of very uniform appearance.
His more masculine nature is at present much obscured by that passing cloud which, in conventional language, is called "a hopeless attachment." But I trust, in the course of our excursion, which is to be taken on foot, that this vapour may consolidate by motion, as some old-fashioned astronomers held that the nebula does consolidate into a matter-of-fact world.
It was the "absolute accuracy" of modern astronomers in regard to the length of the day on Mercury or Venus, which the astronomers declared had been corrected down to the fraction of a second, that made it impossible for him to accept the Eastern physics when the latter squarely contradicted his own.
There was a change of view, but no relaxation of purpose. The problem, it was seen, could be solved by no single heroic effort, but by the patient approximation of gradual improvements. Astronomers, accordingly, looked round for fresh means or more refined expedients for applying those already known. A new phase of exertion was entered upon.
But beyond that indescribable and incomprehensible vacuum they saw faint lenticular bodies of light, which were also named, and which each man knew to be other galaxies, charted and named by the almost unlimited power of the Fenachrone astronomers, but not as yet explored.
'But what beats me about the stars, he observed plaintively, 'is how we come to know their names. This question, or rather the somewhat similar question, 'How did the constellations come by their very peculiar names? has puzzled Professor Pritchard and other astronomers more serious than Artemus Ward.
It took many years before this coincidence was accepted as certainly more than an accident by the old-fashioned astronomers, who want rigid proof for every new theory. But the last doubts have long vanished, and a connection has been further traced between violent outbursts of solar activity and simultaneous magnetic storms.
There, after a debate, they agreed to consult astronomers about the astronomical part of their enterprise. Their answer once known, they would then discuss the mechanical means, and nothing would be neglected to assure the success of their great experiment. A note in precise terms, containing special questions, was drawn up and addressed to the observatory of Cambridge in Massachusetts.
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