But we are
not to sit down in indolence: our duty is to inquire into
Nature's works, though we can never exhaust the field. Our minds
cannot imagine motion without some Power moving through the
medium of some subordinate agency, ever acting on the sun, to
send such floods of light and heat to our otherwise cold and dark
terrestrial ball; but it is the overwhelming magnitude of such
power that we are incapable of comprehending. The agency
necessary to throw out the floods of flame seen during the few
moments of a total eclipse of the sun, and the power requisite to
burst open a cavity in its surface, such as could entirely
engulph our earth, will ever set all the thinking capacity of man
at nought."
[4] The Observatory, Nos. 34, 42, 45, 49, and 58.
[5] We regret to say that Sheriff Barclay died a few months ago,
greatly respected by all who knew him.
[6] Sir E. Denison Beckett, in his Rudimentary Treatise on clocks
and Watches and Bells, has given an instance or the
telescope-driving clock, invented by Mr. Cooke (p. 213).
[7] J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S.--Stargazing, Past and Present, p.
302.
[8] This excellent instrument is now in the possession of my
son-in-law, Dr. Hartree, of Leigh, near Tunbridge.
[9] An interesting account of Mr. Alvan Clark is given in
Professor Newcomb's 'Popular Astronomy,' p. 137.
[10] A photographic representation of this remarkable telescope
is given as the frontispiece to Mr.
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