Part 1

FLOWERS OF THE SKY

FLOWERS OF THE SKY

BY RICHARD A. PROCTOR

AUTHOR OF "THE EXPANSE OF HEAVEN," "THE INFINITIES AROUND US," "THE UNIVERSE OF STARS," "THE SUN," "THE MOON," ETC., ETC.

WITH FIFTY-FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS

New York A. C. ARMSTRONG AND SON 714, BROADWAY

All rights reserved

"Spirit of nature! here, In this interminable wilderness Of worlds, at whose immensity Even soaring fancy staggers, Here is thy fitting temple. Yet not the lightest leaf That quivers to the passing breeze Is less instinct with thee."--Shelley.

CONTENTS.

PAGE I. LIGHT 1

II. SPACE 17

III. THE INFINITELY MINUTE 31

IV. THE MYSTERY OF GRAVITY 43

V. THE END OF MANY WORLDS 56

VI. THE AURORA BOREALIS 91

VII. THE LUNAR HALO 114

VIII. MOONLIGHT 125

IX. THE PLANET MARS 149

X. THE PLANET JUPITER 191

XI. THE RINGED PLANET SATURN 215

XII. FANCIED FIGURES AMONG THE STARS 236

XIII. TRANSITS OF VENUS 273

LIGHT.

"What soul was his, when, from the naked top Of some bold headland, he beheld the sun Rise up and bathe the world in light! He looked-- Ocean and earth, the solid frame of earth And ocean's liquid mass, beneath him lay In gladness and deep joy."

We live in a mighty ocean whose waves are ever rushing hither and thither, always according to law, with velocity inconceivable, almost immeasurable. These waves lave the shore of that island of space which is our home, travelling to it from remotest regions, and making known to us all that we know of what lies outside our small abode. We call these waves, or rather their effects, by the name of Light. We recognise in light--

"offspring of Heav'n's first-born And of th' Eternal co-eternal beam"--

the antecedent of all else that exists in the universe; or, as Sir John Herschel said, "the superior in point of rank and conception to all other products or results of creative power in the physical world. It is light which alone can give, and does give us, the assurance of a uniform and all-pervading energy--a mechanism almost beyond conception, complex, minute, and powerful, by which that influence, or rather that movement, is propagated. Our evidence of the existence of gravitation fails us beyond the region of the double stars, or leaves at best only a presumption amounting to moral conviction in its favour. But the argument for a unity of design and action afforded by light stands unweakened by distance, and is co-extensive with the universe itself."

What, then, is light? What is that mysterious movement of some essence pervading all space, whereby, from remotest depths, news is brought to us, after journeys lasting many years, though space is traversed at a rate exceeding more than ten million times the velocity of the swiftest express train?