, on account of the irresistible pressure at and near the
centre, is as great as that of the planet Mercury. This holds all that
your eyes or mine can see; and the so-called motions of the stars--for
we know that Sirius, among others, is receding--is but the difference
in the rate at which the different systems and constellations swing
around Cosmos, though in doing so they often revolve about other
systems or swing round common centres, so that many are satellites of
satellites many times repeated. The orbits of some are circular, and
of others elliptical, as those of comets, and some revolve about each
other, or, as we have seen, about a common point while they perform
their celestial journey. A star, therefore, recedes or advances, as
Jupiter and Venus with relation to the earth. The planet in the
smaller orbit moves faster than that in the larger, so that the
intervening distances wax and wane, though all are going in the same
general direction. In the case of the members of the solar system,
astronomical record can tell when even a most distant known planet has
been in opposition or conjunction; but the earth has scarcely been
habitable since the sun was last in its present position in its orbit
around Cosmos. The curve that our system follows is of such radius
that it would require the most precise observations for centuries to
show that it was not a straight line.

"We call this the universe because it is all that the clearest eyes or
telescopes have been able to see, but it is only a subdivision--in
fact, but a system on a vaster scale than that of the sun or of Sirius.
Far beyond this visible universe, my intuition tells me, are other
systems more gigantic than this, and entirely different in many
respects. Even the effects of gravitation are modified by the changed
condition; for these systems are spread out flat, like the rings of
this planet, and the ether of space is luminous instead of black, as
here. These systems are but in a later stage of development than ours;
and in the course of evolution our visible universe will be changed in
the same way, as I can explain.

"In incalculable ages, the forward motion of the planets and their
satellites will be checked by the resistance of the ether of space and
the meteorites and solid matter they encounter. Meteorites also
overtake them, and, by striking them as it were in the rear, propel
them, but more are encountered in front--an illustration of which