The possibility of dark stars, therefore, does not invalidate the
general conclusions at which our survey of the subject points. The
universe, so far as we can see it, is a bounded whole. It is
surrounded by an immense girdle of stars, which, to our vision,
appears as the Milky Way. While we cannot set exact limits to its
distance, we may yet confidently say that it is bounded. It has
uniformities running through its vast extent. Could we fly out to
distances equal to that of the Milky Way, we should find
comparatively few stars beyond the limits of that girdle. It is
true that we cannot set any definite limit and say that beyond
this nothing exists. What we can say is that the region containing
the visible stars has some approximation to a boundary. We may
fairly anticipate that each successive generation of astronomers,
through coming centuries, will obtain a little more light on the
subject--will be enabled to make more definite the boundaries of
our system of stars, and to draw more and more probable
conclusions as to the existence or non-existence of any object
outside of it. The wise investigator of to-day will leave to them
the task of putting the problem into a more positive shape.
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