But the indication seems to be that it will prove
quite a measurable quantity and that before the twentieth century
has elapsed, it will be determined for very much smaller stars
than those which have heretofore been studied. A photographic
chart of the whole heavens is now being constructed by an
association of observatories in some of the leading countries of
the world. I cannot say all the leading countries, because then we
should have to exclude our own, which, unhappily, has taken no
part in this work. At the end of the twentieth century we may
expect that the work will be repeated. Then, by comparing the
charts, we shall see the effect of the solar motion and perhaps
get new light upon the problem in question.
Closely connected with the problem of the extent of the universe
is another which appears, for us, to be insoluble because it
brings us face to face with infinity itself. We are familiar
enough with eternity, or, let us say, the millions or hundreds of
millions of years which geologists tell us must have passed while
the crust of the earth was assuming its present form, our
mountains being built, our rocks consolidated, and successive
orders of animals coming and going. Hundreds of millions of years
is indeed a long time, and yet, when we contemplate the changes
supposed to have taken place during that time, we do not look out
on eternity itself, which is veiled from our sight, as it were, by
the unending succession of changes that mark the progress of time.
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