Rigel has no motion that has
certainly been shown by more than a century of observation, and it
is not certain that Canopus has either. From this alone we may
conclude, with a high degree of probability, that the distance of
each is immeasurably great. We may say with certainty that the
brightness of each is thousands of times that of the sun, and with
a high degree of probability that it is hundreds of thousands of
times. On the other hand, there are stars comparatively near us of
which the light is not the hundredth part of the sun.
[Illustration with caption: Star Spectra]
The universe may be a unit in two ways. One is that unity of
structure to which our attention has just been directed. This
might subsist forever without one body influencing another. The
other form of unity leads us to view the universe as an organism.
It is such by mutual action going on between its bodies. A few
years ago we could hardly suppose or imagine that any other agents
than gravitation and light could possibly pass through spaces so
immense as those which separate the stars.
The most remarkable and hopeful characteristic of the unity of the
universe is the evidence which is being gathered that there are
other agencies whose exact nature is yet unknown to us, but which
do pass from one heavenly body to another.
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