as well as that of 61 Cygni,
belongs. I have, in fact, stated the case with great moderation:--we have
excellent reason for believing 61 Cygni to be one of the _nearest_
stars, and thus for concluding, at least for the present, that its
distance from us is _less_ than the average distance between star and
star in the magnificent cluster of the Milky Way.

And here, once again and finally, it seems proper to suggest that even
as yet we have been speaking of trifles. Ceasing to wonder at the space
between star and star in our own or in any particular cluster, let us
rather turn our thoughts to the intervals between cluster and cluster,
in the all comprehensive cluster of the Universe.

I have already said that light proceeds at the rate of 167,000 miles in
a second--that is, about 10 millions of miles in a minute, or about 600
millions of miles in an hour:--yet so far removed from us are some of
the "nebulae" that even light, speeding with this velocity, could not
and does not reach us, from those mysterious regions, in less than 3
_millions of years_. This calculation, moreover, is made by the elder
Herschell, and in reference merely to those comparatively proximate
clusters within the scope of his own telescope. There _are_ "nebulae,"
however, which, through the magical tube of Lord Rosse, are this instant
whispering in our ears the secrets of _a million of ages_ by-gone. In a
word, the events which we behold now--at this moment--in those worlds--are
the identical events which interested their inhabitants _ten hundred
thousand centuries ago_. In intervals--in distances such as this
suggestion forces upon the _soul_--rather than upon the mind--we find, at
length, a fitting climax to all hitherto frivolous considerations of
_quantity_.

Our fancies thus occupied with the cosmical distances, let us take the
opportunity of referring to the difficulty which we have so often
experienced, while pursuing _the beaten path_ of astronomical
reflection, _in accounting_ for the immeasurable voids alluded to--in
comprehending why chasms so totally unoccupied and therefore apparently
so needless, have been made to intervene between star and star--between
cluster and cluster--in understanding, to be brief, a sufficient reason
for the Titanic scale, in respect of mere _Space_, on which the Universe
is seen to be constructed. A rational cause for the phaenomenon, I
maintain that Astronomy has palpably failed to assign:--but the
consi