As Professor Dyson has said, the hypothesis of this
double movement is of a revolutionary character, and calls for further
investigation. Indeed, it seems at first glance not less surprising
than would be the observation that in a snow-storm the flakes over our
heads were divided into two parties and driving across each other's
course in nearly opposite directions, as if urged by interpenetrating
winds.
But whatever explanation may eventually be found for the motions of
the stars, the knowledge of the existence of those motions must always
afford a new charm to the contemplative observer of the heavens, for
they impart a sense of life to the starry system that would otherwise
be lacking. A stagnant universe, with every star fixed immovably in
its place, would not content the imagination or satisfy our longing
for ceaseless activity. The majestic grandeur of the evolutions of the
celestial hosts, the inconceivable vastness of the fields of space in
which they are executed, the countless numbers, the immeasurable
distances, the involved convolutions, the flocking and the scattering,
the interpenetrating marches and countermarches, the strange community
of impulsion affecting stars that are wide apart in space and causing
them to traverse the general movement about them like aides and
despatch-bearers on a battle-field -- all these arouse an intensity of
interest which is heightened by the mystery behind them.
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