It may seem strange to some, that there are no more than this number of Stars visible to the naked eye; for sometimes in a clear night they seem to be innumerable: but this is only a deception of our sight, arising from their vehement sparkling, while we look upon them confusedly, without reducing them into any order; for there can seldom be seen above 1000 Stars in the whole Heavens with the naked eye at the same time; and if we should distinctly view them, we shall not find many but what are inserted upon a good Celestial Globe.
Altho’ the number of Stars that can be discerned by the naked eye are so few, yet it is probable there are many more which are beyond the reach of our optics, for through telescopes they appear in vast multitudes, every where dispersed throughout the whole Heaven; and the better our glasses are, the more of them we still discover. The ingenious Dr. Hook has observed 78 Stars in the Pleiades, of which the naked eye is never able to discern above 7; and in Orion, which has but 80 Stars in the British catalogue (and some of them telescopical) there has been numbered 2000 Stars.
An idea of the Universe.
Those who think that all these glorious bodies were created for no other purpose than to give us a little dim light, must entertain a very slender idea of the Divine Wisdom; for we receive more light from the Moon itself, than from all the Stars put together. And since the Planets are subject to the same laws of motion with our Earth, and some of them not only equal, but vastly exceed it in magnitude, it is not unreasonable to suppose, that they are all habitable Worlds. And since the Fixed Stars are no ways behind our Sun, either in bigness or lustre, is it not probable, that each of them have a system of Planetary Worlds turning round them, as we do round our Sun? And if we ascend as far as the smallest Star we can see, shall we not then discover innumerable more of these glorious bodies, which now are altogether invisible to us? And so ad infinitum, thro’ the boundless space of the universe. What a magnificient idea must this raise in us of the Divine Being! Who is every where, and at all times present, displaying his Divine Power, Wisdom and Goodness, amongst all his Creatures!
The DESCRIPTION and USE of the
Celestial and Terrestrial Globes.
Globe or Sphere.
A Globe or Sphere is a round solid body, having every part of its surface equally distant from a point within it, called its Center; and it may be conceived to be formed by the revolution of a semicircle round its diameter.
Great Circle.