The deciphering of this wonderfully intricate constitution of the
heavens would be undoubtedly one of the chief astronomical works of
the coming century. The primary task of the sun's motion in space,
together with the motions of the brighter stars, had been already put
well within our reach by the spectroscopic method of the measurement
of star motions in the line of sight. Astronomy, the oldest of the
sciences, had more than renewed her youth. At no time in the past had
she been so bright with unbounded aspirations and hopes. Never were
her temples so numerous, nor the crowd of her votaries so great.
The British Astronomical Association formed within the year numbered
already about 600 members. Happy was the lot of those who were still
on the eastern side of life's meridian! Already, alas! the original
founders of the newer methods were falling out--Kirchhoff, Angstrom,
D'Arrest, Secchi, Draper, Becquerel; but their places were more than
filled; the pace of the race was gaining, but the goal was not and
never would be in sight. Since the time of Newton our knowledge of the
phenomena of nature had wonderfully increased, but man asked perhaps
more earnestly now than in his days, what was the ultimate reality
behind the reality of the perceptions? Were they only the pebbles of
the beach with which we had been playing? Did not the ocean of
ultimate reality and truth lie beyond?
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