all day long; from morning till night, it keeps the ponderous instrument levelled with unerring accuracy upon the object. The second great class of Telescopes are Reflectors. Sir Wm. Herschel, whose name is known through all the world as having accomplished more in the investigation of the Sidereal Heavens than any who preceded him, turned his genius and talents to the construction of Telescopes. His early success. induced him to construct his forty feet reflector, with a speculum, or mirror, of the diameter of four feet, so arranged with mighty machinery, that the person who had charge of it could give it any position desired. I will not attempt the description of this great instrument, but I beg you to give your attention to the discoveries made with it, when you will be able to form some idea of the wonderful power of this Telescope. The human eye is the standard of comparison. In looking out upon the stars we find them of different magnitudes. The brightest we call the first magnitude. The star Sirius is one of the largest of the stars. Now we know how far we can remove that object back into space, before it will fade from the eye. If we carry Sirius back double it present distance, its size and the intensity of its light will be one fourth of what they are at present. If we remove it three times its present distance, its light will be one ninth what it now is, and if it be removed twelve times its present distance, it goes to the utmost extent of the human eye; and now suppose that I should expand the pupil of the eye to double its dimensions, and let its power be increased in the same ratio, and the star will reappear, and double the size of the pupil once more, and the star will grow still brighter, and then, if the pupil of the eye is contracted, the star will again be removed. Now, although we cannot expand the pupil of the eye, we can increase the size of the object-glass of the Telescope, which is a mighty pupil in itself. Now, to compare the power of the pupil of the eye with the power of the Telescope-take the pupil, and take that mighty mirror, sixty-four feet in diameter, and then attempt to cover the mirror with objects the size of the pupil of eye, cover it all over, and then count the number of objects, and they will show you the vast difference between the powers of the eye and powers of the telescope. Thousands and thousands of times would you find it necessary to repeat the former ere you would cover the surface of the latter. But we must go one step farther in investigating the space-penetrating powers of the Telescope. If we can measure the eye and the Telescope, we can go farther; and I beg you to go with me in the this investigation, for it is so wonderful that it may stagger your belief. When we look out upon objects with Telescopes of different space-penetrating powers, can we tell the relative distances of these objects? I answer, we can. To illustrate this, suppose that in front of me and in a right line, there were erected posts one mile apart, and affixed to them were cards printed in letters of the same size, and that the first is just within reach of the eye. The second would be beyond the reach of the eye, but with a Telescope of moderate powers we can read it. The third is beyond the reach of the instrument, but there is a second Telescope just powerful enough to read the letters of the third, and so I go on in a mighty series which will reveal to me the powers of the instruments. Now you are ready to ask me if we have any mile posts throughout space. I answer, that in one sense, there are. We ascertain the distance of a fixed star. We know its brightness. Let it be twelve times removed, and the human eye would still just reach it, and we can without difficulty tell how far that star must be removed, before it fades from the human eye. And thus it is we are permitted to walk through space, and to determine the stepping points that separate one from another. Having thus prepared himself, Sir WM. HERSCHEL Commenced his investigations, and he it was that first conceived the idea that the stars were grouped together in mighty clusters throughout space. In looking out among the stars, we find a bright belt in the heavens, which with an instrument of the lowest powers, is resolved into stars very numerous. Now, is there no limit to these stars? Do they go on, the one behind the other, without end? I answer, no. Then do you mean to say there is a limit to creation? I answer, no. I mean to say that the stars are grouped together in mighty clusters of millions and millions, as distant from our clusters as is our sun from their suns. HERSCHEL it was that solved this problem. He commences his investigations by examining the most brilliant part of the Milky Way. He takes a Telescope, and finds that this spot yields to him one hundred beautiful stars, in the distance appearing the size of hazel-nuts. He takes a greater Telescope-four new stars are brought up, and the others grow brighter and more beautiful.-He takes his forty-feet Telescope, and he sees all clear, the stars shining like bright diamonds, and in the shade beyond, all is blank. This at once settles the question. There are no more stars beyond that limit, and, no matter how great the depths, he has overcome them all. But do we stop here? I answer, no. When we have reached the utmost limits of our own mighty clusters, then it is that we begin an investigation of a far different kind. We pass the confines of our own universe and sweep on through space, millions upon millions of miles, till, looking behind, we see the stars that compose our own system lying in one vast cluster; but before, all is blank. Is there nothing there hid in the dark, unfathomable realms? There are some dim hazy spots looming up in the distance. Bring to our aid the Telescope-Lo! there bursts into view tens of thousands suns and stars! Here is another Universe burst in upon us, and there is not only one-they are scattered by hundreds and thousands through space. Let any one look. out at night and count the stars. You can do it. It has been done. And no eye has ever been able to count above the horizon, at one time, over fifteen hundred stars. How close do they appear to be, one to another, and how numerous their hosts. Yet there are more of these mighty Universes scattered through space than there are stars in our system. There is: one in the constellation Hercules, which, examined with a Telescope of low power, presents the appearance of a milky spot, but with the mighty instrument we use, it is discovered to contain one thousand stars, occupying so small a point in space that it would seem you might almost grasp them in your hands. Yet they are so far separated, that light, which travels twelve millions of miles in a minute, requires ten thousand years to cross the diameter of its orbit. These facts are startling; yet we must receive them, for the evidence is so strong that it becomes perfectly irresistible. I now come to the investigation of the last point, the instrument of Lord ROSSE. When we remember the station of this nobleman, his rank, his high position in society, we cannot fail to be struck with admiration when we remember how he devoted his fortune and his energies to the accomplishment of the grand enterprise which has occupied him for years. Distrusting the power of the Refracting Telescope, Lord RossE determined to give his energies to the construction of a Reflecting Telescope, that would enable him to make grander discoveries than had hitherto been made. He wanted an instrument that would burst through the barriers that had hitherto bounded human vision that would show him what lay in the vast deep. beyond. I need not detail to you the construction of this. mighty instrument. Instead of limiting it to four feet diameter,. as HERSCHEL did, he has given his speculum six feet, with a focal distance of sixty feet. The power of this instrument is: -- almost incredible. Such is its capacity, that if a star of the first magnitude were removed to such a distance that its light would be sixty thousand years in travelling to our earth, this Telescope would reveal it; were it removed so far that its light would be three millions of years in reaching us, this Telescope would show it to the human eye. With such an instrument, then, it is not wonderful that grand discoveries should be made. It has but been pointed to the heavens; we have only entered upon the beginning of its career, but it has already accomplished mighty things. There are scattered throughout the heavens objects nebulous in their appearance, which would not yield up their character to the instruments heretofore employed; but this instrument resolves them complete. Among the different objects that have been subjected to its scrutiny, is the wonderful nebula in the constellation Orion. I have had an opportunity of examining it. It is one of the most curious objects in the whole heavens. It is not round, and it throws off furious lights. This object has been subjected to the examination of every instrument from the time of Herschel, but it grew more and more mysterious, more difficult to understand, more strange and diverse in its characWhen Lord Rosse's great Telescope was directed to its examination, it for a long time resisted its power. He found it necessary to wait night after night, and month after month, until finally a favoring combination of circumstances gave to him a pure atmosphere. He directed his Telescope to the object, and lo! its station revealed itself, the stars of which it is composed burst upon the sight for the first time, and the problem was solved for ever. Here is one of the mightiest triumphs of this instrument, but it has gone on from point to point, revealing combinations of stars wonderful beyond what the imagination could conceive. In one corner of the heavens, stars cluster together in the form of a mighty scroll. But I find it impossible to detain you longer in these investigations. I was scarcely aware that so much of my time had been exhausted. I will now attempt to exhibit to the eye, the performances of one of these great Telescopes. I propose to commence with the Moon, and proceed outward, and thus take what Herschel beautifully calls a walk through space. ter. LIFE AND OPINIONS OF SOCRATES. BY REV. G. W. BETHUNE. FEW subjects of study reward our pains so well, as the lives of the greatly good, in past ages. The example of those who are eminent in virtue among ourselves, has not an equal influence; for beside a suspicion of their sincerity, which men cherish from an unwillingness to confess themselves outdone by others in the same circumstances, there is a real imperfection in every thing human, which will not bear to be looked at too closely. Good character, like a good picture, is seen to the best advantage from such a distance that the shadows of present jealousy may not fall upon it, and after time has mellowed the coloring, which, to be impressive and lasting, must be strong. This led Lord Bacon to say, that "death extinguisheth envy, and openeth the gate to good fame;" and the twin dramatists of his time to put into the mouth of an honest man, oppressed by wrong, the bitter exclamation: But among the "rare examples" of moral dignity, which the history of heathen nations affords us, SOCRATES deserves the highest place, whether we consider the disinterested and firm devotion of himself to the true welfare of mankind, the singular modesty of his searches after truth, or the remarkable agreement of many doctrines which he taught, with that better wisdom, now shed upon our souls by light from above. The best of the ancients freely rewarded his memory with this honor, and the greatest of modern poets, (" who," Mackintosh observes, "from the loftiest eminence of moral genius ever reached by mortal, was perhaps alone worthy to place another crown upon his brow,") says. "Him well inspired the oracle pronounced |