Page:Gods Glory in the Heavens.djvu/148

128 of Mr Warren de la Rue are very conclusive. He took several views, with short intervals between, which clearly exhibit the progress of the moon across the red prominences. While those on the one side were gradually elongated, those on the opposite side were shortened. This clearly proves that they belong to the sun, and not to the moon, the probability being that they are only the faculæ seen in profile. Vulcan was anxiously looked for, but it was not detected.

When we look with curious eye into the glowing furnace of a steam-engine, we have to shade our face from the fierce glare, and survey the bars and boiler-tubes in detail. When we look into the great central furnace of the solar system, we need a screen too, and the moon admirably serves the purpose. It most effectually intercepts the light and heat of the central parts, so that we may descry the fainter objects round the circumference. Night reveals to us a new glory of the heavens, by unveiling its innumerable hosts, and the darkness of the eclipse has revealed to us a new glory of the sun. This strange structure is not an isolated case; it has a typical significance. It reveals to us the unity of plan of the great Architect. This concentricity of structure is probably the grand archetypal element of suns and planets. Saturn presents a curious modification—the concentric shells being reduced to concentric rings; and it is singular enough, that the red shell or firmament should be added to the sun, almost