Page:Gods Glory in the Heavens.djvu/206

182 How astonishing must the sight of Saturn have been to Galileo when he first descried its strange form! It was, however, long before the character of the monstrosity was understood. A telescopic power as small as that which Galileo used, is sufficient to convince any one, at the present day, that there is a ring round the body of the planet; yet Galileo did not see a ring. He called the parts of the ring, projecting on each side of the planet, ansæ as they appeared like the two handles of an antique vase. We may see nothing more at the present day, and yet every schoolboy would at once know that they are only parts of a ring seen obliquely; and would maintain that he was indebted only to his sight. This is only one illustration of a thousand, that, for what we see around us, we are as much indebted to the intellect as to the eye. The organ of sense gives only skeleton forms, which the intellect and imagination fill up. When shewing objects through a microscope to one unaccustomed to the use of it, you are sometimes astonished that he does not see what is so obvious to yourself; but the mere objective nucleus is unmeaning, unless the previously trained mind can clothe it with significance. It is sometimes matter of surprise that men, living amongst the beautiful and interesting scenes of nature, should be totally uninfluenced by them; but the truth is, the objects that interest us, may not be really seen by them. For thousands of years, the spots on the sun, and the zodiacal light,