Page:In the high heavens.djvu/211

 materials, acted upon by different laws, of which we have no conception? The presumption is that the materials of which our system is composed are representative of the materials elsewhere. This presumption is strengthened by the very important considerations now to be adduced.

In the first place, let us distinctly understand what is meant by our sidereal system. We have already dwelt on the isolated position of the sun and the attendant planets. The grandest truth in the whole of astronomy is that which asserts that our sun is only a star separated by the most gigantic distances from the other stars around. Our sun, indeed, appears to be but one of the vast host of stars which form the Milky Way. We need not here enter into the often discussed question as to whether the nebulæ are, generally speaking, at distances of the same order as the stars. There seems to be no doubt that some of the nebulæ are quite as near to us as some of the stars. At all events, for our present purpose, we may group the Milky Way, the nebulæ, the stars, and the clusters, all into one whole which we call our sidereal system. Is this sidereal system as thus defined an isolated object in space? Are its members all so bound together by the law of universal gravitation that each body, whatever be its movements, can only describe a certain path such that it can never depart finally from the system? This is a question of no small importance. It presents features analogous to certain very interesting problems in biology which the labours of Mr. Wallace have done so much to elucidate. We are told that the fauna and flora of an oceanic island, cut off from the perpetual immigration of new forms, often assume a very remarkable type. The evolution of life under such circumstances proceeds