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112 were, apparently moving about with the same regularity as those in the firmament. But the Recorder informed me this was not the case. "They moved," he said, "with great irregularity, and often came to a standstill.

"You see," he naively remarked, "they are but the works of the finite and must be very imperfect, still," he continued, "they are of incalculable value for instructing the young."

I was shown many other marvellous things in the Observatory. But to me, the most striking law of nature that was explained to me, was what the Recorder called the lines of force.

"These," he said, "bear some relation to what you termed magnetism and electricity in your day. These sciences you knew but little of. Your professors used to say, that electricity flowed through wires as water does through pipes. They told you that a magnetic compass, except deflected by local influences, always pointed to the north. But this was very preparatory teaching. We now know a great deal more about these mysterious forces, and