Page:The Music of the Spheres.djvu/214

 the finest crystal, for past the wandering stars or planets, the light came penetrating from that distant sphere studded with stars.

The daily movements of these stars were watched as they were carried along on their spheres, and it was seen that they moved in law and order. Noting that the planets seemed to be placed at intervals corresponding to the scale in music and being at the same time greatly impressed with the discovery that music was based on mathematics, he beautifully combined these discoveries and arrived at the entrancing conclusion that so great and orderly a movement of so many crystal spheres must give forth strains which united in a wonderful harmony of incredible volume and sweetness. The picture is enchanting-a beautiful world set in the midst of whirling, star-gemmed, crystalline globes, which by their motion, create a melody so divine that it may only be heard by the gods!

With the advent of modern science, our thoughts now wing their way through unobstructed star spaces of once crystalline spheres, to the great space beyond, and find in the void of what the ancients termed "chaos," not one "sun-illuminated" universe but millions of them, some so distant that they appear no more than a filmy mist on a petal or a ghost of a fairy cloud!

To the true lover of the stars, one universe or a million makes not a whit of difference. The silent song of the heavens is as sweet today, its mystery as alluring, its delights more marvelous, than in the days of yore when planets rolled out heavenly notes and stars shone through the seven spheres of pure, translucent crystal.