proceed to show you ; for it is proper that we should recognize the members of the system before considering the system's constitution and the several characters of its constituents.
In many text-books you shall find it still statedObsolete views. that these flaming portents, the cometæ or long-haired stars,—for the ancients saw tresses where we prosaically see tails,—one of which, on the average, startles a generation into wonder, are visitors to us from other stars. So also we were taught that the strange stones that fall to us from the sky, and we call meteorites, were bits of some body from far interstellar space. Such knowledge belongs now to the history of science, not to science itself ; for these bodies carry with them their
badge of membership : it shows in the orbits they describe. So, when we pass through a comet's tail, or pick up a piece of meteoric iron, we now
recognize that we have to do, not with a stranger, but with our own kith and kin. Man may gaze at matter beyond the solar system, but man has never yet touched it.
Proof of community lies in the character of thePath the proof of oneness. paths. Planet and particle alike turn out to travel in ellipses, and ellipticity betrays association. How the orbit labels the occupant we shall see, on finding the paths the planets pursue and why
...that any two opinions could exist upon the subject; and yet the historical facts, upon which alone all parties must rely, although well authenticated and comparatively recent, have not been understood by all men alike. Our author was well aware of the importance of settling this question at the threshold of his work. Many of the powers which have been claimed for the federal government, by the political party to which [right ]*he [left ]*belongs, depend upon a denial of that separate existence, and separate sovereignty and independence, which the opposing party has uniformly claimed for the States. It is, therefore, highly important to the correct settlement of this controversy, that we should ascertain the precise political condition of the several colonies prior to the revolution. This will enable us to determine how far our author has done justice to his subject, ...
From here (modified for multiple sidenotes in a single margin).
...that any two opinions could exist upon the subject; and yet the historical facts, upon which alone all parties must rely, although well authenticated and comparatively recent, have not been understood by all men alike. Our author was well aware of the importance of settling this question at the threshold of his work. Many of the powers which have been claimed for the federal government, by the political party to [fulleft] *which [right] *he [left] *belongs, depend upon a denial of that separate existence, and separate sovereignty and independence, which the opposing party has uniformly claimed for the States. It is, therefore, highly important to the correct settlement of this controversy, that we should ascertain the precise political condition of the several colonies prior to the revolution. This will enable us to determine how far our author has done justice to his subject, ...