It cannot be denied that
this has a somewhat narrow and parochial aspect. The earth is,
you remember, a million times smaller than the sun, and the sun
itself is a very modest citizen of the stellar universe. Our
procedure is justified, however, both on the ground of personal
interest, and because our knowledge of the earth's story is so
much more ample and confident. Yet we must preface the story of
the earth with at least a general outline of the larger story of
the universe. No sensible man is humbled or dismayed by the
vastness of the universe. When the human mind reflects on its
wonderful scientific mastery of this illimitable ocean of being,
it has no sentiment of being dwarfed or degraded. It looks out
with cold curiosity over the mighty scattering of worlds, and
asks how they, including our own world, came into being.
We now approach this subject with a clearer perception of the
work we have to do. The universe is a vast expanse of ether, and
somehow or other this ether gives rise to atoms of matter. We may
imagine it as a spacious chamber filled with cosmic dust;
recollecting that the chamber has no walls, and that the dust
arises in the ether itself.
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