'
But common observers know these stars only as bright objects; they do
not perceive that one star differs from another in glory; much less do
they perceive that they shine with differently colored rays.
"Those who know Sirius and Betel do not at once perceive that one shines
with a brilliant white light and the other burns with a glowing red, as
different in their brilliancy as the precious stones on a lapidary's
table, perhaps for the same reason. And so there is an endless variety
of tints of paler colors.
"We may turn our gaze as we turn a kaleidoscope, and the changes are
infinitely more startling, the combinations infinitely more beautiful;
no flower garden presents such a variety and such delicacy of shades.
"But beautiful as this variety is, it is difficult to measure it; it has
a phantom-like intangibility--we seem not to be able to bring it under
the laws of science.
"We call the stars garnet and sapphire; but these are, at best, vague
terms. Our language has not terms enough to signify the different
delicate shades; our factories have not the stuff whose hues might make
a chromatic scale for them.
"In this dilemma, we might make a scale of colors from the stars
themselves. We might put at the head of the scale of crimson stars the
one known as Hind's, which is four degrees west of Rigel; we might make
a scale of orange stars, beginning with Betel as orange red; then we
should have
Betelgeuze,
Aldebaran,
ss Ursae Minoris,
Altair and _a_ Canis,
_a_ Lyrae,
the list gradually growing paler and paler, until we come to a Lyrae,
which might be the leader of a host of pale yellow stars, gradually
fading off into white.
Pages:
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252