But how it has shrunk! To-day, precisely charted,
weighed, and measured, a thousand times larger than the world of
Homer, it is become a tiny speck, gyrating to immutable law through a
universe the bounds of which have been pushed incalculably back. The
light of Algol shines upon it--a light which travels at one hundred
and ninety thousand miles per second, yet requires forty-seven years
to reach its destination. And the denizens of this puny ball have
come to know that Algol possesses an invisible companion, three and a
quarter millions of miles away, and that the twain move in their
respective orbits at rates of fifty-five and twenty-six miles per
second. They also know that beyond it are great chasms of space,
innumerable worlds, and vast star systems.
While much of the shrinkage to which the planet has been subjected is
due to the increased knowledge of mathematics and physics, an equal,
if not greater, portion may be ascribed to the perfection of the
means of locomotion and communication.
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