Eureka: A Prose Poem — Edgar A. Poe, 1848 — reading text

Madler's basis — Humboldt, whose generalizing powers have never, perhaps been equalled, has the following observa tion : " When we regard the real, proper, or non-perspective motions of the stars, we find many groups of them moving in opposite directions ; and the data as yet in hand render it not necessary, at least, to conceive that the systems com posing the Milky Way, or the clusters, generally, compos ing the Universe, are revolving about any particular centre unknown, whether luminous or non-luminous. It is but Man's longing for a fundamental First Cause, that impels * I must be understood as denying, especially, only the revolutionary por tion of Madler's hypothesis. Of course, if no great central orb exists now in our cluster, such will exist hereafter. Whenever existing, it will be merely the nucleus of the consolidation. THE UNIVERSE. 127 both his intellect and his fancy to the adoption of such an hypothesis." * The phenomenon here alluded to — that of " many groups moving in opposite directions " — is quite inexplica ble by Madler's idea; but arises, as a necessary conse quence, from that which forms the basis of this Discourse. While the merely general direction of each atom — of each moon, planet, star, or cluster — would, on my hypothesis, be, of course, absolutely rectilinear ; while the general path of all bodies would be a right line leading to the centre of all ; it is clear, nevertheless, that this general rectilinearity would be compounded of what, with scarcely any exaggeration, we may term an infinity of particular curves — an infinity of local deviations from rectilinearity — the result of conti nuous differences of relative position among the multudi- nous masses, as each proceeded on its own proper journey to the End. I quoted, just now, from Sir John Herschell, the follow ing words, used in reference to the clusters : — " On one hand, without a rotary motion and a centrifugal force, it is hardly possible not to regard them as in a state of progres sive collapse." The fact is, that, in surveying the " nebu- * Betrachtet man die nicht perspectivischen eigenen Bewegungen der Sterne, so scheinen viele gruppenweise in ihrer Richtung entgegengesetzt ; und die bisher gesammelten Thatsachen machen es auf ' s wenigste nicht noth- wendig, anzunehmen, dass alle Theile unserer Sternenschicht oder gar der gesammten Sterneninseln, welche den Weltraum fallen, sich urn einen grossen, unbekannten, leuchtenden oder dunkeln Centralkorper bewegen. Das Streben nach den letzten und hochsten Grundursachen macht freilich die reflectirende Thatigkeit des Menschen, wie seine Phantasie, zu einer solchen Annahme geneigt. 128 E U B, E K A'. lae " with a telescope of high power, we shall find it quite impossible, having once conceived this idea of " collapse/' not to gather, at all points, corroboration of the idea. A nucleus is always apparent, in the direction of which the stars seem to be precipitating themselves ; nor can these nuclei be mistaken for merely perspective phsenomena : — the clusters are really denser near the centre — sparser in the regions more remote from it. In a word, we see every thing as we should see it were a collapse taking place ; but, in general, it may be said of these clusters, that we can fairly entertain, while looking at them, the idea of orbitual movement about a centre, only by admitting the possible existence, in the distant domains of space, of dynamical laws with which we are unacquainted. On the part of Herschell, however, there is evidently a reluctance to regard the nebulae as in " a state of pro gressive collapse." But if facts — if even appearances jus tify the supposition of their being in this state, why, it may well be demanded, is he disinclined to admit it ? Simply on account of a prejudice ; — merely because the supposition is at war with a preconceived and utterly baseless notion — that of the endlessness — that of the eternal stability of the Universe. If the propositions of this Discourse are tenable, the " state of progressive collapse " is precisely that state in which alone we are warranted in considering All Things ; and, with due humility, let me here confess that, for my part, I am at a loss to conceive how any other understanding of the existing condition of affairs, could ever have made its way into the human brain. " The tendency to collapse " THE UNIVERSE. 129 and " the attraction of gravitation " are convertible phrases. In using either, we speak of the reaction of the First Act. Never was necessity less obvious than that of supposing Matter imbued with an ineradicable quality forming part of its material nature — a quality, or instinct, forever inse parable from it, and by dint of which inalienable principle every atom is perpetually impelled to seek its fellow-atom. Never was necessity less obvious than that of entertaining this unphilosophical idea. Going boldly behind the vulgar thought, we have to conceive, metaphysically, that the gra vitating principle appertains to Matter temporarily — only while diffused — only while existing as Many instead of as One — appertains to it by virtue of its state of irradiation alone — appertains, in a word, altogether to its condition, and not in the slighest degree to itself. In this view, when the irradiation shall have returned into its source — when the reaction shall be completed — the gravitating principle will no longer exist. And, in fact, astronomers, without at any time reaching the idea here suggested, seem to have been approximating it, in the assertion that " if there were but one body in the Universe, it would be impossible to understand how the principle, Gravity, could obtain :" — that is to say, from a consideration of Matter as they find it, they reach a conclusion at which I deductively arrive. That so pregnant a suggestion as the one just quoted should have been permitted to remain so long unfruitful, is, never theless, a mystery which I find it difficult to fathom. It is, perhaps, in no little degree, however, our propen sity for the continuous — for the analogical — in the present case more particularly for the symmetrical — which has 6* 130 EUREKA. been leading us astray. And, in fact, the sense of the sym metrical is an instinct which may be depended upon with an almost blindfold reliance. It is the poetical essence of the Universe — of the Universe which, in the supremeness of its symmetry, is but the most sublime of poems. Now symmetry and consistency are convertible terms : — thus Poetry and Truth are one. A thing is consistent in the ratio of its truth — true in the ratio of its consistency. A perfect consistency, I repeat, can be nothing but an absolute truth. We may take it for granted, then, that Man cannot long or widely err, if he suffer himself to be guided by his poetical, which I have maintained to be his truthful, in being his symmetrical, instinct. He must have a care, however, lest, in pursuing too heedlessly the superficial sym metry of forms and motions, he leave out of sight the really essential symmetry of the principles which determine and control them. That the stellar bodies would finally be merged in one — that, at last, all would be drawn into the substance of one stupendous central orb already existing — is an idea which, for some time past, seems, vaguely and indeterminately, to have held possesion of the fancy of mankind. It is an idea, in fact, which belongs to the class of the excessively obvious. It springs, instantly, from a superficial observation of the cyclic and seemingly gyrating, or vorticial movements of those individual portions of the Universe which come most immediately and most closely under our observation. There is not, perhaps, a human being, of ordinary educa tion and of average reflective capacity, to whom, at some period, the fancy inquestion has not occurred, as if spon- THE UNIVERSE. 131 taneously, or intuitively, and wearing all the character of a very profound and very original conception. This conception, however, so commonly entertained, has never, within my knowledge, arisen out of any abstract consider ations. Being, on the contrary, always suggested, as I say, by the vorticial movements about centres, a reason for it, also, — a cause for the ingathering of all the orbs into one, imagined to be already existing, was naturally sought in the same direction — among these cyclic movements them selves. Thus it happened that, on announcement of the gradual and perfectly regular decrease observed in the orbit of Enck's comet, at every successive revolution about our Sun, astronomers were nearly unanimous in the opinion that the cause in question was found — that a principle was discovered sufficient to account, physically, for that final, universal agglomeration which, I repeat, the analogical, symmetrical or poetical instinct of Man had predetermined to understand as something more than a simple hypothesis. This cause — this sufficient reason for the final ingather ing — was declared to exist in an exceedingly rare but still material medium pervading space ; which medium, by re tarding, in some degree, the progress of the comet, perpet ually weakened its tangential force ; thus giving a predom inance to the centripetal ; which, of course, drew the comet nearer and nearer at each revolution, 8 nd would eventually precipitate it upon the Sun. All this was strictly logical — admitting the medium or ether ; but this ether was assumed, most illogically, on the ground that no other mode than the one spoken of could be 132 E U P. E K A . discovered, of accounting for the observed decrease in the orbit of the comet : — as if from the fact that we could dis cover no other mode of accounting for it, it followed, in any respect, that no other mode of accounting for it existed. It is clear that innumerable causes might operate, in com bination, to diminish the orbit, without even a possibility of our ever becoming acquainted with one of them. In the meantime, it has never been fairly shown, perhaps, why the retardation occasioned by the skirts of the Sun's atmosphere, through which the comet passes at perihelion, is not enough to account for the phenomenon. That Enck's comet will be absorbed into the Sun, is