Although in the days of Bradley neither the methods of observation nor the instruments were sufficiently accurate to show the minute shifts in the positions of the stars that reveal the individual motions of the stars and the distances of those nearest to us, yet the discovery of the two large displacements in the positions of all the stars, due to the aberration of light and the nodding of the earth's axis were of the greatest value, for they were a necessary step in the direction of the precise measurements of modern times. It is only through measurements of the greatest refinement and accuracy that it is possible to detect the motions and distances of the stars and to discover the wonderful truths about the nature and structure of the universe that they are revealing to us today.