i 3 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Telescopes failed, therefore, to settle the question whether the un- 

 resolved nebulae are portions of the primeval matter out of which the 



Fig. 1. 



The Great Nebula in Orion. 



existing stars have been formed ; they leave us in uncertainty as to 

 whether these nebulae were masses of luminous gas, which in the lapse 

 of ages would pass through the various stages of incandescent liquid 



North. 



Central and Most Brilliant Portion of the Great Nebula en the Sword-handle of 

 Orion, ab observed by Sir john Herschel in ma Twenty-foot Reflector at Feld- 

 . hausen, Cape of Good Hope (1834 to 1837). 



