SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL in 



divinities. In the present more philosophical era, it would hardly be 

 allowable to have recourse to the same method, and call on Juno, 

 Apollo, Pallas or Minerva, for a name to our new heavenly body. 

 The first consideration in any particular event, or remarkable in- 

 cident, seems to be its chronology; if in any future age it should be 

 asked, when this last-found planet was discovered it would be a very 

 satisfactory answer to say, "In the reign of King George the Third.*' 

 As a philosopher, then, the name of Georgium Sidus presents itself 

 to me, as an appellation which will conveniently convey the informa- 

 tion of the time and country where and when it was brought to view. 



Ill 



ON NEBULOUS STARS, PROPERLY SO CALLED 



In one of his late examinations of a space in the heavens, which he 

 had not reviewed before, Dr. H. discovered a star of about the 

 eighth magnitude, surrounded with a faintly luminous atmosphere, of 

 a considerable extent. The phenomenon was so striking that he could 

 not help reflecting on the circumstance that attended it, which ap- 

 peared to be of a very instructive nature, and such as might lead to 

 inferences which will throw a considerable light on some points re- 

 lating to the construction of the heavens. 



Cloudy or nebulous stars have been mentioned by several astron- 

 omers ; but this name ought not to be applied to the objects which 

 they have pointed out as such ; for, on examination, they proved to be 

 either mere clusters of stars, plainly to be distinguished with his large 

 instruments, or such nebulous appearances as might be reasonably 

 supposed to be occasioned by a multitude of stars at a vast distance. 

 The milky way itself consists entirely of stars, and by imperceptible 

 degrees he was led on from most evident congeries of stars to other 

 groups in which the lucid points were smaller, but still very plainly 

 to be seen ; and from them to such wherein they could but barely be 

 suspected, till he arrived at last to spots in which no trace of a star 

 was to be discerned. But then the gradations to these later were by 

 such well-connected steps as left no room for doubt but that all these 

 phenomena were equally occasioned by stars, variously dispersed in 

 the immense expanse of the universe. 



