226 



GENERAL MOVEMENT OF THE STARS. 



We see by this table that for the first six regions the proper move- 

 ments and the angles of direction go on regularly increasing. In the 

 first there is but one case in 32 where <p — <p exceeds 90 degrees, 

 while there are 55 in 186, in the sixth comprised between 50° and 

 60° of distance from Alcyone. The twelve following regions, which 

 are less complete and more and more removed from the central point, 

 do not offer the same regular progression; and there is even a decrease 

 in the value of the two elements in the last, situated towards the 

 point diametrically opposed to the central point. 



M. Msedler admits that his last researches have not confirmed the 

 opinion announced in the former, that the proper movements ought 

 to increase gradually up to a distance of 90° from the central point, 

 and perhaps even a little beyond. But he observes, 1st, that with 

 regard to the southern zones it is impossible yet to conclude anything 

 positively, so long as we have not in those regions a greater number 

 of proper movements exactly determined; 2d, that as to the regions 

 Nos. 10 to 12, they are situated in the neighborhood of the point Q, 

 towards which the sun is moving, a circumstance which would dimin- 

 ish the apparent proper movement of a part of the stars comprised in 

 those regions; that, besides, the number of stars observed by Bradley, 

 and even by modern astronomers, is smaller in those regions some- 

 what distant from the ecliptic than it is near the Pleiades. The 

 author remarks that taking the regions from 7 to 12 by pairs, we 

 shall still find a gradual increase in the mean proper movements. In 

 regard to the last regions, if the decrease in the elements with which 

 we are concerned should be confirmed, that, according to M. Midler, 

 may be because all the stars have not a movement in the same direc- 

 tion with our Sun, and like the comets, their movement may be some- 

 times towards one, sometimes towards another point. He regards 



