Sidereal System called the Milky Way. 91 
I will premise, that, according to the impression I have re- 
tained of the heavens in the southern hemisphere, the Milky 
Way does indeed present in that portion a clearer and more 
distinct brightness, as if arising from stars nearer to us, but 
not such to all appearance as to be attributable to a number 
of stars greater than elsewhere, for instance, towards the con- 
stellation Scorpio. | Now if we consider that, as has been said 
in the note (p. 87), the stars in the ring, by the conditions of 
their motion, necessarily crowd more towards the part without 
than towards the part within the circumference of equilibrium, 
it will be easy to conceive, as may be seen on inspection of 
fig. 2, that a greater quantity of stars, more distinct, and giving 
greater light, will be seen in the direction of the radius S C, 
normal to the arc of the ring nearest the solar system which 
we suppose in S, than in the direction of the oblique radii S 
S E’; so that the absence of a greater degree of illumination 
on either side of the constellation of the Cross goes to con- 
firm the mechanical conditions which, as we have observed, 
must subsist in the supposed system. 
I must not omit to observe, as has been noticed above, that 
some of the stars will describe more, others less wavy orbits, 
ive. some will depart more, others less from that circumference 
in the ring where they would be in equilibrium. The crowding 
of the stars will be greatest in the neighbourhood of this cir- 
cumference, and will diminish gradually as they move from it, 
but more rapidly towards the interior than towards the ex- 
terior edge. 
