INDEX. 



219 



Space, conjectures regarding, 29; com- i 

 pared to the mythic period of history, 

 29; fallacy of attempts at measurement 

 of, 30 ; portions between cosmical bod- ! 

 ies not void, 31 ; its probable low tem- 

 perature. 35. 



Spectra, the prismatic, 44 ; difference of 

 the dark lines of, according to their 

 sources, 45. 



" Sphiera aplanes" of Macrobius, 27. 



Spurious diameter of stars, 130. 



Star of the Masi, Ideler's explanation of 

 the, 154. 



Star of St Catharine, 137. 



Star systems, partial, in which several 

 suns revolve about a common center 

 f gravity, 204. 



Stars, division into wandering and non- 

 wandering, dates at least from the early ; 

 Greek period, 27 ; magnitude and visi- 

 bility of the, 48 ; seen through shafts 

 of chimneys, 57; undulation of the, 58, 

 59 ; observation of, by daylight; 66 ; 

 scintillation of the, 73 ; variations in its 

 intensity. 76,; the brightest the earliest 

 named, 89 ; rays of, 52. 127, 128 ; color 

 of, 130 ; distribution of, 140 ; concentric 

 rings of, 149 : variable, 161 ; vanished, . 

 163 ; periodically changeable, 164 ; non- 

 luminous, of doubtful existence, 187 ; 

 ratio of colored stars, 209. 



Steinheil's experiments on the velocity 

 of the transmission of electricity, 87 ; 

 his photometer, 93. 



Stellar clusters or swarms, 140. 



Struve on the velocity of light, 82 ; his 

 estimate of the number of the fixed I 

 stars, 117 ; on the Milky Way. 139; his j 

 Dorpat Tables, 205 ; on the contrasted 

 colors of multiple stars, 207 ; calcula- 

 Hon of the orbits of double stars by, 211. , 



Sun, the, described as " a perpetual north- 

 ern light" by Sir William Herschel, 34 ; 

 in intensity of light merely one of the 

 fainter fixed stars, 95 ; its place prob- 

 ably in a comparatively desert region ! 

 of the starry stratum, and eccentric 1 50. 



Suns, self-luminous cosmical bodies, 199. ' 



Table of photometric arrangement of 190 

 fixed stars, 100 : of 17 stars of first mag- 

 nitude, 102; of the variable stars, by 

 Argelander, 172, and explanatory re- 

 marks, 172-177 ; of ascertained paral- 

 laxes, 193 : of the elements of the or- 

 bits of double stars, 213. 



Telescope, the principle of, known to the 

 .Arabs, and probably to the Greeks and 

 Romans, 42, 43 ; discoveries by its 

 means, 61 ; successive improvements 

 of the, 62; enormous focal length of . 

 some, 63 ; Lord Rosse's, 65 ; Bacon's \ 

 comparison of to discovery ships, 130; 

 penetrating power of the, 145, 146. 



Telesio, Bernardino, of Cosenza. his views 

 of the phenomena of inert matter, 16. 



Temperature, low, of celestial space, 35; 

 uncertainty of results vet obtained, 36 ; 



its influence on the climate of the earth, 

 37. 



Temporary stars, list of, 155 ; notes to, 

 155-160. 



Ternary stars, 210. 



Timur Ulugh Beg, improvements in prac- 

 tical astronomy in the time of, 91. 



Translation in space of the whole solar 

 system, 195; first hinted by Bradley, 

 195 ; verified by actual observation try 

 William Herschel 196; Argelander. 

 Struve, and Gauss's views 



Trapezium in the great nebula of Orion, 

 investigated by Sir Wm. Herschel, 203. 



Tycho Brahe, his vivid description of the 

 appearance of a new star. 152 ; his the- 

 ory of the formation of such, 154. 



Ultimate mechanical cause" of all mo- 

 tion, unknown, 24, 25. 



Undulation of the stars, 53, 59. 



Undulations of rays of light, various 

 lengths of, 84. 



Unity of nature distinctly taught by Aris- 

 totle, 13-15. 



Uranological and telluric domain of the 

 Cosmos, 26. 



Uranus observed as a star by Flam stead 

 and others, 114. 



Vanished stars, 163; statements about 

 such to be received with great caution, 

 16U 



Variable brightness of multiple and dou- 

 ble stars, 209. 



Variable stars. 160-161 ; mostly of a red 

 color. 165; irregularity of their periods, 

 167 ; table of, 172. 



Velocity of light 79 ; methods of determ- 

 ining, 80 ; applied to the determination 

 of the parallax, 195. 



Visibility of objects, 55 : how modified. 56. 



Vision, natural and telescopic 41 ; aver- 

 age natural, 47, 48; remarkable in- 

 stances of acute natural, 52, 55. 



Wheatstone's experiments wim revolv- 

 ing mirrors, 45 ; velocity of electrical 

 light determined by, 86. 



White Ox, name given to th# nebula now 

 known as one of the Magellanic clouds, 

 91. 



Wollaston's photometric researches, 95. 



Wright, of Durham, his view of the origin 

 of the form of the Milky Way, 149. 



Yggdrasil. the World-tree of the Edda- 

 Songs.8. 



Zodiac, period of its introduction into the 

 Greek sphere. 119: its origin among the 

 Chaldeans, 120 ; the Greeks borrowed 

 from them only the idea of the division, 

 and filled its signs with their own catas- 

 terisuis. 120 ; great antiquity of the In- 

 dian very doubtful, 121. 



Zodiacal light, Sir John Herschel on the, 



4a 



