424 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP, 
€Cancri, and probably also @ Orionis, consist 
of six stars, and from such a group we pass 
on to Star Clusters in which the number is 
very considerable. The cluster in Hercules 
consists of from 1000 to 4000. A stellar 
swarm in the Southern Cross contains several 
hundred stars of various colours, red, green, 
greenish blue, and blue closely thronged to- 
gether, so that they have been compared to a 
“superb piece of fancy jewellery.” ? 
The cluster in the Sword Handle of Per- 
seus contains innumerable stars, many doubt- 
less as brilliant as our Sun. We ourselves 
probably form a part of such a cluster. The 
Milky Way itself, as we know, entirely sur- 
rounds us; it is evident, therefore, that the 
Sun, and of course we ourselves, actually lie 
in it. It is, therefore, a Star Cluster, one of 
countless numbers, and containing our Sun 
as a single unit. 
- It has as yet been found impossible to 
determine even approximately the distance 
of these Star Clusters. 
1 Kosmos. ad 
