262 Chance, Causation, and Design. [CHAP. x. 



stars just mentioned, resemble that which would be pro 

 duced by human agency sprinkling things at random ? 

 (We are speaking, of course, of their distribution as it ap 

 pears to us, on the visible heavens, for this is nearly all that 

 we can observe; but if they extend beyond the telescopic 

 range in every direction, this would lead to practically much 

 the same discussion as if we considered their actual arrange 

 ment in space.) We have fully discussed, in a former chap 

 ter, the meaning of randomness. Applying it to the case 

 before us, the question becomes this, Is the distribution 

 tolerably uniform on the whole, but with innumerable indi 

 vidual deflections ? That is, when we compare large areas, 

 are the ratios of the number of stars in each equal area 

 approximately equal, whilst, as we compare smaller and 

 smaller areas, do the relative numbers become more and 

 more irregular? With certain exceptions, such as that of 

 the Milky Way and other nebular clusters, this seems to be 

 pretty much the case, at any rate as regards the bulk of the 

 stars 1 . 



1 Professor Forbes in the paper 

 in the Philosophical Magazine al 

 ready referred to (Ch. vii. 18) gave 

 several diagrams to show what were 

 the actual arrangements of a random 

 distribution. He scattered peas over 

 a chess-board, and then counted the 

 number which rested on each square. 

 His figures seem to show that the 

 general appearance of the stars is 

 much the same as that produced by 

 such a plan of scattering. 



Some recent investigations by 

 Mr K. A. Proctor seem to show, 

 however, that there are at least two 

 exceptions to this tolerably uniform 

 distribution. (1) He has ascertained 



that the stars are decidedly more 

 thickly aggregated in the Milky Way 

 than elsewhere. So far as this is to 

 be relied on the argument is the 

 same as in the case of the double 

 stars ; it tends to prove that the 

 proximity of the stars in the Milky 

 Way is not merely apparent, but 

 actual. (2) He has ascertained that 

 there are two large areas, in the 

 North and South hemispheres, in 

 which the stars are much more 

 thickly aggregated than elsewhere. 

 Here, it seems to me, Probability 

 proves nothing : we are simply deny 

 ing that the distribution is uniform. 

 What may follow in the way of in- 



