DOUBLE STARS: DISTANCES OF STARS 79 



Imnns t l.i- i-uj.;.- per week; groaning and fn 



had to be in his place eon<lui-ting a band or a concert, 

 and supervising a chun) 



seeking rest in sleep, when the day's weary work 

 was done, would often spend the night in observing 

 tho htarw. His sister, who was his invariable com- 

 panion i itches, had ample reason to 



aay of him, " !!< ii-l in one season more than anyone 

 else could have done, and would have resumed th- 



tea] the next fifteen years, if 

 nothing had interfered." 



The new path on which he entered, and which led 

 hint r and most attractive fields of in 



was the distance of what are called the fixed stars 

 solar system. II- '-.:. -.-. ;. it at the distance 

 Hi nearest of them, twice the sun's distance from 

 the earth, immense though it seems, appears no bigger 

 than a needle point, and cannot be used as a base line 

 Measurement, or, indeed, as a line at all. !! #ive 

 up the thought of attempting to solve the pn 



" most natural and the easiest sid I* 

 was good for neighbours so near us as Mars and Venus. 

 It was useless for Sinus or Arcturus. Following, 

 perhaps, the example of Galileo, he believed 

 observations on stars so close together that n< 

 the naked eye nor ordinary telescopes could separate 

 them, and make two out of one, would lead to a 

 discovery of t tance. He did not succeed in his 



purpose, but he was " introduced to a new series of 

 observations and discoveries." lie resolved to examine 



i the heavens with the utmost attention 

 and a very high power, that he might collect such 



