THE HERSCHELS AND THE STAR-DEPTHS. 27 



Clouds, only the relative distances are not the same as 

 in the sun's case, because the Magellanic Clouds both 

 cover a much larger portion of the sky than the sun 

 does. In the case of the larger Magellanic Cloud, it is 

 easily shown that if the distance of the nearest part of 

 that globe-shaped cluster be called nine, the distance 

 of the farthest part must be about ten. In the case of 

 the smaller, the distance of the farthest part is yet 

 more nearly equal to that of the nearest part. 



We have, then, this altogether unexpected result, 

 that, so far as the nebula in the Magellanic Clouds are 

 concerned, we have not to deal with galaxies external 

 to our system, but with objects mixed up with stars 

 of the eighth magnitude that is, with stars which had 

 always been regarded by astronomers as lying far 

 nearer to us than the outskirts of the star-system. ' It 

 must be taken as a demonstrated fact,' says Sir John 

 Herschel, c that stars of the seventh or eighth magni- 

 tude ' (that is, stars only just beyond the limits of the 

 unaided vision), c and irresolvable nebulae,' (that is, 

 objects which had been supposed to lie hundreds of 

 times farther away than the outermost bounds of our 

 own star-system), 6 may co-exist within limits of 

 distance not differing in proportion more than as nine 

 to ten, a conclusion which must inspire some degree of 

 caution in admitting as certain many of the conse- 

 quences which have been rather strongly dwelt upon ' 

 in the treatment of the elder Herschel's researches. 



Now it may seem highly venturesome to press this con- 

 clusion more earnestly than Sir John Herschel himself 



