HERSCHEL THE DISCOVERER. 39 



very differently scattered from those which are 

 immediately about us. This immense starry 

 aggregation is by no means uniform. The stars 

 of which it is composed are very unequally 

 scattered" a conclusion quite opposed to the 

 disc theory, where the Milky Way was sup- 

 posed to be merely an extended portion of the 

 Universe. 



In 1811 Herschel wrote as follows: "I must 

 freely confess that by continuing my sweeps of 

 the heavens, my opinion of the arrangement of 

 the stars, and their magnitudes, and some other 

 particulars, has undergone a gradual change ; 

 and, indeed, when the novelty of the subject is 

 considered we cannot be surprised that many 

 things formerly taken for granted should on 

 examination prove to be different from what 

 they were generally but incautiously supposed 

 to be. For instance, an equal scattering of the 

 stars may be admitted in certain calculations ; 

 but when we examine the Milky Way, or the 

 closely compressed clusters of stars, of which 

 my catalogues have recorded so many instances, 

 this supposed equality of scattering must be 

 given up." 



This was the virtual abandonment of the disc 

 theory. Six years later Herschel announced 

 that in six cases he had failed to resolve the 



