STELLAR DISTRIBUTION. 217 



at the boundaries of the Universe to move faster 

 than those at the centre, the central sun the 

 object of Madler's search being in a state of 

 rest relative to the Sidereal System. Madler 

 accordingly began to search the heavens for a 

 region of sluggish proper motions. 



In the constellation Taurus, Madler noticed 

 that the proper motions of the stars were very 

 slow. The idea occurred to him that the bright 

 red star Aldebaran might be the central sun, 

 but its very large proper motion was obviously 

 against this inference. Star after star was now 

 subjected by Madler to the most careful scrutiny. 

 At length, after a laborious investigation, he 

 announced that the star which fulfilled the con- 

 ditions of a central body was Alcyone, the 

 brightest of the Pleiades, a group possessed of 

 no proper motion except that due to the sun's 

 drift in the opposite direction. In 1846 Madler 

 published his hypothesis in his elaborate work, 

 'The Central Sun/ He announced that his 

 observations had led him to the conclusion that 

 Alcyone occupied the centre of gravity of the 

 Sidereal System, and was the point round which 

 the stars of the Galaxy were all revolving. His 

 profound imagination, however, did not stop 

 here. This speculation led him to the sublime 

 thought that the centre of the Universe was 



