AND THEORY OF THE HEAVENS. 3! 



I have found the view to be very probable that the so- 

 called fixed stars may really be slowly moving, wandering 

 stars of a higher order. In confirmation of what will be 

 found regarding this thought in its proper place, I will 

 here quote only a passage from a paper of Mr Bradley 

 on the motion of the fixed stars : " If a judgment may be 

 formed with regard to this matter, from the result of the 

 comparison of our best modern observations with such as 

 were formerly made with any tolerable degree of exactness, 

 there appears to have been a real change in the position 

 of some of the fixed stars, with respect to each other, and 

 such as seems independent of any motion in our own 

 system, and can only be referred to some motion in the 

 stars themselves. Arcturus affords a strong proof of this: 

 for if its present declination be compared with its place 

 as determined either by Tycho or Flamsteed, the differ- 

 ence will be found to be much greater than what can be 

 suspected to arise from the uncertainty of their observa- 

 tions. It is reasonable to expect that other instances of 

 the like kind must also occur among the great number of 

 the visible stars, because their relative positions may be 

 altered by various means. For if our own solar system 

 be conceived to change its place with respect to absolute 

 space, this might, in process of time, occasion an apparent 

 change in the angular distances of the fixed stars; and in 

 such a case, the places of the nearest stars being more 

 affected than of those that are very remote, their relative 

 positions might seem to alter, though the stars themselves 

 were really immovable. And on the other hand, if our 

 own system be at rest and any of the stars really in 

 motion, this might likewise vary their apparent positions; 

 and the more so, the nearer they are to us, or the 



