56 KANT'S UNIVERSAL NATURAL HISTORY 



than to other regions, then the eye which is situated in 

 this plane when it looks out to the field of the stars, 

 will perceive on the spherical concavity of the firmament 

 the densest accumulation of stars in the direction of 

 such a plane under the form of a zone illuminated by 

 varied light. This streak of light will advance as a 

 luminous band in the direction of a great circle, because 

 the position of the spectator is in the plane itself. This 

 zone will swarm with stars which, on account of the 

 indistinguishable minuteness of their clear points that 

 cannot be severally discerned and their apparent denseness, 

 will present a uniformly whitish glimmer, in a word, a 

 Milky Way. The rest of the heavenly host whose 

 relation to the plane described gradually diminishes, or 

 which are situated nearer the position of the spectator, 

 are more scattered, although they are seen to be massed 

 relatively to this same plane. Finally, it follows from all 

 this that our solar world, seeing that this system of the 

 fixed stars is seen from it in the direction of a great 

 circle, is situated in the same great plane and constitutes 

 a system along with the other stars. 



In order to penetrate better into the nature of the 

 universal connection which rules in the universe, we will 

 try to discover the cause that has made the positions of 

 the fixed stars come to be in relation to a common 

 plane. 



The sun is not limited in the range of its attractive 

 force to the narrow domain of the planetary system. 

 According to all appearance the force of attraction 

 extends ad infinitum. The comets, which pass very far 

 beyond the orbit of Saturn, are compelled by the 

 attraction of the sun to return again, and to move in 



