THE GREAT NEBULA IN ORION. 85 



There sinks the nebulous star we call the Sun, 

 If that hypothesis of theirs be sound. 



And in the teaching of ' comely Psyche ' : 



This world was once a fluid haze of light, 

 Till toward the centre set the starry tides, 

 And eddied into suns, that wheeling cast 

 The .planets. 



Few theories have met with a stranger fate. Eeceived 

 respectfully at first on the authority of the great astro- 

 nomer who propounded it then in the zenith of his 

 fame the theory gradually found a place in nearly all 

 astronomical works. But, in the words of a distinguished 

 living astronomer, ' The bold hypothesis did not receive 

 that confirmation from the labours of subsequent in- 

 quirers which is so remarkable in the case of many of 

 Herschel's other speculations.' It came to pass at length 

 that the theory was looked upon by nearly all English 

 astronomers as wholly untenable. In Gfermany it was 

 never abandoned, however, and a great modern discovery 

 has suddenly brought it into general favour, and has in 

 this, as in so many other instances, vindicated Herschel's 

 claim to be looked upon as the most clear-sighted, as 

 well as the boldest and most original of astronomical 

 theorisers. 



Herschel had pointed out various circumstances 

 which, in his opinion, justified a belief in the existence 

 of a nebulous substance fire-mist or star-mist, as it 

 has been termed throughout interstellar space. He 

 had discovered and observed several thousand nebulae, 

 and he considered that amongst these he could detect 

 traces of progressive development. Some nebulas were, 



