470 THE LIFE OF JAMES D. FORBES. [cnAi>. 



am told, on application, that the type is broken up, and 

 that I cannot be supplied with any a copies. All I can 

 do therefore is to call your attention .to the passage in 

 the article in question (page 36, Edinburgh Review, 

 No. 185), as, though you are not named as the author 

 of the argument in question, it will no doubt be recol- 

 lected by many readers as resting on your authority. 



' Whether you may think the answer to your objection 

 a valid one, or not, it seemed worth while at least to set 

 in a clearer light than I believe had been heretofore 

 done, the gist of the argument itself; and at all events 

 I hope you will not find that the writer of the article in 

 question has in any way distorted or misrepresented 

 your meaning. 



' Believe me, my dear Sir, yours very truly, 



' J. F. W. HERSCHEL.' 



The passage in the Review is as follows : 

 ' Astronomy affords us a very remarkable example of 

 this nature, which we adduce, by reason of a singular 

 misconception of the true incidence of the argument 

 from probability which has prevailed in a quarter where 

 we should least have expected to meet it. The scatter- 

 ing of .the stars over the heavens, does it offer any 

 indication of law ? In particular, in the apparent 

 proximity of the stars called " double " do we recognize 

 the influence of any tendency to proximity, pointing to 

 a cause exceptional to the abstract law of probability 

 resulting from equality of chances as respects the area 

 occupied by each star? To place this question in a 

 clear light, let us suppose that, neglecting stars below 

 the seventh magnitude, we have measured the distance 

 of each from its nearest neighbour, and calculated the 

 squares of the sines of half these distances, which there- 

 fore stand to each other in the relative proportion of 

 the areas occupied exclusively by each star. Suppose 

 we fix upon a circular space of 4" in radius as the unit 

 of superficial area, and that we arrange all the results 

 so obtained in groups, progressively increasing from by 



