DARK OR BENIGHTED STARS. 39 



were the nebula from which the star had disappeared 

 to maintain the same convergence as before, towards 

 the point at which the star had ceased to be visible 

 would the inference be legitimate, that the star 

 which had disappeared was not annihilated, but had 

 ceased to be self-luminous ? 



51. If at the starless extremity of the nebulae 

 (Fig- 11) a star became visible, might we not infer 

 that this new star was not a new creation; but, 

 before its appearance, had existed at the extreme 

 point of this nebula, a non-luminous body ? 



52. Were one of the stars, of a binary system, 

 that revolved about a common centre of gravity, to 

 disappear from our firmament, and were the star 

 which remained visible to preserve the same orbit 

 that it maintained while revolving with its partner 

 before the disappearance took place would not this 

 go to prove, that the star, which had disappeared, 

 was not annihilated but only darkened ? 



53. The great astronomer, Bessel, has demonstrated 

 that both Sirius and Procyon are binary systems, 

 that each has a revolution about a common centre of 

 gravity, but that the partner of each is a dark or 

 benighted star. 



54. Since the fact has been revealed to us that 

 dark stars do exist in the firmament, when therefore 



