262 



HISTORY OF SCIENCE. 



FIG. 126 RAMAGE'S TELESCOPE. 



many of these luminous spots into clusters of stars. The forms of these 

 clusters are extremely varied. Some appear more or less globular, 

 others have elongated and very irregular forms. There are, however, 

 a very great number of nebulae which Herschel's telescopes were unable 

 to resolve into stars ; and although a few were subsequently resolved 

 by the gigantic telescope of Lord Rosse, the greater number of the 

 nebulae retain a nebulous appearance under the highest powers of the 

 telescopes which have yet been brought to bear upon them. Their ap- 

 pearance resembles that of comets in suggesting merely a thin luminous 

 fog. 



Of all nebulas, however, the Milky Way is the one which forces it- 

 self upon the attention of the most careless spectator, and it has not 

 failed to attract the notice of philosophers from the earliest ages. It 

 has received many names : the Greeks called it the Galaxy, and also the 

 Milky Circle, and by the latter name it was also known to the Romans. 

 Ovid calls it the Milky Way when poetically representing it as the 

 highway of the gods : 



