224 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[May 1, 1886. 



tinct clustering aggregation of stars within the limits of the 

 galaxy. 



Now let lis consider what such a change of view meant. 

 Instead of supposing that each increase of telescopic power 

 had enabled the observer to pierce farther and farther into 

 the sidereal depths in this direction, Sir W. Herschel now 

 saw that all the successive investigations had dealt with the 



Are we quite sure that a similar error does not affect tho 

 whole system of star-gauging, or rather the fundamental 

 j)rinciple on which that system is established t What real 

 evidence have we that, when we are poring more and more 

 searchingly into the recesses of the great star-girdle, we are 

 passing ever to distances farther and fai-ther from the sphere 

 of the lucid stars ? 



Fig. 1. 



Frustum of a Cone, bkveloping the Great Cluster. 

 Fig. 2. 



The Coalsack in Crux. 



same region of space. The difference was as great as though 

 an astronomer, discovering new asteroids and conceiving 

 their minuteness to be due to distance, .so that they all lay 

 hundreds of times farther off than Jupiter, suddenly learned 

 their true nature and that all his researches had dealt with 

 a zone far within the orbit of the giant planet. 



It seems to me that, before accepting the results which 

 have been supposed to flow from the star-gaugings, we are 

 bound to inquire somewhat more closely than has yet been 

 done into thequestion whether the probabilities are in favour 

 of that general uniformity of distribution and magnitude on 

 which the plan ^^■as based. 



