Double Stars. 



In the fore-going chapter I said that our sun is a 

 planet in the pregnant state. If this is a fact then clearly 

 such a state must be the result of amorous relations 

 with some other planet. We are presented with such 

 relations in the double star. The chief condition of such 

 a state is that two stars, in most cases of different co- 

 lour, approaching one another very nearly, to within not 

 more than 32", live a united life having a common orbit 

 and revolving, not each round its own axis, but on the 

 contrary round one another. The study of double stars 

 began in the 18-th century. If we pass over the resear- 

 ches of Lambert and Meyer we must consider Herschel, 

 an English astronomer of German extraction, and a mu- 

 sician by profession, as the father of this study. He it 

 was who first issued, in 1792, a catalogue of double 

 stars, containing observations of 269 planetary pairs. 

 This edition was afterwards supplemented by two new 

 catalogues bringing up the total number of double-stars 

 to 850, the greater number of which the author had 

 himself discovered. His observations were conducted 

 with the utmost difficulty, firstly owing to mechanical 

 imperfections of the instruments of that time, secondly 

 from the position occupied by other stars having nothing 

 in common with the double stars to be remarked. The 

 fundamental fact established by astronomy regarding 

 double stars relates to their maximum distance from one 

 another, accepted as being not more than 32". For exact 

 calculations of this kind a special micrometrical apparatus 



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