22/6 SPECIAL RESULTS IN THE UKANOLOGICAL 



Eosse has resolved, or shown to be resolvable, multitudes of 

 nebulae which had resisted the space-penetrating power of 

 feebler optical instruments. Although there may be nebulae 

 which this powerful telescope of six English feet aperture 

 shows only as nebulae, without any indication of resolvability, 

 yet from inferences founded on analogy we may conjecture 

 that in reality no difference exists between nebulas and clusters 

 of stars" ( 383 ). 



The constructor of the powerful optical apparatus at Par- 

 sonstown, always carefully separating the result of actual 

 observation from inferences for which it might be hopefully 

 considered that a foundation had been laid, expresses him- 

 self with great caution on the subject of the nebula in 

 Orion. In a letter to Professor Nichol of Glasgow, dated 

 March 19, 1846, ( 384 ) Lord Eosse wrote: "From our 

 examination of this celebrated nebula, I can certainly say 

 that very little, if any, doubt remains as to its resolvability. 

 From the state of the atmosphere we could only use half 

 the magnifying power which the mirror is capable of bearing ; 

 and yet we saw that everything round the trapezium forms 

 a mass of stars. The rest of the nebula is also rich in 

 stars, and has quite the character of resolvability." At a 

 later period, 1848, Lord Eosse still refrained from announc- 

 ing the actual achievement of a complete resolution of the 

 nebula in Orion, expressing only the near hope and well- 

 grounded probability of the remaining portion of nebulosity 

 being so resolved. 



If, in the animated debate recently awakened respecting 

 the non-existence of a self-luminous nebulous matter in the 

 Universe, we separate what belongs to observation and 

 what to inductive conclusions, a very simple consideration 



