140 CELESTIAL PHENOMENA. 



as in the sidereal world existence* preservation, produc- 

 tion, and development, are alike associated with motion as 

 their essential condition. 



The breaking up of the Milky Way, to which I have 

 alluded, requires a more particular notice. William 

 Herschel, our safe and admirable guide in the regions 

 of space, has found by his star-gaugings, that the tele- 

 scopic breadth of the Milky Way is six or seven degrees 

 wider than is laid down in our celestial maps, or than it 

 appears to the naked eye ( 109 ) . The two bright nodes in which 

 the two branches of the zone unite, near the constellations 

 of Cepheus and Cassiopea, and those of Scorpio and Sagit- 

 tarius, appear to exercise a powerful attraction on the 

 neighbouring stars ; but in the brightest portion, between 

 ft and 7 Cygni, 330000 stars are found in a breadth of 5, 

 of which half appear to be attracted towards one side, and 

 half towards the other. It is here that Herschel surmises 

 that a disruption may take place ( 110 ). 



The number of distinguishable telescopic stars in the 

 Milky Way, apart from nebula, is estimated at eighteen 

 millions. In order, I will not say to realise the magnitude 

 of this number, but to compare it with something analogous, 

 I would recal to the reader, that the whole number of stars 

 in the firmament from the first to the sixth magnitude, 

 visible to the naked eye, is only about 8000. In the unpro- 

 ductive astonishment which is excited by the relation of 

 mere numerical values, unconnected with applications 

 affecting the higher powers of the intellect, the imagination, 

 or the feelings, the extremes in point of dimension meet; 

 namely, the cosmical bodies of the vast regions of space, 

 and the smallest forms of animal existence. A cubic inch of 



