304 COSMOS. 



third of the southern nebulae and clusters of stars in Dunlop's 

 catalogue (containing 629 nebulous bodies, observed from 

 1825-1827, at Paramatta, with a nine-feet reflector, having a 

 nine-inch speculum 23 ,) were inserted in Sir John Herschel's 

 work. 



A third great epoch in our knowledge of these mysterious 

 cosmical bodies commenced with the construction of the mar- 

 vellous fifty- three feet telescope 24 of the Earl of Rosse, at 

 Parsonstown. All that had ever been advanced on either 

 side of the question, during the long fluctuation of opinions 

 in the different stages of the development of cosmical con- 

 templation, was now made the subject of keen discussion in 

 the contest regarding the nebular hypothesis and its asserted 

 untenability. It appears from all the notices I have been 

 able to collect from the works of distinguished astronomers 

 long accustomed to the observation of nebulous spots, that 

 out of a large number of nebulae indiscriminately taken from 

 among all the classes contained in the catalogue of 1833, 

 and regarded as irresolvable, almost all (Dr. Robinson, the 

 Director of the Armagh Observatory, enumerates more than 

 40 such,) have been perfectly resolved. 25 Sir John Ilerschel 



23 James Dunlop, in the Philos. Transact, for 1828, pp. 

 113-151. 



24 Compare Cosmos, vol. iii. p. 85 and note. 



25 See An Account of the Earl of Rosse 's great Telescope, 

 pp. 14-17, which gives a list of the nebulae resolved by 

 Dr. Robinson and Sir James South in March, 1845. 

 "Dr. Robinson could not leave this part of his subject 

 without calling attention to the fact, that no real nebula 

 seemed to exist among so many of these objects chosen 

 without any bias: all appeared to be clusters of stars, and 

 every additional one which shall be resolved will be an 

 additional argument against the existence of any such." 

 Schumacher, Ast)\ Nachr. no. 536. In the Notice 



