458 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1720, 



the whole number of them, that can indisputably be accounted of the first 

 magnitude; of which 4 areExtraZodiacum; viz.Capella, Arcturus,LucidaLyraB, 

 and Lucida Aquilae, to the north; 4 in the way of the moon and planets, viz. 

 Palilicium, Cor Leonis, Spica, and CorScorpii; and 5 to the southward, that are 

 seen in England, viz. the foot and right shoulder of Orion, Sirius, Procyon, 

 and Fomalhaut; and there are 3 more that never rise in our horizon, viz. Ca- 

 nopus, Acharndr, and the foot of the Centaur. But that they exceed the 

 number 13, may easily be accounted for from the different magnitudes that 

 may be in the stars themselves; and perhaps some of them may be much 

 nearer to one another than they are to us; this excess of number being found 

 singly in the signs of Gemini and Cancer. And indeed within 45 degrees of 

 longitude, or -^ of the whole, there are no less than 5 of these l6 to be 

 seen. If therefore the number of them be supposed 13, omitting niceties in 

 a matter of such irregularity, at twice the distance from the sun there may be 

 placed 4 times as many, or 52; which, with the same allowance, would nearly 

 represent the number of the stars we find to be of the 2d magnitude: so Q X 

 13, or 117, for those at 3 times the distance: and at 10 times the distance 

 100 X 13 or 1300 stars; which distance may perhaps diminish the light of 

 any of the stars of the first magnitude to that of the 6th, it being only the 

 100th part of what, at their present distance, they appear with. But if, since 

 we have room enough for it, we should suppose the sphere continued to 10 

 times the last, or 100 times the first distance, the number of stars would be 

 130,000, and they would appear but with the 10000th part of the light of a 

 first magnitude star, as we now see it. This is so small a pulse of light, that 

 it may well be questioned, whether the eye, assisted with any artificial help, 

 can be made sensible of it. But 100 times the distance of a star we see, is 

 still finite : from whence I leave those that please to consider it attentively to 

 draw the conclusion. 



jin Account of the Method of making Sugar from the Juice of the Maple 

 Tree in New England. By Paul Dudley, Esq, F. R. S. N° 364, p. 27- 



Maple sugar is made of the juice of upland maple,* or maple trees that 

 grow on the highlands. You box the tree, as it is called, i. e. make a hole 

 with an axe, or chissel, into the side of the tree, within a foot of the ground ; 

 the box may hold about a pint, and therefore it must shelve inwards, or to- 

 wards the bottom of the tree ; the tree is also barked above the box, to direct 

 the luice to the box. 



* Acer saccharinum. Linn. 



