214' Mr, Herschel on the 



views from them, we offend againft the verj end for wlVich 

 only obfervations ought to be made. I will endeavour to keep 

 a proper medium ; but if 1 fhould deviate from that, I could 

 wllh not to fall Into the latter error. 



That the milky way is a moft extenfive ftratum of flars of 

 various fizes admits no longer of the leaft doubt ; and that our 

 fun is actually one of the heavenly bodies belonging to it is as 

 evident. I have now viewed and gaged this Ihlning zone in 

 almoft every dire£llon, and find it compofed of ftars whofc 

 number, by the account of thefe gages, conftantly increafes 

 and decreafes in proportion to its apparent brlghtnefs to the 

 naked eye. But in order to develop the ideas of the univerfe, 

 that have been fuggefted by my late obfervations, it will be heft 

 to take the fubjecl from a point of view at a confiderable 

 diflance both of fpace and of time. 



'Theoretical ijiezv. 



Let us then fuppofe numbcrlefs ftars of various fizes, fcat- 

 tered over an indefinite portion of fpace in fuch a manner as to 

 be almoft equally diftributed throughout the whole. The laws 

 of attradlon, which no doubt extend to the remotefl regions of 

 the fixed flars, will operate in fuch a manner as moft probably to 

 produce the following remarkable effeds. ^ 



Formation of nebulae. 



/V. 



Form I. In the firft place, fince we havefuppofed the flars i- 

 to be of various fizes, it will frequently happen that a ftar, ; 

 being confiderably larger than its neighbouring ones, will 

 attrad them more than they will be attraded by others that are 



immediately 



