2 54 ^^^* Herschel o?t the 



intermediate parts are filled up by fmaller ftars arranged in 

 flraight lines between the gaged ones. The delineating points, 

 though pretty numerous, are not fo clofe as we might wifh ; 

 « it is however to be hoped that in fome future time this 

 branch of aftronomy will become more cultivated, fo that we 

 may have gages for every quarter of a degree of the heavens at 

 leaft, and thefe often repeated in the mofl: favourable circum- 

 ftances. And whenever that fliall be the cafe, the delineations 

 may then be repeated vv^ithall the accuracy that long experience 

 may enable us to introduce ; for, this fubje6t being fo new, I 

 look upon what is here given partly as only an example to 

 illuflrate the fpirit of the method. From this figure how* 

 ever, which :1 hope is not a very inaccurate one, we may fee 

 that our nebula, as we obferved before, is of the third form ; 

 that is: A very extenjlve, branching, compound Congeries of 

 many millions of Jlars\ which mofi: probably owes its origin to 

 many remarkably large as well as pretty clofely fcattered fmall 

 ftars, that may have drawn together the reft. Now, to have 

 fome idea of the wonderful extent of this fyftem, I muft ob- 

 ferve that this fec^ion of it is drawn upon a fcale where the 

 diftance of Sirius is no more than the 8oth part of an inch ; fb 

 that probably all the ftars, which in the fineft nights we are 

 able to diftinguifh with the naked eye, may be comprehended 

 within a fphere, drawn round the large ftar near the middle, 

 reprefenting our fituation in the nebula, of lefs than half a 

 quarter of an inch radius. * 



^he Origin of nebulous Strata. 



If it were poflible to dlftinguifti between the parts of an 

 indefinitely extended whole, the nebula we inhabit might be 



faid 





