38 IN STARRY REALMS. 



star which lies near it. When, therefore, we find a 

 difference between the place of a bright star, and the place 

 in which it ought to lie in conformity with calculation, we 

 can attribute the discrepancy to the attraction of some dark 

 star. We are thus able to learn something about these 

 dark stars, which, though never themselves seen, axefelt, 

 so to speak, by their action on stars that can be observed. 

 The more we meditate on this subject the more probable 

 does it become not only that dark extinguished suns 

 exist, but that they abound in immense numbers ; in fact 

 it might be fairly argued that these dead stars vastly 

 exceed in number the bright and living ones. Matter only 

 becomes visible to us across the abyss of stellar distance 

 during those episodes in its career, be they few or many, in 

 which it happens to be at a temperature of incandescence. 

 When the temperature has waned, so that the globe ceases 

 to glow, it may reasonably be held that the body has 

 "joined the majority." 



I have been stating merely the results of calculations, 

 and I have made little or no attempt to indicate the pro- 

 cesses by which those calculations must be conducted. It 

 is therefore only right that I should refer the inquiring 

 student to some reliable work where he may be able to 

 find the principles on which such researches are made 

 fully set forth. The book I would suggest is Williamson 

 and Tarleton's " Dynamics," at the end of which will be 

 found an instructive chapter on this subject. I shall here 

 extract an interesting numerical fact, for the proof of 

 which reference to this book may be made. Let us sup- 

 pose that the materials of the sun were originally distri- 

 buted in a nebulous form, throughout the length, breadth, 



