Nov. 10, 1881] 
mere inspection forces home upon us the persuasion thzt 
a physically-connected system lies before the eye. As 
regards each pair separately, the inference is already 
established by orbital motion—the mutual relation of the 
whole waits the examination of ages. 
The debilissima may be watched for a suspicion of 
variable light. Some very minute points precede them. 
¢, next below and following Wega, is a grand wide pair, 
nearly 44” apart, 5 and 54 or 6 mags., topaz yellow and 
zreenish, or, according to others, lilac. Such discordant 
estimates of colour are of frequent occurrence. They 
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38 E99 tae, 
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2. 
may arise from actual dissimilarity of vision, or an un- 
certain effect of contrast, or residual chromatic aberra- 
tion; but we have to remember that these star-hues are 
often open to question from their feebleness, and espe- 
cially from the absence of comparison with a light of 
standard whiteness in the field. 
To the left of ¢ a low power will show us 6! and & in a 
fine group, where some beautiful colouring will be found. 
One of the smaller stars has at times appeared to me of a 
pale ruby tint, on other nights not traceable. 24’ nearly 
north of 6! Burnham has detected a sma | pair (his No. 137), 
only 12 apart, and therefore a severe trial for ordinary 
apertures. 
Further to the left the naked eye shows us two small 
stars at a greater distance : the uppermost, 7, 5 mag., has 
ag mag. attendant at 28” ; the colour is differently recorded 
as blue and pale yellow. Three small pairs lie near it. 
The other star, 6, is also worth looking at for its fine 
surroundings. But beautiful fields are throughout more 
or less the character of this constellation. 
Lower down, and brighter than the two last-mentioned, 
are two considerable stars, 8 and y, of which the right 
hand one, £8, is the centre of a minute group; but more 
remarkable for variation in its light, with superposed 
inferior variations, completed in about 12d. 22h. Its 
colour is also questionable, yellow, or none. But greater 
interest attaches to these two stars as guides on either 
side to the wonderful annular nebula, M 57, the brightest 
of its class, easy with very slight optical means, refractory 
with the highest. Its light has been noticed, ever since 
Schroter’s time, to be a little unequal in different parts, 
and may possibly be variable; the interior is gauzy and 
streaky, according to the Earl of Rosse, who also repre- 
sents some exterior wispiness. The idea of its starry 
composition, maintained by Secchi and Chacornac, has 
been dispelled by Huggins, whose spectroscope shows 
only gas. But how produced? how accumulated into 
NATURE 
37 
that extraordinary shape? how heated into incan- 
descence, and maintaining that temperature, at any 
rate since 1779, amid the alleged intensity of cold in 
space—here even conjecture must admit its helplessness. 
A minute star following it may perhaps be variable. 
In sweeping from this region towards the galaxy, we 
shall cross an abundance of rich and lovely fields; but 
~ 
4. 
the galaxy itself, with a sufficient aperture and low power, 
is from end to end a scene of wonder and astonishment. 
Especially in some parts of Cygnus its magnificence 
exceeds all hope of description. But it is not only to 
be studied for its gorgeous profusion of suns—where in 
a short time many thousands pass before the eye—nor 
for the many beautiful pairs that it envelopes—such as the 
Mia 
5: 
well-known 8 Cygvz, with its elegant contrast ; or x (R.A. 
19h. 42m. D.N. 33° 27’), inferior indeed, but very pretty ; 
or the wide pair 61 (R.A. 21h. rm. D.N. 38° 9’), whose paral- 
lax, the first well established, shows that they are nearer to 
us than the bright leaders of the constellation; or at the 
end of the right arm of the great cross, 6, whose minute 
comes at 16 has proved such an annoyance to many a 
disappointed observer, who might however have suc- 
ceeded in a twilight hour; nor again for its groups of 
irregular and artistic beauty; but for many peculiarities 
of arrangement, not altogether unrecorded, especially by 
Secchi, but scarcely adverted to as they deserve. Among 
the minuter stars, from perhaps the 8th to the 11th 
mag., configurations are not infrequent of such singular 
