MoNCK — The Distribution of the Stars in Space. 



473 



set, appear to be due to the causes which I have mentioned, and 

 that I have no reason for believing that these sets present any 

 abnormal characteristics. With this preface I give the following 

 Table as the result of my computations : — 



1st set, 



2iid set, 



3rd set, 



4th set, 



5th set, 



6th set, 



7th set, 



8th set, 



9th set, 



10th set, 



11th set, 



12th set, 



13th set, 



14th set, 



15th set, 



16th set, 



17th set, 



18th set, 



19th set, 



20th set, 



21st set. 



20 



65 



115 



160 



520 



1820 



680 



3380 



4340 



3420 



6620 



7940 



9380 



10940 



3420 



14420 



16340 



18380 



20540 



22820 



25220 



stars of the first magnitude 



3rd 

 4th 

 5th 

 6th 



2nd magnitude + 75 



3rd magnitude + 265 



4th magnitude + 580 



5th magnitude + 700 



6th magnitude 



6th magnitude + 1860 



7th magnitude 



7th magnitude 



7th magnitude + 2000 8th 



8th magnitude 



8th magnitude 



8th magnitude 



8th magnitude 



8th magnitude + 9500 9th 



9th magnitude 



9th magnitude 



9th magnitude 



9th magnitude 



9th magnitude 



9th magnitude 



Total light. 



. = 20 



magnitude =38 



magnitude =35-4 



magnitude =25*1 



magnitude =20-5 



. = 18-6 



7th magnitude =14-6 



magnitude 



magnitude 



= 15-8 

 = 17-3 



= 14-3 



= 11-3 



= 12-9 



In this Table the second and third sets are largely in excess of what 

 they ought to be on the assumption of uniformity, and the excess 

 is partly carried on to the fourth set ; from whence it would appear 

 that the stars of the second, third, and fourth magnitudes are 

 much more numerous, comparatively speaking, than those of the 

 first. We seem to be in fact traversing a comparatively barren 

 region surrounded by regions much richer than itself — regions 

 which our remote ancestors may have traversed, and which our 

 remote descendants may traverse — regions I may add which may 

 have left their impress behind them in those vestiges of the past 

 which it is the province of the geologist to trace. But still more 

 remarkable is the steady decline of the total light from the second 

 set down to the twenty-first, beyond which my data did not suffer 

 me to proceed. I have already given my reasons for not regarding 

 the tenth and sixteenth sets as exceptions to this law, and the 

 apparent deviation at the eighth set seems to admit of a similar 

 explanation. Few astronomers will, I think, be of opinion that 



