370 Notices respecting New Books. 



An important feature of the G-alaxy consists of the large number 

 of starry clusters found within it. The projection by Sidney Waters 

 of the JNebulae and Clusters in plate 7 exhibits this feature in the 

 most striking manner, as but few clusters are found in other parts 

 of the heavens. It was the elder Herschel who first drew atten- 

 tion to this feature of the Milky Way. " The stars," said Sir Wil- 

 liam, " of which it is composed are very unequally scattered, and 

 show evident marks of clustering together into many separate 

 allotments." Alluding to his equal-surface charts of the brighter 

 orders of stars as being the first step towards just views of the 

 constitution of the Milky Way, Mr. Proctor mentions on p. 221 

 this view of Herschel as a previous one, and therefore, in his 

 opinion, the first to lead us to form an accurate conception of the 

 G-alaxy. He speaks of it as "the great, but little noticed discovery 

 of Sir William Herschel's, that the bright clouds of the Milky Way 

 are for the most part spherical clusters of stars. The excess in the 

 number of lucid stars in the Milky Way proves that the stars of 

 our constellations are among the leading orbs of [the spherical 

 aggregations." To this statement of Mr. Proctor we would solicit 

 particular attention. It appears remarkable that the " lucid stars 

 of our constellations" should be the "leading orbs of the spherical 

 aggregations " of the Milky Way. This Mr. Proctor regards as 

 proved by " the excess of the number of lucid stars in the Milky 

 Way ; " but does the apparent superposition of the lucid stars on 

 the visible area of the Milky Way really prove the connexion assumed 

 by Mr. Proctor? We fail to trace on plate 8 that very close con- 

 nexion between the lucid stars and clusters which is indicated by 

 Mr. Proctor's statement ; besides, he himself, on p. 9, shows that the 

 two streams are not absolutely coincident, the lucid stars lying on 

 one side of the Milky Way near Scorpio, crossing it in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Crux, and passing to the other side along Canis major, 

 Orion, and Taurus. AVnat if the starless interval of which Mr. 

 Proctor speaks should lie between these zones of lucid stars and 

 the very much smaller stars of the G-alaxy ? In this case could 

 these same lucid stars be the leading orbs of the spherical aggrega- 

 tions of the Milky Way ? We think not. 



If we find it difficult to conceive of the lucid stars being thus 

 imbedded in the G-alaxy, we find it still more difficult to regard the 

 collection of nebulae which, in the neighbourhood of the pole of the 

 Milky Way, constitutes the rich region of Yirgo, as forming part 

 of the Galaxy. Messrs. Proctor and Waters could not have fur- 

 nished us with more important information as to the distribution 

 of lucid stars, star-clusters, and the apparent relation of these 

 orders to the Milky Way than they have done in the beautiful charts 

 which illustrate their views ; but when Mr. Proctor tells us that 

 the nebulas are, as well as the lucid stars, portions of this same 

 wonderful zone, we must simply say we fail to see such a relation. 

 We can understand that the starry cluster, of which our sun is a 

 component member, is bounded, at any rate apparently, by a zone 

 or ring of lucid stars, the plane of which intersects the plane of that 



