INTRODUCTION. I 



magnitude appear less, being at a greater distance ; and so pro- 

 ceeding on to the sixth magnitude, which includes all the fixed 

 stars that are visible without a telescope. 



The first observers of the heavens, in the early ages of the world, 

 divided the stars into different assemblages or constellations, each of 

 which they supposed to represent the image of some animal or other* 

 terrestrial object. These constellations have, in general, preserved the 

 names which were given them by the ancients, by whom they were 

 reckoned twenty-one northern, and twelve southern ; but the moderns 

 have increased the number of the northern to thirty-six, and that of 

 the southern to thirty-two. Besides these, there are the twelve signs 

 or constellations of the Zodiac, as it is called from the Greek word 

 &ov, an animal ; because almost all these signs represent some 

 animal. 



As to the number of the fixed stars, though, in a clear winter's 

 night without moonshine, they seem to be innumerable (which is 

 owing to their strong sparkling, and our looking at them in a con- 

 fused manner) yet when the whole firmament is divided into con- 

 stellations, the number that can at any time be seen with the naked 

 eye is not above a thousand. Since the invention of telescopes, 

 indeed, the number of the fixed stars has been justly considered as 

 immense ; because, the greater perfection we arrive at in our 

 glasses, the more stars always appear to us. Mr. Flamsteed, late 

 royal astronomer at Greenwich, has given us a catalogue of about 

 3000 stars. These are called telescopic stars, from their being in- 

 visible without the assistance of the telescope. -Dr. Herschel, to 

 whose ingenuity and assiduity the astronomical world is so much 

 indebted, has evinced what great discoveries may be made by im- 

 provements in the instruments of observation. « In passing rapidly 

 ever the heavens with his new telescope, says M. de Lalande, "the 

 universe increased under his eye ; 44,000 stars, seen in the space of 

 a few degrees, seemed to indicate that there were seventy-five mil- 

 lions in the heavens.'"' But what are all these, when compared to 

 those that fill the whole expanse, the boundless fields of sether ? In- 

 deed the immensity of the universe must contain such numbers as 

 would exceed the utmost stretch of the human imagination; for 

 who can say how far the universe extends, or point out those limits 

 where the Creator " stayed his rapid wheels," or where he " fixed 

 the golden compasses r" 



The immense distance of the fixed stars from our earth, and from 

 each other, is, of all considerations, the most proper for raising our 

 ideas of the works of God. For, notwithstanding the great extent 

 of the earth's orbit or path (which is at least 190 millions of miles in. 

 diameter) round the sun, the distance of a fixed star is not sensibly- 

 affected by it ; so that the star does not appear to be any nearer to 

 us when the earth is in that part of its orbit nearest the star, than it- 

 seemed to be when the earth was at the most distant part of it, or 

 190 millions of miles farther removed from the same star. The star 

 nearest us, and consequently the largest in appearance, is the dog- 

 star, or Sirius. Modern discoveries make it probable, that each of 

 those fixed stars is a sun, having planets and comets revolving round 

 it, as our sun has the earth and other planets revolving round him. 

 Now the dog-star appears 27,000 times less than the sun : and, a?; 

 the distance of the stars must be greater in proportion as they seenn 

 less, mathematicians have computed the distance of Sirius from us to 



