2 1 4 JMr, Pigott’s Observations on 
not to lay great ftrefs on their being fo ; and the following 
remark only confirms what he there fuggefts ; for that ftar of 
the 5th magnitude following r Perfei, mentioned by him, 
and which with great reafon might be efteemed a new one, is 
in all probability the fame as one obferved by Flamsteed, 
Jan. 18, 1694, though not inferted in his Catalogue. 
With regard to thole ftars which are faid to have diminilhed 
or increafed, as thofe in Andromeda, Leo, &c. they are, in 
my opinion, far from being confirmed as variable. I know, 
from repeated experience, that even more than a Angle obfer- 
vation, if not particularifed and compared with neighbouring 
ftars, is very little to be depended on ; different ftates of the 
weather, thin ftreaks of clouds, have feveral times made me 
err a whole magnitude in the brightne'fs of a ftar. 
Whether thefe apparent changes in the ftars proceed intirely 
from themfelves ; or whether they are effe&ed by any foreign 
power that may in part occafion fome of their particular ap- 
pearances and irregularities, we have not fufficient data to 
determine : but whatever are the caufes, a divifion of the 
different phenomena feems to be the mod probable means of 
forwarding any conjedtore that hereafter may be formed ; I 
(hall therefore divide the tfirft clafs into three orders. 
The firft contains thofe that are periodical with long inter- 
vals ; and fuch I reckon 0 Ceti, that in Hydra, that in the 
Swan’s breaft and neck, and al-fo Mayer’s N° 420. 
For the fecond order 1 (hall mention only three, though 
others might be added,; but the accounts of them are fo unfa- 
tisfa&orily recorded, and their places fo little known, that I 
prefer feledting only that in Caffiopea of 1572, that in Ser- 
pentarius of 1604, and that near the Swan’s head. The 
phenomena of thefe certainly bear a great refemblance to the 
firft : 
