Confer uB ion of the Heavens, 2 57 
preffed clufters of fmall ftars I remember to have feen, is 
iituated juft oil the weftern border of it, and would altijoft au- 
thorife a fufpicion that the ftars, of which it is compofed, were 
collected from that place, and had left the vacancy. What adds 
not a little to this furmife is, that the fame phenomenon is 
once more repeated with the fourth clufter of ftars of the 
Connoif since des Temps', which is alfo on the weftern border of 
another vacancy, and has moreover a fmall, miniature clufter, 
or eafily refolvable nebula of about 2f minutes in diameter, 
north following it, at no very great diftance. 
Phenomena at the Poles of our Nebula . 
I ought to obferve, that there is a remarkable purity or clear- 
nefs in the heavens when we look out of our ftratum at the 
Tides; that is, towards Leo, Virgo, and Coma Berenices, on one 
hand, and towards Cetus on the other ; whereas the ground 
of the heavens becomes troubled as we approach towards the 
length or height of it. It was a good while before I could 
trace the caufe of thefe phenomena ; but fince I have been 
acquainted with the Ihape of our fyftem, it is plain that thefe 
troubled appearances, when we approach to the Tides, are eafily 
to be explained by afcribing them to fome of thediftant, ftrag- 
gling ftars, that yield hardly light enough to be diftingufthed. 
And I have, indeed, often experienced this to be actually the 
caufe, by examining thefe troubled fpots for a long while toge~ 
ther, when, at laft, I generally perceived the ftars which occa- 
sioned them. But when we look towards the poles of our 
iyftem, where the vifual ray does not graze along the fide, the 
Vol. LXXV. L 1 ftraggling 
