220 Dr. Herschel’s Catalogue of a fecond Thoufand 
their prefent formation by any random fcattering of ftars? 
The do&rine of chance, by expofing the very great odds 
againft fuch hypothefes, may be faid to demonftrate that the 
ftars are thus aflembled by fome power or other. Then, what 
do I attempt more than merely to lead the mind to*. the condi- 
tions under which this power is feen to a £1 ? 
In a cafe of fuch confequence I may be permitted to be a 
little more diffufe, and draw additional arguments from the 
internal conftrudtion of fpherical clufters and nebulae. If we 
find that there is not only a general form, which, as has been 
proved, is a fuffieient manifeftation of a centripetal force, 
what (hall we fay when the accumulated condenfation, which 
every where follows a direction towards a center, is even vifible 
to the very eye? Were we nor already acquainted with attrac- 
tion, this gradual condenfation would point out a central 
power, by the remarkable difpofition of the ftars tending 
towards a center. In confequence of this vifible accumulation, 
whether it may be owing to attradfion only, or whether other 
powers may affift in the formation, we ought not hefitate to 
afcribe the effe<ft to fuch as are central ; no phenomena being 
more decifive in that particular, than thofe of which I am 
treating. 
I am fully aware of the confequences I {hall draw upon 
myfelf in but mentioning other powers that might contribute 
to the formation of clufters. A mere hint of this kind, it will 
be expelled, ought not to be given without fuffieient founda- 
tion; but let it fuffice at prefent to remark that my arguments 
cannot be affe£ted by my terms : whether I am right to ufe the 
plural number,. — central powers, — or whether I ought only to 
f a y>“th.e known central force of gravity, — my conclufio.ns will 
fie equally valid. I will however add, that the idea of other 
ceil- 
