*75 
Changes that happen to the fixed Stars. 
It was indeed natural enough to give the name a to the 
brightest star, on account of its being the most remarkable in 
a constellation ; and we may admit that with a few of the 
most conspicuous stars the letters a (3 y would present them- 
selves in succession ; but whoever compares all the letters of 
the Greek and English alphabet that have been used, with the 
numerical magnitudes annexed to the same stars, will imme- 
diately give up all thoughts of intended order. In the con- 
stellation of Andromeda, which happens to lie before me, I 
find the following arrangement : Sops, 6ir%, \vv\, and 
dbc. In that of Hercules sS, n t 9, ^ p, <r v, to, and 
hAebkqcmZ. 
It will be needless to point out the irregularities which take 
place in every other constellation ; they go indeed so far, that 
it would be wrong to call them irregularities, because certainly 
no order could be intended in the arrangement of the letters. 
A doubt has even arisen whether any succession of brightness 
might be argued from the very first, second, or third letters of 
the alphabet ; and when we find them arranged thus : /3 « 
Cassiopeae, 13 oo Cancri, y (3 Aquilse, (3 £ Canis minoris, 41 y 
Arietis, we can hardly think it safe to regard the order of 
letters as of the least consequence. To which may be added* 
that in many constellations a (3 y are all marked to be of the 
same magnitude, in which case again the order of the letters 
can bring no information. And therefore, even in those cases 
where the order of the letters agrees with the different mag- 
nitudes assigned to them, the knowledge we can have of the 
former state of the heavens must be derived from the magni- 
tudes, and cannot be from the letters. 
It may in the next place be remarked, that if not the 
