152 Mr. Pigott's Investigation of the Changes 
it, must have been nearly equal : had the causes of varying its 
light then ceased, it would ever have continued to appear as an 
unchangeable star of the 5 or 6 Mag. and such is the case of 
several others that formerly have been variables, but for many years 
retain a steady brightness, as Q Geminorum, £ Ursse majoris, 
a Draconis, and perhaps that in theSw'an’s breast, while others, 
after shewing their changes, have entirely disappeared, owing to a 
total absorption of light, as the famous one in Cassiopea, in 
Serpentarius of 1604, that near the Swan’s head, and doubtless 
many more. Does not this induce us to presume that there 
are also others, that have never shewn a glimpse of brightness ? 
Lastly, new variables may become so at different periods, by an 
unusual and partial increase or diminution of their bright parts, 
as not unlikely was the case of 0 Ceti, Algol a Herculis, &c. for 
these stars being by times very conspicuous, their changes, had 
they been always equally great, might have been easily noticed 
by the ancient astronomers, who observed only with the naked 
eye. A few lines above, I mentioned the probability that there 
existed primary invisible bodies or unenlightened stars ( if I may 
be allowed the expression ) that have ever remained in eternal 
darkness; how numerous these may be, can never be known. 
Would it then be too daring or visionary to suppose their num- 
bers equal to those endowed with light ? particularly when we 
take into contemplation the ample set of bodies visible only by 
reflected rays, that appertain to our own system, such as the 
planets, asteroides, comets, and satellites. Do not these, al- 
though but of a secondary nature, lead us to venture on the 
foregoing more enlarged conjecture ; and moreover to suspect, 
that the enlightened stars are those that have already attained 
the highest degree of perfection ? granting, therefore, such 
