GAL 
that about the hand and club of Orion ; and 
found therein an astonishing multitude of 
stars, whose number lie endeavoured to es- 
timate, by counting many fields, and com- 
puting from a mean of these how many 
might be contained in a given portion of 
the milky-way. In the most vacant place 
to be met with in that neighbourhood, he 
found 63 stars ; other six fields contained 
110, 60, 70, 90, 70, and 74 stars ; a mean 
of all wliich gave 79 for the number of stars 
to each field ; and 1 thus he found, that by 
allowing 15 minutes for the diameter of his 
field of view, a belt of 15 degrees long and 
two broad, which he had often seen pass 
before his telescope in an hour’s time, could 
not contain less than 50,000 stars, large- 
enough to be distinctly numbered ; besides 
which, lie suspected twice as many more, 
which could be seen only now and then by 
faint glimpses, for want of sufficient light. 
The success he had within the milky-way 
soon induced him to turn his telescope to 
the nebulous parts of the heavens, of which 
an accurate list had been published in the 
“ Connoisance des Temps, for 1783 and 
1784.” Most of these yielded to a Newto- 
nian reflector, of 20 feet focal distance, and 
12 inches aperture; which plainly disco- 
vered them to be composed of stars, or at 
least to contain stars, and to show every 
other indication of its consisting of them en- 
tirely. * 
“ The nebula (says he) are arranged in- 
to strata, and run on to a great length, and 
some of them I have been able to pursue, 
and to guess pretty well at their form and 
direction. It is probable enough that they 
may surround the whole starry sphere of 
the heavens, not unlike the milky-way, 
which undoubtedly is nothing but a stratum 
of fixed stars : and as this latter immense 
starry bed is not of equal breadth or lustre 
in every part, nor runs on in one straight 
direction, but is curved, and even divided 
into two streams along a very considerable 
portion of it ; we may likewise expect the 
greatest variety in the strata of the cluster 
of stars and nebulae. One of these nebu- 
lous beds is so rich, that, in passing through 
a section of it in the time of only 36 mi- 
nutes, I have detected no less than 31 ne- 
bulae, all distinctly visible upon a fine blue 
sky. Their situation and shape, as well as 
condition, seem to denote the greatest va- 
riety imaginable. In another stratum, or 
perhaps a different branch of the former, I 
have often seen double and treble nebulas 
variously arranged ; large ones, with small 
GAL 
seeming attendants ; narrow, but much-ex- 
tended lucid nebulae or bright dashes ; some 
of the shape of a fan, resembling an elec- 
tric brush issuing from a lucid point ; others 
of the cometic shape, with a seeming nu- 
cleus in the centre, or like cloudy stars, 
surrounded with a nebulous atmosphere : a 
different sort again, contain a nebulosity of 
the milky kind, like that wonderful inexpli- 
cable phenomenon about Orionis ; while 
others shine with a fainter mottled kind of 
light, which denotes their being resolvable 
into stars. 
“ It is very probable that the great stra- 
tum called the milky-way, is that in which 
the sun is placed, though perhaps not in 
the very centre of its thickness. We gather 
this from the appearance of the galaxy, 
which seems to encompass the whole hea- 
vens, as it certainly must do, if the sun is 
within the same : for, suppose a number of 
stars arranged between two parallel planes, 
indefinitely extended every way, but at a 
given considerable distance from one ano- 
ther, and calling, this a sideral stratum, an 
eye placed somewhere within it, will see all 
the stars in the direction of the planes of 
the stratum projected into a great circle, 
which will appear lucid, on account of the 
accumulation of the stars, while the rest of 
the heavens, at the sides, will only seem to 
be scattered over with constellations, more 
or less crowded, according to the distance 
of the planes, or number of stars, contained 
in the thickness or sides of the stratum.” 
GALBANUM, in pharmacy, is obtained 
from the bubon galbanum, a' plant found in 
Africa. By cutting the plant across, a milky 
juice flows out, which soon hardens, and 
constitutes galbanum. It is brought here 
from the Levant, in small pieces aggluti- 
nated together; its taste is acrid, and its 
smell strong ; the specific gravity is 1.2. It 
is partly soluble in water and alcohol, and 
when distilled, it yields about half its 
weight of volatile oil, which is of a blueish 
colour. 
GALBULA, the jacamar, in natural his- 
tory, a genus of birds of the order Pic®, 
Generic character: bill strait, very long, 
quadrangular, and pointed ; nostrils situated 
near the base of the bill, and oval ; tongue 
pointed and short; legs feathered before, 
down to the toes ; feet formed for climbing. 
There are four species. 
G. alcedo, is about the size of a lark, and 
is of a most elegant and brilliant plumage. 
It is found in the damp places of the woods 
of Guiana and Brazil, feeding on insects. 
