on the local arrangement of the celestial bodies in space. 32 1 
provided the stars of which it is composed are of a size and 
lustre equal to the size and lustre of such stars as Sirius, 
Arcturus, Capella, Lyra, Rigel, and Procyon, &c. 
I proceed now to consider some conclusions that may be 
drawn from a known extent of natural vision, a very obvious 
one of which is, that all the visible stars are probably con- 
tained within a sphere of the 12th order of distances. Now 
as on the principle of equal scattering, we should see about 
15625 of them, it may be remarked that the stars of the cata- 
logue, including all those of the 7th magnitude, amount to 
14144, which agrees sufficiently well with the calculated 
number ; but the next inference is, that if they were equally 
scattered, there would be 2402 of the 10th, 2906 of the 11th, 
and 3458 of the 12th order of distances, which added toge- 
ther amount only to 8766, whereas the number of stars of 
the 6th and 7th magnitudes that must come into these three 
orders, is not less than 12249, which would indicate that the 
stars in the higher order of distances are more compressed 
than they are in the neighbourhood of the sun ; but from 
astronomical observations, we also know that the stars of 
the 6th and 7th magnitude are very sparingly scattered over 
many of the constellations, and that consequently the stars 
which belong to the 10th, 11th, and 12th order of distances, 
are not only more compressed than those in the neighbour- 
hood of the sun, but that moreover their compression in dif- 
ferent parts of the heavens must be very unequal. 
IX. Of the construction and extent of the milky way. 
Of all the celestial objects consisting of stars not visible to 
the eye, the milky way is the most striking ; its general 
T t 2 
