for ascertaining the distances of clusters of stars, &c. 463 
32 0 50'. With 137 there are small stars with suspected 
nebulosity ; 300 shows a great many smaller stars intermixed 
with the former. 
Sept. 11, 1790. Right ascension 19 11 30'. Polar distance 
47 0 o'. About 240 stars in the field of view, with many too 
small to be counted. 
In these ten observations the gages applied to the milky 
way were found to be arrested in their progress by the 
extreme smallness and faintness of the stars ; this can how- 
ever leave no doubt of the progressive extent of the starry 
regions ; for when in one of the observations a faint nebulosity 
was suspected, the application of a higher magnifying power 
evinced, that the doubtful appearance was owing to an inter- 
mixture of many stars that were too minute to be distinctly 
perceived with the lower power ; hence we may conclude, 
that when our gages will no longer resolve the milky way 
into stars, it is not because its nature is ambiguous, but because 
it is fathomless. 
VI. Of the assumed semblance of dusters of stars , zvhen seen 
through telescopes that have not light and power sufficient to show 
their nature and construction. 
The variety of telescopes used in the long series of obser- 
vations that have been given, will afford us many instances 
to ascertain the various deceptive appearances that clusters of 
stars may put on when they are observed with an inadequate 
apparatus. 
An examination of some particulars relating to this subject 
may assist us to ascertain in what class we ought probably to 
