SOLAR AND STELLAR PROPER MOTIONS. 
169 
Table V. 
Number 
of stars. 
Mean mag¬ 
nitude. 
Mean proper 
motion. 
Mean parallax. 
// 
// 
First group_ 
9 
5 57. 
4.93 
0.32 
Second “ — 
9 
5.59 
2.33 
0.20 
Third “ _ 
9 
3.37 
1.04 
0.20 
Fourth “ ___ 
9 
2.36 
0.38 
0.16 
Fifth “ ___ 
10 
2.84 
0.06 
0.13 
If the stars in Table IV be arranged according to the 
magnitude of the parallaxes, it will be seen that eighteen of 
them have a parallax greater than 0".2. The mean magni¬ 
tude of these stars is 5.56 and the mean parallax is 0".34. 
Of the remaining twenty-eight stars the mean magnitude is 
2.89 and the mean parallax is 0".ll. 
Hence it would appear that, if any law can be formulated 
from the observed data, it must be that the fainter, rather 
than the brighter stars are nearest the solar system. 
A corollary of the theory just discussed avers that, as the 
largest stars are nearest the solar system, they should be 
affected by the largest apparent proper motions. This, as is 
fully shown in the discussions just cited, is not in accord¬ 
ance with the observed phenomena; in fact, the manifest con¬ 
clusion, from all recent observations and investigations, must 
be that the assumptions in regard to the relations between 
stellar magnitudes, distances and proper motions, which 
have been introduced into the discussions of the direction 
and of the velocity of motion of the solar system', have little 
or no foundation in nature, and are now a decided hinderance 
to true progress in such investigations. * 
The elder Struve’s scheme, formed to express certain as¬ 
sumed relations between stellar magnitudes and distances, 
was not originally designed to aid the study of stellar proper 
motions, but was a bold and ingenious assumption which he 
employed in the investigation of a different class of problems 
