Part ii

p. 438.

The two brilliant nodes in which the branches of the zone unite, in the region of Cepheus and Cassiopeia, and in the vicinity of Scorpio and Sagittarius, appear to exercise a powerful attraction on the contiguous stars; in the most brilliant part, however between beta and [Greek symbol] Cygni, one half of the 330,000 stars that have been discovered in a breadth of 5 degrees are directed toward one side, and the remainder to the other. It is in this part that Herschel supposes the layer to be broken up.*

[footnote] *Arago, in the 'Annuaire', 1842, p. 569

The number of telescopic stars in the Milky Way uninterrupted by any nebulae is estimated at 18 millions. In order, I will not say, to realize the greatness of this number, but, at any rate, to compare it with something analogous, I will call attention to the fact that there are not in the whole heavens more than about 8000 stars between the first and the sixth magnitudes, visible to the naked eye. The barren astonishment excited by numbers and dimensions in space, when not considered with reference to applications engaging the mental and perceptive powers of man, is awakened in both extremes of the universe, in the celestial bodies as in the minutest animalcules.*

[footnote] *Sir John Herschel, in a letter from Feldhuysen, dated Jan. 13th, 1836. Nicholl, 'Architecture of the Heavens', 1838, p. 22. (See, also, some separate notices by Sir William Herschel on the starless space which separates us by a great distance from the Milky Way, in the 'Philos. Transact.' for 1817,