telescope, when the richest part of the Galaxy was under observation. Now, on the assumption above named, the number of stars visible when the telescope was pointed in any given direction was a criterion of the depth of the bed of stars in that direction. Thus, by combining a large number of observations, a conception—rough, indeed, but instructive—might be formed of the figure of that stratum of stars within which our sun is situated. Sir J. Herschel, during his residence at the Cape of Good Hope, carried out an extensive series of observations of the southern heavens. Applying his father’s methods of gauging with a telescope of equal power, he obtained a result agreeing, in a most remarkable manner, with those obtained by Sir William Herschel. It appeared, however, that the Southern Hemisphere is somewhat richer in stars than the Northern—a result which has been accepted as indicating that our system is probably somewhat nearer the southern than the northern part of the galactic nebula. Moreover, Sir J. Herschel was led to believe that the sidereal system forms a cloven flat ring rather than a disk. I think no one who has attentively examined the glories of Orion, the richly jeweled Taurus, the singular festoon of stars in Perseus, and the closely set stars of Cassiopeia, but must have felt that the association of splendor along this streak of the heavens is not wholly accidental. The stars here seem to form a system, and a system which one can hardly conceive to be wholly unconnected with the neighboring stream of the Milky Way. But in the southern portion the arrangement is yet more remarkable and significant. From Scorpio, over the feet of the Centaur, over the keel of Argo, to Canis Major, there is a clustering of brilliant stars, which it seems wholly impossible not to connect with the background of nebulous light. It is noteworthy, also, that this stream of stars merges into the stream commencing with the group of Orion, already noticed. Nor is this all. It is impossible not to be struck by the marked absence of bright stars in the region of the heavens between Algol, Crux, and Corvus. One has the impression that the stars have been attracted toward the region of the stream indicated, so as to leave this space comparatively bare. Now, this last circumstance would appear less remarkable if the paucity of stars here noticed were common also in parts of the heavens far removed from the Milky Way. But this is not the case. Beyond this very region, which we find so bare of stars, we come to a region in which stars are clustered in considerable density, a region including Crater, Corvus, and Virgo, with the conspicuous stars Algores, Alkes, and Spica. But what is very remarkable, while we can trace a connection between the stream of bright stars over the Milky Way and the stream of nebulous light in the background, it is obvious that the two streams are not absolutely coincident in direction.